Last Updated 3 June 2004.
This is a task system written by Kenneth Bearden, and uses a single die.
What you're going to do is roll that one D6 once or a couple of times and add up your rolls for your total. Higher is better. Your character's skill level and stat will influence the number of times you get to roll your D6, and you'll end up, typically, throwing your D6 1-3 times (on average, depending on your character's appropriate skill and stat).
The task throw will tell you a number of things: It will tell you if you're successful completing your task. It will tell you if there is a chance a mishap (fumble) occurred on your attempt. In combat, the task throw will tell you if you hit, where you hit (hit location), and how much damage you did--all this in the single task throw.
KB5-1DTS is a quick but detailed game system allowing you to focus on role-playing--not on multiple throws and finding DMs to improve your throw and the mechanics of your throw and... you get the idea.
For example--
Gvoudzon the Vargr is attempting to fire his AutoRifle at an enemy. To do this, the player would make a task throw using Gvoudzon's AutoRifle skill governed by his DEX.
But, let's say Gvoudzon is later at a bazaar on some low tech world trying to evaluate the quality of a new scope he's thinking of purchasing for his AutoRifle. The GM could rule that this task uses Gvoudzon's AutoRifle skill governed by EDU.
That's pretty much all there is to rolling tasks under KB5-1DTS. You roll 1D and get to roll again if you roll a "6".
"Ah," you say, "what about the influence of the character's skill? What about the effect of the PC's stat!"
The effect of a character's skill and natural ability are covered, and they're covered quickly by performing two quick checks on your roll once you've finished rolling.
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 2 | Skill check allows another throw. | |
| 6 | Always re-roll 6's. | |
| 1 | Skill check failed. Stat check failed. | |
| 9 |
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 3 | Skill check failed. Stat check allows another throw. | |
| 5 | Stat check failed. | |
| 8 |
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 4 | Skill check failed. Stat check allows another throw. | |
| 1 | Stat check failed. | |
| 5 |
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 2 | Skill check failed. Stat check allows another throw. | |
| 5 | Stat check failed. | |
| 7 |
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 4 | Skill check failed. Stat check allows another throw. | |
| 5 | Stat check failed. | |
| 9 |
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 6 | Always re-roll 6's. | |
| 3 | Skill check failed. Stat check failed. | |
| 9 |
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 1 | Skill check allows another throw. | |
| 6 | Always re-roll 6's. | |
| 2 | Stat check allows another throw. | |
| 6 | Always re-roll 6's. | |
| 1 | Stat check failed. | |
| 16 |
For example, a character can wiggle around in an attempt to dance while screaming at the top of his lungs, attempting to sing. This doesn't mean we have to clutter up the character sheet with skills like Dance-0 and Singing-0. We just assume the character has those skills at Level-0.
Likewise, it is mentioned in the CT rule books that all characters are assumed to have Gun Combat-0, meaning that just about anybody can pick up a standard weapon, point it, and pull the trigger. He may not hit anything, but it takes no specialized knowledge to attempt the task. We don't need to record every weapon in the Traveller universe on our character sheets listing the weapon skills at Level-0. We just assume the character has those skills. What we do record on our character sheets are the skills that are improved above Level-0.
And then there are those skills that require special training or knowledge - the skills that the average joe cannot attempt without knowing a little something about that area of expertise. These are skills like Pilot, Engineer, Navigation, and Medical. Not everybody (humans in this example) knows how to swim without first learning, so if a character can swim, he needs (at the minimum) Swimming-0 on his character sheet.
All Level-0 skills recorded on a character's sheet should only pertain to those skills that require specialized knowledge and training (because the character is assumed to already have any other Level-0 skill not requiring specialized training).
Never adjust your difficulty with modifiers. Always apply mods to the task throw.
Given this, you will rarely run across characters with skills at Level-6+, but you will run into it.
High skill provides greater influence on the task throw. Starting at Level-6, characters are allowed two skill checks in addition to their stat check.
Modified example from above--
| Total | Roll | Result |
| 4 | First skill check allows another throw. | |
| 1 | Second skill check allows another throw. | |
| 2 | Stat check allows another throw. | |
| 12 |
If you ever run into a Traveller character with skill Level-11+ (I've never seen this with characters created using CT and CT-variant chargen systems like MT and T4), then you should allow the character THREE skill checks plus the stat check.
But, as I crafted my own Traveller campaign, I decided to make these skills important to the player--to the point where my players actually try to improve them and are ecstatic when their character gains level in them.
I use Leadership as a positive die modifier to the initiative roll, thereby giving a character with leadership qualities an edge in acting first in a combat round - effectively "leading" by example.
As for Tactics, I use it as a pool of discretionary die modifiers the player can use when he needs to. For example, if a character has Tactics-3, then those are 3 points that a character can use to improve a roll of his choosing. I allow him to improve his roll "after the fact", meaning he can use the Tactics points to improve his roll after he's thrown his dice (but before any other rolls are made). So, in a life or death situation, those points are there for the player to use if he needs to save his butt - "Make this roll or your character is going to fall off the cat-walk into the giant vat of liquid hydrogen!"
Or, maybe the PC absolutely needs to kill the bad-guy. I'll allow the player to add these Tactics points to damage (he's maximizing his damage due to his tactics). I've even allowed players to decrease damage done to their characters using points from the Tactics pool.
Now, Traveller is a deadly game. It's a much more realistic role-playing game than most. No matter your skill or stat, in Traveller, nobody is invincible. With this in mind, I've got to keep this Tactics pool in check so that it does not unbalance the game. So, what I've done is allow players to use points from their Tactics pool (as I just outlined) only once per game session. After a game session, the Tactics pool "re-fills" for use next game session.
As you know, a Traveller game session could last, in game time, just a few seconds, or it could last for weeks. If you're in a fight, you could spend 2-3 game sessions playing out that fight. In game time, only a few minutes would have passed. On the other hand, a game session in Traveller could involve weeks of game time as the PCs make the jump from one star system to another. If a PC go into one fight in one star system, then spent a week traveling to another star system only to be jumped by pirates when the ship tumbled out of jump space - and we're still in the same game session - those Tactics pool points will not be available to the player in the second fight if he used them in the previous altercation. The game-balancing effect is that the Tactics pool "re-fills" once per game session, regardless of actual in-game time that has passed.
If you have skills like these in your game--skills that your players don't use much and dread getting--I encourage you to find ways to make them important to your players.
That's what good GameMaster's do. They make the game entertaining, irresistible, and addicting.