One of the things that I like about playing Traveller is that the Stats are meaningful – well at least three of them. Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance are your hit points and when two out of the three stats are zero your character is unconscious and when all three reach zero the character is dead.
Otherwise Bob the world builder is right in that what people actually use is the stat modifier to play D&D. Likewise the Stat modifier is what Traveller uses to make skill rolls and so this is the most useful part of the stat.
Although when you roll 2D6 for a stat the average numeber is 7. With a stat between 6-8 the modifier is +0. For the average character this makes Intelligence, Education, and Social of no real use to the the Player.
Like if the three stats didn’t exist it would make no difference to game play for that character.
What I do like about the system though is at least a 2D6 provides a randomly generated number.
Edge Studios Star Wars at least makes every stat meaningly because the number represents the number of ability or proficiency dice a Player uses to make up a dice pool for skill checks; but the base number comes from a charaters species and then can be modified in character creation with the species base experience points. This point buy system leaves little for probability, although it makes it easier to develop a character that Player wants instead of one that comes out of random chance.
There needs to be three core areas address – Physical Ability, Mental Ability, and Appearance. Physical ability is certainly well defined by Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and Mental Abilities are well defined by Intellect and Education. This leaves appearance which should be divided between looks and rhetoric. One is the impression people get from looking at you and the other is a persons ability to persuade people through communication.
With a good set of stats the next question is how to make these stats narratively meaningful?