Review – Hostile Takeover (for Interface Zero/Savage Wolrds)

Cyberpunks, interested in how the other half lives (and works)?  Hostile Takeover is a resource to allow you to play characters working for the megacorporations who rule the world in the near, dark future.  Both as a guide for corporate-based games and as a resource for building and playing the corporations, Hostile Takeover is a useful and amusing resource.

Hostile Takeover is a Savage Worlds/Interface Zero source book on working for the mega-corporation from GunMetal Games.  It is divided into two parts:

• The New Employee Orientation Handbook, which is the players’ section with options for characters (including new edges and flaws) and the new rules that affect them, such as the sweet expense account rules and a short catalog of toys to be purchased with such.
• The Policy and Procedure Manual, which is the game master’s section including advice on running a corporate game, mood, and a discussion of how to build interesting corporations using trapping along with seven example corporations.

Both sections have in-world commentary by former and current employees of the mysterious company which provide some amusing insights.

While a campaign framework is provided in Hostile Takeover it is only that, a framework, considerable work will be needed to expand it into a playable campaign.  That being said, there are some useful tools here.  There is a good amount of advice and general tools that could be applied to any cyberpunk/megacorporate setting but possibly not enough to justify buying it if you do not play Interface Zero/Savage Worlds.

Disclosure: As a featured reviewer for RPGNow/DriveThroughRPG, I received my copy of this product for free from the publisher for the purpose of this review.