Mörk Borg

"I have a secret game that I'd like to play. Oh it's a very nice game, it's a lovely game. It's a game of fun, and a game of adventure! A game of rats! And lice! And the black death! A game of speared eyeballs and dripping guts, and the smell of... Rotting gardenias."

– AM, from I have no mouth and I must scream

"Mörk Borg? Ain't that the TTRPG pseudo-DnD nerds play because it came from Sweden and the art is weird?"

– Anon, in every Mörk Borg thread.

Mörk Borg, also known as Not Gork Mork (or was it Mork Gork?), Sven the RPG, Tumblr does Dungeons and Dragons, World's most confusing game book, Swedish Dark Souls in paper form, Fa/tg/uys' nightmare, Grimdark Medieval IKEA, Game of Skubs, MÖRK BORG or Mork Borg for those who don't know how to put tremas atop their Os on their keyboard, is a Tabletop RPG reminescent of GURPS and Dungeons & Dragons (naturally) set in a pre-apocalyptic world which is about to end altogether and you play as a filthy scavenger on a quest for redemption, artefacts, gold, or all three at the same time before your life comes to an abrupt if predictable end. As you can see, it isn't the most lighthearted thing on the planet.

Mörk Borg has made itself quite a reputation these days, primarily because of its gritty atmosphere, post-modern and punk art that makes it look like it belongs in a new age museum (or a Hot Topic, depending on your age and level of contempt), its confusing booklet wherein lies the rules, its dungeon-crawling action and its teeth-clentching difficulty. Some even theorize that the game was made by the angriest DM that ever exist. It's hard to get into Mörk Borg, mark our words. It is so niche in its form that even /tg/, of all things, can't bring itself to speak or play this game. It is THAT polarizing.

And why's that you may ask? Well, beside the aesthetics that would remind metal heads of a new-age doom metal concert, Mörk Borg is unapologetically, incredibly, ball-bustingly DIFFICULT. Even if you have the nicest, kindest, most charming and caring DM on the planet, the game wants you dead. The game is so goddamn crunchy that it wants you to feel like you live in a world that will do anything in its power to kill you, it wants you to feel that everything is on the brink of extinction and you're going with everything going out with the storm. And it does so by punishing for anything that you do wrong. It's not even like Dark Souls, because at least Dark Souls rewards you for doing good.

Do you have the required level of autism to read the confusing game booklet that is such a mess to read, its Index is at the end of it? Are you prepared for your character sheet that comes before the pages that explain how any of your stats and perks work? Can you stomach the idea that most of the pages are filled with fluff that does not serve any purpose until you get to the end-game? But most importantly, do you have the testicular fortitude to go through this literal hellspawn of a game that will stab, punch, kick, torture, murder, axe and club you till you pass out?

If so, welcome to Mörk Borg, you're gonna ruck blood.

The System

Once one gets around the obtuse visuals within the game book that could give even a Dwarf Fortress player pause, the realization will come in that the system is not THAT complicated. Au contraire, this being a retroclone RPG (Albeit one very deviant from the norm), the rules are fairly simple - it's a d20 system with some variations on the classic formula.

You have 4 basic stats - Agility, Presence, Strength and Toughness. All of them are self-explanatory, minus presence which is the odd man-out of the stat group; it doubles as both your charisma and the general spellcasting stat. Tests are done in typical d20 fashion, with a more "modern" roll over formula to it, with difficult rates assigned for each type of roll one makes. Actions in combat usually default that difficult rate to 12.

In combat, you roll your attacks against enemies while also rolling defense with no rolls made by the DM's NPCs - this might remind some players of Dungeon World and it's system having a similar attitude towards enemies and how their attacks are rolled (or rather, not rolled) against the players. Notably, armor doesn't make it harder to be hit but reduces the damage one takes instead, with the higher armor tiers trading agility, including your capability to dodge, to survive an extra punch or two during a fight.

Magic (called Powers/Scrolls here) is powerful but unstable in a manner that would make Dungeon Crawl Classics blush over how butt-fucked one can be over it's misuse and how hard you can butt-fuck your enemies with a bit of luck in your side, because if you fail to use a spell not only does it not work, but you also take d2 damage (remember this is a retroclone so each goblet of life counts in here) and you lose the capability to cast any spell for 1 hour, essentially fucking over any dedicated spellcaster in the party and leaving them sucking their thumb for one hour as their main usefulness is removed.

Omens are a counterpart of sorts to the inspiration die system from fifth edition D&D, by default a character starts with d2 omens and regains them after a long rest. They have a variety of uses, from rerolling a dice roll to negating a crit or fumble to lowering a test's difficult by -4 and are pretty handy and generous in a otherwise sadistic system that seems to take joy at your frustration at the game's unfairness.

