The most recent release for Cubicle 7’s Age of Sigmar RPG, Soulbound, is Ruins of the Past; “a dedicated collection of adventure locations, each carefully crafted and packed with intrigue, peril, and wondrous treasure.”

What are We Getting Here?

Ruins of the Past is a unique sourcebook, of sorts. It details nine new locations spread throughout the Mortal Realms, and even acts like a small bestiary expansion as well. It includes updated Encounter Balancing suggestions, especially to include the deadlier denizens of the ruins. A staggering 28 new creatures for Soulbound to battle, including Eidolons of Mathlann, Mega-gargants, and the dread Eater of Tomes. Like the last listed, a number of these are named characters that are encountered at these locations, but of course, can be put wherever you game needs them.

Before I give some information about each of the nine locations featured in the book, I want to point out my favorite part- it can be run as a campaign! Each location can be strung together into a Realm-spanning campaign with one of the afore-mentioned named monsters as the BBEG. I love this, as I am a huge fan of longer form campaigns over one-shot adventures. Four pages are dedicated to describe how the threads of story from each location can be linked together to form a cohesive campaign (assuming a Soulbound party of Order, you could run another faction, but it would take a lot more work for the GM). One thing Cubicle 7 has been doing great with Soulbound is the amount of adventures out there. With the Starter Set, free adventures, Shadows in the Mist, Ulfenkarn, and Blackened Earth (you can see our playthrough here, or watch it live- see our socials for when we’re playing). Ruins of the Past just gives more things for players to do!

Time to Explore!

Like other Cubicle 7 sourcebooks focusing on different locations, these chapters follow a patter. First is a description and history of the ruins (including MAPS- some are more detailed than others, as befits the lore of the ruin), their Themes and Atmosphere, a random encounter table (love these), potential allies and enemies present, plot hooks (woo!), Points of Interest (lots of cool stuff here), and Aftermath (including how things could change based on the Soulbound’s actions and Rewards).

Instead of going into detail of each location (that’s what getting the book is for), I’m going to highlight my favorite part of each.

Aighmaris

A great city and culture of the underwater aelves was lost during the Age of Chaos and now is teeming with Skaven and Deepkin clinging to existance. In the Realm of Death, Aighmaris has lost all relevancy, but is now home to treasure hunters and forces of the Great Horned Rat. These ruins are underwater, however, and even though there are pockets of Aethersea for Soulbound to breathe in, most of Aighmaris must be explored with special vehicles, devices, or spells. The Eidolon of Mathlann that was protected here has turned feral, making a deadly danger lurking beneath the waves.

The Akhelian Asydrazor, an Idoneth Armory, is full of weapons and new equipment, including Razorshell Harpoon Launchers, and the Living Whip, the weapon of a fallen Greater Daemon Slaanesh. The random encounters for Aighmaris are mostly spooky and designed to keep the Soulbound on their toes, there are enough enemies here that random monsters aren’t really needed.

The Ashen Necropolis

Written with Bindings of Death in mind, the Ashen Necropolis was burned to cinders by a desperate Freeguild Captain-General Ada Karkov. The Bonereapers were devastated, but not wholly defeated. A few linger in the Necropolis, attempting to revive it’s former glory. If playing a Binding of Death, there are a handful of NPCs here that can send them on missions, or act as guides. Against Soulbound though, they become enemies, and seek to collect their bones. The random encounters here includes more monsters, with fewer deadly creatures in the lore of this location.

The Tomb of the Arrogant Lord houses the remains of the last ruler of the Ashen Necropolis- Xaratas. Instead of gold and gems, his tomb is littered with Purebone and Grave Coins. Soulbound could get in some trouble here to plunder these riches. Xaratas’s remains are protected by powerful Bonereapers- Necropolis Stalkers and Mortek Guard. Those that survive though, will find powerful artifacts within the tomb of the fallen Ossiarch Lord.

