Mork Borg System: Initial Throughts

Back in May I backed the Treasures of the Troll King Kickstarter. It was the first Kickstarter I've backed in a while, and it is the first one I've backed that isn't tied into D&D. I was super excited about getting and checking out this badass looking product.

Because this Kickstarter was the first time I had ever heard of anything relating to Mork Borg, I decided to pick up the physical Mork Borg game book as well (it sells for less than $35 USD, and you can check it out here). When I first heard the name I thought it had something to do with robots/cyborgs (I think because of the word cyBORG). I also realized while reading through the PDF for this review that the game is not pronounced how I thought it was (MURK BORG - for anyone who was wondering).

In case you don't know, Mork Borg, is a four time ENNIE award winning game that is self-described as a pitch-black apocalyptic fantasy RPG.

My experience playing TTRPGs is so far limited to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. I do own a handful of other games, but I haven't read much from them. So, my experience is rather limited, but I think it provides a useful perspective for people who, like me, didn't know a single thing about TTRPGs until getting heavily invested in D&D and are now looking to expand their experience and collection to include games that are better fits for different types of games instead of a corporate behemoth that tries to be a one size fits all solution that holds the vast majority of market share.

Before I get into this, potential CW for body horror and other disturbing subjects. I will also say that some of the imagery in the book may be disturbing to some folks (including but not limited to a picture of a heart). Another early point to note is that its layout is not the easiest to read, and so if you are someone who struggles with reading or sensory issues it may not be the best purchase for you (if there is an accessible version of the game I have not seen it). I really appreciate that they have included a warning in the book that states that it is really not suitable for anyone under the age of 16. This warning is on the back page of the physical book, but it is at the very end of the PDF verseion that many people might not see.

When I started writing this review I was waiting for my physical copyto arrive, and it showed up shortly after I finished my final thoughts after getting the chance to play the game. The book is pretty small (pictures below to compare it to the D&D 5E DMs Guide - which is only one of three equally large books needed to even really get started in 5E). Clearly, Mork Borg takes the point when it comes to making a game that should be easier for new players to pickup.

Final Throughts

As someone who is branching out from 5E this definitely feels like a good place to move if you are looking to expand your TTRPG experience, but are anxious to move too far away from the 5E experience. Mork Borg is certainly grittier than 5E (none of my players started our game with a bonus above +1 or more than 5 HP).

I also think it could be a good place to start playing TTRPGs if you are new to the medium and are looking for a gritty fantasy game to play. The minimal rules made it pretty easy to pick up. The only one in my group that struggled a bit was my 62 year old dad.

My Thoughts After Playing the Game

When I originally wrote this review, I hadn't yet played Mork Borg and didn't think that I would get the opportunity to play it any time soon, but as luck would have it I was able to play on Father's Day with my dad and brothers. I wanted to put my thoughts after playing the game at the start of the review here as I think it is more important/relevant than my previous thoughts.

Like I've said before, my experience in the TTRPG space is heavily weighted behind D&D 5E. I have listened to some podcasts playing other games and own and have read content from other games, but getting to play Mork Borg this year was the first time I've played a non-5E multiplayer TTRPG that wasn't 5E.

We played the Rotblack Sludge crawl that comes in the Mork Borg rule book. With character creation (at the beginn, a smoke break, and lunch included our game went for roughly 4.5 hours. Because not everyone could play for a long time and this was a "Father's Day One-Shot" we were playing, we rushed at the end, but for the most part they were able to complete the dungeon's objectives in that time (I would maybe say 5-6 hours is the ideal play time based on hour experience).

Going into things, I was more than a little bit anxious preparing a game for the first time. Especially going to a rules-lite game from 5E. I felt like I had severely under prepared going into the game, but honestly by the time we finished I realized that I had over prepared.

The game was fun and really enjoyable even though our players overall were really inexperienced when it comes to TTRPGs (my one brother has only ever played 1 session of 5E before now and my dad had played twice and also played D&D way back in the day during the 70s for a few months).

When we played the "grim & dark" fantasy vibes didn't really stick all that well (mind characters with names like Vegeta and Dr. Phil it would be difficult to take any game seriously). I could see this game easily with a few hacks (I'd say mostly beefing up character creation, and adjusting the flavour of the world) being made playable even with groups that are uncomfortable with the sort of imagery displayed in the base version of this game.

Our biggest hiccups came from my brain still thinking in 5E terms. There were a few times where my brain forgot that the players had to roll to defend and I got a few shocked looks when I told them "a 19 does hit" as the automatic response to hearing the result of a d20 roll in combat when that was their defense roll instead of their attack roll.

