There is treasure waiting to be plundered, enemy ships on the seas to be sundered, and a legacy to be forged in brine, blood, and barnacles in the dark and fantastic depths of PIRATE BORG (PG). This swashbuckling TTRPG is heavily inspired by the apocalyptic elements of the MÖRK BORG system, modified and expanded to include pirate archetypes, ship combat, and eldritch elements that haunt the setting.
If you and your crew want to venture the high seas chasing glory and gold, then the PG system will facilitate that, but if your party is going to be playing online, the Virtual Tabletop (VTT) you choose can determine if your game will sink or sail. Although the system itself is not as complex as many popular TTRPGs, its highly stylized artistic design and focus on smooth yet exciting gameplay require a VTT that is just as customizable and convenient to create the best online PG experience.
When the Cannons Roar!
Fortunately, because of its simplistic ruleset, any VTT with basic dice rolling capabilities should be able to work for running a majority of the game. However, there is one aspect of PG that demands a more nuanced system: ship-to-ship combat. When a Man O’ War looms over the horizon, cannons aimed and sails unfurled, speeding toward your sloop, the mechanics get serious. From distance measuring to wind-specific movement rules, battle on the ocean is the most detailed part of PG gameplay, so the VTT you use should be able to adapt to account for that. Ideally, a VTT with built-in hex-squares, measuring tools, and resource management trackers will simplify this part of PG and speed up the number crunching.
Bringing the Dark Caribbean to Life
Where PIRATE BORG is light on rules, it’s heavy on art. The core rulebook and all officially released products for PG are beautifully illustrated by the creator of PG, Luke Stratton. His dark and gritty depictions of the Dark Caribbean and its inhabitants set the apocalyptic, macabre, but also whimsical tone for PG. To maintain the feel of this setting in-game, Stratton has drawn and released multiple map and token asset packs that players can use in their home sessions to bring the vivid unearthly world of PG to life. Moreover, PIRATE BORG boasts an active Discord and Reddit community that is consistently creating and updating homebrew assets in the style of Stratton for general use. The VTT you choose should be able to support the uploading and use of these assets to best immerse your party in the PG setting.
Built for the BORG
The minds behind PIRATE BORG know that playing TTRPGs online has become one of the primary ways people form groups and play out their campaigns. Therefore, they’ve partnered with Alchemy, Foundry VTT, and Roll20 to integrate their official content, such as the core rulebook and basic assets, directly into these popular VTTs.
While any of these three platforms would be most effective at running PG, Foundry VTT stands out as the uniquely superior choice. The online PIRATE BORG community overwhelmingly uses Foundry VTT to host their games, and subsequently has published the most homebrew content for the software. If you’re just looking to host PG, most VTTs have the versatility to run the game, but if you want access to the widest array of official and unofficial resources, tokens, maps, and content made specifically for PG, then Foundry is the VTT for you. Complete with the measuring tools needed to run the more complicated aspects of combat, combined with the largest PG-perfect vibe fitting library of assets and modules, the PIRATE BORG experience is best had on Foundry VTT.
Finn Halpern is a Chicago-based writer, passionate about TTRPGs, nerd culture, and the art of storytelling.
