Spread over hundreds of miles just beneath the dusty West Texas plains, the Mystery Flesh Pit is a vast geobiological ecosystem filled with enormous anatomical systems and strange phenomena, all of which defy scientific understanding. In 1987 the Geobiologics Office of the United States Department of the Interior formally identified the Pit as a creature and designated it the Permian Basin Super Organism, or PBSO. Thus far, researchers have identified 14 surface orifices across an area of 187 square miles, though the largest remains the Pit itself. Recent estimates of the PBSO's size have skyrocketed, especially with recent exploration of the mysterious blue tissue layer.
Though the PBSO's full scale remains unknown, explorers have investigated sections of the entity's internal anatomy, revealing an unsettling array of unusual, often disturbing elements: tunnels, tubes, cavities, and chambers; biological structures and lakes of organic fluid; intrapit parasites and creatures; and atmospheric and other effects that can injure visitors, sometimes in unprecedented ways. However, many internal elements have practical commercial applications. Suitable techniques can render them into unusually durable textiles, biochips for personal computers, medical, health, and beauty aids, and myriad other products.
Following entrepreneur James Jackson's early investigations of the main orifice, the Anodyne corporation made its entrance more accessible. Anodyne pursued a twofold commercialization strategy: Even as they mined some sections of the Pit, they developed areas closer to the surface as a world-class visitor destination, refining the tourist attraction that Jackson first created. In the early 1980s the United States National Park System absorbed the public-facing parts of the concern. The Service operated and maintained Mystery Flesh Pit National Park until a 2007 catastrophe forced the attraction's sudden closure.
Via the Cypher System Open License, Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG uses the Cypher System rules seen in Numenera and many other Monte Cook Games titles. You can be a Charming Person in Black who Operates Undercover or a Pit-Touched Park Guide Who Runs Away. Embrace your career as a Park Employee or Subcontractor, or keep your head down if you find yourself classified as a Special Contingency. Odds are you'll fight off Conformity, or fill out incident reports as the screaming comes closer. Just keep in mind the Prototypes from R&D are a mixed blessing.
Learn more at the May 2023 Kickstarter campaign page.
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