Terran Trade Authority Corebook

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Roleplaying Game
FOREWORD
The seed of the Terran Trade Authority, and the future over which it presided, actually
began to germinate more than fifty years ago. In 1950s England there was a weekly boys
publication called The Eagle. Part comic, part magazine, it featured a cartoon hero called
Dan Dare, his sidekick Digby and his sleek spacecraft, Anastasia. His space adventures in
pursuit of his nemesis the Mekon and superbly drawn by Frank Hampson, held me spell-
bound. To the 7 year old me, the boundary between fiction and reality blurred as I travelled
with him among the stars.
Each week, the magazine also included a minutely detailed cutaway drawing of some
technological marvel…the steamship Queen Mary, The Empire State Building or the latest
jet aircraft. In one issue, perhaps in editorial desperation, the center spread was a cutaway
of the fictional spacecraft Anastasia. There on the page I could see how the controls oper-
ated, how the engines were constructed, and even where spare helmets were kept. Sud-
denly, the future inhabited by the indomitable Dan Dare stepped across the fantasy/reality
interface and burned a place in my mind forever.
The years passed, the boy grew up and as events would have it, I found myself in
the publishing business. My job was to conceive ideas for books, whip up support and find
authors or artists to turn them into live projects. On one business trip, I had time to kill
at Heathrow airport and wandered around the bookstore. I stopped by a rack of SF paper-
backs, intrigued by the quality and imagination of the cover art. The images pulled me right
back in time. Here were the strange and wonderful craft that Dan Dare might have known
from his identification manual.
If he’d had one.
Throughout the rest of that trip, my mind was full of spectacular ships and distant star
systems. On my return, I traced some of the artists whose work had gripped my imagina-
tion and in talking to them, the first tender shoot of the TTA pushed towards the light. I
began writing the identification manual that should have existed. At first it just detailed the
ships my boyhood hero might have encountered, but I soon realised that they needed a con-
text to explain their existence and, piece by piece, the Terran Trade Authority emerged.
I have always had a magpie mind, attracted indiscriminately by the glitter of ideas
new to me. From technology and astronomy to history and the mechanics of social evolu-
tion. Suddenly these disparate threads drew together in a hypothetical future. It was so
clear in my mind that it was more a case of recording events than inventing them and in
less than two furious months, the book was finished.
The rest, as they say, is history. The success of the first book led to others and with
each title the story of the TTA expanded and flourished. There were four books and eight
spin-off projects including an abortive film script between 1978 and about 1980. Perhaps it
was the speed and intensity with which it took place, perhaps it was just creative burn-out,
perhaps it was marriage, kids and mortgage, but eventually I felt I had no more to say, no
places to go. For whatever reason, I began to feel that the ghosts in that distant boy’s mind
had finally been exorcised. The TTA had acquired a life of its own and didn’t need me
anymore. That was almost 25 years ago.
I had created the TTA for myself, or rather for the small boy waiting excitedly by the
door every Thursday. I really hadn’t thought about the fact that all those books must have
gone somewhere, been read by someone. To my astonishment, I recently learned that the
TTA was not just still alive but that others were willing to nurture and re-invigorate a dream
that had faded from my mind.
It’s a strange sensation to be re-introduced to a child made a stranger by distance and
circumstances. I wasn’t certain how to feel at first but out of the confusion came a sense of
gratitude toward those whose enthusiasm and commitment will carry the TTA forward into
an invigorated future. My thanks to them
3
…and especially to
you
.
Stewart Cowley
The Terran Trade Authority
DEDICATION
Scott would like to dedicate this book to his wife Alison and 2 beautiful daugh-
ters; Hannah & Mhairi.
Jeff would like to dedicate this project to his wonderful wife Masako, whose sup-
port and encouragement carried him through the tough times, and to Pam Bliss,
my “big sis” and favorite writer, whose keen eye and constructive criticism were
invaluable!
Adrian would like to dedicate this work to his wife, Katinka, for all her patience,
understanding, trust and support, and for understanding why, after more than 25
years, the TTA books can still make me act like an excited 12 year old boy!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
C
HAPTER
O
NE
: T
HE
TTA U
NIVERSE
5
The Proxima War
22
The Terran Trade Authority
35
Timeline of the Future
60
Alpha Centauri
62
Sol
68
Proxima Centauri
90
C
HAPTER
T
WO
: T
HE
R
ULES
94
Attributes
100
Skills
109
Combat
114
Psi
136
C
HAPTER
T
HREE
: S
KILLS
149
Quirks
168
C
HAPTER
F
OUR
: C
HARACTER
C
REATION
183
The Alphans
185
The Proximans
216
The Terrans
246
Paths
264
C
HAPTER
F
IVE
: E
QUIPMENT
283
C
HAPTER
S
IX
: S
PACECRAFT
& S
PACE
T
RAVEL
328
4
Spacecraft & Vehicle Rules
331
Spacecraft Stats
353
C
HAPTER
S
EVEN
: G
AMEMASTERING
THE
TTA
375
INDEX
412
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