Earth-Cybertech Sourcebook (2300AD role playing game) [Paperback]

Lester W. Smith (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Game Designers Workshop (February 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558780149
• ISBN-13: 978-1558780149
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

By day I work as a writer and technologist for a nationally known educational publishing house.

In my spare time, I design hobby games (LesterSmith.com), manage a small publishing house (PopcornPress.com), and serve as president of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP.org).

I also ride a 1999 Honda Shadow Aero VT1100 and have a 6.5 pound Chihuahua named Dobie.

Sometimes I write Javascript or PHP code.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earth in the year 2300: Geography & Cultures., April 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Earth-Cybertech Sourcebook (2300AD role playing game) (Paperback)

This is the book that tried to change what _2300 AD_ was all about, jumping on the Cyberpunk bandwagon. The first part contains information about the nations of Earth in 2300 AD. The second (much shorter part) deals with cyber-implants, decking, and the like.

The material in the first section is useful to anyone wanting to generate a character from Earth, as well as those running either _Deathwatch Program_ or _Rotten to the Core_. The second section is absolutely necessary for running these two Modules, or any Core Cyberpunk campaigns. There is also a third section with a complete adventure: Worm in the Big Apple.

All in all, not a bad book, but it changes what 2300 is. While the game always made a distinction between the Core and Frontier worlds, this book tends to widen the gap even more! It would have been interesting to see what GDW would have done with it, had it survived. This book, alone, gives all the depth available to what the differences between the Core and the Frontiers are.

While other Cyberpunk games cover that genre in much greater detail, the Earth nations material, alone, makes this product worthwhile. The Cyberpunk material is a nice add-on (although it could have been better), but I didn't think much of the Provolution adventure, at all.

Players of 2300, and especially the Referees, will want this book, for a variety of reasons, even if they never run a Coreworlds campaign.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Yet Incomplete, December 22, 2008

By 

Johnnie B. (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earth-Cybertech Sourcebook (2300AD role playing game) (Paperback)

I purchased this RPG supplement back in the early 1990s when GDW was a going concern. Generally, it gives players essential data to run adventures on Earth for a game system set about 400 years in the future and (until this book was published) primarily focused on activities on a space frontier.

Personally I have mixed opinions on this product. The format is basically to give background information on the various countries in existence at 2300 AD, data on a "beanstalk" space station and technological updates to allow players to run "cyberpunk" campaigns. Its all very fascinating but I found it ultimately lacking. In particular the country articles are iffy.

These articles follow a general format. They will begin with a historical overview which generally explains the reasoning it is in its state at this particular time frame, an economic analysis and perhaps a look at cultural/societal matters. In some ways, it is quite wonderful. But I fail to see the relevance of most of this to the game. Good example is the relatively large economic sections. Most RPG players are much more interested in military/espionage type matters than figuring out which nation is the largest wheat exporter. I would also note the historical backdrop is a bit politically naive at and more designed to set up a planet where no nation is particularly powerful rather than anything logical.

If youre interested in the 2300AD game, I would focus on other game supplements long before purchasing this one.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earth in the year 2300: Geography & Cultures., April 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Earth-Cybertech Sourcebook (2300AD role playing game) (Paperback)

This is the book that tried to change what _2300 AD_ is all about, jumping on the cyberpunk bandwagon. The first part contains information about the nations of Earth in 2300 AD. The second (much shorter) part deals with cyber-implants, decking, and the like. The final portion is a ready-to-run adventure.

The material in the first section is useful to anyone wanting to generate a character from Earth, as well as those running either _Deathwatch Program_ or _Rotten to the Core_. The second section is absolutely necessary for running those two Modules, or any Core Cyberpunk campaigns. The third section, "Worm in the Big Apple" is a Cyberpunk adventure where the PCs try to defeat stereotypical "Mad Scientists" from a Pro-Evolution faction.

All in all, not a bad book, but it changes what 2300 is. While the game always made a distinction between the Core and Frontier worlds, this book tends to widen the gap even more! It would have been interesting to see what GDW would have done with it, had they survived. This book, alone, gives all the depth available to what the differences between the Core and the Frontiers are.

While other Cyberpunk games cover that genre in much greater detail, the Earth nations material, alone, makes this product worthwhile. The Cyberpunk material is a nice add-on (although it could have been better), but I didn't think much of the Provolution adventure, at all.

Players of 2300, and especially the Referees, will want this book for a variety of reasons, even if they never run a Coreworlds campaign. Buy it!