Freelance Traveller

The Traveller’s Aid Society: Character Generation for Classic Traveller

by Greg Alan Caires

This was a featured article in the January/February 2018 issue.

Ubiquitous and simultaneously unobtrusive, the Traveller’s Aid Society (TAS) is one of the most enduring features of the Traveller universe. Somehow this Imperium-spanning, seemingly ever-present but somehow innocuous mega-corporation is frequently the locale for the opening scene of many adventures, yet it remains above reproach and beyond suspicion. The Traveller News Service (TNS) is frequently the source of adventure enigmas, clues, red herrings, missing pieces and other important information. But, despite all this, the Traveller canon is almost bereft of any deep examination of the TAS, or of its activities. Is it a galaxy-wide secret society? An interstellar intelligence agency? A vile and/or craven megacorporation (is there any other kind?)? A centuries old Ponzi scheme?

Or, is it exactly what it appears to be – a benign provider of inexpensive lodgings, unbiased news, a “friend with benefits” expressed through bimonthly high passage tickets, and the logical starting point for adventures? And what about the people “behind the bar”? What about the mysterious “blackballers” whose concerns can be assuaged by a simple 1MCr payment? Are they simple hosteliers and membership administrators? Or are their means and motives more sinister, or enlightened? And lastly, wouldn’t some number of former TAS employees become Travellers themselves, no longer content to just hear about how poorly the patron’s assignment went but, thinking that – if given the chance – they could have done it better themselves?

While the mysteries of the TAS are many, this article gives some sense of the Society’s organizational structure, operations, culture and customs as part of an expanded character generation system using Classic Traveller rules.

The Basics

1—TAS advertisement “In these troubles times, it’s good to know you’ve got a friend,” MegaTraveller Journal #1, 1991, pg. 14. This ad inspired the infamous infowebs meme: “TAS: your friend with benefits.”

The Traveller’s Aid Society (TAS) is an Imperium-spanning private non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides a number of services (e.g., hostels, some high-end hotels at select Class A starports, news and information, legal and medical services)¹ to members and non-members (at higher prices) travelling throughout Charted Space.

The TAS News and Information department – The Traveller News Service (TNS) – is the major news agency of the Imperium and one of the premier interstellar news reporting services within Charted Space. The TNS is owned by TAS, and it has bureaus on most major worlds throughout the Imperium and representatives at most starports.

Just as every Marine is a rifleman and every Sailor is a fireman, every TAS Aide is, at their core, a customer service representative, dedicated to making the tumultuous and often troubled lives of Travellers as easy as possible. Want to be hired by a sketchy patron for questionably illegal services? No problem, just hang about a hostel’s accommodating bar long enough and you’ll likely find one. Need a gunshot wound patched at 0300 with no questions asked? On-site medics are available! Looking for a shipping container full of live groats for possible smuggling purposes? See the helpful Concierge in the lobby. TAS is always there for its members, skillfully riding the line between law levels and taking advantage of the benefits, and loopholes, extrality provides.

TAS has, oddly, never done a great job at self-promotion, despite having an entire department (Marketing and Promotions) dedicated to that task. A counter-argument is that TAS is so well known, it doesn’t “need” to advertise. During the centuries since TAS’s founding, Imperial infowebs have been flooded with satirical advertising slogans for TAS and, as with all good satire, they are often most funny because they are at least partially true. One favorite is: “TAS – when you need it cheap, fast and legal (pick only two please)”; another goes “TAS – for when every shred of evidence absolutely positively needs to disappear overnight.”

