Disclaimer: A PDF and physical copy was provided to me for review purposes.A doom metal album of a game. A spiked flail to the face. Light on rules, heavy everything else.
I saw this game by chance on an add in a RPG forum and I followed it throughout its entire kickstarter process and beyond. The art and everything it can, does, or should imply were my biggest draw to it. This game is produced by Free League (Fria Ligan) Publishing and I am impressed with their customer service and their general business practices.
Presentation: I received the PDF before I got the physical and as awesome as the PDF is, it does not do the physical copy any justice. The cover of the Mork Borg has black/white/red artwork that is set against a vivid yellow back drop. Not only is this eye catching, but the book itself is pleasing to the touch because it is textured! I have seen some embossed special editions from various publishers with faux leather covers but never a textured cover that is textured back, front, and on the spine. The cover also has a rubber-like texture to it. Then as I explore the interior of the book I get hit with art that looks like it was designed for heavy metal albums and beyond. The interior is a mix between black and white art and art that has the same vibrant yellow as the cover. Some of these yellow pages have white typing set against. This really keeps a strong theme going. I cannot forget to mention that is has a yellow ribbon book mark.
Character Creation: Before I go through the list of character creation, I must include here the first thing a player/GM reads before it gets into character creation.
In this world there are those who seek riches
or redemption. Some say the apocalypse is
escapable, that it may be stopped. And
there you walk in discord and despair. One hand
holds 2d6 x 10 silver (s), the other holds a
waterskin and d4 days worth of food. Your soul
and your silver are your own and equally easy to lose.
To begin with, you are what you own:
- Randomize your starting equipment (There are three tables and you roll a d6, a d12, and a d12).
- Randomize your weapon and armor (Roll a d10 for weapons (unless you start with a scroll, then roll a d6. Roll a d4 for armor).
- Roll Your abilities (Roll 3d6 for each of the four abilities - Agility, Presence, Strength, and toughness. Mork Borg uses the -3/+3 attribute spread and once you have your scores you ignore the totals and just record the -3/+3 bonuses).
- Roll your hit points (Toughness +d8)
- Name your character if you wish. It will not save you.
- Start by choosing or randomizing a class and follow then class instructions on rolling for equipment, weapons, silver, and armor. The classes are the Fanged Deserter, Gutter Born Scum, Esoteric Hermit, Wretched Royalty, Heretical Priest, and the Occult Herbmaster
- Roll a d20 on what the Basilisk has demanded of you
- Record Omens per class (if not using classes, each adventurer gains d2 omens)
- Roll a d20 on Terrible Traits (Optional)
- Roll a d20 on Broken Bodies (Optional)
- Roll a d20 on Broken Minds (Optional)
Resolution: All actions are resolved on a d20 +/- Attribute (and +/- others mods) vs. a Difficulty rating. The Difficulty Ratings are listed as:
6 - Incredibly Simply
8 - Routine
10 - Pretty Simple
12 - Normal
14 - Difficult
16 - Really Hard
18 - Should not be Possible
That is it and honestly, there isn't even a list of additional modifiers.
Crunch: The most rules heavy portion of Mork Borg is character creation and combat. Even spells are described in a sentence or two and there is a random spell mishap table if the casting goes wrong which is full of dark and twisted flavor. Here is the sequence of combat:
- Roll Initiative (There are two options - Group Initiative is roll a d6 and on a 1-3 enemy goes first then on 4-6 the characters go first. Then individual initiative is Agility +d6).
- Melee Attacks are resolved on a a successful Difficulty Rating 12 check. Melee uses Strength and ranged uses presence. The rolls are player facing as the GM doesn't roll to attack for the NPC's. For players to avoid being hit they test Agility with a Difficult Rating of 12.
- Resolve Damage. If an attack is successful or the character gets hit by an enemy damage is rolled (dice is based on weapon, etc). Armor provides damage reduction in the following tiers; Light -d2, Medium -d4 and +2 DR to all Agility Tests, Heavy +4 DR to all Agility Tests and +2 DR to Defense).
- If HP reaches 0, there is a d4 broken table to roll on.
Final Thoughts: Like the opening line suggests, this book is a SPIKED FLAIL TO THE FACE! It really does a lot of things that I like. Two of my favorites being is it does away with ability scores and just focuses on the modifier and it uses a core mechanic to resolve everything and there is no subsystems for skills, social combat, dueling, tracking, etc. I also really enjoy player facing combat rolls as it keeps the players actively engaged and allows the GM to focus on the fiction (which helps strengthen immersion).
Then we have the flavor of the setting. It is as if Sauron won and has been ruling for centuries but somewhere a long the way Sauron screwed up and set events into motion to bring the end of world (the upside to this is there are just more lost places to find riches, more horrors lurking in the dark and on the streets, and everyone is willing to do just about anything to survive or make a silver). The setting then takes that concept and puts it in a blender with death/heavy metal albums, chugs it, and finally chases it with a shot of Gothic horror. Everything in the book reinforces this idea of a doomed world from the classes to the locations and everything in between. As bonus feature the game also features a doom clock that creates calamities in the lands and helps march the world to its end. The doom clock kind of has a biblical feel with its own dark and twisted Psalms related to the 7 seals...
