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City of Steam is set in the world of The New Epoch, a series of pen and paper RPG sourcebooks that illuminate an era of ambition and exploration of the World Machine by both ancient and emerging nation-states. City of Steam focuses on the central City-State of Nexus, a metropolis where players, NPCs, and enemies of all the races and cultures of the World Machine can be found. Each race, culture, and faction is richly detailed through architectural details, NPC interaction, clothing, quest dialogue, and flavorful items like newspapers. The course of history is changing, and players will become familiar with the forces driving that change from day one.

While the world at large rides a wave of industrial prosperity, Nexus itself has been left behind, its once-famed mineral wealth nearly exhausted. The Triumvirs struggle to maintain order as neighborhoods teeter on the brink of rebellion, sewers teem with mutated beasts, and abandoned factories swarm with mechanical horrors. As the Triumvirs’ influence wanes, ambitious factions emerge to fill the power vacuum. As players explore the city, they will have the opportunity to aid or oppose these groups, and in so doing begin to understand the harrowing scope of their goals.

City of Steam’s dungeon and quest structure accommodates a great variety of play styles, from casual solo sessions to marathon dungeon runs. The dungeons are networks of smaller player- or party-instanced levels, many of which can be completed in about ten minutes. Those who choose to spend some time exploring the variety of environments beneath Nexus will discover surprising interconnections, shortcuts, and secret areas. Nexan history is filled with underground projects that collided with each other, so a sewer area could easily lead into a boiler complex, which could itself lead into a series of crypts lost for centuries.

Players can wield a full, customizable repertoire of combat and support abilities against the numerous enemies that threaten Nexus. Direct damage, damage over time, debuffs, healing – all are available in both single-target and area-of-effect formats. Though three classes will be playable at release, additional ones will emerge according to community demand. Players can also engage in non-combat quests that involve social, economic and political forces.