Freelance Traveller

reviewed by Ewan Quibell

Deck Plans by S.R.Greene
Ship Profile Illustrations by P.T.Shozi
Publisher: Seeker Game Systems (1991)
Format: page Letter sized booklet
Price: Variable (Second Hand Market)

The Gazelle-class Close Escort has cover art by William H. Keith, which is good, and the inside front cover has the whole deck plans on the one page with each room labeled that gives a quick and good overview of the class.

There is a short description of the Gazelle as an introduction giving a bit of history to the class and providing a short written description of the stats and the ships layout. This ends with the room labels again and the MegaTraveller stats for the class taken directly from the MT's Imperial Encyclopedia. The only spark of interest that came from this, for me at least, was possibly a throw away line that says that the ship was designed when mutinies were a major threat to security. The passage doesn't mention how the drop tanks perform or the effect they have on the ship's performance, and as the Gazelle is notable for it's drop tanks I think this is something that should have been there.

The main part of the supplement are the 25mm deck plans (blue ink on blue paper), and as you might expect these are designed to be removed from the middle and laid out together to produce the whole ship. There is greater detail shown on these plans than the ones on the inside cover as they show beds, chairs, and workstations etc. The plans are obviously useful for skirmishes, but don't lend themselves to anything else.

There is a short piece of fiction called "Reality" by Alexander Harding which while being ok if a little disjointed does manage to convey a new recruit's inexperience when found in a real combat situation after coming straight out of the academy.

There is a page of 10 figures, 6 crew and 4 marines that are meant to be photocopied and used with the 25mm deck plans, and the product ends with a set of profile illustrations that do add some insight to the ship, allowing me at least a greater "feel" for the design.

Overall the product isn't really inspiring without anything special included and has nothing outstanding to recommend it. However it does in my opinion do exactly what it was designed for and that is to provide deck plans for skirmishes with Snapshot, AHL, or At Close Quarters. Available on the second hand market usually priced above the $11.95 on its cover I'd say that its rarity is pushing the price above that of its usefulness. If your group is going to run across the Gazelle frequently and you plan on running the odd skirmish on board then yes it may be value for your gaming cash. If not then I'd advise you spend your money on something more useful to your group.