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WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

After the release of the second edition of "2300 AD", GDW published the "Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook", a book which as well as providing information on the future Earth also shifted the emphasis of the game from space adventure to cyberpunk. "Deathwatch Progam" was one of the cyberpunk adventures released for "2300 AD" before GDW shut down in 1996.

DEATHWATCH PROGRAM:THE PLOT

"Deathwatch Program" is an adventure in two parts, in the first part, the PC's are hired by an 'old friend' (stats are provided) to help in a clandestine personnel transfer between two small oil companies, one in Texas and one in Mexico. Before they leave their hotel to pick up the 'package' another old friend (a decker or computer hacker) arrives asking to use their hotel room. The mission itself goes ahead without much trouble, apart from the paranoia of the clients and some bandits who try and hijack the PC's vehicle.

The second part of the adventure begins as soon as the PC's return from getting paid. Upon reaching the hotel they will, depending on how long the mission took, find either a dead body or the police removing a dead body, on the body is a message from their friend apologising for the mess.

After narrowly avoiding being blown up, the PC's will realise that they have to find their friend. Careful searching will eventually track down the man who sold the friend tickets offworld, they can follow her, but will have to pay him the money they earned in the first part of the adventure.

While the PC's are being transported to the passenger ship carrying the PC's friend, they face one last attack from a fighter controlled by their unseen foes. Boarding the passenger ship, they will find the deckers cabin, and upon entering it they will discover the dead Decker and the remains of her killers, plus a decker bought in by the attackers, connected to the friend's cyberdeck, with smoke coming from his ears...

If one of the PC's is able to access the cyberdeck successfully they will discover why they are being chased, the Decker that asked to enter the PC's room used the rooms phone lines to break into a computer operated by a group of conspirators who planned to carry out a series of 'events' that would cause an economic collapse, which would enable them to take control of Earth's economy. Some of these 'events' have already been carried out... (GM's with a mean streak can have the first portion of the adventure as one of these 'events'.)

DEATHWATCH PROGAM:THE VERDICT

There is nothing wrong with the physical presentation of the book and the final section on converting the adventure to other cyberpunk systems (CP2020 & Shadowrun) is welcome.

However I do not feel any real enthusiasm for the product, this is because the atmosphere is wrong, cyberpunk is dark city streets, paranoia and corrupt authorities, beholden to business. The idea of having 'outside' authorities for the PC's to run to works against this and I suspect that players will me more than a little suspicious when the price for a ticket offworld 'just happens' to equal the money they have just earned.

Also, I have a dislike of adventures in which PC's end up with the fate of the entire game world riding on their shoulders, this sort of thing can lead to players becoming bored with more mundane adventures.

Buy this one only if you want to have the complete set of 2300AD products.

Deathwatch Progam
Deathwatch Progam Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 02/12/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse) This adventure tries to be cyberpunk, but fails. Product: Deathwatch Progam Author: Lester W Smith Category: RPG Company/Publisher: GDW Line: 2300AD Cost: Page count: 64 Year published: 1990 ISBN: 1-55878-051-3 SKU: 1016 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 02/12/01 Genre tags: Science Fiction Far Future Space Conspiracy	WARNING: This review contains spoilers. After the release of the second edition of "2300 AD", GDW published the "Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook", a book which as well as providing information on the future Earth also shifted the emphasis of the game from space adventure to cyberpunk. "Deathwatch Progam" was one of the cyberpunk adventures released for "2300 AD" before GDW shut down in 1996. DEATHWATCH PROGRAM:THE PLOT "Deathwatch Program" is an adventure in two parts, in the first part, the PC's are hired by an 'old friend' (stats are provided) to help in a clandestine personnel transfer between two small oil companies, one in Texas and one in Mexico. Before they leave their hotel to pick up the 'package' another old friend (a decker or computer hacker) arrives asking to use their hotel room. The mission itself goes ahead without much trouble, apart from the paranoia of the clients and some bandits who try and hijack the PC's vehicle. The second part of the adventure begins as soon as the PC's return from getting paid. Upon reaching the hotel they will, depending on how long the mission took, find either a dead body or the police removing a dead body, on the body is a message from their friend apologising for the mess. After narrowly avoiding being blown up, the PC's will realise that they have to find their friend. Careful searching will eventually track down the man who sold the friend tickets offworld, they can follow her, but will have to pay him the money they earned in the first part of the adventure. While the PC's are being transported to the passenger ship carrying the PC's friend, they face one last attack from a fighter controlled by their unseen foes. Boarding the passenger ship, they will find the deckers cabin, and upon entering it they will discover the dead Decker and the remains of her killers, plus a decker bought in by the attackers, connected to the friend's cyberdeck, with smoke coming from his ears... If one of the PC's is able to access the cyberdeck successfully they will discover why they are being chased, the Decker that asked to enter the PC's room used the rooms phone lines to break into a computer operated by a group of conspirators who planned to carry out a series of 'events' that would cause an economic collapse, which would enable them to take control of Earth's economy. Some of these 'events' have already been carried out... (GM's with a mean streak can have the first portion of the adventure as one of these 'events'.) DEATHWATCH PROGAM:THE VERDICT There is nothing wrong with the physical presentation of the book and the final section on converting the adventure to other cyberpunk systems (CP2020 & Shadowrun) is welcome. However I do not feel any real enthusiasm for the product, this is because the atmosphere is wrong, cyberpunk is dark city streets, paranoia and corrupt authorities, beholden to business. The idea of having 'outside' authorities for the PC's to run to works against this and I suspect that players will me more than a little suspicious when the price for a ticket offworld 'just happens' to equal the money they have just earned. Also, I have a dislike of adventures in which PC's end up with the fate of the entire game world riding on their shoulders, this sort of thing can lead to players becoming bored with more mundane adventures. Buy this one only if you want to have the complete set of 2300AD products.