Rubica Campaign Setting

Overview

Enter a world of primordial powers, clashing empires, cosmic strife, and fickle gods. 

Rubica is an original swords-and-sorcery Tabletop Role-Playing Game setting from Houndsong Games. Explore the vast continent of Concorde’s Reach: a land of sprawling cities, rugged frontiers, long-lost secrets, and deadly mysteries. 

We're funding the creation of the Rubica Campaign Guide, a comprehensive sourcebook that will bring this setting to life around your table. 

After a band of mortals unearthed a dormant god, ‘the Reach’ is poised to become a flashpoint as the great powers of the world rush to protect, contain, or destroy this reborn entity before it can take root. The brewing conflict touches everything from back-alley skullduggery to grand political maneuvers; whether your adventurers choose a side or avoid being dragged into the fray, they will be navigating a world where new dangers — and new opportunities — are forming by the day. 

Backer Rewards

This hardcover sourcebook is a comprehensive guide for game masters to run any adventure they wish to set in the world of Rubica. 

It features: 

• The history, myths, and cosmology of Rubica
• Tools for creating characters that feel immersed in the setting
• A guide to the major and minor factions found throughout the Reach
• A detailed gazetteer of the Reach’s regions, including entries on settlements, major cities, points of interest, local intrigue, and quest hooks 
• A bestiary of monsters and mortals to face off with
• A trove of magical items to discover 
• Pre-written adventures that can stand as one-shots or drop into ongoing campaigns 
• Guidance for adapting the contents of this book for other settings

Reward Contents by Pledge Tier

Preview PDF

Relict and Beyond

Houndsong Games’ flagship project is Relict RPG, a free, open-source tabletop gaming system (that you can play right now). 

Relict is encouraged but not required for the Rubica Campaign Guide. Don’t get us wrong—you should really, really give it a shot, you’re going to fall in love with it—but the majority of the Rubica Campaign Guide is lore, adventures, and a world to explore. Game Masters wishing to use the Guide in another game system will need to substitute certain mechanical elements like monster and item stats for their preferred system, but Rubica remains open to all. 

Hedron VTT Integration

The funding goal of this campaign includes the cost of integrating the Relict RPG system into Hedron, a powerful indie-focused virtual tabletop (VTT) platform. This involves working directly with the Hedron developers to build the Relict rule-set and character creator into Hedron.

Meet the Team

Funding & Stretch Goals

The minimum funding goal for this campaign will cover the creation costs for the Rubica Campaign Guide and Hedron integration. Additional funds raised will first be put toward increasing the scope and quality of the Campaign Guide, increasing pay to our awesome team of contributors, and then toward operating costs and future Houndsong Games projects. 

Stretch Goals Breakdown

No AI

Compatibility and FAQs

Q: What game systems is Rubica for? Do I have to use the Relict system with the Rubica Campaign Guide?

This is a campaign setting book — the majority of what it contains is story, lore, worldbuilding, quest hooks, locations, and so forth. This kind of content is usable in almost any system. You should really try Relict, though. It's free. C'mon. Do ittt.

Q: What is Relict?

Relict is an open-source, free tabletop game system designed by CD Corrigan/Houndsong Games. The system was first shown to the public in 2022, and has been placed under the ORC license for other creators to use as they wish. For more (including the full rule set for free), visit RelictRPG.com.

Q: What parts of the book DO use the Relict system?

Monster and item stats are being designed for Relict. The included adventures will incorporate these, as well as miscellaneous rules references (like what stat to roll for a Check).

Q: What about international shipping and tariffs?

This situation has shifted multiple times even while we were working on this page. For the moment, we're suggesting that most overseas customers stick to the digital reward tiers. If we're able to confirm that we're in the clear before fulfillment, we'll open up the physical tiers in late pledges for international backers.

Q: When will I get my stuff?

Once the project funds, we're getting to work ASAP. We've planned roughly 6 months for the creative work—writing, art—and an additional six months for polish, editing, and production. This means you should expect to see books getting mailed out roughly one year after this campaign successfully funds.