Before I go on, I would like to say that I think the system works really well together. Getting rid of attributes and just using the bonuses coupled with all actions are vs. a DR (or opposed) and having player facing combat makes the system sing. There are no tables to reference (as even armor is just damage reduction) for any action and character creation is the only section that could be considered table heavy - though heavy would be a stretch. All combat DR's are a 12 (abilities and some adversaries have some of these higher or lower) and then the book lists varying degrees of difficulty actions outside of combat. A game master could even streamline all of this more and state the following:
But if we ignore the fact that there is an RPG game within the pages, the book is an epic monument to art and the themes of heavy metal. Mork Borg is just an experience to hold and flip through. It is 100% worth getting on this merit alone.
With that being said, even though I really like the idea of the doom clock as written it really prevents any type of campaign play. If the GM is really unlucky, the world could end in a single session (if there is seven days in a single session). I wish there was a campaign mode or version of the Doom clock included in the book but it is easy to house rule (like using a d100).
The other thing I am bummed about is I wish there was more setting information included, more monsters, more locations, more prominent NPCs, and I would love a point or hexcrawl. I also wish it would have included GM advice on how to re-flavor/convert adventures/stats from other games.
Regardless, I think this is one of the best games and books to come out of the OSR scene (and I feel it really captures the soul of it) in a long time. The whole thing just feels fresh and the book itself is a work of art.
You can purchase Mork Borg at the following:
Then we have the flavor of the setting. It is as if Sauron won and has been ruling for centuries but somewhere a long the way Sauron screwed up and set events into motion to bring the end of world (the upside to this is there are just more lost places to find riches, more horrors lurking in the dark and on the streets, and everyone is willing to do just about anything to survive or make a silver). The setting then takes that concept and puts it in a blender with death/heavy metal albums, chugs it, and finally chases it with a shot of Gothic horror. Everything in the book reinforces this idea of a doomed world from the classes to the locations and everything in between. As bonus feature the game also features a doom clock that creates calamities in the lands and helps march the world to its end. The doom clock kind of has a biblical feel with its own dark and twisted Psalms related to the 7 seals...
Before I go on, I would like to say that I think the system works really well together. Getting rid of attributes and just using the bonuses coupled with all actions are vs. a DR (or opposed) and having player facing combat makes the system sing. There are no tables to reference (as even armor is just damage reduction) for any action and character creation is the only section that could be considered table heavy - though heavy would be a stretch. All combat DR's are a 12 (abilities and some adversaries have some of these higher or lower) and then the book lists varying degrees of difficulty actions outside of combat. A game master could even streamline all of this more and state the following:
- Advantage/Disadvantage inside of combat has a +3 or -3 to the character attacking or dodging because of things like having the higher ground, flanking, and other wise ideas.
- All DR's outside of combat are set at 11. Things that are easy (either because the GM says so or the player does something clever) becomes a 8 (-3) and actions that are hard become 15 (+3).
- Instead of rolling for how how much damage reduction comes from armor, make the damage reduction static. 1/2/3 and even maybe 4. All damage does a minimum of 1.
But if we ignore the fact that there is an RPG game within the pages, the book is an epic monument to art and the themes of heavy metal. Mork Borg is just an experience to hold and flip through. It is 100% worth getting on this merit alone.
With that being said, even though I really like the idea of the doom clock as written it really prevents any type of campaign play. If the GM is really unlucky, the world could end in a single session (if there is seven days in a single session). I wish there was a campaign mode or version of the Doom clock included in the book but it is easy to house rule (like using a d100).
The other thing I am bummed about is I wish there was more setting information included, more monsters, more locations, more prominent NPCs, and I would love a point or hexcrawl. I also wish it would have included GM advice on how to re-flavor/convert adventures/stats from other games.
Regardless, I think this is one of the best games and books to come out of the OSR scene (and I feel it really captures the soul of it) in a long time. The whole thing just feels fresh and the book itself is a work of art.
You can purchase Mork Borg at the following:
- Amazon
- Free League Publishing
- Drivethrurpg
- Exalted Funeral
- There are copies and preorders at other various RPG related retailers
Oh and the spine of the book glows in the dark...
Here is a final and interesting fact...
In the 2020 Ennies, this game took Gold in Best Layout and Design.
Took Gold in Best Writing.
Took Gold in Product of the Year and Silver in Best Game.
Great review of a great game! But one comment on the doom clock. It's true that the game can possibly end in as little as 7 game days. But you can choose the die type to roll, going up to a d100, in which case the minimum campaign length is still 7 days (although there is a tiny, tiny chance of this) but the average campaign length will be 700 days (around two in game years). I like the unpredictability of it.
ReplyDeleteThat is really rad. I did not realize that. I think the d100 is the way to go for campaign play.
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