Dark Horse Teams Up with Studio Hermitage for the Our Brilliant Ruin Hardcover Rulebook
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Dark Horse is publishing a 296-page hardcover rulebook for Studio Hermitage's tabletop RPG Our Brilliant Ruin, bringing its unique blend of period drama and cosmic horror to physical shelves this September.
Tabletop role-playing games continue to branch out into increasingly creative territory, and Studio Hermitage is bringing one of its most unique settings to physical bookshelves. As reported by Corey Plante at Polygon, Dark Horse is publishing a massive 296-page hardcover edition of the Our Brilliant Ruin rulebook. Originally funded on Kickstarter back in 2024, the project mixes the classic upstairs-downstairs social drama of a period piece like Downton Abbey with a creeping cosmic horror apocalypse.
The game takes place in the Dramark, a mountain valley protected from the Ruin, which is a preternatural force radiating from a dying star that twists people, animals, and geography into monsters. Instead of mounting a heroic defense against the inevitable, the society trapped inside the valley chooses to indulge in endless excess and rigid class politics. Players choose to step into the shoes of Aristocrats, Truefolk laborers, or Unbonded pioneers, balancing internal social intrigue with the existential dread of the encroaching darkness. Character progression and mechanics lean into emotion and motivation driven dice pools rather than purely traditional stats, giving roleplay a direct mechanical weight.
This hardcover release represents a major milestone for a universe that has quietly been expanding across multiple media formats. Alongside the TTRPG, the property spans a Dark Horse comic series titled Horror at Crane Mansion, an audio drama called Clawmoor Heights, and even an upcoming video game adaptation featuring human resistance fighters battling a vampire queen. For players looking to add a fresh narrative heavy system to their table rotation, the physical rulebook officially launches on September 26, 2026. You can read the original reporting over at Polygon.
Tags: Tabletop, TTRPG, Dark Horse Comics, Gaming News, Cosmic Horror
Original article: Polygon