Barak-Kling

Once a highly successful Kharadron Sky-Port, Barak-Kling was one of many bastions of civilization to fall during the Necroquake. When Barak-Kling fell, not all of the magical animus that suspended the Sky-Port was lost. Sections of the city still float above the ruins, tethered by long chains to the remains below. While their story may seem simple enough, one cool part of this location is that not only do Nighthaunt roam, but undead duardin have had their souls trapped within as well! Admiral Annika Grimlock (with her own unique stat-block) led the Arkanauts here in life, and still in death. The Arkanauts are now known as the Dreadwind Buccaneers and are in constant battle with the Nighthaunt and any living thing that enters their realm.

The High Life is an Arkanaut frigate the party can find in the forests surrounding the ruins of Barak-Kling. With a few tests and some searching of the ruins, they can get the ship back in flying condition and use it to ascent to the remaining floating sections of the location. Of course this isn’t easy, as the only place to find replacement parts is in the haunted ruins!

Butcher’s Gorge

A truly deadly place for any party (except maaaybe one of Destruction), the Butcher’s Gorge is less a ruin, and more of a stronghold of the Bloodgullet Mawtribe. It is home to ogors obsessed with consuming raw meat for their god. The random encounters here are more dangerous than other places, full of ogors, gnoblars, and even some worshippers of Khorne! The gorge has been carved out by the Marrow River, and it is a place you don’t want to sail. Butchers leading ogors on rafts will assail any party that dares make their way to the Ribcage Lake this way.

But why would you want to go here anyway? At the bottom of Ribcage Lake are fabled pieces of the ribs of Gorkamorka! Earning a Rib-Fragment is a mighty reward- equipping it grants the bearer +1 Body and one Mettle point that regenerates every day. Time to dive!

If one would rather not dive down through a 10 zone-deep lake of boiling water, they can try to earn rewards in The Pit. Sixteen wooden pontoons float in a square on the lake where fighters try to survive against monsters, ogors, or worse. Eventually, a mighty fighter could attempt to depose the Overtyrant Carcassa herself or, more likely, be eaten by her. Even if they do win, they will likely be branded heretics for killing the Overtyrant and mobbed and consumed by the other ogrors. I said this place was deadly!

Crawling Pits of Gharrentia

Ironjawz and Spiderfang Grots have solidly claimed this corner of the realm of Ghur, chaining and sedating the Godbeast Fangathrak. The massive World-Worm is savagely fought over by orruks and minions of Chaos for the Realmgate in its gullet. The Mawgate, as it’s known, is important to the forces of Chaos as it leads directly to the Eightpoints! The orruk Warboss Gordrakk pushed the Chaos warriors away and has claimed the mighty beast and its gate as his own, and dares anyone try to take it from him.

Thunderstone Reach is a lost Stormvault of the Stormcast Eternals. Once on the surface, the Necroquake plunged the Stormvault into the canyon, now supported by webs of the spider-like creatures of the region. The Stormvault has since been abandoned and looted by greenskins, but there is a sarcophagus inside that a Soulbound of Order might be sent to investigate…

The Kraken-Eater’s Castle

A place lost to pride and gluttony, the Kraken-Eater’s Castle is a story of hubris and ambition leading to a great fall. Now swarming with daemons of Slaanesh and a massive Mega-Gargant, the once-lofty citadel of the Lumineth is a place best avoided. The strange machinations of the previous owner of the keep, Lysaria Lysgolda, Lady of Luminance,
praetor of the shining Castle Lysgolda on the shores of Mer Zaimetrica (Lumineth love their titles!) was an eccentric sorceress that attempted to impart intelligence into the creatures of Hysh. The Mega-Gargant Gherant heard of the vast quantities of aetherquartz that Lysgolda was using and came to eat his fill. She ordered her creations to stop him, but her experiments worked too well. Her creations turned on her, and the emotions of all involved opened a rift for the daemons of Slaanesh to pour through! Lysgolda was killed by her creations and now the minions of Slaanesh dominate them and keep the Gargant like a pet.

