Here is a look at the table of contents and rough notes for the upcoming BX Mars Deep City Ruins Zine
BX Mars
Into the Ruins (BXM2)
Brief: An in-depth look at the deep city ruin environment, 2 new classes, three new factions a bunch of maps and art and stuff.
Intro
Classes (Scout, Druid)
Masteries
Factions
Dry Well
Deep Xumos- three maps.
Denizens of the Deep ruins
On presenting monsters
New wonders of the ancients
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Optional rules for smaller groups.
Design notes and possible conversions.
6-8 page comic.
The Deep City Ruins.
The edges of Ruined Xumos are controlled by the Thark, but the deeper into the ruins one ventures, the wilder and more dangerous things become.
There’s a water source somewhere below the city and, ancient machines, the final vestiges of a forgotten irrigation system of unthinkable proportion, bring it to the surface. As a result the city is choked with vegetation. Some of it is dangerous. Nearly all of it is edible if properly processed and some of the plant’s will do their best to eat you as well.
This vegetation, of course, provides a basis for the local food chain. Within the confines of Zerzura, the biodiversity of the deep city ruins is matched only by that of Shadow Canyon. Many of the plants and animals living in the city can be found nowhere else in the region or, possibly the entirety of mars.
There are wonders of the past and many other valuable things to be found in and under the deep city. Every year, dozens of Martians, red and green, alike, set out from the settlement at the frontiers edge and venture into the ruins in hopes of finding such things. Most don’t come back. Few of those who do escape with more than their lives. Countless stories and rumors tell of treasure found and then lost again the prospectors were slain on their way out of the ruins.
One of the great treasures supposedly lost in the ruins is a working food machine. It is almost certain that each of the regions factions sends agents in search of it from time to time. Such a find would surely destroy the current balance of power and spark the Zezura’s first major armed conflict in time out of mind.
However stories of lesser treasures have been more than enough to motivate a steady stream of prospectors for time out of mind.
Who ventures into the ruins? Members of every class represented in the BX Mars book and the two new classes presented in the following section are suitable for Deep Ruin adventures.
Classes
The Scout
Scouts are one of the rare classes available to both Thark and Red Martians. Scouts are individuals who have dedicated their lives to exploring the ruins of the city. Although individuals they are often business rivals, costs generally work in a loose association with one another. As stated above, few expeditions return, even fewer do so without scouts. It should not be assumed that a given scout will know the layout of a particular area. The frontier between the civilized city’s edge and its deeper sections is constantly shifting inward.
The Druid
Rarely encountered outside the ruins, Druids are Thark! who through rigorous effort have attained a level of psionic influence over plants and animals.
New Masteries
Backtrack
Ruin Lore
Jimmy
Factions
The Explorers
A loose association of druids and scouts.
The Grax: warriors and leaders of the great horde. They rarely act in concert and might defiantly makes right.
The Nuphal: The traders maintain a permanent presence here and is always interested in the acquisition of ancient artifacts, regardless of means.
The Unclean: Servants of the Mad Sun lurk here as they do everywhere. They actively attempt to disrupt trade and sew discord between the other groups. More than one scout and possible a druid or two as well are agents of the unclean. They lead prospectors into the ruins and either kill them or abandon them once they are lost. Unclean druids may have special relationships with some of the evil creatures who lair in the ruins.
Spies: Virtually every power and faction in the region- and perhaps one or two from elsewhere as well, maintain spies in Dry Well.
Dry well and Beyond
Map of Dry Well
Map of section: Extremely overgrown.
Map of section: Broken terraces, waterfall.
Map of section: This one overwhelmed by Sand and partially underground as a result.
Each map comes with a gazetteer.
Urban Weather Table
Denizens of Deep City
Blood Monkeys
Vine snakes
Club moss
Tangler
Stone Spider
Cleaning cubes
There will certainly be more content then this, as well as too many maps.
There will be two versions, one with full nudity, another with a lot of convenient shadows and opaque gusts wind.
