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Our Brilliant Ruin Starter Set now live on Kickstarter
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Our Brilliant Ruin Starter Set now live on Kickstarter

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Studio Hermitage has a new Kickstarter for their TTRPG, Our Brilliant Ruin. This new Kickstarter contains a new starter set and an exclusive new version of the core rulebook:

Studio Hermitage returns to Kickstarter with a brand-new campaign to make the new Starter Set a reality and help players around the world get Our Brilliant Ruin to their tabletops faster.

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) Our Brilliant Ruin is a unique game in a fascinating world. Our Brilliant Ruin is a roleplaying game where the corrosive light of a dead and distant star has befouled the world. Only the Dramark remains, the last vestiges of a gilded society unraveling against the backdrop of this preternatural catastrophe. Here, aristocrats cling to their crumbling estates, truefolk struggle to maintain the status quo, and unbonded rebel against it all while Ruined horrors and rusted machines prowl the countryside.

The Kickstarter offers a brand-new starter set that will allow TTRPG enthusiasts to get right into the action from the first session with a pre-written story and pre-constructed characters, featuring:

  • Abridged Rulebook – A 64 page softcover, full colour rulebook for a quick start in the world of Our Brilliant Ruin.
  • Resources Booklet – A 32 page booklet of character sheets, handouts and in-universe documents from the starter story.
  • Starter Story – A 48 page introductory story revolving around a malfunctioning syllokinetic bridge, which is home to many NPCs, and the risky efforts that must be undertaken to return it to functioning while protecting the identity of the NPCs who understand the secrets of its operation.

An original system uses d6 dice pools driven by a player character’s emotions and motivations to determine if they succeed, triumph, or cause a catastrophe. Personality traits and skills will be combined to accomplish player character goals.

This campaign also makes available an exclusive limited Ruined Edition of the Our Brilliant Ruin core rulebook. It features a vegan leather cover, bookmark ribbons of unknown provenance, and a black-ink edge treatment that absorbs more wholesome light. This limited Ruined Edition won’t be printed again after the campaign, so collectors will need to support the project before it ends on October 2nd if they want to get their hands on it.


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Fantasy baseball waivers: Returning Bieber a must-add starter
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Fantasy baseball waivers: Returning Bieber a must-add starter

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Aug 25, 2025, 02:00 PM ET

News flash: A Cy Young Award winner and two-time, top-15 overall fantasy point scorer, was back on the mound on Friday, doing Cy Young things.

That particular pitcher, by the way, finds himself out there in 56.1% of ESPN leagues, with five weeks to play in the season.

Shane Bieber (SP, Toronto Blue Jays) is that pitcher, acquired at the trade deadline from the Cleveland Guardians, and looking pretty close to his peak form following his return from April 2024 Tommy John surgery. In Friday’s outing, the right-hander averaged 92.7 mph with his fastball, his highest rate in any individual start since Aug. 14, 2022. He struck out nine Miami Marlins and got 15 swings-and-misses, including seven on his slider and four on his changeup.

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This isn’t to declare Bieber officially his 2020 Cy Young self, as pitchers coming off the surgery often take time — months, in many cases — to fully recapture the feel for their stuff. As the old Tommy John surgery axiom says, velocity typically returns first, then command. Bieber’s command seemed plenty sharp in his 2025 big-league debut, and reports from his six start minor league rehabilitation stint (excluding one May start when he had some elbow soreness) reflected the same and resulted in a combined 2.03 ERA and 32.7% strikeout rate.

It remains to be seen how the Blue Jays will use Bieber come playoff time. For now, though, they’ll utilize (at least in the short term) a six-man rotation that spaces out his appearances. That’s a negative for fantasy purposes. However, considering his past history of handling big workloads, his current status as a 90-pitch starter (nearly a full-time starter already), and the relative ages of the remainder of the team’s rotation, Bieber almost assuredly will handle a regular starter’s pattern over these final five weeks.

More mixed-league players to add

Note that Sam Basallo (C/1B, Baltimore Orioles), the top recommendation in this space last week and a new eight-year, $67 million man, remains available in a whopping 87.4% of ESPN leagues. Go get him now!

Carson Williams, SS, Tampa Bay Rays (available in 95.0% of ESPN leagues): Another of the many prominent prospects to have been recalled for their major league debuts over the past two weeks, Williams is one whose star seemed to begin fading due to his lackluster .213/.318/.447 rates in 111 games for Triple-A Durham this year, but who generated a good share of weekend buzz thanks to his 3-for-7, one-homer, one-steal performance in Friday and Sunday starts.

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To be fair to Williams’ fantasy potential, he did hit 23 homers and stole 22 bases while with Durham, making him a 20/20 minor leaguer for three consecutive seasons (and he was one homer shy in 2022 of making it four in a row). His power/speed combo might have made him a more logical pickup in rotisserie leagues, but Williams’ penchant for drawing walks — he has never walked in fewer than 10.9% of plate appearances in any professional level — makes him an appealing mixed-league pickup as well. Be aware that the Rays will give him days off across their final 32 games in order to keep him below the 130 at-bat maximum to retain 2026 Rookie of the Year eligibility.

Brett Baty, 3B/2B, New York Mets (available in 94.2%): If what you seek is a potential high-ceiling power hitter who qualifies at two infield positions, Baty’s your man. Since the All-Star break, he’s a .283/.350/.500 hitter with six home runs in 28 games, quietly emerging as an everyday player while even earning starts out of the No. 6 slot in the lineup.

While it might feel like Baty has been around for long enough that he’s incapable of taking another step offensively, his 12.9% Barrel and 47.6% hard-hit rates (per Statcast) are not only personal bests, but they’re also in at least the 75th percentile among all players. In fact, his 56.1% hard-hit rate this month is 15th-best among 222 hitters (min. 59 PA).

Deeper-league pickups

Kyle Teel of the Chicago White Sox has a .292 batting average in August. Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire

Kyle Teel, C, Chicago White Sox (available in 97.2%): Predictably, not much attention has been paid to the 47-83 White Sox this season, but Teel, one of the primary pieces coming their way in the winter’s Garrett Crochet trade, has put forth a beneath-the-radar strong rookie stat line. Teel has been on a tear since the All-Star break, batting .322/.378/.500 with four home runs and 15 RBI in 26 games, establishing himself as an effective everyday player as part of a catcher/DH rotation with fellow rookie Edgar Quero.

Teel’s underlying metrics aren’t quite at the level of a clear ESPN standard starting catcher — he has below-average power and patience — but he’s a surefire add in any deeper league. He’s also a prospective breakthrough player for 2026.

Jeremiah Jackson, SS/3B/OF, Baltimore Orioles (available in 98.8%): Recalled following the Orioles’ July 31 trade bonanza, Jackson has made the most of his opportunity, earning starts in right field, third base and at DH, while delivering six multi-hit efforts over his first 19 MLB contests. While he’s lacking in any one elite skill, he’s hitting with enough authority to stick in the lineup for the remainder of the year, and his multi-positional eligibility is useful in 12-team mixed leagues or deeper.

Editor’s Picks

1 Related

Kyle Bradish, SP, Orioles (available in 94.3%): Like the aforementioned Bieber, Bradish is on the mend from Tommy John surgery, and is tentatively aligned to return on Tuesday. Bradish’s minor league rehabilitation results are nowhere near as sparkling, as he has a 4.91 ERA in six starts, but he pitched effectively in his past two for Triple-A Norfolk (9 2/3 innings, three runs, 12 K’s combined) and was one of the American League’s better pitchers in 2023 and in the first month-plus of 2024.

He’s a speculative pickup in larger leagues, but keep your closest tabs on his velocity following his activation, as he averaged 94.5 mph with his four-seam fastball in 2023 and 95.3 mph with the pitch last year.

Parker Messick, SP, Cleveland Guardians (available in 98.6%): Like Nolan McLean the week before him, Messick debuted with an outstanding performance this past Wednesday, displaying the command of a clear big-leaguer. He walked only one of the 26 batters he faced, and had 84.6% first-pitch strike and 56.6% zone rates. Messick’s changeup was outstanding, and provides the key to his making an impact in deeper mixed and AL-only leagues.

