Andy Lingua
Before talking about Pirate Borg, I want to thank Free League Publishing for sending a review copy. As the title suggests, it is a pirate-themed roleplaying game based on the Mörk Borg ruleset; however, the latter manual is not required, as the one we will discuss in this article contains everything you need to play.
The author and illustrator Luke Stratton (also known as Limithron) was inspired by real history, legends and horror stories to create a tabletop RPG that allows you to bring to the table the typical themes of the genre, but with more rum to be able to endure the adversities of a very lethal world.
In case you want to buy this manual, keep in mind that it is available in the Free League store at the price of $ 35.88 (currently 33.43 €).
The Setting and the Premade Scenario
The setting chosen for this TTRPG is tendentially classic but knows how to stand out and catch attention thanks to the context in which it is presented and some very interesting details.
During the colonial era, the Caribbean were a paradisiacal place; with wonderful landscapes and treasures ready to be found. During a solstice, however, the Scourge struck the area that began to be called “the Dark Caribbean“. From the sea and from under the sand the undead began to get up and march, exterminating inhabitants and putting the survivors under constant siege. People therefore find themselves in a terrible situation; this pushes some of them to use the undead bones as drugs (the “Ash”) to relieve suffering.
The game world is home to various factions, which fight for survival and to prevail. In addition to (obviously) pirates and locals, there are also English, French and Spanish settlers. Don’t expect any honorable armies: they too are reduced to wrecks trying to survive and gain what they can from these corrupted lands. I found a table summarizing the major historical events of the Dark Caribbean extremely useful; the last, the most terrible, event is a tremendous storm coming from the abyss, which devours all the emerged lands. The abysses have a considerable weight in this setting, as a “secret” faction is made up of cultists dedicated to them (in full Lovecraftian style).
I would like to point out that the manual also includes Skeleton Point, a specific scenario ready to be played. This appendix offers an accurate description of a small island and its inhabitants; it does not offer a linear plot, but many original places to explore freely with fascinating antagonists, lethal dungeons (with related maps) and many ideas for quests.
The Protagonists of the Adventures
This tabletop RPG is decidedly deadly and therefore character creation must be quick and simple; to further facilitate the process, you can use random tables and let fate make all the necessary choices. Alternatively, you can use a very convenient online random character generator.
But let’s find out what each character is defined by and let’s start with the 5 key characteristics:
- Strength: essential for using melee weapons, breaking open treasure chests, and any other activity that requires muscle power.
- Agility: useful for dodging blows, swimming, balancing on a tight rope and when good reflexes are needed.
- Presence: used to aim from afar, notice important details and know how to be charming.
- Toughness: a true pirate must be able to handle alcohol and hold his breath.
- Spirit: indicates willpower and the predisposition to use occult means and knowledge.
Another distinctive element is the class. It grants unique powers, which can increase in a very interesting way when the character improves; I found the originality truly inspiring and each choice is enjoyable to bring to the table. Here are the ones available:
- Brute: a fierce fighter with bizarre weapons, such as a huge anchor.
- Rapscallion: evasive and unscrupulous rogue; you might need a deck of cards to play it.
- Buccaneer: expert scout and user of firearms.
- Swashbuckler: charismatic leader and exhibitionist.
- Zealot: can use magical prayers effectively.
- Sorcerer: spellcaster who specializes in the use of arcane enchantments and artefacts.
- (optional) Haunted Soul: an undead; a great option for keeping dead characters in the game.
- (optional) Tall Tale: who wouldn’t want to play merfolk, aquatic mutants, or sentient animals?
We then find a large number of random tables that allow us to define the initial equipment, background, distinctive traits and more.
Review of Pirate Borg‘s Mechanics
As anticipated at the beginning of this review, Pirate Borg is heavily based on the Mörk Borg rules, which you can learn more about in our review. If you know this beloved OSR game, learning the new mechanics won’t take too long.
The characters will face various adversities and tests are used to decide the outcome of uncertain situations; you roll a d20, add (or subtract) the most suitable characteristic and hope to exceed a pre-established threshold. However, the result can be altered by Devil’s Luck, points that can be spent to relaunch a roll, facilitate a test or more. The same dynamics also apply in combat; in this case, the players have to carry out tests to attack and defend themselves, almost completely relieving the narrator of the need to roll dice.
Compared to Mörk Borg, however, we find many more customization options for the characters, all perfectly in tune with the tone of the game. In addition to the addition of firearms and alchemy, the “magic” options have also been expanded; in fact, there are spells, prayers, arcane rituals and ancient artefacts. Each of them has peculiarities cleverly inserted within the Pirate Borg lore.
But the biggest addition is probably naval combat. It’s difficult to talk about pirates without sea chases, cannon fire battles, ramming and boardings. Pirate Borg offers a dedicated ruleset which, without becoming overly complicated, allows you to play detailed and interesting maritime battles. We can find various types of ships, specific roles to assign to the crew, tactical manoeuvres to try to get the better of difficult situations and even sea shanties to give bonuses to the whole crew. Peculiar is the choice to apply a multiplier (x5) to “translate” the damage and hit points of ships to individual targets.
Other Useful Tools
The manual also includes an interesting and varied bestiary; the creatures are divided into families and we can find ones suitable for both canonical and naval encounters. In total, we found more than 80 and some of the most interesting for me were skeletons of various types, deviant animals, ghost ships and the Kraken.
Finally, the very useful and imaginative random tables could not be missing; thanks to them you can generate everything you need on the fly, including treasure maps with riddles included, islands absent on the official maps and quick quests.
Come al solito, Free League fornisce tutti gli strumenti utili necessari e anche di più; nei contenuti digitali, oltre al manuale completo, sono anche inclusi una versione del manuale con i soli contenuti per i giocatori, le schede per i personaggi (sia in bianco e nero che a colori) e un foglio riassuntivo per la creazione dei personaggi. Come se non bastasse, su questi materiali sono presenti i riferimenti per trovare facilmente le relative spiegazioni sul manuale.
As usual, Free League provides all the useful tools you need and more; in the digital content, in addition to the complete manual, you can find a version of the manual with only the content for players, character sheets (both in black and white and colour) and a summary sheet for character creation. As if that weren’t enough, these materials contain references to easily find the relevant explanations in the manual.
Conclusions of the Review of Pirate Borg
I can’t conclude this review without spending at least a couple of words on the aesthetic side of Pirate Borg. This 85-page manual features the same eccentric and charming style that distinguishes Mörk Borg-inspired products; variable layouts and fonts fit into pages with abundant dark colours and parchment effects. The illustrations were masterfully edited by the author himself, Limithron, known among other things for his pirate-themed maps. Each image fits perfectly into the text and makes the work even more interesting.
I would also like to congratulate the author for having included the sources of inspiration (easily identifiable, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Call of Cthulhu and Sea of Thieves) and precious tips to avoid filling the gaming sessions with some terrible elements typical of the reference era; after all, ancient sea beings and ghost ships are scary but damn fun, while atrocities like slavery and ethnic genocide don’t always increase the fun.
I therefore feel like recommending this roleplaying game to anyone who is not afraid of losing their character between the jaws of an undead or in the depths of the sea, during the desperate attempt to reach a treasure marked by a treasure map worn by time!
