Pirate Borg
A scurvy-ridden, rules light, art heavy tabletop RPG. Inspired by history, fantasy, horror and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won’t save you from the hordes of skeletons, the Kraken, or even your own crew. Find a ship. Recruit some crew. Raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer your weasley black guts out. Get a bigger ship. Kill some things. Upgrade your ship. Sneak into a fort. Raid a port. Acquire treasure. Bury said treasure. Become infamous. Search for someone else’s treasure. Flee in terror from unfathomable creatures from the deep. Drink all of the rum. Die on the high seas. Roll a new character and do it all again.
Originally created by Luke Stratton
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Pirate Borg Reviews (5)
See what other Game Masters and players are saying about Pirate Borg
Gonzo, wild, rules-lite, but capable of great depth, in a dark and twisted version of our Golden Age of Piracy! It takes MoRK BORG and makes it, possibly better! Full of setting-specific random tables with so many great hooks and seeds! Character creation is just wild and creative, and just as fun as any part of the game when you roll for all the backgrounds and traits! Actual gameplay is fast and easy, and probably the best ship battle system out there! LOVE this system!
I've only ever played Pirate Borg, though I've skimmed through the book in anticipation of running games in the system at some point. So with that caveat, I highly recommend. I grew up with the old school gaming aesthetic, so random character creation, random equipment, random encounters (sometimes), and tables for days is very nostalgic for me. But I've also played a LOT of games since those days, and so Pirate Borg's modern aesthetics and influences are welcome. Easy to get into, easy to make another character when your first three die, and easy to have a lot of piratical fun! Plus, the art is awesome! Yarr, grab yer cutlass and dig up some treasure (and maybe some skeleton guardians)!
Pirate Borg is a rules-lite, OSR-style TTRPG that also happens to be an absolute blast! The "Dark Caribbean" is a terrific setting, the random character generation is a hoot, and the production values are stunning. Like its inspiration, Mork Borg, this is as much an art piece as it is a game.
It's Mörk Borg with pirates! Everything's better with pirates! Using the famous Borg system, Pirate Borg is a fun romp through the apocalyptic version of the Caribbeans. It has all the same pros and cons as Mörk Borg: a simple and deadly system (too simple at time), great book design (which can make reading it a bit hard), amazing art... But the setting is way easier to get into, compared to the doom-metal landscape of Mörk Borg, and the apocalypse is toned down enough to make it more appetible for more people. It unites deadly apocalyptic danger with the feel and desire for adventure and discovery, in a blend that is definitely worth playing.
How to play Pirate Borg
PIRATE BORG is a self-contained rules-light RPG for running swashbuckling campaigns. Character creation is optimized for random generation (though not required), and during combat all rolls are made by the players: enemies don’t roll to attack, instead PCs roll to defend. Pirate Borg is fun, easy to learn, potentially deadly, and perfect for OSR/NuSR style one-shots and for campaigns that focus more on player agency and smart decisions and less on character optimization and “what’s on my character sheet”.
Online Pirate Borg campaigns
Pirate Borg Dungeon Masters
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Pirate Borg map makers
Limithron
Limithron has created a large assortment of maps for use in your Pirate Borg games. They have created maps of ships, dungeons, lairs/hideouts, cities, taverns, and more! Free versions are available, or they have alternate versions of them on their Patreon.
Explore MapsFrequently asked questions about Pirate Borg
Explore Pirate Borg Classes
Brute
When you're not bashing, smashing, slashing, or crashing, you're... well, that's all you really know how to do. You can’t use Arcane Rituals, but your muscles are basically "magic."
Rapscallion
A sneaky, cutthroat scallywag good at backstabbing, breaking & entering, stealing, cheating, and escaping. Found in taverns, shadows, and shallow graves.
Buccaneer
Skilled trackers and survivalists. Expert sharpshooters, especially with muskets & rifles.
Swashbuckler
A brash fighter, with bravado & swagger.
Zealot
A clergy member, cultist, shaman, or believer.
Sorcerer
An eldritch occultist, frail and enigmatic. They are conduits for meddlesome natural spirits and devious necromantic entities.
Haunted Soul
A possessed, infected, cursed, troubled, or undead individual.
Tall Tale
An optional class that allows you to play as a merfolk, aquatic mutant, or sentient animal.