Our Favorite Ruin incorprates ideas from SnowPiercer, Downton Abbey andMasque of the Red Eath into a … [+] unique role playing experience.

Studio Hermitage

When the world ends, what will you do once you know it can’t be stopped? Will you keep working in the hopes that someone will find a way to fix things? Will you prepare for the worst and look to build a new world in the ashes? Or will you party until the food runs out and sun rises no more?

This is the central question of Our Brilliant Ruin. Rather than the medieval worlds made popular by Dungeons & Dragons, this game is set in a world similar to the Belle Epoque or Edwardian era of our own. Except there’s one big difference: a magical force called The Ruin slowly corrupting and changing everything it touches.

Creators Justin Achilli, Rachel J. Wilkinson and Pam Punzalan have left their mark on many worlds. Their work includes everything from Vampire: The Masquerade to Dungeons & Dragons and Assassin’s Creed. Now they have turned to crowdfunding to bring Our Brilliant Ruin to their fans.

Our Brilliant Ruin centers on a class struggle between people watching their world fall apart. Everyone has a different idea on how they handle that ominous knowledge. Not only must players intrigue with each other they have to figure out what to do about the impending doom of everyting they know.

How To Play Our Brilliant Ruin

Characters are built from their Personality, Skills, Passions and Portfolio. These elements can be used in different ways to achieve success in the dying world of Damark. The game uses six sided dice in play.

Players combine Personality and Skills to determine how they achieve a goal. For example, sneaking past a guard might be a test of Cunning + Transgress while walking up to the guard and convincing them you’re on the guest list would be Audacity + Express. If a player rolls more sixes than ones on their dice, it’s a success.

Players can invoke Passions for better chances of success. If you need to get into the party to meet with your secret lover, your Passion dice can help. But if they are used too often they can cause catastrophe as they add more chances for ones without hope of sixes.

Every character also has access to a Portfolio of favors, connections and intangibles that can be used to by success. You could have your Entourage show up and distract the guard or use your Title to buly your way in. Portfolio always succeeds but it slowly refreshes from game to game.

The Three Factions Within Our Brilliant Ruin

There are three broad factions to which each player belongs. These are further divided into smaller subfactions which provide different support. This also offers the opportunity for subfactional intrigue in groups that belong to one main faction.

Aristocrats remain the ones in power. They own the castles, mansions and as yet uncorrupted lands where the people of Damark huddle hoping to wait out the ruin. They have access to bigger Portfoilos and let other people do their dirty work.

Truefolks keep the wrold as it was running even in these dark times. They are the servants, mechanics and other people on the grown who make sure that the Ruin hasn;t destroyed anything yet. They choose one skill that they’ve mastered that they never fail when testing.

The unbonded see the apocalypse as a time to change and rebuild the world with the survivors. They’re preparing for the next world but have to survive the end of the current one. Whether that means throwing bombs at the Aristorcrats or quietly building allies with the Truefolk is up to the player.

Our Brilliant Ruin Will Be Free

The creators plan to offer digital and physical copies of the game later this year. They’ve also made an unusual pledge. The digital version will be free for anyone to download and use.

Backing now gets supporters an early PDF. The Kickstarter runs until Thursday, March 28th.