My Original Review

The Mork Borg PDF is 96 pages long (some of those pages contain very little information, which includes everything you need to get started in the game. I think that overall the price point is really great - the PDF is less than $15 on DriveThruRPG - in comparison to the D&D 5E starter set that is the exact same price on DNDBeyond. While both the Mork Borg PDF and the Lost Mines of Phandelver digital edition have the same price point, I think that one benefit/bonus that Mork Borg has a distinct advantage in that anyone who looks at it pretty much gets the feeling that it will be a deadly and dark adventure (again to quote directly from Mork Borg's website it is "A doom metal album of a game.") If you somehow managed to miss that when you get to page 28 with a picture of a heart (that from what I can tell is an honest to goodness photograph of a real legitimate heart) that is the section on rolling hit points that says "In worst case 1 HP, but never less." you are likely to clue in.

In contrast, the Starter set for 5th Edition (and even the Essentials kit which is also geared towards new players) don't do a great job of warning players (and especially new DMs) about the dangerous perils that lie ahead for first level characters. The Starter Set does not have (and is not trying to provide) a dark and apocalyptic atmosphere, but many people I have talked to that have played it as their first experience in D&D/TTRPGs mention how their party got TPK'd.

The Starter Set is not the only piece of 5E official content that makes this blunder in my opinion, the Essentials Kit, Tyranny of Dragons, and the Tomb of Annihilation all can be unintentionally TPK heavy especially for an unwary new DM (which I would argue is the perfect target audience of adventures that begin at first level). These adventures, and D&D as a whole, have a much more epic "the players always win vibe" - at least to people who have never played before and for that reason I need to give credit to Mork Borg for clearly laying out what exactly it is all about.

Sorry about talking so much about the Dragon game, I just feel like it is an important comparison/note to make for new players, and also to highlight where, in my opinion, Mork Borg succeeds but the biggest most well known TTRPG fails.

Now, back to Mork Borg. The PDF is incredibly beautiful, and everything I've heard about the book implies that it is even nicer. The art is incredible, if creepy, and it is just generally very pretty to look at. It does not have a table of contents, and the order of information feels a little bit weird to me (although the order of the content might just be weird to me because 99% of my TTRPG reading experience and 100% of my playing experience comes from one game). I do think not having a table of contents really does take away from the book though. I think I will probably make myself a quick little table of contents that I can leave beside the book or stick in the front cover to help keep me organized, which is something I don't mind doing, but in no way will it look as nice as anything they could have come up with themselves (as I write this I just realized that there is a person I went to high school with that makes art in a style similar enough that I could probably commission him to make a cool bookmark/table of contents for me). Edit: As I was continuing through the book, I found that it does have an Index at the end that I hadn't seen until I was quite a ways through this "review"

Immediately following the cover page there are two pages with random tables that will be very helpful for the GM who might be in a pinch during the game.

The pages that follow these tables are full of descriptive and evocative flavour text that paints the beautifully horrific and dying world that Mork Borg is set in. Directly following this text is an equally beautiful map of the world. That can be clicked on in the PDF, bringing you to the appropriate section later on into the book.

The world building of each of the major areas outlined is well done, and easily portrays the feeling of despair that shrouds the land - and how it specifically affects different areas. There are only 8 pages (including the map and art) of world building, which I think is the right amount for this game. It gives the GM enough to work with, but it leaves enough up to them to craft the world to be unique to their game. To compare it to D&D's current primary setting of the Forgotten Realms, I think this approach that focuses on not overdoing it is great. I find that having a world with as much detail put in canon as Faerun occassionally forces me as the DM to either curtail my players' creativity when building their character, or I have to always remember what I have changed so that I don't accidentally contradict myself in game.

The next section of the book is the Calendar of Nechrubel. At first glance, the title confused me somewhat as it isn't a calendar in the traditional sense. Instead, it is a countdown to the end of the world. Literally. The GM chooses a die to roll every dawn (d100, d20, d10, d6, or d2) that represents how soon the end of the world is. Whenever they roll a 1 a "Misery" occurs. Included with the Calendar of Nechrubel is a section of the Nameless Scriptures that details the miseries that will befall the world. Once the GM rolls their 7th 1 for determining a misery, the world, time, and the game end. It literally says "The game and your lives end here. Burn the book."

The next paragraph contains a relatively major spoiler for the game. If you are reading this a player and not a GM, I suggest you skip it.

