OSR Commentary On The Warriors of the Red Planet Rpg - The Martian Underworld

 So I haven't been writing this blog due to a serious family emergency. It's times like this when I've had to really lean back into OSR games that I find comforting. For myself I find Warriors of the Red Planet rpg very comforting. In the back of the Warriors of the Red Planet rpg it discusses the Martian underworld of Edgar Rice Burroughs, VD Vance, Leigh Brackett and other classic Pulp writers. 

The Martian underworld is an extensive series of tunnels, passages, dungeons, ruins, etc that crisscross into one another. These underworld enviroments are forgotten ancient Martian bunkers, ruins,dungeons,that hold many of the secrets of Mars. These places are also pregnant with ancient artifacts, forgotten cities, and much more. They are highly extensive places where anything might be found. These forgotten tunnels and passages even crisscross under Martian cities, forgotten temples, and more. 

The Mutant Future Wiki has a great overview of the Warriors of the Red Planet rpg rules here. And it brings to mind how the Martian underworld might be shaped by a post apocalpytic theme. According to the Mutant Future wiki entry:"Due to the similar nature between old-school pulp sci-fi and post-apocalypses science-fantasy, Warriors of the Red Planet can be used wholesale to run a Gamma World-styled setting, or maybe picked piecemeal for one's Gamma World or Mutant Future game."

How might this effect the landscape of a Martian underworld?! The alien nature of Mars suggests that a post apocalyptic Mars might well influence the underworld in a very Pulpy direction with the underworld holding the last remaining secrets of Martian culture and civilazation. 

This does not preclude the fact that such an underworld would be extensive and seriously crowded with competing factions going for resources, food, artifacts, and more. This makes such an underworld have extremely colourful Martian races, monsters, mutants, and more. 

This begets the vision of how one incorporates these ideas into a whole cloth vision of the underworld. There could even be possible aliens living in these underworld locations such as cities. The possibilities of such a world bringing adventurers as fresh blood isn't that far fetched. The underworld itself might be alive and very hungrey.

So which side of the narrow tunnel will your PC's be? Fodder for such  ruin or dungeon could be at the heart of such a con or occurance. The living dungeon is a good representive of some of the core concepts of an extensive living and breathing part of such an underworld especially on Mars.