A transmedia company with roots in Vampire: The Masquerade has big plans
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On a planet not our own, in a timeline very different from ours, the last heirs of the aristocracy cling to the shadows of a secluded mountain valley known as the Dramark. It is only deep in the valley that a small, proud crust of civilization can be kept hidden from the ruin (that's what people call the light of the dying star that has changed the countryside and its people for generations, turning them into monsters). Meanwhile, long-dead mechanical constructs called syllokinetics, automata that would become the saviors of the people, sit withering on the horizon. Elsewhere, the Dramark's lavish estate and their downstairs staff carry on as best they can.
This is the Edwardian-inspired setting for Our Brilliant Ruin, a bleak yet gilded new world dreamed up by the small, talented team at Studio Hermitage. Starting Tuesday, their vision will begin to come to life, first as a tabletop role-playing game and, if its founders are lucky, hopefully as something more — like a comic book or even a video game. At its core is a desperate class struggle, a struggle that could separate this world from a vast sea of fantasy and science fiction competitors.
Studio Hermitage is a transmedia company founded just a few years ago by Paxton Galvanek, Justin Achilli and Andy Foltz, all with backgrounds in making video games for companies such as Funcom, Ubisoft and Red Storm. But it's Achillis' name that's likely to perk up the ears of tabletop fans, as he's had a hand in the World of Darkness, home to games like Vampire: The Masquerade, for nearly 30 years. His enthusiasm for Our Brilliant Ruin is infectious, and the setting – originally set up as a post-apocalyptic version of Downton Abbey – seems worthy of attention. Its inciting event is the arrival of Ruin, a dead star with light that wreaks havoc wherever it touches.