This mechanic is incredibly unique and badass. The fact that no matter what your players do the end approaches, whether slowly or quickly it matters not it will arrive regardless of the actions of individuals. I especially like how this starkly contrasts the following page, that begins character creation and reads: "In this world there are those who seek riches or redemption. Some say the apocalypse is escapable, that it might even be stopped." When I run this game, I certainly plan to share that with my players, but definitely not the calendar. That way they can't metagame their way into learning that the apocalypse is unavoidable.

Another great aspect of the Calendar of Nechrubel is that the section of the Nameless Scripture includes more miseries than you will use in a single game, meaning that even players coming back for a second or third helping of this dark apocalyptic game are in for a few surprises.

The next section of the book looks at character creation. The game's mechanic of randomizing equipment, weapons, and armor feels very fitting for the atmosphere they are trying to create, since in a terrible dying world it is unlikely you would get the freedom to choose your gear until you have gone through enough trials and tribulations to afford the luxury of choice at higher "levels". One note I do want to make about character creation is that if you are planning to use the optional classes to create your character(s) I would do that before rolling for gear, hit points, and stats. When I first read the section and rolled up my first character I didn't realize that the classes impact what you roll for stats etc. and so I had to go back and redo some of my character sheet. Not a big issue or anything just a simple mistake on my part, but if I made it someone else might as well.

Another aspect that I thought was really neat is how the weapons have limited choices if you start with a scroll, which helps keep a level of balance (or perhaps unbalance against the players) in this game. The art in the weapon section is beautiful just like the rest of the book as well.

I want to commend their armor system in Mork Borg. As someone who has, for quite some time now thought D&D 5E's armor system was a little bit peculiar (why would heavy armor make you harder to hit? Shouldn't it reduce the damage you take instead?) I really appreciate what they have done here. In fact, if you are still set on playing 5E I have released an Alternate ruleset for AC on the DMsGuild that you can check out (currently pay what you want as it gets playtested) here.

The book does then jump around slightly (leaving the optional classes until after the rules on resting, combat, and "leveling up").

Looking at the combat as someone who has only ever played 5E sounds really nice - having players roll for their attack and Defence. I think this would help keep players invovled in the game a bit more in combat that might otherwise drag on. It also gives the GM more freedom to worry about other aspects of the game. Morale is another interesting mechanic that also makes a lot of sense. Most creatures wouldn't fight to the death, and if they do they likely have good reason to.

Leveling up isn't really a thing in Mork Borg. Instead characters get better (or worse). This is something that I think is super cool and definitely achieves the goal they are going for, but I don't think that all players would appreciate potentially seeing their stats decrease after taking down a big tough monster.

The optional tables are an interesting idea, but I feel like much of the contents stumbles into ableist territory (the use of disabled bodies and minds as horror elements, which is a common trope, but it is one that is apparent here).

The Troubling Tales included that act as a small and quick backstory are a nice tool to kickstart player's backstories in this dark world.

Another cool aspect of Mork Borg is their arcanse catastrophes, which occur when a ciritical fail is rolled when using a scroll. These effects are badass, varied, and definitely catastrophic. Going back to my 5E roots, it is hardly comparable to the wild magic table, and only in the weakest sense in that it is a table of magical effects.

The optional classes are all cool and unique. They provide essentially the stereotypical adventuring party setup, but with the typical Mork Borg twists. I like them all, and if given the opportunity I would play each of them (as well as games without a class), but my favourite is the Fanged Deserter. A class that I would tie the closest to a fighter in a typical adventuring party in that their focus seems to be on being big and hitting hard.

The included enemy stats and the associated art is all very cool as well. My favorite is a tie between the lich and the troll.

The book also comes with Rotblack Sludge or The Shadow King's Lost Heir - an introductory dungeon crawl. I like the relatively small size of the crawl (15 rooms), and it isn't too much of a maze. In my experience many of my D&D games that involve dungeons have turned into a bit of a drag thanks in large part to the party getting turned around and it often becomes rather dull. It also does a great service by having the stats you need for each room, so you don't need to constant flip through the book or have several different sources open at the same time to keep track of everything.

The introductory dungeon crawl feels like you could easily use it as the hook to start a longer form campaign if you would like. The book also comes with several tables you can roll on to inspire your next adventure.

My final initial thoughts on the Mork Borg system are that it seems incredible and easy to pick up. It is a very dark game, and if that isn't something you are normally into then this game is not for you. If that does sound like it is up your alley, then I definitely suggest you take a look. It also has a few interesting ideas that I think could mechanically be incorporated into any other game that doesn't already have rules to cover these things - their morale system for example stands out as something I think could be incorporated quite nicely into 5E and other more mainstream games.

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