Character Generation Process

1. Roll 2D6 six times for character UPP
   1. Determine homeworld and Starport Class
2. Decide what character will do at age 18 – apply for College, for TAS Academy or Enlist in TAS
3. College – roll for Admission; if unsuccessful, either roll for Admission to TAS Academy, Enlist in TAS, or wait (and age) one year and roll for College Admission again.
   1. If Admitted to College, roll for Success; if unsuccessful, leave College one year older and then either roll for Admission to TAS Academy or Enlist in TAS. Characters may not attempt success at College again.
   2. If Successful at College, roll to determine Education, and then roll to determine whether character is an Honor’s Graduate. Honor’s Graduates may select their first Departmental Assignment if they successfully Enlist in TAS.
4. TAS Academy – roll for Admission, if unsuccessful, Enlist in TAS or wait (and age) one year and roll for admission to TAS Academy again.
   1. If Admitted to TAS Academy (which also means characters have successfully enlisted in TAS), roll for Success. If unsuccessful, leave TAS Academy one year older and then roll to determine TAS Department Assignment, then resolve the shortened (1 year) Duty Assignment.
   2. If Successful, roll to determine Education and then roll to determine whether character is an Honor’s Graduate. Honor’s Graduates may select their first Departmental Assignment. Note skills awarded for graduating from TAS Academy.
5. Enlistment – all characters may attempt to Enlist in TAS; if unsuccessful, character may wait (and age) one year and roll again for Enlistment.
6. Term of Service – Once Enlistment is successful, enlistees may apply for Admission to TAS Academy during their first, second or third terms in lieu of determining Departmental Assignment. If successful, follow rules for TAS Academy; if unsuccessful, roll for Departmental Assignment. If enlistee does not want to apply for TAS Academy, roll for Departmental Assignment. Note skills awarded through Initial Training.
   1. Once Department Assignment is determined, roll to determine Duty Assignment (two assignments per term).
   2. Assignment Resolution – determine whether the character Survived, what Skills they may have earned, and whether they earned either an Appointment to Management OR a Promotion during the Duty Assignment.
   3. If character fails Survival roll, then character must Muster-Out.
7. Re-Enlistment – characters must roll to re-enlist after 2nd Duty Assignment of each Term. If they fail re-enlistment, then character must Muster-Out. If character does not want to re-enlist, they still must roll to determine if they can Muster-Out. On a 2D6 roll of 12 the character is automatically re-enlisted for another term of service. Upon re-enlistment, repeat Duty Assignment and Assignment Resolution. No TAS character may serve more than 7 terms.
8. Mustering-Out – characters earn Muster-Out benefits based on management level achieved and the number of full (4 year) terms they served. Mustering-Out half-way through a service term means that term is not counted when determining the number of Muster-Out rolls a character has earned.
   1. Skills Cap – no character may possess a combination of skills and skill levels greater than the sum of their INT and EDU. The player may determine how to alter the character’s skills (but not their INT & EDU) to fit within this limitation.
9. Aging – starting at age 34, characters age per the Aging rules of Traveller.

Getting Started

TAS characters can originate anywhere within the Third Imperium wherever there is a Class A or B starport:

Players should choose a home-world hosting a class A or B starport, where the majority of TAS facilities are located, before beginning the expanded character generation system provided hereafter.

After that, they can roll roll 2D6 for each of the traditional personal characteristics: Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Endurance (END), Intelligence (INT), Education (EDU) and Social Standing (SOC), identical to basic Traveller character generation.

The TAS character begins their career at age 18.

College

A character may attempt to obtain a college education before enlisting in the TAS. College provides increased education and potentially better opportunities for assignment within the TAS.

Using the table below, the player should first roll to determine if the character has been accepted to college. If not, the character remains age 18 and can attempt to enlist in the TAS or apply to TAS Academy. If admitted to College, the player then rolls to determine if the character is successful during their FOUR years at college. If the roll fails, the character becomes age 19 and can attempt to enlist in the TAS.

If successful, roll to determine the increase to the character’s EDU; any modified roll less than 1 becomes a 1. Finally, roll to determine if the character graduated with honors – a designated Honors Graduate receives an automatic EDU of A (10) or an EDU of +1, whichever is greater. Once graduated, the character is 22 years old, but has NOT completed their first term of service (for purposes of determining Mustering Out benefits).
 

Joining TAS

All characters initiate their TAS careers by enlisting, either in lieu of, or after, attending college. Any character – even college graduates – may attempt to join TAS by applying for admission to TAS Academy per the instructions in the following section. If admitted, follow the TAS Academy instructions.

If a character fails to be admitted to TAS Academy (or chooses not to apply) they may still attempt to enlist in TAS, details below.

TAS Academy

Characters (event College graduates) may apply for admission to TAS Academy once during their first (1st), second (2nd) or third (3rd) term of service, but not thereafter. TAS Academy is not a “graduate school” but an educational opportunity for non-college graduates; however, even college graduates can benefit from attending TAS, as doing so provides increased education, an appointment to management, and potentially better opportunities for assignment within the TAS. Using the table below, the player should first roll to determine if the character has been accepted to TAS Academy. If not, the character remains whatever age they were at the start of the term, and then resolves the remainder of that term accordingly.
 