My favorite Point of Interest here is Lysgolda’s Laboratory. First, it’s guarded by an ochtar that will only let people in if they solve a dope riddle. Once inside, the party can learn what befell here, and get some clues to help the region. Not to mention the powerful artifacts like the Blade of Symmetry, the Warding Lantern, and a ton of aetherquartz!

The Orb-City of Calumnexis

Three rings of technological marvels entice treasure hunters from all of Chamon and beyond. This location throws players into a clockwork hellscape full of dangerous automatons, mushroom addicted grots, and Clans Skryre Skaven looking to cause trouble. Reminiscent of the forge in Avengers: Endgame, Calumnexis consists of concentric rings floating high above the firmament of the Realm of Metal. The place has become distorted by time magicl and the Realmstone chamonite. In addition, an aware and self-replicating atomaton called Aukhrona has taken control of all the machines, keeping anything at bay that could settle the twisting magics here and allow Calumnexis to fire up the forges again.

Another Kharadron frigate, the Grind Barakzul, can be found here, tethered to the tallest spire in the Middle Ring. The Senior Endeineer Gylfi Khurgisson was left in command of a small defensive force as the rest of the crew and their Captain Sveya Stoutarm. The problem though, is that Gylfi has gone a little mad after replacing the aether-gold with chamonite to power the frigate! The crew remaining are beholden by codes to work with him, but something is clearly wrong and if the Soulbound solve it, they can gain a very helpful ally in the Captain. If they can find her below.

The Platinum Spire

Another location in Chamon, the Realm of Metal, the Platinum Spire is under siege. Currently held by the Ruinous Powers, a large portion of the Stormhost of Hallowed Knights is trying to take it back and protect the knowledge within. They have been unsuccessful mostly due to the machinations of three Mindstealer Sphiranxes. To save the Spire, the Soulbound must find and defeat the three creatures- no easy task! 

The Spire is divided into three major areas- the floating ruins surrounding the massive structure, the labyrinth within, and the Stormvault that holds an impossible amount of knowledge and treasures. The Looping Room within the labyrinth is the most interesting place to me in the Platium Spire. “This encounter consists of nine looping rounds of combat, where at the start of each round, the party and Horrors reset to their starting positions on the battlefield. The Horrors also recover all Toughness and increase their Defence one step for subsequent rounds if defeated.” I love this and absolutely wouldn’t tell the players what was going on. Once the 9th round is over, things reset again, but the Horrors can actually die! The Party can attempt to figure out what is going on with tests and attempt to Unbind the magic here, but what’s the fun in that? 😉

Varanthax’s Maw

Within the Eightpoints itself, Varanthax’s Maw is not a place for the feint of heart- or the weak of body. Varanite is mined here from the long-dead body of the long-dead godbeast Varanthax. Claimed by Archaon himself, he has put a Gaunt Summoner known as the Eater of Tomes in charge of operations here. This location is so dire, Doom begins set at 5! Entering this place should be a last-ditch effort for any Party of a Binding that isn’t Chaos- and even then they might not be welcomed.

A blast from the past, Chaos Dwarfs are featured here, in a sense. Etaurax, a massive bull-centaur priest of Hashut, controls a corner of the Maw, demanding payment for anyone passing through the domain of his Horns of Hashut warband. Either a tax of 50D equivalent must be payed, or Etaurax must be defeated- which is no easy task! Not only is he a huge monster himself, but he has warband with him that comes with a cool table to see what the Soulbound get to fight with him!

Where to Next?

That’s it for the new locations (I guess I did go into detail about each!), but after that there are updated rules for balancing encounters for your Soulbound, tons of new enemies and NPCs, as well as a handy guide for substituting out creatures in case the GM doesn’t have the Bestiary supplement.

All in all, I love this book. Nine cool locations that can be used separately or linked into an epic, realm-hopping campaign, tons of new things for your Soulbound to fight, and maps! Highly recommended for any Soulbound GM.