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Pirate Borg
A scurvy ridden, rules light, art heavy RPG based on Mörk Borg. Inspired by history, fantasy, horror, and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won't save you from hordes of skeletons and ghost ships...
167 pages, Hardcover
Published February 28, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 8, 2024
Can't wait to play this, wacky niche rpgs are what I want more of
July 26, 2023
Pirates. They are one of the natural evolutions of any property. Alongside Ninjas and Call of Cthulhu, if a property persists long enough it will eventually mature in to one of a few subgenres.
Mork Borg's gritty OSR formula lends itself to a darker sort of swashbuckling and Pirate Borg brings this in spades. Pirate Borg is set in an alternate history featuring a Caribbean eerily empty and combining elements of 17th, 18th, and 19th century piracy. It depopulates the Caribbean islands to kind of side step the problem of colonialism. I don't know that this is a wholly successful decision. It seems more of an avoidance that might have been better served by not cozying up to real history at all. In any case, it does at least show that they thought about it and new enough to try and find some way of separating the game from odious colonialism.
The timeline diverts mostly in one particular way: The unceasing discharge of undead from the sea and the drug trade that grows when it is discovered how potent undead bones can be. A massive miles-long fissure opens in the middle of the ocean and strange fish-like creatures begin to attack coastal settlements and boats. The world is ending and you are a pirate.
So, it's a game about age of sail pirates. The first question you might have is, "How are the ship-to-ship combat rules?" The answer is pretty good. They are streamlined and give everyone on the ship something to do during the combat round. It is possible to have tactically interesting but simplified ship-to-ship rules. If only Wizards of the Coast had realized this when they made Spelljammer. Oh well.
Pirate Borg also represents a good middle ground for readability of the text without sacrificing the in-your-face aesthetic of the Mork Borg line. Its art also includes a lot more color than I remember most Mork Borg titles having and it is beautiful.
This supplement also captures the so-dark-it-crosses-the-line-back-to-funny feel that Mork Borg often shoots for. The included prewritten module has an encounter in which the ghost of historical figure Sir Francis Drake appears and regales any audience with tales of his adventures. This is explicitly likened to Pirate Church in the text. It's great fun.
Mork Borg's gritty OSR formula lends itself to a darker sort of swashbuckling and Pirate Borg brings this in spades. Pirate Borg is set in an alternate history featuring a Caribbean eerily empty and combining elements of 17th, 18th, and 19th century piracy. It depopulates the Caribbean islands to kind of side step the problem of colonialism. I don't know that this is a wholly successful decision. It seems more of an avoidance that might have been better served by not cozying up to real history at all. In any case, it does at least show that they thought about it and new enough to try and find some way of separating the game from odious colonialism.
The timeline diverts mostly in one particular way: The unceasing discharge of undead from the sea and the drug trade that grows when it is discovered how potent undead bones can be. A massive miles-long fissure opens in the middle of the ocean and strange fish-like creatures begin to attack coastal settlements and boats. The world is ending and you are a pirate.
So, it's a game about age of sail pirates. The first question you might have is, "How are the ship-to-ship combat rules?" The answer is pretty good. They are streamlined and give everyone on the ship something to do during the combat round. It is possible to have tactically interesting but simplified ship-to-ship rules. If only Wizards of the Coast had realized this when they made Spelljammer. Oh well.
Pirate Borg also represents a good middle ground for readability of the text without sacrificing the in-your-face aesthetic of the Mork Borg line. Its art also includes a lot more color than I remember most Mork Borg titles having and it is beautiful.
This supplement also captures the so-dark-it-crosses-the-line-back-to-funny feel that Mork Borg often shoots for. The included prewritten module has an encounter in which the ghost of historical figure Sir Francis Drake appears and regales any audience with tales of his adventures. This is explicitly likened to Pirate Church in the text. It's great fun.
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February 12, 2023Lacks some of the poetry of the original Borg, but this is nevertheless maybe my favourite iteration of the Borg genre, hitting a theme and setting and tone that is extremely my kind of thing. The rules are simple, the random tables excellent, the art varied and superb, and all of it works together to evoke the exact mood the author's going for: a bunch of grimy, greedy, no-good pirates fighting to survive in a world even worse than they are. Incredible stuff.
July 2, 2023
Simple and fun. Clever even. I look forward to giving this a spin.
But best of all, this is a place for booze soaked scallywags and ridiculous pirate hijinks.
But best of all, this is a place for booze soaked scallywags and ridiculous pirate hijinks.
October 22, 2024
I did not think I would ever really appreciate a Borg, but Pirate Borg is incredible. Weird, interesting, full of fun stuff and wild design choices and brilliant color. Highly recommended.
August 12, 2024
Can't wait to run my own sessions, sooooooon! The art is incredible, the vibes are immaculate!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews