# Forgotten Ruin: the RPG *Created:* 2025-08-09, *Modified:* 2026-10-18 ![[Forgotten Ruin - the RPG (cover).jpg]] Somewhere, a squad of US Army Rangers with an M4 and a sense of tactical humor is all the fantasy party you need. **Forgotten Ruin: the RPG** — from **Wargate Books** / **Galaxy's Edge LLC**, designed by **Walt Robillard** — is the game of what happens when a modern special-operations unit gets violently rehomed to a dark-fantasy world where the grimoires are real and the orc horde does not care about your fire-support request. It's the "Tolkien meets Shock and Awe" pitch the novel series made famous, now a tabletop RPG built on the lightweight **SUPER6** engine. ## Setting A modern US Army Ranger unit is catapulted through time to an alien Earth, rewritten by science and sorcery into a fantasy realm. The ruins of the old world are the **Ruin** itself — a place of dark factions, ancient magic, and monsters, where everyone fights over its scraps. The player characters are the operators, soldiers, and troopers sent through the gate to restore humanity and rebuild a shattered world, hauling a **Forge** that can fabricate much-needed kit. It's military fiction wearing a fantasy mask: the **Ranger Creed** matters, chain of command matters, and the world runs on a grim, "the Ruin reveals in its own time" fatalism rather than chosen-one destiny. ## Mechanics Everything resolves with pooled six-sided dice, written **XD** (X = number of dice). You roll the pool, total it, and try to match or beat a **Target Number** — bigger is better. ### Characters A character is defined by four kinds of attribute: - **Resistances** — Composure, Fortitude, Reaction, and Will; how much emotional, physical, and mental stress you can take. - **Aptitudes** — the real-world skill feats: melee combat, operating computers, identifying ancient artifacts, sneaking, jumping chasms. - **Powers** — the inhuman stuff: flying, lifting trucks, seeing through walls, controlling minds. - Plus **Boosts**, **Complications**, and **Advantages** to round out and constrain characters — a Power taken with a Complication earns bonus dice as compensation. Ordinary humans cap their dice (usually **3D** for Resistances and Aptitudes); player characters can roll up to **5D** on Resistances and **7D** on Aptitudes, but always **tally only the best three dice** rolled. ### Resolution - **Unopposed checks**: roll an Aptitude against a Target Number the **Observer Controller** (the OC, i.e. the GM) sets from difficulty — the harder the task, the higher the TN. - **Opposed checks**: in direct competition, the reactor's roll *becomes* the Target Number the actor must match or beat (a defender's dodge roll, say). - Success is graded by **how far you beat the TN** — a margin that scales the effect and, in combat, feeds directly into damage. Dice pools don't just tell you whether you did a thing, they tell you how stylishly. ### Combat Actions resolve as opposed checks against a defender, and the margin of success determines how hard the hit lands — heavier weapons hit harder, and a good roll isn't just a hit, it's a better one. ## Editions - **Forgotten Ruin: the RPG** (2024) — the SUPER6 tabletop RPG core rulebook (SUPER6 © 2024 Walt Robillard; game & Wargate Books © 2024 Galaxy's Edge LLC), by **Walt Robillard** (Wargate Books / Galaxy's Edge). *In the library.* Single core rulebook, no version family. > A separate game sits under the same banner: **[[Forgotten Ruin - The Adventure Wargame|Forgotten Ruin: the Adventure Wargame]]** (Modiphius, the Five-X miniatures game) shares this setting but is a mechanically unrelated product — same book series, different games. ## References - [Forgotten Ruin RPG - Wargate Books](https://wargate.store/collections/forgotten-ruin-rpg) - [Forgotten Ruin: The Role Playing Game Kickstarter - Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/galaxysedge/forgotten-ruin-the-role-playing-game) - [Machine guns versus monsters: Forgotten Ruin gets an RPG - Geek Native](https://www.geeknative.com/139828/machine-guns-versus-monsters-forgotten-ruin-gets-an-rpg/) - [Game Review: Forgotten Ruin by Modiphius - Woehammer](https://woehammer.com/2025/03/28/game-review-forgotten-ruin-by-modiphius/)