If admitted, the player then rolls to determine if the character is successful during their two years at Academy; if a character fails to be admitted to TAS Academy they can enlist per the rules below. Alternatively, a character may apply for TAS Academy again one year later, with a corresponding increase in age, if they don’t wish to enlist.

If the Survival roll fails, the character’s age increases by one year and they return to their Department Assignment for the second year of their two year duty assignment. If characters have not yet been assigned a department (due to entering TAS via the Academy), roll to determine the Department Assignment and then resolve the remainder of that Duty Assignment.

If the Survival roll is successful, then roll to determine the increase to the character’s EDU; any modified roll less than 1 becomes a 1.

Finally, roll to determine if the character graduated with honors; a designated Honors Graduate receives an automatic EDU of A (10) or an EDU of +1, whichever results in the greater benefit.

TAS Academy graduates are appointed to management at Level M1, receive the skills Liaison-1 and Steward-1, may roll for a skill on the TAS Life or Management tables, and have aged two years.

Once graduated, the character has completed one-half term of service (e.g., two years of a four year term). The remaining two-year Duty Assignment must be resolved to complete the term of service: roll 1D6 for assignment to one of six departments (TAS Academy Honors Graduates may choose their department assignment) then resolve that duty assignment per the tables provided.

Enlistment

TAS is organized into six departments, each with its own enlistment requirements, as shown on the table below. If a player’s enlistment roll is successful then the character has joined TAS and now rolls 1D6 to determine their initial branch assignment.

To enlist in TAS, roll 5+ on 2D6; DM +1 if character is a college graduate, DM +2 if they are an Honors Graduate. There is no draft, and a character can attempt to enlist once per year until successful (with corresponding increases in age).

College Honors Graduates may select their initial Departmental Assignment.
 

2—Junior Explorers is a TAS-sponsored, volunteer-led youth organization designed to foster STEM education and interest in STEM careers. Enjoys a friendly rivalry with the IN/IISS-sponsored Imperial Star Scouts. Often criticized for its perceived attempts to build a customer base and brand loyalty using the natural curiosity of children (e.g., Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club; Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, etc.) – see “Jeramii Boden” by Rob Caswell, MegaTraveller Journal #3, 1992.

Upon enlistment, characters are non-management TAS employees; generically, employees of the Traveller’s Aid Society are called Aides (singular: Aide); e.g., “a TAS Aide” or “some TAS Aides.” TAS-man/TAS-men is often heard in some quarters, but is totally wrong. Non-management titles are granted to Aides based on terms of service:
 

No TAS employee may re-enlist after their 7th term.

All departments have unofficial nicknames for their personnel (and for those working in other departments) often based on local, cultural, or historic memes, off-color jokes, double-entendres, good-natured ribbing, mild (or spice) insults, or bad puns.

Initial training for TAS employees includes one skill based on Department assignment, and one skill rolled for on either the Department Skills or TAS Life table below. Initial training does not age the character and is considered part of their first two-year duty assignment. Players can then resolve the remainder of the first two-year duty assignment for their characters, but skip the skills roll.
 

Duty Assignments

During each four year term players roll to resolve two (2), two-year duty assignments (but only one duty assignment if characters attend TAS Academy during that term). Based on the results of these rolls, characters may be forced to end (by failing survival rolls), but may not choose to quit, their career half-way through a four-year term; players should keep accurate track of their character’s age as aging rolls begin at age 34.
 

Sabbatical

can only be earned during third (3rd) term or greater; reroll if assigned prior to 3rd term.

Routine:

Day-to-day job assignments. Characters have the opportunity to learn new skills and earn appointment or promotion.

On-Job Training:

Similar to a routine assignment, but budget limitations and or time constraints prevent the character from learning new skills. Existing skills may be improved.

Professional Development:

The character is being sent to a formal course of instruction (School) for skill or management training. Attending School can only occur once per term – roll again if necessary.

Special Assignment:

something unusual to break the corporate monotony. While a Special Assignment might not take up the entire two-year Duty Assignment period, it is the most important activity the character experiences during that period. Roll 1D6 against the Special Assignment table indexed against the character’s departmental assignment.

