Studio Hermitage’s debut tabletop RPG, Our Brilliant Ruin, is now live on Kickstarter. Our Brilliant Ruin promises to blend sociological drama with apocalyptic horrors for a unique roleplaying experience where the player’s emotions will drive the action. You can read below for more information:
Raleigh, North Carolina (February 27, 2024) — Our Brilliant Ruin, the debut tabletop roleplaying game from transmedia company Studio Hermitage, is now crowdfunding on Kickstarter! The personal and sociological drama of a gilded age meets the existential horror of living through an extinction-level event in a unique roleplaying experience where emotions drive action.
Several rewards are available to Kickstarter backers, including a Standard Hardcover Edition, a Kickstarter-exclusive Brilliant Edition Hardcover, and the opportunity to name families, secret societies, estates, and unbonded groups. Backers can even attend a game hosted by designers Justin Achilli and Rachel J. Wilkinson. Explore the full list of pledge tiers and stretch goals on the Kickstarter page. Studio Hermitage is excited to make the PDF version of Our Brilliant Ruin available for free to the public later this year. Backers will receive the PDF ahead of everyone else.
Our Brilliant Ruin is written by industry veterans Justin Achilli (World of Darkness series, Assassin’s Creed series), Rachel J. Wilkinson (Vampire the Masquerade: Port Saga, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium), and Pam Punzalan (Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, 2022 Nebula Award Finalist), with art by Artists Andy Foltz (Far Cry 4, Star Trek Bridge Crew, Mythic Quest) and Efrem Palacios (Star Wars, Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering).
From the outset, Studio Hermitage designed Our Brilliant Ruin as a transmedia IP. In the future, they will bring the world of the Dramark to other formats, such as graphic novels, audio dramas, and video games.
About Our Brilliant Ruin
The Ruin befouls everything in its path, ravaging culture and geography alike, and leaving its living victims contorted into horrific creatures. In its wake, Dramark society moves toward an irreversible demise, buoyed on a tide of excess and intrigue.
In Our Brilliant Ruin, players must navigate the social and political machinations of a class-based society while facing the end of the world. Three distinct factions and the families and guilds within them allow players to create fully realized characters to inhabit this doomed world. Investigate an abandoned mansion fallen into danger and disrepair, attend a high-society ball while keeping abreast of the ever-present danger, or confront a deadly chimera that bears an unsettling resemblance to a missing lover. The world is an open book of possibilities… until it ends.
Our Brilliant Ruin uses an original system of dice pools driven by a character’s emotions and motivations. Combine personality traits and skills to accomplish goals by rolling pools of d6s to determine success, failure, or catastrophe. Inspired by similar dice pool-based systems, these original mechanics for Our Brilliant Ruin provide numerous ways to determine player characters’ fates. An attack motivated by jealousy could be Obsession + Fight, or discovering your best friend is hiding a dangerous secret might be Benevolence + Intuit. Players can leverage their Portfolios to gain advantages in social situations and call upon their Passions to gain an edge on a roll… at a risk.
To stay up to date with Our Brilliant Ruin, follow the project on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, or sign up for the newsletter at www.ourbrilliantruin.com. Follow Studio Hermitage on Facebook, Linkedin, X (Twitter), and the official website at www.studio-hermitage.com.
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Richard Allen is a freelance writer and contributing editor for various publications. While he enjoys modern gaming, he is a retro gamer at heart, having been raised on a steady diet of Contra, Mario, and Dragon's Lair. Chat with him via @thricetheartist on Twitter.
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