Mörk Borg

A game like a doom metal album, a spiked flail to the face - that's how Mörk Borg describes himself on its bright yellow cover. The game promises to be light on rules and heavy on everything else. Basically, Mörk Borg is an old-school Renaissance-style roleplaying game that uses the rules of an early D&D as a starting point and presents a gritty setting on top of it. There are dice tables for all sorts of things like names, treasures, weather, etc. Characters are rolled out within a short time (which is good because they probably won't survive long). Four game statistics are determined by 3d6 and then converted into bonus values, which are factored into the roll of a d20 against a difficulty. The game master determines when a character improves - there are no formal levels, nor are there experience points. And even then, the dice decide what the improvement is. Magic exists just in the form of scrolls, but a character can use only a certain number of them per day. Besides, characters have bonus points, called omens, which they can use to maximize damage, re-roll dice, etc.

Besides the completely free character creation, there are optional character classes like Fanged Deserter, Gutterborn Scum, Esoteric Hermit, Wretched Royalty, Heretical Priest, or Occult Herbmaster. These classes have modified creation rules and quite unique features. For example, the Occult Herbmaster can create random potions every day, while the Wretched Royalty may have servants that are limited in reliability (or helpfulness).

The world of Mörk Borg is on the brink of the apocalypse prophesied by the two-headed basilisk. It is a world sinking into filth, death, and despair - full of the undead, madness, brutality, and ruin. Depending on how long you want to play, you roll different dice to see which, if any, of the dark prophecies will come true. And as soon as the seventh prophecy is fulfilled, the game ends with the end of the world...

While these are the facts, Mörk Borg's goal seems to be to overwhelm and/or shock the reader with its presentation. Typography, illustrations, and layout can best be described as creative chaos. Various font styles and garish colors clash with gritty illustrations and classic styles, and many of the motifs can only be described as blatant. Weapon statistics, for example, are explained by an illustration in which a character is hit and pierced by a good dozen weapons.

In terms of content, some monster statistics and a dungeon adventure complete the book. Also, in the adventure Rotblack Sludge or the Shadow King's Lost Heir, the characters get into a dungeon that offers enough deadly threats that there is, fortunately, no time to ask why....

Personally, I have a hard time rating the game in the end. Mörk Borg consistently and uncompromisingly goes the old-school route: virtually everything is roll out with dice, and any unnecessary rules ballast is dropped. Even if the bizarre setting is described vaguely, you still get a good impression of the degenerate game world. And the presentation is definitely impressive - though definitely not to everyone's taste. For me, Mörk Borg is more a product for collectors than a game you want to play. The authors and illustrators have taken their vision to the extreme here, which I find impressive, even if the style doesn't appeal to me personally.

If you like the gritty, exaggerated, and crass style, you'll get an impressive product here. Those who get a weird feeling just looking at the cover are probably better off just keeping the book closed.

(Björn Lippold)