Assignment Resolution

Players resolve their character’s two-year duty assignments using the table below. A career with the TAS involves some risk, and different departments and their associated assignments enjoy varying degrees of risk. However, riskier assignments typically result in greater opportunities to learn skills, receive management appointments, and be promoted. All of these will benefit a character when they muster out, and will make them better Travellers of subsequent adventures post-career.
 

Characters can self-advocate for Appointment / Promotion by electing to take a negative DM on their survival rolls in order to receive a positive DM of equal value on their Appointment to Management or Promotion rolls. Similarly, a character can take a positive DM against survival by taking a negative DM against appointment or promotion. In either scenario, this can be done only once per Duty Assignment period. Note, characters cannot achieve appointment to management AND promotion during the same duty assignment period. Roll for Promotion only after achieving an Appointment to Management, and not during the same duty assignment period when the appointment to management was achieved; non-managers cannot be promoted.

Characters can also take a negative DM on their survival role in order to receive a positive DM on their Recognition roll. A player can divide the benefits of this positive DM between both Recognition and Appointment to Management or Promotion. If Recognition is earned, the character has done something to merit a Memorandum of Recognition (MoR) which will be placed in their personnel jacket. Each MoR earns the player a +1 DM on a single Muster-Our roll; MoR DMs are not cumulative but each MoR DM can be combined with other Muster-Out roll DMs, if applicable. For example, Eneri has two MoRs – when mustering out, he gets one +1 DM per Muster-Out roll; he cannot combine these MoR DMs for a +2 DM on a Muster-Out roll.

If a character fails a survival roll, it is at the GM’s discretion whether the character has sustained a career-ending injury or whether that character has died. If the GM has determined the character is injured but alive, immediately Muster-Out the character without resolving for skills, appointment or promotion during that term. The character will have aged one year, but will not have completed either the two-year duty assignment or the term of service, which is important when calculating benefits.

Re-enlistment DM affects next re-enlistment roll if this Duty Assignment does not occur during 2nd half of service term.

Sabbatical

TAS encourages its employees to travel, in part to help develop the employee and to also engender empathy for the needs of Travellers. In exchange for this paid learning experience-cum-vacation, TAS employees are expected to produce TNS dispatches, write JTAS articles about their travels, and do their best to recruit new members; as a result, Sabbatical-takers automatically get Journalism-1 and Recruiting-1 (or +1 if the character already has these skills).

Starting with their third (3rd) term, a character is allowed one and only one sabbatical assignment within a three term of service period (12 years or 6 duty assignment periods). Characters may choose to not take a sabbatical, and if they do so simply reroll for Duty Assignment, but with a -1 DM. Players should reroll Sabbatical assignments if they occur when the character is ineligible to take a sabbatical (e.g., not yet 3rd term, or less than 3 terms since previous sabbatical).

Sabbatical takes one duty assignment (2 years) and results in two (2) skills rolls which can be taken against any department (except for Management unless the character has earned an Appointment to Management). Lastly, taking Sabbatical results in an automatic re-enlistment unless the character fails their survival throw.

Transfer

On an assignment of “Transfer”, the player rolls 1D for transfer to another department; reroll results of the character’s current assignment. Receive the new department’s Initial Training skill, then resolve the assignment per the rules for that department. Transfers may be declined; doing so is a mandatory DM –1 on the next re-enlistment roll.
 

Skills and Expertise

During a character’s TAS career they will perform assignments in different departments, allowing the character to obtain and potentially improve various skills. Should a player survive an assignment, the character will be awarded skills as indicated in the table. Where the character receives some number of skills not explicitly stated in the table, each such skill is determined by rolling 1D on the Career Skills table. Character get an additional skill roll on Appointment to Management, and on each Promotion.
 

3—See “Journalism and the Stars,” Anders Blixt, Challenge magazine, pg. 45, 1988.

Customs

is knowledge of various cultures, languages, histories and traditions which give a character a DM +1 per skill level when rolling for reactions from NPCs

Forgery

can involve both the creation and detection of false documents or other artifacts

Journalism

is the ability to make marketable (sellable) news materials (print, video, imagery)³

Robot Operation

can include controlling drones used to capture imagery for broadcast

All other skills are as per the basic Traveller rules; skills in italics are cascade skills, and a particular specialization of the skill must be declared upon receipt of the skill.

Any character may choose to roll for a TAS Life skill; otherwise characters should roll for skills that correspond to their Department. Only managers may roll for Management skills; only characters on Sabbatical may roll on the Sabbatical table.

