From Starter Sets to Pirate Hell: A Deep Dive into the Latest Pirate Borg Releases
- Antal Bokor
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
Mork Borg was an absolute phenomenon in the TTRPG world that spawned countless third party expansions and characters, using the generous third party Mork Borg license. Bolstered by the art ofJohann Nohr with a design by Pelle Nelson, it took TTRPGs back to the basics in an exciting way. Not exactly OSR, but very much in the vibe of OSR. If OSR was classic rock, Mork Borg was Swedish death metal.
Back when I originally played Mork Borg, I really liked the rules light approach and its extreme take on tabletop tropes that made them as satirical as they were intriguing to engage in. So when the cyberpunk themed CyBorg released I was there for it. Sadly, by then my TTRPG group had dissolved and I was back to playing through campaigns in my head.
I almost completely missed the pirate themed Pirate Borg when it released back in 2023, so when there was a starter kit and the expansion, Down Among the Dead, released earlier this year, it was the perfect chance to get back into it.
Pirate Borg
Pirate Borg is written and illustrated by Luke Stratton through that third party license I mentioned earlier. But its soul is very Mork Borg, and it's compatible with Mork Borg if you ever want to take your tortured players on a high seas adventure. If you enjoyed the art in Mork Borg, Pirate Borg is very much inspired by Nohr’s work, and looks like it could sit right along Mork Borg on the shelf.
In Mork Borg, the overall theme of the game is super dark, with the calendar of Nechrubel hanging over your head. The world can literally come to an end, potentially putting any long term campaign ideas to an end–though any clever GM could work around that. But instead of focusing on the nihilistic, Pirate Borg wants players to be more opportunistic–pillaging and plundering across the Dark Caribbean, which exists in a version of Earth that isn’t quite ours.
That doesn’t mean it entirely ditches the dark nihilism and apocalypse tone that Mork Borg adopted, and its core book even lays out a comprehensive history that includes the end of days.
Pirate Borg really nails the pirate atmosphere. There are rules and rolls about carousing and drinking, bar fights and even for holding your breath (cue Sonic drowning music.) Also, pirates don’t wear armor–since it doesn’t stop black powder guns anyways, and it can get you a quick trip down to Davy Jones’ locker if you try.
You even get to roll to see what kind of hat you wear–anything from a bandana to a fancy tricorne or a morion. And just like Mork Borg, there are lots of tables to let RNG decide your players’ fortunes and/or fates.
In Pirate Borg you’re also–ostensibly–part of a crew. This allows for ship combat, and even combat against massive sea creatures. Ship combat is also where Pirate Borg seems to get a little more complicated. Here the rules light mindset is ditched for ship actions, crew actions and other optional complications like wind direction.
This is all underpinned by a magic system that revolves around the use of a psychedelic substance made from ground up undead called Ash. This is appropriately Mork Borg, and so are the potential outcomes for any such ventures into the use of Ash. Ill effects can have effects up to and including permanent stat loss or instant death, while on the other side you can see some stat gains.
While all of that is technically old news, there was a handful of new Pirate Borg stuff released this year: an expansion book, a starter set, and a GM screen.
Starter Set
The starter set is a great place to actually start if you’re just now planning on playing Pirate Borg, and it’ll probably be where I start with my group. Inside the starter set is a player’s guide, which is all of the player oriented stuff from the core rulebook separated into its own softcover pamphlet style variant. This is definitely appreciated, and contains plenty of information to get you and your players through the starter set stuff without needing the core rulebook, but of course that’s always good to have. There is also a 60-page intro adventure, 58 tokens, 12 resin die, 22 handy reference cards, 10 poster sized maps, 25 character sheets, 6 laminated character creation sheets and even two dry erase markers.
They give you everything you need to run the game, but even so I decided to add a few extra touches by printing out my own character sheets and making the treasure map more beat up and ancient looking than I was willing to do to the original. Of course, that’s a luxury I have by having both the digital and print versions–which is something I always try to do when buying TTRPG books and sets online.
The adventure that comes with the starter set is meant to be more than a one-shot, consisting of several parts that will take a group about three or four hours each to complete. And with a total of four parts it’s a great start to a Pirate Borg campaign, with enough pirate adventures to whet your appetite for the immediate future. The starter set’s adventure is filled with everything a pirate would (or wouldn’t) want to encounter in an adventure through the Dark Carribean: zombies, drugs, treasure (with the requisite map), encounters on the high sea and more.
Down Among the Dead
If you’ve finished with the starter set, or already have a seasoned crew of salty dogs you want to take on new adventures, Down Among the Dead is an expansion that includes three new character classes, three new adventures, a parrot poker game, house rules, and lots of tables and generators. Is your crew having a hard time figuring out what your ship’s flag is going to look like? The flag generator will have you hoisting your very own Jolly Roger in no time.
While I haven’t had a chance to run the three adventures that are included in Down Among the Dead, they remind me of old school D&D modules, which seems perfect for an OSR style game.
They’re light on narrative with lots of traps, lots of loot, and only subtle nudges to guide the players–as opposed to putting them on rails. “Lost to the Locker” has you (or your players) escaping from Pirate Hell–and I always love a good “fight your way out of hell” scenario after a party suffers a TPK.
“Into the Maelstrom” has the PCs hunting a vampire pirate on his castle-on-a-boat style ship.
Finally, Venom in the Veins” takes place in a snake temple run by the ghost of a malevolent druid.
Down Among the Dead also comes with three new character classes, as well as bunch of new skills to bestow upon your established characters. The Antiquarian is an adventuring researcher type good at deciphering languages, and exploring trap-filled temples. The Deep One is a playable version of the NPC class from the Core Rulebook–an amphibious deep water dweller that can be ancient and giant, or small and wiley. And then there’s the Unlocked Soul–an undead pirate that is cursed and bound by ghostly magic from the Locker.
The books themselves are printed and bound beautifully. Down Among the Dead is hardcover and has two reading ribbons included to help mark pages for reference. Down Among the Dead also has a cool embossed cover (not to mention the limited edition that is bound in leather, which is still available as of this article’s publication).
Unfortunately, unlike OG Mork Borg, there are no foil effects–but there are loads of pages of full color art in both Down Among the Dead and the Player’s Guide booklet. This extends to the GM screen, which is not only a great reference, but it’s also very cool looking–I just wish it was a bit taller.
If you, like me, loved Mork Borg and wanted an excuse to jump back into it, Pirate Borg is fantastic. And with the Starter Kit there’s really no excuse not to try it out–and if you have a seasoned crew, Down Among the Dead is a great way to expand those pirate adventures.
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