Probably the single biggest, double-barreled "Fuck You!" Mörk Borg has comes from how you level up - and the mechanics behind leveling up. Unlike most retroclones, there's no XP system, you level up when the DM feels like it, which is fine and dandy, specially for players less inclined towards the sadism style of old-school games. The "Fuck You" moment comes from the fact you roll a d6 against every ability; if it's lower than it's bonus, you decrease it, if it's higher, you increase it. So yes, the game punishes you for accomplishing things and having a powerful character by increasing the chance you get weaker every time you level up. To be fair on Mörk Borg, the health mechanics in the level up system is much less of an asshole towards the players, you just roll a 6d10 and if the result is higher than your current health you increase it by d6, no retarded stat-decreasing shinegans.

Character Creation, as with most things in the book, is a mix inovation and throwback to other retroclones, the game has a typical Honest Rolls Character method if one chooses to pick an optional class, otherwise, it's 4d6, drop the lowest result instead, offering a choice of either having useful character bonuses at the cost of shitty stats or a higher chance at decent stats at the cost of specialization and abilities otherwise restricted to the "cool guys" at your party. And since the classes get bonuses to their stats most people just choose to play with the "optional" classes in spite of this "dillema" anyway.

Oh, we mentioned "optional" classes? Yeah, they are quite an interesting affair, as you will see next session.

The Classes

Classes in Mörk Borg are the expected result of a Dark Fantasy setting that's even shittier than the usual fare. Every class is a mix of a tormented, lost, deranged and desperate somebody - which to be honest, is not that of an unfair description of someone who is autistic enough to go on D&D-style adventures in a world that's edgier than Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at it's worst.

Classes get a special starting HP and omen dice, plus an exclusive unique power/artifact/ability to their class, which are generally pretty useful, though sometimes limited in use or vulnerable to loss during game sessions. Fan books add dozens of fan-made classes, helped by the fact they are pretty simple in design with the only "real" effort coming from making up the class concept in the first place, while still allowing for the creation of unique and creative adventurers scum types. In the OG book, there are 6 classes in total:

• Fanged Crusader: A Deserter from a "Deceased Army of a Nameless War for a Forgotten Kingdom" with sharp, wolf-like teeth and a perchant for brutality and violence. At the somewhat low price of being the only class unable to use scrolls, you also get the only class in the book that uses a d10 for it's life die, with a boost to your strength and Toughtness which makes you surprisingly bulky, for OSR standards anyways. Amongst the starting bonuses for the class there are included the option for a sword that can infect enemies and a mangy, loyal dog to follow you around.

• Gutterborn Scum: The shitstain of society, bandits and thugs alike ranging from petty criminals to outright serial murderers and rapists, all of which can fall into the classification of a Gutterborn Scum as long as one is willing to stab a fellow man in the back rather than seek "chump work" to get your next fill. Gets a boost to agility, and it's starting bonuses include the capability to backstab your enemies to being able to roll a dice upon dying and possibly being rejected by death itself out of disgust if you're luck enough.

• Wretched Royalty: A snob prick that fell from grace and is unable to savor the sweet fruit of privilege anymore, stripped out of their royalty and titles and forced to face the reality of the dying world in all of it's squalor and miserable "glory" as they're forced into humiliating mercenary work to stay alive. Gets a boost to Presence and it's starting bonus is a remnant of their former life, going from a sentient, egocentric talking horse that believes it's smarter than you (a reference to Gulliver's Travells) to a dagger that can INSTAKILL ENEMIES ON A COIN FLIP.

Third-Party Books

One of Mörk Borg's greatest strenghts is how easy it is to create third-party books for it. Matter of fact, the game basically encourages you to use them. Most of them bring a twist to its simple rules, make balance changes, introduces new classes and monsters (considering the original booklet only had twelve of them), and guarantees that you'll get a different experience every time you change books. Sounds good? What's that? You don't wanna use them? Well too bad, because everyone is using them. Matter of fact, you'll notice how quick the game gets brutal on you, so having an additional book that actually helps you getting somewhere is not necessary, but MANDATORY at this point.

Most of these Third-Party booklets can be find on Ex-Libris, but if you want something more "official", then we recommend that you use the official secondary booklets Mörk Borg's website offers you for free. The fact that it is official should probably raise a red flag, and for good measure, since it will only contribute to the amount of extra-torture you're gonna get. Some are less perverted in their design and offer you some very interesting mechanics that can come in handy during your quest. Just remember, anything that can help you can also equally butt-fuck you out of nowhere.