If a character earns any skill greater than level -3 they earn Instruction-1 instead, and their next Duty Assignment is as a TAS Academy instructor: Survival is automatic, and their SOC increases +1, players get two rolls on the Skills Table, but Appointment or Promotion is not permitted. Roll for reenlistment at the end of that Duty Assignment.

Schools

Each school has duration of two years, and results in the awarding of skills and other benefits. If a character already has the skill taught at the Special Training they attended, increase that skill by one (1) level. Upon completion, have the player roll to determine whether the character’s Special Training has also resulted in an appointment to management (if not already awarded, or granted as a benefit of attending some schools). If a character fails a survival roll during a Special Training assignment, award the character the corresponding skills at one level below that which a successful student would receive (e.g., Legal-1, Hunting-0, etc.) to reflect that they absorbed some learning during their truncated assignment period. A character cannot attend the same school more than once, unless they failed their survival roll during their first attendance at that school, but they can attend as many schools as TAS will send them to. Following the two-year School assignment, resolve the service term’s other two-year Duty Assignment period; if the term is over, re-enlistment is automatic and characters proceed into their next term automatically.
 

Management Position Levels and Titles

Non-management personnel are called Aides and earn titles based on their years of service. When a character earns an appointment to management they are given a title reflective of their departmental position and level. When a character transfers between departments, they retain their management level and assume a title reflective of their new departmental position. The table shows the levels and titles for each Department.

Libraries and Archives and News and Information characters of all management levels receive a DM of +1 when trying to determine the veracity of rumors or detecting when someone is lying

Archivists should be provided by the referee with full awareness of any pertinent Red/Amber zone UWPs, and the factors affecting the system’s zone determination

4—See “Anton Cagliari” by Greg Videll, Challenge #66, 1992.

General Managers run individual TAS hostels and can grant TAS membership for providing outstanding service to the TAS⁴

Regional Managers oversee General Managers⁴ – their exact span of control (e.g., number of hostels across how large an area) is at the discretion of the game referee.

Re-enlistment

At the end of each term of service a character successfully survives, they may re-enlist if the player throws the 4+ on 2D; re-enlistment is mandatory on a throw of 12+. No re-enlistment is allowed after 7th term unless roll results in 12+.

Mustering Out

A new muster-out benefits table specific for TAS Aides is provided. Benefits are similar but not identical to those provided in the basic Traveller rules. TAS Aides do not earn pensions, but instead have the opportunity to earn a separate retirement income plan called Annuity. Characters receive one mustering-out benefit for each full term of service (4 years) they have successfully completed. Levels M1 and M2 receive one extra benefit; levels M3 and M4 receive two extra benefits, and levels M5 and M6 receive three extra benefits.

Upon first receipt of a gun or blade benefit, a specific weapon must be selected; second and subsequent weapons benefits may be taken as a skill in the specific weapon selected. Similarly with Vacc Suit, first receipt is the suit itself (plus Vacc Suit-0 skill); subsequent benefits increase the character’s Vacc Suit skill.

For each Memorandum of Recognition (MoR) a character has earned the player can take another +1 DM on a single Muster-Our roll. This DM is cumulative with other DMs, except for other MoRs. For example, a character with two MoRs can take a +1 DM on each of two Muster-Out rolls but cannot take a +2 DM on a single Muster-Out roll

Annuities are cumulative – awarded each time a player earns them with a benefits roll.

StarPass is a travel voucher that allows the bearer to take one Low Passage trip per month, or one Middle Passage trip every two months. Unused Passages can be sold for up to 90% of their value. This benefit can only be earned once; ignore and reroll if awarded more than once.

TAS membership can only be awarded once; ignore and reroll if awarded more than once.

Skill Limitations: no character may have skills (or combined total levels of skills) greater than the sum of their INT and EDU. Any new skill awarded that would do so becomes an automatic level -0; there is no limit to level -0 skills a character may possess. If a character receives a level in an already-known skill that would put them above the limit, either reduce another skill by one to compensate, or do not award the new level.

Aging: is conducted in accordance with Traveller rules.

Resume Writing

After a character has left or retired from the TAS, a basic resume of the character’s career should be prepared and noted using TAS Form 2 listing final UPPs, age, terms served, assignments held, management positions and levels achieved, skills acquired, and possessions and credits available.

The character is now ready to begin Travelling.

Enjoy and good luck!