So I jumped on the Ruin Masters RPG to fulfil a specific need - namely a pick up old school dungeon bash when we can't get a full table for our regular game. The artwork looked fantastic, the system old school but not d20 and Steven Savile was involved in the setting - check, check and check !
I've been a fan of the designers Riotminds for some time, I'm addicted to their amazing Trudvang line and they're good peeps to boot. Based in Sweden, they decided to re-generate the best selling Swedish old school rpg Drakar och Demoner. The Kickstarter included a boxed set, and I signed on the dotted (virtual) line. I won't go into the full contents of the boxed set as I don't know if that will be available to retail, but will instead concentrate on the core rulebook.
The rulebook itself is beautifully bound with a fantastic cover and includes a ribbon bookmark. It's a good sized tome coming in at 280 pages, generously illustrated and clearly laid out. The illustration work on the inside of the book is a different style to the cover but just as good - there's not a bad piece in there.
This is a lethal game, with character death pretty much expected to be a regular occurrence so it helps that character generation is really quick. With 4 rolled stats and 6 skills you'll be ready to hit your first 10' square room in no time, additional options include your home town and social class. You can play as human, elf or dwarf but there's little mechanical difference between the three - it's more of a style choice. The system is classless, pick your own path to your destiny.
The skill system is very simple, it's a percentile system with GM judged modifiers based on the situation. The 6 skills each cover a wide range of activities, for example Survival covers tracking, wilderness survival, ranged combat etc.
Combat uses the same percentile die rolls, with stances used to add offensive and defensive modifiers. Damage is broken down into hit locations - anyone familiar with old school Runequest will be very much at home here. Damage rolls are d10 open rolls, with the open roll number coming down as the weapons get bigger and uglier.
Armour provides damage reduction, with off hand weapons or shields providing a damage bonus or protection bonus respectively. I really like the way they handle off hand items, it's simple but very effective.
Magic bears an interesting twist - there are no spellcasters left. A catastrophe generations ago wiped out anyone who had mastery over spells, however magic items can be found from before that event. The magic skill (available to anyone) helps identify and use magic items, which may power themselves or rely on your magic points.
There's a tidy bestiary covering your classic trolls/orcs/goblins as well as other classics, with a bestiary hopefully in the works - creating stats for your favourite monsters would be a very simple exercise.
At this point I was very happy, I had exactly what I wanted in a compact dungeon crawler - Theodore Berqvist and his team had done a great job shaping up an old school system with enough touches to make her look sexy. So what happened next I was not expecting - a history and detailed locations of the game world Caldarox. There's a history of the superfux, the big disaster, along with subsequent migration and wars offers layers to the setting as well as a logical reason for all the underground dungeons and treasures. Major cities are detailed, including snippets of further history and giving each its own charm and roleplaying hooks. This world would easily support a more traditional roleplaying open sandbox game - there's plenty to get your teeth into.
In summary, Ruin Masters is a great game I can't wait to introduce my players to. It scratches that old school itch without feeling out of date, in a surprisingly well fleshed out world.
