 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2014) |
 Issue 1 cover by Winchell Chung | |
| Publisher | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Loren K. Wiseman |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Final issue Number |
25 |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society is a role-playing game magazine devoted to Traveller, commonly abbreviated JTAS.
Loren K. Wiseman created a magazine in 1979 to support Traveller , with Game Designers' Workshop publishing The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society (JTAS), which Wiseman would continue to develop as its editor. [1] : 55 J. Andrew Keith wrote so much material for JTAS that he used the pseudonyms John Marshal and Keith Douglass (although a reader performed a word-use analysis of these articles and realized that the same person wrote them all). [1] : 56 Marc Miller decided that, rather than using modern dates for the magazine, each issue would instead be based on the in-game calendar of the Imperium, which advanced roughly 90 days for each quarterly issue. [1] : 55 JTAS #2 (1979) began to include in-universe excerpts from the fictional 'Traveller News Service', which talked about 'current' events going on in the Imperium; that issue was dated 274–1105, and included two news excerpts from Regina sector, which were dated 097-1105 and 101–1105 on the Imperium calendar. [1] : 55 JTAS #9 (1981) contributed to the development of the Traveller metaplot by detailing the beginning of a war with the alien Zhodani species. [1] : 55 The original run of the magazine ended with The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #24 (1984), but GDW replaced it with the magazine Challenge , continuing the numbering from JTAS with issue #25 (1986) but included material for all games published by GDW rather than just Traveller. [1] : 58
Imperium Games published Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #25 in 1996, and published their second and final issue of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society in 1997. [1] : 333
Steve Jackson Games obtained a license for the Traveller setting, so they brought back Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society as an online magazine in 2000. [1] : 111
Mongoose Publishing produced six volumes of Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society in 2020 as part of their Traveller licence. [2]
The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society takes its name from the fictional Travellers' Aid Society (TAS) that was first mentioned in the original incarnation of the Traveller game published by Game Designers Workshop [GDW]. In the original Traveller game, it was not too uncommon for characters to obtain membership in the TAS during character creation. The idea of the TAS is that it is an organization that exists to support what are basically 'transients,' or 'wanderers' ['Travellers' in the game's terminology] around the galaxy. It does so by maintaining low-cost hostels at many of the large starports, and, most importantly, by maintaining its 'rating system,' which warns of the dangers inherent in visiting certain worlds. Under this system, a world which should be approached with caution is denoted an 'Amber Zone,' and a world that should not be approached at all is denoted a 'Red Zone.'[ citation needed ] x§
These are collections of the earlier GDW publications.
The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society won the H.G. Wells award for Best Magazine Covering Roleplaying of 1979. [4]
William A. Barton reviewed the "Merchant Prince" supplement from Journal of the Travellers Aid Society #12 in The Space Gamer No. 53. [3] : 32 Barton commented that "Although it probably won't totally supplant Merchants & Merchandise as the book for generating merchant characters, Merchant Prince is a well-conceived and viable alternative to M&M. Its inclusion in the Journal makes it a special bargain. I recommend it to every Traveller player, especially those who find the merchant life the most appealing." [3] : 35
Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Marc Miller designed Traveller with help from Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, and Loren Wiseman. Editions were published for GURPS, d20, and other role-playing game systems. From its origin and in the currently published systems, the game relied upon six-sided dice for random elements. Traveller has been featured in a few novels and at least two video games.
Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.
Marc William Miller is a wargame and role-playing game designer and author.
Frank Chadwick is an American game designer and New York Times best selling author. He has designed hundreds of games, his most notable being the role-playing games En Garde!, Space: 1889 and Twilight 2000, and the wargame series Europa and The Third World War, as well as creating Traveller with Marc Miller. He has won multiple awards for his work.
Loren Keith Wiseman was an American wargame and role-playing game designer, game developer and editor.
GURPS Traveller is a set of table-top role-playing game books by Steve Jackson Games, designed to allow game play in the Third Imperium science-fiction setting from the original Traveller using the GURPS rule system. Loren Wiseman wrote the core book for GURPS Traveller and served as line editor.
Striker is a science fiction miniatures wargame, designed by Frank Chadwick, and illustrated by William H. Keith. It was published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1981 as a boxed expansion to the Traveller role-playing game. Although Striker is a 15mm miniatures ruleset, GDW consider it their eighth Traveller boardgame. It was republished in 2004 as part of Far Future Enterprises Traveller: The Classic Games, Games 1-6+.
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Challenge was a role-playing game magazine published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) between 1986 and 1996.
John Andrew Keith was an American author and games developer.
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Traveller Supplement Adventure 4: Leviathan is a 1980 role-playing game adventure for Traveller published by Game Designers' Workshop.
Traveller Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats is a role-playing game supplement for Traveller published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1980.
Traveller Book 0: An Introduction to Traveller is a tabletop role-playing game supplement, written by Loren K. Wiseman for Traveller, and published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1981. The 32-page book acts as an introduction to Traveller, and is designed to be read by those who are new to the hobby of role-playing generally, and particularly to Traveller.
Fifth Frontier War two-player science fiction board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1981. Fifth Frontier War is the fifth Traveller boardgame published by GDW. It was republished in 2004 as part of Far Future Enterprises Traveller: The Classic Games, Games 1-6+.
Traveller Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z) is a tabletop role-playing game supplement, published by Game Designers' Workshop.
Traveller Book 7: Merchant Prince is a 1985 role-playing game supplement for Traveller published by Game Designers' Workshop. Originally published in 1982 in a shorter form as Special Supplement 1, Merchant Prince in the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #12, by J. Andrew Keith.
Ordeal by Eshaar is a 1981 role-playing game adventure for Traveller published by FASA.
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