The Setting

"The Wind from the west. From the sundered land. Rot rides it, and the stench of blood. Cursed walker, will you travel there? To the Valley of the Unfortunate Undead? Our young ones are taken by the child-thief Tergol, known for his vile crimes and alchemy of flesh."

– The opening of the book, and a grim tone setter

To say that the world of Mörk Borg is beyond bleak is an understatement. Everything is dying at an alarming rate, and the end is very near, whether that be in a few years or that week. Thus says the main deity of the setting, the Basilisk Verhu. Every prophecy the Verhu has declared has come true, and unfortunately, all of them entail misery and death. It's worth noting that all of his prophecies might be the work of an evil demon lord, who may be trying to cause the world to accelerate to its death.

The kingdoms and cities of the world that has yet to die are in disrepair, and things are looking very gloomy for all of them.

• Galgenbeck utilizes miscreants and beggars as mass sacrifices to a fire.
• Kergüs is the home of Countess Anthelia. It is a cold, gray wasteland, devoid of color and warmth. This is due largely to Anthelia herself. She sits on her throne in Alliáns, her gaze, touch and breath draining the world of any vibrancy, any comfort or heat. She knows this, and yet she still craves something to relieve her of the absolute grayness that is her world. Everyone is rightfully afraid of her, even though most of her misfortune is not intended.
• Grift
• The Western Kingdom
• The Palace of the Shadow King

Another lore snippet from Mörk Borg: The Goblins of the setting are actually the result of a curse, similar to either Lycanthropy or Vampirism. If a Goblin stabs or bites you, there's a chance you'll be afflicted with the Goblin Curse & turn into a Goblin too, and they're all giddy and insane. They also have the faces of Goblin Sharks.

There's also an Undead Character by the name of "Skelly Joe". Skelly Joe appears on the cover of the game, and is supposed to be some sort of undead Gnoll Skeleton. He resembles a human skeleton with only the flesh and fur remaining upon a piglike-snout and furry head with four horns reminiscent of Baphomet.

Say hello, Skelly Joe

Yes, all that sounds ridiculous. But that's also one of the most charming things about Mörk Borg: it's very willing to go above and beyond to make the setting so ridiculously grimdark that it loops around and becomes hilarious. Playing a game that is only pure suffering isn't any fun, so the developers used black comedy to make the misery funny, and to great effect. Playing the game seriously is fine, but it also misses the point that you're supposed to also be laughing at the absurdity and bleakness.

Mörk Borg and /tg/

"I hate you and everything you stand for."

– Anon, probably

Mörk Borg... Isn't popular on /tg/. At all.

Well, okay. Maybe just a little bit. You have to understand that /tg/ is very much a board full of grudge-bearers. And thus, the average grognard swears alliegance to his preffered flavor of D&D (mostly 3.5) or Pathfinder. Mörk Borg is a ball-busting game with a new and young fanbase with super edgy aesthetics that wildly differ from the High Fantasy adventures you'd expect to find in settings like the Forgotten Realms. Mörk Borg is gritty and dark, and you might be thinking "Well, so is Warhammer!", but that would be forgetting the decade-long relationship and constant evolution both the /tg/ community and WHFR went through. That, plus the fact that OSRs are pretty niche. Not super-extra-niche like everywhere else on the internet, but /tg/ has a dedicated general for OSRs (/OSRG/) made specifically because any threads about specific OSR games have only a trickle of replies.

That does not mean Mörk Borg has no admirers of course. Some peeps actually do play it and request homebrews and handbooks. A lot of people are actually praising the absolute horror that is the setting, how grimdark it gets with time, and how much the gameplay is reminiscent of OSRs while managing to be its own thing. Which is why it is often called a "nu-OSR". The sheer brutality of the game and its universe is, to these people, the selling point of Mörk Borg. The constant grind and the ever-increasing difficulty may be a hard sell for some players who only wish to have a comfy time with their friends, or those who value roleplay just as much as gameplay. As a result of the difficulty it's also quite a frustrating game to metagame or powergame in, meaning that duplicitous players or players who exclusively play to win aren't encouraged to play Mörk Borg.

So, needless to say that both sides get to arguing quite often.

Detractors will call out fans by stating that because Mörk Borg has a consistent fanbase on websites like Tumblr or Reddit, the entire game is riddled with not very subtle "political messages". They're mostly referencing the official devs saying that they do not endorse any form of discrimination (which is, as we know, a very bold and extremely political stance to have these days). That, of course, was enough to write multiple copypastas about it. While most detractors are pointing out the sheer edginess of the setting and the general grimdarkness of it, no one really speaks of the gameplay itself. Curious, don't you think? :^)

Some came to appreciate Mörk Borg because of how butthurt some people get over it. Which is, somehow, a rather unexpected way to attract new players and simultaneously a very predicable way to attract attention.