MÖRK BORG Review.

A post-apocalyptic game from Free League Publishing written by Pelle Nilsson

MÖRK BORG has only been around for a few years, but it has gotten a lot of attention, variants, and third party expansions. For a small indie game, it’s done remarkably well. The system is pretty simple. Unfortunately for characters, life in MÖRK BORG seems nasty, brutish, and terribly short.

MÖRK BORG is a great game for short campaigns and One-Shots or limited runs.I think it’s slightly meatier than Blades in the Dark, but the game concepts are somewhat similar. You get the setting of MÖRK BORG along with the rules and it’s pretty dark. Character creation is ridiculously simple as a result.

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The link to Free League’s MÖRK BORG page.

Disclaimer: I have not been directly compensated for this review by Free League Publishing in any way. They were kind enough to provide me with a free PDF copy for review with no expectations. I am going to do my best to give an impartial review.

Is this a game I would have picked out for myself normally?

MÖRK BORG is another fine Swedish game, and we know I love its cousin, Dragonbane. The system of MÖRK BORG is similar to a lot of other d20-roll-high-vs-difficulty games. I love a lot of the products made by Free League Publishing. They’ve put out a lot of good stuff over the last four or so years and MÖRK BORG is one of those many game products.

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think it’s EN World’s Game of the Year material. I like it, but I’m struggling to figure out why it’s done so well. Yes, the layout and design are excellent. I’d say better than most games. The writing is superb. I voted on the Ennies that year. I remember seeing it go by, but that’s about it.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, I’m not a huge fan of grimdark, oppressive, fantasy apocalypse games. Unfortunately, it’s what Free League Publishing tends to do in more than one of their games. MÖRK BORG tends to be a little dark and gloomy for me to want to run the setting as-is.

MÖRK BORG merits mention for other reasons.

I love that the game system, the art, and the writing have inspired so many other games. We’ll be talking about Cy-BORG and Pirate BORG sometime in the very near future. The system itself, again based on the d20 found in so many other games, does work pretty well and has been playtested for decades now.

The art has always been one of the most outstanding features of MÖRK BORG. It’s definitely got that 1970s-80s heavy metal punk feel to it. I feel like a lot of the art pieces would be just as appropriate on an album cover.

The layout and design are groundbreaking. MÖRK BORG throws a lot of tried-and-true game design and layout out the window and goes for more of a gonzo, artistic style. I like a lot of the tables. The melee weapons page is just… painful. I won’t include it here because body horror, but it’s pretty grim. A lot of the other tables are done in an interesting style that’s still pretty easy to read.

When it comes to MÖRK BORG, it’s hard to separate the game from the setting.

Free League tends to integrate rules and system pretty tightly in this case as well as Mutant Year Zero. I’ve also noticed with MÖRK BORG, Symbaroum, and some of their other titles, that the authors tend to lean on the bleak apocalyptic future horror quite a bit. It definitely makes my beloved Dragonbane stick out a bit as being cheerful.

The monsters, deities, and other assorted world features in MÖRK BORG are pretty horrific and, well, monstrous. It’s actually harder to find a reason to go adventuring than it is to stay put and wait quietly for the end times to come. Most other post-apocalyptic games tend to leave the future open ended or at least not give the worst case scenario. MÖRK BORG skips right past that and pretty much tells you “the end is nigh.” It’s just a matter of what, when, and how bad.

With the pregenerated characters and given how fast you can make a new character in MÖRK BORG, it makes it a little more acceptable to get wiped out in combat. I don’t necessarily see this as being a long campaign kind of game given how harsh the setting is.

Much like some of the other Free League Games, the future is bleak. Perhaps the bleakest of all of them. I don’t think it’s the kind of game (as written) that would lend itself to a long term campaign.

On the other hand, heroes shine brightest against the dark.

I’m starting to think part of MÖRK BORG’s appeal is the idea of being a hero against all the odds. Sure things look Elder Gods level horrific. Yes, it’s fantasy gone wild gonzo with little hope, but maybe, just maybe our characters can stand against the darkness.

Overall MÖRK BORG isn’t my cup of tea. However, I would recommend it heartily to fans of gonzo 1970s-80s fantasy and anyone looking for a short run game or a one shot. I’m sure it works quite well at conventions where people tend to be a little less attached to characters. It’s also a fast, easy system to kitbash into other games. Now that I’ve spent some time with MÖRK BORG, I’m going back to my beloved, happy, warm, fuzzy game of Dragonbane.

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.