Alternative Classic Traveller Combat

With my rose-tinted glasses in full nostalgic effect, I often forget how deadly Classic Traveller combat is. Tuesday's game in which poor Nazrut, the OG dogoid pilot of Deep Evan, was gunned down in all of two rounds in an ambush by soldiers of the Kral served as a pretty stark reminder.

While I am not shy in having a PC up and die, I prefer a slightly less punitive game. 

What follows is a slimmed down adaption of the Striker/Megatraveller that is designed to get rid of the hard-to-remember armor to-hit mods and one-hit-and-out wounding system for my growing house rule compilation (more about that later today). 

Feedback as always greatly appreciated.

To Hit by Range

Roll twice for automatic fire or scatter effect (shotgun pellets or flechettes).

Short/Effective/Melee 8+

Long 10+

Extreme 12+

Wounding

Roll 2d6 on hitting a target. Roll for separate hits if using automatic fire.

2...Graze, no real effect

3-5...Light Wound, -1 to hit, next hit upgraded one level in effect.

6-9...Wound, stunned for 2d6 rounds, -2 to hit after that, next hit upgraded.

10-11...Serious Wound, unconscious until medical attention, can't fight, or move without assistance, next hit upgraded two levels.

12...Instadeath

Modifiers:

plus Weapon Penetration (see Striker chart, mostly 1-3 for firearms and melee weapons)

minus Defensive Value (see below)

Defensive Value

Basically your armor plus any ability modifiers.

Armor

Steel Helmet* +1 (add to any other armor)

Jack 1

Mesh 2

Flak Jacket 3

Cloth 5

Ablat 1 (6 for lasers)

Reflec (10 for lasers)

Combat Enviro Suit 6

Combat Armor 8

Ceramic Plate* 10

Battle Dress 12

*Steel Helmet, Tech 5, 100cr

Ceramic Plate, Tech 12, 30,000cr

Ability

STR

5 and under -1

9 and over +1

DEX

5 and under -1

9 and over +1

END

5 and under -1

9 and over +1

Example:

Mr. Pink (37A569) buys himself a steel helmet (pickelhaube-style) and a Flak jacket for a DV of 4. His bad STR (-1) cancels out his considerable END (+1). In the first round of combat the poor sap gets hit by a slug from an ACR, penetration 4 which cancels his DV on the roll. Luckily the roll  is a 3 and he gets off with a light wound.