Want to dive into the shadows of the Imperium? The Agent Career in Traveller RPG is perfect for players who enjoy intrigue, investigation, and subtle power plays.
Traveller RPG Agent Career Guide
“Everyone has secrets. It’s your job to find them, use them, or bury them.”
Agents are professionals who walk the fine line between order and chaos, secrecy and revelation. They work for law enforcement agencies, intelligence services, or the shadowy divisions of interstellar corporations. In a galaxy where information is as valuable as starships, Agents thrive in the spaces between truth and lies.
This career is for players who enjoy intrigue, investigation, and subtle power plays. Agents excel at uncovering conspiracies, deceiving enemies, and surviving situations where a misplaced word can be as deadly as a laser pistol.
The Agent’s Place in the Galaxy
Themes of the Career
- Secrecy: You constantly wrestle with what to reveal and what to conceal.
- Loyalty: Are you loyal to your employer, your comrades, or your own survival?
- Intrigue: Plots, rivalries, and conspiracies are your bread and butter.
Role in a Party
Agents make natural scouts, negotiators, and troubleshooters. They are rarely the strongest fighter, but their skills give the crew critical advantages in information, infiltration, and social maneuvering. In space opera terms, an Agent is the spy in the shadows, the detective who pieces the puzzle together, or the company man with a hidden agenda.
Assignments in the Traveller RPG Agent Career
When choosing the Agent career, you select an assignment. This determines your focus, narrative tone, and the type of missions you’ll encounter.
Law Enforcement
“The law is clear. People aren’t.”
Law Enforcement Agents are patrol officers, detectives, and marshals of the galaxy. They chase fugitives, investigate crimes, and try to uphold order in a universe filled with chaos.
- Flavor: Hardboiled detectives in neon-lit megacities, or Marshals chasing smugglers on frontier worlds.
- Skill Emphasis: Investigate, Streetwise, Recon, Stealth.
- Party Role: Frontline investigator, balancing Recon and combat.
- Progression Highlights:
- Rank 1 → Streetwise 1 (navigate urban underworlds).
- Rank 4 → Investigate 1.
- Rank 5 → Admin 1 (procedure & leadership).
- Rank 6 → SOC +1 (prestige of a Commissioner).
- GM Hooks: Corruption within the force, multi-system fugitive chases, high-profile scandals.
Intelligence
“Trust is just another weapon—and I know how to use it.”
Intelligence Agents are spies, saboteurs, and infiltrators serving planetary governments or covert divisions. Always operating behind enemy lines, they excel at deception, stealth, and survival.
- Flavor: Cloak-and-dagger intrigue, black ops, and double agents. Think James Bond in space or Blade Runner’s shadow operatives.
- Skill Emphasis: Deception, Persuade, Electronics (comms), Stealth.
- Party Role: Infiltrator, face, or handler for covert ops.
- Progression Highlights:
- Rank 1 → Deception 1 (double life).
- Rank 2 → Investigate 1.
- Rank 4 → Gun Combat 1 (field operative training).
- GM Hooks: Deep-cover missions, rival spies, rogue handlers cutting ties.
Corporate
“A credit spent wisely is worth more than a hundred fired shots.”
Corporate Agents serve megacorporations—spying on rivals, securing assets, and eliminating threats to profit. They may be loyal company servants or schemers with personal agendas.
- Flavor: Industrial espionage, sabotage, ruthless corporate wars. Think cyberpunk fixers or corporate troubleshooters.
- Skill Emphasis: Carouse, Deception, Electronics (computers), Stealth.
- Party Role: Face of the company, manipulator, or social infiltrator.
- Progression Highlights:
- Early ranks: Build investigative & technical skills.
- Advancement is hard (INT 7+), reflecting cutthroat politics.
- Success rewards: Influence, contacts, high-level resources.
- GM Hooks: Rival lab infiltrations, silencing whistleblowers, loyalty vs. crew conflict.
Career Progression & Rewards
- Survival Chances:
- Law Enforcement → moderate (END 6+).
- Intelligence → difficult (INT 7+).
- Corporate → easy (INT 5+).
- Advancement:
- Law Enforcement → steady.
- Intelligence → faster.
- Corporate → tough climb.
- Rank Benefits:
- Law → Streetwise, Investigate, Admin, SOC boost.
- Intelligence/Corporate → Deception, Investigate, Gun Combat.
- Mustering-Out Rewards: Cybernetics, weapons, ship shares, TAS membership, SOC +1.
Life in the Shadows: Events & Mishaps
The Agent’s life is risky. Events offer networks, conspiracies, or promotions. Mishaps leave scars, enemies, or ruin careers.
- Events Examples:
- Establish a contact network (gain D3 Contacts).
- Go undercover and roll on Rogue or Citizen events.
- Discover a conspiracy and receive automatic promotion.
- Mishaps Examples:
- Injured during a mission.
- Investigation ruined by corruption.
- Gain an Enemy while uncovering dangerous secrets.
Archetypes (Quick Inspiration)
- Dirty Cop (Law): Badge for show, price for silence. Hook: survival vs. greed.
- Hard-Nosed Detective (Law): Relentless seeker of truth. Hook: justice vs. politics.
- Double Agent (Intel): Plays both sides. Hook: when will the masks come off?
- Ghost Operative (Intel): Silent infiltrator. Hook: who else knows your methods?
- Corporate Fixer (Corp): Cleans executive messes. Hook: can you escape the company?
- Idealist (Corp): Wants reform. Hook: can hope survive ruthlessness?
Playing an Agent
Why Choose This Career?
- Mystery and investigation lovers.
- Roleplay-heavy, high-stakes encounters.
- Characters who bridge underworld, corporate, and political spheres.
Roleplaying Tips
- Decide early: idealist, realist, or cynic?
- Define your contacts and enemies—they matter more than gear.
- Remember: Agents need allies. Lone wolves don’t last long.
GM Guidance: Using Agents
Adventure Seeds
- An old contact resurfaces with dangerous intel.
- Corporate mission puts crew morality to the test.
- A rival agent manipulates events behind the scenes.
Campaign Tone
Adding an Agent tilts your campaign toward intrigue, betrayal, and ethical dilemmas.
Balancing Spotlight
Keep intrigue group-focused: undercover ops need the hacker, the pilot, and the muscle. Every player gets a role.
At a Glance
- Best Skills: Investigate, Streetwise, Deception, Stealth.
- Survival: Law (moderate), Intel (hard), Corporate (easy).
- Advancement: Law (steady), Intel (fast), Corporate (slow).
- Rewards: Cybernetics, Ship Shares, TAS, SOC boost.
Explore more roles in our Mongoose Traveller Character Creation: Careers article.
Closing Thoughts
The Agent career offers a unique blend of mystery, danger, and power politics. Whether a player envisions a hard-bitten detective, a smooth-talking spy, or a ruthless corporate operator, the Agent provides endless opportunities for drama in a space opera universe.
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