Freelance Traveller
- Traveller Revival Commission (Kemkem)
- (http://isweb7.infoseek.co.jp/play/kemkem/hukkou/hukkou.html)
This website was reviewed on 20 Oct 2002.
This site attempts to provide a central point for Japanese Traveller players. It is run by Mr Kemkem, and features the work of Dragon Taro, MAG, HI-JOKER, Matsunaga, Thorn and others. It appears to focus on MegaTraveller in the post Fifth Frontier War period of the Spinward Marches. There are scenarios, notes on the Frontier Wars, and a score of articles. Too many to describe fully here.
One article covers the Sieno class Close Escort. The Sieno CE is a post-5FW alternative to the ubiquitous Gazelle CE. There are numerous high quality pictures of both inside and out of the ship ... these include cutaways of the engineering section showing the M-drive, scenes of the bridge, common room, and staterooms. There are also some simple deck plans. The colours used for the interior pictures are a bit garish for my tastes, but are useful in conveying the scale of things on a ship this size. Also the crew are shown wearing blue uniforms ... which I've always associated with the Zhodani Consulate, the Imperium's colour is red. Ship stats are supplied in MegaTraveller format ... the design has 2 of every sensor and communicator, but only 1 computer (MegaTraveller rules state starships must have 3).
Another article covers the Dendleen class Light Cruiser (40K dtons). As with the Sieno CE there are numerous pictures of the interior and the exterior, plus deck plans. Some of the interior pictures have been recycled from the Sieno class Close Escort (or is that the other way round?). You may also notice some 'cheating' on the missile storage picture: missiles on the right side of the picture have mirrored stenciling. The engineering section and the meson gun of this ship is evidently large enough to warrant the crew using power lifters (imagine the cargo loaders from the film "Alien", but grav assisted and with an enclosed operator cockpit). MegaTraveller stats are supplied ... which include 120 system-range radios, 120 lasercomms, ... and multiple other comms and sensors.
A third article covers the Beisel class Fleet Destroyer (5K dtons). The treatment is similar to the Sieno CE ... the stats list only 2 computers. In this case the pictures include closeups of some of the crew meals.
Other articles cover the S3 model scout (100 dton Type-S variant), details on the Spinward Marches fleet (some of the pictures look too influenced by PC games like Homeworld), an X-boat, other ships, some weapons, some vehicles, etc.
In summary: a potentially useful resource (especially for naval campaigns). The site is worth a visit just for the pictures. It may be difficult for some to access the text as it is written in Japanese ... the online translators I've tried so far have only limited success. I also get the impression that the Japanese are unaware of Traveller editions after MegaTraveller (but this impression may be erroneous).