Let's see what MÖRK BORG is. First of all, let's say a few things about its creators. The author and game designer of the game is Pelle Nilsson, known for his work in the Swedish horror rpg Bark Witch (Barkhäxan), while the illustrator of the game is Johan Nohr, who contributed to the graphic design of the dark fantasy rpg Symbaroum. It is also noteworthy to mention the fact that MÖRK BORG made a successful kickstarter campaign in 2019, where it was funded in less than an hour. The game was released in 2020 through Free League Publishing (Fria Ligan).

MÖRK BORG, which translates as "Dark Castle" from Swedish, is an OSR (Old School Revival) rpg, that is, it tries to capture the feeling of the rpgs of the 70's and 80's, giving more basis to the imagination and atmosphere than to rules. On the contrary, the most popular rpgs, even in their latest versions, have too many rules to watch out for. So, as the people from Free League rightly put it, MÖRK BORG is "light on rules, heavy on everything else". However, where it differs from other OSR rpgs is that with its visual content and without much written information it manages to create the gloomy and dark atmosphere of a dying world. As we mentioned, Mörk Borg is a game with a few rules, which are based on a simple form of the d20 system. When creating the character, the book provides options for character classes, which are optional. The basic abilities are: Agility, Presence, Strength and Toughness. For each ability we roll three six-sided dice (3d6) and depending on the result, the modifier with the lowest -3 and the highest +3 comes out. This applies in case we decide to play one of the optional classes. In case our character does not belong to one of the classes then we roll four six-sided dice (4d6) for each ability and we remove the lowest die on two of the abilities.

Also during the character creation we roll dice for the starting equipment and the silver that our character has in his possession, as there are tables in the book with more information. All tests are done using the equilateral dice (d20), adding (or removing) the ability modifier that corresponds to what you want to do. The tests face the difficulty ratings (DR) for how difficult or easy what the character is trying to do. DRs start at 6 (something very easy) and the higher is 18 (almost impossible). The basic DR is 12, so if a character attempts, for example, to climb a building then the test will be a d20 + agility / strength modifier against the difficulty rating 12/14, ie the roll of the dice should be higher from the DR to succeed.

It is important to note that the game is player facing, ie GMs roll almost no dice during it, all dice are rolled by the players and so there is transparency. It is almost impossible to cheat either in favor of the players or in favor of GM, all the dice are shown.

In general, the characters are very weak compared to what they face but not completely unbalanced and unplayable. But for this reason character creation is easy and fast ... Players will keep dying. You should prepare for this. In this way it shows you what it is like to live in such a dark and impoverished world waiting for death.

It is also important to talk about the magic system, which is of course minimal, and fits perfectly into this ruthless world. All spells (Powers) are cast via scrolls, except for some special abilities that the classes have. Depending on how much presence the character has, the easier it is to gain power or to blow in his face. Whatever one decides to do in the world of Mörk Borg is a double-edged sword and the magic is no different. Mörk Borg is really different from any other role-playing game I have ever encountered. It overflows with style from every page and is a pleasant book to read, as it is also very small (only 96 pages !!!). The creators have done an excellent job in the visual part and in the quality of the book. Also to help you get in the mood, they have prepared a playlist on Spotify.

It has some minor disadvantages as well, such as being a little harder to read due to the awesome layout or that the information it gives you is extremely limited. Definitely not for everyone, you have to have a specific mindset to play it, because it is unforgiving for players and generally not recommended for large campaigns. However it is a must for one-shots and dungeon crawling.

Those of you who think that the book is small and several things are missing, do not worry I have good news for you! You can go to the Mörk Borg website where you will find free content, as well as a character generator and dungeon generator. They also have great community support, providing direct user-generated content.

If these are not enough for you, I am happy to inform you that a supplement has been released, the MÖRK BORG CULT: FERETORY. This volume consists of community-generated material and contains a monster generator, new classes, new monsters, rules for hunting and food search, new adventures, new objects, new spells and much more. As with the main book, everything is delivered in exactly the same way.

Review by Dimitrios Sotiropoulos for Gamesenpai.gr