The Weekend First Play: Mörk Borg

My first character crawls out of the sewers, blinking into the half-light

You can’t really tell, but it’s a yellow character sheet because…you know..”theme”

Yesterday, my Weekend First Look was an overview of the Mörk Borg core book. I have to admit that I lapsed into fanboyisms, gushing over the graphic style and “vibe” of the book—so much so that I immediately rolled up a first character.

Suffice to say, you might want to hop over to the first post to get a sense of what this one is going to be about!

Rolling a Character in Mörk Borg

So, there are a few different ways to make a character in the game, all of which are relatively simple. Let’s be honest—our character probably won’t last long anyway, so we need a quick way to make a replacement! This is a doomed world, and the end is only a few bad dice rolls away, so best not to get too attached, eh?

There’s nothing to stop us from starting with a completely blank slate and building from scratch. The book gives instructions for how to do that. But for maximum tone, flavour and a sense of the unique, then starting with a “class” is perhaps the better way to go.

Even easier than rolling dice and filling in the character sheet (see photo above) is the semi-official online tool “Scvmbirther” (accessible via the website), where a brand new and unique character is literally a click away.

The core book comes with six ready-to-go character classes, and, apart from the online tool, there are numerous fan-made characters available all over the internet, courtesy of the more-than-generous third-party license I discussed in my previous post.

I decided to start with a d6 roll on the pre-made classes in the book, and then customise and tweak it using only the tools, oracles and tables in the book rather than get too deep into the deluge of fan-made supplements, add-ons and tools.

Arise, Mr Grin!

To start creating a character, I flipped to page 46 (remember I told you the core book isn’t laid out sequentially?) and rolled a d6. It’s a two—which gives me the Gutterborn Scum class.

Now, before I get into the details, I must give a shout-out for the art on this double-page spread. There is plenty of phenomenal art in the book, but this just made me laugh out loud. It kinda looks like it's been drawn by a six-year-old… a particularly disturbed six-year-old 🤪

You could think of the Gutterborn Scum as the rogue-adjacent class, if you must force everything into the DnD paradigm. But it’s a warped and twisted slant on a “rogue” if we’re going in that direction. Another d6 roll opened up the back story, and I learned I was “dumped onto a moving shit-cart still in your birth caul.”

Nice…

I’m small and underdeveloped, giving me a -2 to a 3d6 Strength roll. Fortunately, I hit an 11, reduced down to a 9, both numbers falling within the parameters for a modifier of zero. In Mörk Borg, the rolled ability scores don’t matter once you’ve converted them to the modifier score, which can be anywhere from -3 to +3. The modifier is added or subtracted for d20 rolls against the relevant ability. Given that the default Difficulty Rating is 12, we can quickly find ourselves rolling against 14 or 15 with ability scores that didn't work out.

So you can imagine my relief when the dice rolls gave me zero modifiers for Strength, Agility and Presence, and a welcome +1 for Toughness.

And another welcome bonus is my inherent Stealthiness. I get a special -2 modifier to Agility and Presence checks—so a DR12 immediately becomes a DR10. Sweet!

OK, what next? How about some armour and a weapon? I turn to the weapons on pages 20-23 and immediately clock that a roll of 1 would give me a femur as a weapon! Crazy, eh? Who doesn’t want to whack enemies with the thigh bone of a fallen foe?

I quickly blow on my dice, say a prayer to the blessed gods of the d6 as I hope for a one—and roll FIVE. So, it’s a Warhammer—and I reflect for a moment on the comic potential of a small, slight, stealthy Gutterborn Scum sneaking around with a Warhammer that’s so heavy he can barely swing it!

[Side Note: the core book weapons table goes up to a d10—just not for my class.]

Anyway, the armour roll offers up light armour, and I decide to drill down with a further d4 roll to specify that it will be furs.

There’s one more task on the class page, and that’s to roll for specialty (or “speciality” as we call it in the UK). It’s worth mentioning that going classless means we don’t get a speciality, but do get to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die when rolling for abilities.

Swings and roundabouts, eh?

My Speciality d6 Roll comes up with a three, and I’m “blessed” (if that word can be applied) with Abominable Gob Lobber. Wowser! d2 times per fight, I can spit in my enemy’s face with “viscous, lumpy, vile” phlegm and leave them retching, vomiting and blinded for d4 rounds. Others, whether friend or foe, in range must pass a Toughness check to avoid vomiting!

Delightful…

And the other Specialities for the class rejoice with such names as “Filthy Fingernails”, “Coward’s Jab” and “Execretal Stealth.” This points to something that I feel is worth mentioning about Mörk Borg. Yes, it’s dark. It’s gloomy, nihilistic and black. But those attributes are so over-the-top that it becomes almost comical! I found myself bursting into laughter several times when reading the book—it’s just so crazily OTT that you can’t be offended or repelled by the cartoonish darkness.

And so I continue with rolling on tables and oracles for equipment, traits, habits and backstory—wrapping up with the curiously apt name of “Vagal Grin.”

Vagal Grin crawls from the muck, filth and debris…

Summarising everything I know about my Mörk Borg character is more about the flavour and thematic backstory than it is about numbers. Before I even step into the world, I feel a stronger connection to a “person” (a doomed person, but still…) than to a stat block.

Here’s what the tables gave me…

I’m small. I’m stealthy. I’m carrying a ridiculously large weapon that I can barely swing. I was rejected and abandoned at birth and dumped onto a cart by my unknown parents. I’m a loudmouth. I’m bitter towards those who have ever reached out to me. I have cataracts spreading inexorably over both eyes, meaning that I will soon be blind. I giggle insanely at the most inappropriate moments. I have a wound on my foot that is cursed and never heals. I can spit globulous phlegm in the faces of my foes to blind them during battle.

If I rolled up another character, I’d get something totally different. And that’s only from the core Mörk Borg book. Throw in a few of the plethora of fan-made supplements, and the possibilities are virtually infinite…

From the Book of Spit and Sinew, Verse XIII

And lo, from the cart of filth was cast a child, wrapped in caul and contempt. He shall bear the hammer too heavy for his bones, and spit the bile of saints long rotted. His foot shall bleed without end, a wound gifted by the Worm Beneath. Eyes clouded, yet he shall see the truth: that all kindness is a lie, and all light a trap. He shall giggle at the gallows, and blind the righteous with globes of his own decay. Mark him well, ye who walk the dying road—for where he grins, the world forgets its name.

Join me next week as I take my first steps into the world as I talk about the tools for solo play, overland travel, and dungeon creation.