He’s likely to see more starts for the Guardians down the stretch, as he’s nowhere near his pro-best 133 2/3 innings of 2024, having totaled only 105 1/3 frames so far this year.



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Arkham Horror RPG Starter Set
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Arkham Horror RPG Starter Set

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Hungering Abyss is intended as an introduction to Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game. As a module, its goal is to teach both players and GM the game and to have a fun experience while learning. It comes packed with monsters, allies, characters, and maps. Importantly for the Arkham Horror seal of approval, it is equipped with evidence and enough detail in universe to have the players actually investigate instead of playing as investigators. While this might sound daunting for a newbie GM, the module facilitates GMing in a way that feels natural.

Starting at the beginning, the module first gives you some background and conversation starters for a quick session 0 with the group. It’s not a trigger warning, it’s a group conversation around how to deal with death and the supernatural. The module also makes sure to call out that it’s possible to earnestly engage with the works of Lovecraft, without also being a racist sexist too, which is important because… Lovecraft.

The story itself is three acts with ten scenes total. Depending on the group, it’s possible to do each of the three-scene acts in a single sitting (Act 2 has an optional scene). But don’t expect to blaze through the acts. There’s lots to explore and investigate; if there’s a Poirot or Holmes at the table, it’s going to take more time. The pacing feels right, with a mix of investigation and combat, but it’s absolutely possible to follow bad leads or flounder with next steps, especially at the beginning. 

There’s a lot of information for the GM in Act 1, mostly before a scene even starts. This is my biggest gripe about the way information is presented here. There’s simply too much irrelevant info in the first few pages. The first scene is unstructured investigation, so why are you telling me about movement in combat and complex actions that are not going to be used until later? There are scenes that introduce rules as they become relevant, so it’s not like the designer and writer didn’t realize that was an option.

Hungering Abyss is walking a fine line between railroading players and GM, and letting everyone flail about for leads. In the case of the investigatory scenes, the module gives a good bit of set dressing, clues, and nearby objects but also reminds GMs to use their imagination to provide more detail for the players. In early narrative scenes, the module gives GMs advice on how and when to nudge players in the right direction. In the first combat scene, there’s balancing options for helping the team if they are struggling. I personally like both aids, since most players don’t like spinning their wheels uselessly and no GM wants to have a TPK in their first combat. 

I’m not getting into spoilers for any future investigators, but one thing I really like about Hungering Abyss is that there’s so much flexibility. There are NPCs who can join your party, but aren’t required to progress. There’s breadcrumbs for each pre-made character to care about so that each player can be hooked into the story. Scenes can have multiple solutions and resolutions. Where this really shines is Act 2, where there are eight different locations in town to visit as the team pleases. There’s really only one required location to visit to make it to Act 3, but gathering more information is almost certain to be educational. And I’ve yet to meet a table of players who pass up the opportunity to shop.

As a tool to teach both players and GM about the Arkham Horror roleplaying game, this booklet does a pretty good job. Keywords are in bold, mechanics are mostly introduced slow enough to not overwhelm, it’s long enough for everyone to feel comfortable with most mechanics by the end, and you get to level up twice. As a GM, I love the clear reference materials and direction, as well as the flow of the booklet, as you aren’t constantly flipping across the whole thing. As a player, I like to not feel like I’m drowning. The booklet is sturdy enough to fold over to show single pages as needed, as well as standing up to reuse if you get to introduce the Hungering Abyss to lots of people.

Review Guidelines

85

Arkham Horror RPG Starter Set – Hungering Abyss

Great

Arkham Horror RPG Starter Set is a good way to teach its mechanics and rules to a fresh audience. There’s plenty to do and you aren’t on rails.

Pros
  • Flexibility in gameplay
  • Covers vital mechanics
  • Durable for reuse
Cons
  • GM information overload at first

This review is based on a retail copy provided by the publisher.


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