The Inside Scoop on Gaming

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

ROTTEN TO THE CORE, OVERVIEW

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. Two supplements were published for use with the "Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook"; the first was an adventure by Lester W. Smith entitled "Deathwatch Program" (See review at http://www.rpg.net/news reviews/reviews/rev_5449.html for more information).

The second supplement is the source/adventure book, "Rotten to the Core" by Julia Martin. Set in the city of Libreville, Gabon, which is the site of Earth's Beanstalk (space elevator). The book is divided into two parts.

The first and larger portion is devoted to a description of Libreville, which covers, layout, major organizations/gangs, the best bars, local slang and the lifestyle of the wealthy. The author shows a better understanding of cyberpunk than the author of "Deathwatch Program", the companies control everything (Except the Beanstalk Authority), the authorities are corrupt (Except the Beanstalk Authority), and the wealthy are decadent and the poor, downtrodden. At several points, what is presumably Official PR is contrasted with the sarcastic (but accurate) comments of local cyberpunks, an idea apparently lifted from "Shadowrun". From the material provided it is obvious that Libreville was to be "23000AD"s showpiece cyberpunk city, just as Night City and Seattle are for "Cyberpunk 2020" and "Shadowrun" respectively.

The second part of the book is an adventure outline, it begins with a delightful piece of cyberpunk 'attitude' instead of players being told "WARNING: In order to preserve suspense only Referees (GMs) should read beyond this point." they are told "Hey you dead heads! Don't you dare read this! This is for kahunas only."

The plot of the adventure is straightforward; the PCs are Libreville Cyberpunks with a friend who works for the Trilon Corporation. He invites them into the Trilon building to help him identify the contents of a briefcase he bought from some muggers. The PCs arrive just in time to see him killed by a trap built into the briefcase, they only have time to grab the friends personal organizer and a cube that falls from the briefcase, before being forced to flee Trilon security. Finding out what the cube is requires the PCs to seek out a legendary decker, a dangerous task. Once found he will identify the cube as an infiltration device intended to cause the contamination of the fishmeal fed to Libreville's poor, which would result in the death of thousands. After dealing with the cube, the players must survive an assassination attempt and try to determine who was behind the plan.

ROTTEN TO THE CORE, VERDICT

This product like "Deathwatch Program" does not arouse any real enthusiasm in me. Ironically it is because "Rotten to the Core" does succeed in creating the cyberpunk atmosphere that "Deathwatch Program" lacked.

It is my opinion that the GDW management made a mistake when they decided to 'go cyberpunk' with "2300AD". The "2300AD" setting dealt with exploration/colonization of the universe by mankind in the aftermath of WWIII and the conflicts that resulted from it, this outward looking focus is completely at odds with cyberpunks closed-up, inward-looking, urban focus.

GDWs folly is revealed in this simple fact, if you remove the "2300AD" specific material from the book, the beanstalk and the company names you are left with a generic cyberpunk city. If this were a generic cyberpunk supplement I would like it. It isn't.

Rotten to the Core
Rotten to the Core Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 28/07/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse) The title says it all. Product: Rotten to the Core Author: Julia Martin Category: RPG Company/Publisher: GDW Line: 2300 Cost: Page count: 64 Year published: 1990 ISBN: 1-55878-059-9 SKU: 1017 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 28/07/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Conspiracy	WARNING: This review contains spoilers. ROTTEN TO THE CORE, OVERVIEW 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. Two supplements were published for use with the "Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook"; the first was an adventure by Lester W. Smith entitled "Deathwatch Program" (See review at http://www.rpg.net/news reviews/reviews/rev_5449.html for more information). The second supplement is the source/adventure book, "Rotten to the Core" by Julia Martin. Set in the city of Libreville, Gabon, which is the site of Earth's Beanstalk (space elevator). The book is divided into two parts. The first and larger portion is devoted to a description of Libreville, which covers, layout, major organizations/gangs, the best bars, local slang and the lifestyle of the wealthy. The author shows a better understanding of cyberpunk than the author of "Deathwatch Program", the companies control everything (Except the Beanstalk Authority), the authorities are corrupt (Except the Beanstalk Authority), and the wealthy are decadent and the poor, downtrodden. At several points, what is presumably Official PR is contrasted with the sarcastic (but accurate) comments of local cyberpunks, an idea apparently lifted from "Shadowrun". From the material provided it is obvious that Libreville was to be "23000AD"s showpiece cyberpunk city, just as Night City and Seattle are for "Cyberpunk 2020" and "Shadowrun" respectively. The second part of the book is an adventure outline, it begins with a delightful piece of cyberpunk 'attitude' instead of players being told "WARNING: In order to preserve suspense only Referees (GMs) should read beyond this point." they are told "Hey you dead heads! Don't you dare read this! This is for kahunas only." The plot of the adventure is straightforward; the PCs are Libreville Cyberpunks with a friend who works for the Trilon Corporation. He invites them into the Trilon building to help him identify the contents of a briefcase he bought from some muggers. The PCs arrive just in time to see him killed by a trap built into the briefcase, they only have time to grab the friends personal organizer and a cube that falls from the briefcase, before being forced to flee Trilon security. Finding out what the cube is requires the PCs to seek out a legendary decker, a dangerous task. Once found he will identify the cube as an infiltration device intended to cause the contamination of the fishmeal fed to Libreville's poor, which would result in the death of thousands. After dealing with the cube, the players must survive an assassination attempt and try to determine who was behind the plan. ROTTEN TO THE CORE, VERDICT This product like "Deathwatch Program" does not arouse any real enthusiasm in me. Ironically it is because "Rotten to the Core" does succeed in creating the cyberpunk atmosphere that "Deathwatch Program" lacked. It is my opinion that the GDW management made a mistake when they decided to 'go cyberpunk' with "2300AD". The "2300AD" setting dealt with exploration/colonization of the universe by mankind in the aftermath of WWIII and the conflicts that resulted from it, this outward looking focus is completely at odds with cyberpunks closed-up, inward-looking, urban focus. GDWs folly is revealed in this simple fact, if you remove the "2300AD" specific material from the book, the beanstalk and the company names you are left with a generic cyberpunk city. If this were a generic cyberpunk supplement I would like it. It isn't.