Powered by Mörk Borg
Mörk Borg, a hyper-stylish, rules-light, old-school, Swedish death metal tabletop roleplaying game, released in 2020 to instant success. Its minimalist rules and maximalist aesthetic design captured the hearts and imaginations of thousands of RPG fans eager to jump into its apocalyptic pages, roll up a graverobbing scumbag of a player character, die in the muck of a pitch-black dungeon, and do it all over again. In no time at all, Mörk Borg inspired adaptations porting its ultralight rules system to other genres and settings, including cyberpunk, pirate, science fiction, science fantasy, orcs, and... ducks? The core of the system itself is quite simple: randomly roll your character's hit points, equipment, and abilities (and optionally, a class and a few other odds and ends, depending on the game) and send them forth into the world to prosper or die. Characters are quite fragile, so character creation is mercifully quick. Death won't keep you out of the game for long! When confronted with a challenge, characters can test their abilities by rolling a d20, adding or subtracting a modifier from their abilities or circumstances, and trying to roll equal to or greater than the Difficulty Rating, or DR. In combat, rather than having enemies roll to hit, player characters roll to dodge or defend themselves. Armor reduces incoming damage, and hit points determine how much damage a character can take before they die. Due to the dark tone of most games powered by Mörk Borg, magic, technology, and monsters are usually terribly dangerous and cursed, and there is usually a creeping apocalyptic threat looming, waiting to end this horrible world once and for all. Other than Mörk Borg itself, several games use the system it pioneered, including Death in Space, Vast Grimm, CY_BORG, Orc Borg, Pirate Borg, and Dukk Borg, among several others!
Popular RPGs using Powered by Mörk Borg
Mörk Borg
MÖRK BORG is a pitch-black apocalyptic fantasy RPG about lost souls and fools seeking redemption, forgiveness or the last remaining riches in a bleak and dying world. Who are you? The tomb-robber with silver glittering between cracked fingernails? The mystic who would bend the world’s heart away from it’s inevitable end? Confront power-draining necromancers, skulking skeletal warriors and backstabbing wickheads. Wander the Valley of the Unfortunate Undead, the catacombs beneath the Bergen Chrypt or the bedevilled Sarkash forest. But leave hope behind – the world’s cruel fate is sealed, and all your vain heroic efforts are destined to end in death and dismay. Or are they?
CY_BORG
The world is ending. ⸐ Again and again and again and again and again a̶n̴͗d̵̥͒ ̸̎ă̶ġ̸a̵̢͗i̶͙̓n̸̡̔ ă̵̢̫̥̺̻̞n̵͔̽̿̏̓͋͠͝d̴̢̪̟͊ ̵̡̺̖̰̯͖̞̓̑̐̈́̍̋a̶̤̘̖͗͐̀̔̚̚g̴̛͇̻̦̻͇̲̈́̏à̷̩̫͒ḯ̷̡̱̀̀̀͠ṇ̶̦̔͜. Constantly in flux; shifting, distorting, always reborn as something worse. Destruction by ecological catastrophes, the fallout of history’s belligerence; by modern man-made Miseries or the blood spilled by the reckless machine of capitalist supremacy. Mankind’s greatest ability truly is to destroy itself in creative ways. Designer demise, consumer-customized death, endlessly on repeat. Poisonous space rocks, nuclear weapons, cyclical revolutions, warring nations, warring corporations, warring neighbors; pandemics, tsunamis, volcanoes. In between it all: direct person-machine interfaces, tactical neural implants, and bacteria from outer space hijacking intercellular nanorobotics. And the sky is full of ads. Everyone is interfaced/injected/infected/infested with something. Everyone wants something from everyone else. Everyone is a liar and a cheat. Everyone wants more creds. Welcome to the year 20X3. Welcome to the City of Y!̸͆̅̌”̶͌̉#̸͇̞̻̌̚”̶̨̻̘̇̉̊͆̈́͒̌̆̓̕͜#̶̖̣̘̻͖̥͕̙̀̃̈́́̄̕̕͜͠2̶̧̻̺̝̥̮̣̒͒̂͐͐̍́́͘̕̕4̴̿̌’̷̛̙͍̠̙̿ The Cy.
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.
Death in Space
The world is broken. In a collapsing universe, your crew is your only family. Death in Space takes you to a grimy blue-collar future in a universe filled with risk, but also opportunity. Death in Space is a game about adventure and uncertain journeys out into the darkness of space, where the void whispers to the unlucky and imbues travelers’ bodies with strange powers. It is about you and your crew making a home of your spacecraft or station, your only sanctuary in a dangerous universe. Most of all, it is about surviving in an abandoned frontier system where resources are scarce, and competition is fierce. Engage in power struggles and build your crew’s reputation. Salvage and steal to endure a ruthless universe. And above all, do anything you can to get that next job. Your life will depend on it.
