Ex Libris Mörk Borg: Optional Rules

The Black Salt [MBC: Feretory]†
Pelle Nilsson, Johan Nohr

Concept: “Springing from despair itself, the Black Winds echoed through Tombs, Palaces and places deep beneath the earth.”
Content: Potentially lethal weather event
Writing: Delivers necessary context and instructions
Art/design: Text heavy with subtle but effective graphics
Usability: Two tables filled with mortification

Eat, Prey, Kill [MBC]†
Karl Druid, Johan Nohr

Concept: “When stomachs growl and there’s no inn in sight …”
Content: Rules for hunting and whole ecosystems of prey
Writing: Clear and evocative
Art/design: Enough to supply character but not obstruct usability
Usability: Well laid out and easy to navigate

Roads to Damnation / Overland Travel [MBC]†
Svante Landgraf, Johan Nohr

Concept: “Travel across the dying world.”
Content: Mechanics for adding color and adventure to journeys
Writing: Provides solid sketches for GMs to flesh out
Art/design: Mörk Borg-style artwork and a very useful travel map
Usability: Well organized, easy to navigate and use

Note: “Roads to Damnation” includes additional art and content, and it is only available in Feretory; “Overland Travel” is available free at MBC.

Unheroic Feats [MBC]
Johnny Carhat, Johan Nohr

Concept: “When getting better, if not using an optional class, you may instead gain a feat.”
Content: Abilities that add versatility for classless characters (and more motivation to play them)
Writing: Evocative and inspiring
Art/design: Mörk Borg ambience in a more traditional style
Usability: Clearly and linearly laid out

Blackpowder Basics
I. McClung

Concept: “Unleash havoc with this set of rules featuring devastating blackpowder weaponry.”
Content: Includes rules for historic firearms, blackpowder mishaps, and a gun-toting character class
Writing: Clear delivery of more-complicated-than-average weapon mechanics
Art/design: On-brand use of color, type, and visual arrangements
Usability: Well laid out in discrete sections and easy to navigate

Carousing in the Dying World
Greyson Yandt

Concept: “A PC can ‘get better’ […] by carousing.”
Content: Spend money and time to increase attributes and gain traits, items, recruits, etc.; clever use of simultaneous dice rolls
Writing: Clear and thoroughly entertaining
Art/design: Subdued but easy on the eyes
Usability: GM may need to consult additional supplements; in itself, perfectly usable

Death Is Not an Escape!
Wayward Polyhedral

Concept: “It isn’t your time. Rise revenant and roll for Death’s gift upon your first death.”
Content: 20 abilities that provide certain benefits and detriments
Writing: Some creative concepts concisely expressed
Art/design: Illustration and color lend an appropriate, on-brand character
Usability: Just roll d20 to see what gift you bring back from beyond the grave

Deck of Corpses†
Philip Reed

Concept: “A deck of 36 corpses the GM may turn to whenever the PCs stumble across yet another dead body.”
Content: A heap of bodies, some of whom also have loot
Writing: Some strange and gruesome remains; not for the faint of heart, but definitely for Mörk Borg
Art/design: Conservative but effective
Usability: Includes a unique mechanic involving the official Corpse Plundering table and clock time

Deck of Secrets†
Philip Reed, Warm_Tail, Alim Yakubov

Concept: “Use this deck during character creation […] to add background.”
Content: 36 violent, sordid, and bizarre selections to flesh out your characters’ personal histories
Writing: Well-crafted to inspire players’ imaginations and add compelling depth to characters
Art/design: Nice, macabre art on card backs, and textured backgrounds add some visual depth to each side
Usability: Just draw and then despair

Deck of Terribly Broken Bodies†
Philip Reed, Sergi, Alim Yakubov

Concept: “Instead of rolling a d4 and checking the table in the core rules, draw a single card from this deck whenever a PC reaches zero HP.”
Content: 38 severe injuries at 4 levels of severity (correlating to the 4 results on the Broken table in the core rules) with different results for different damage types
Writing: Visceral, vivid, and violent (obviously)
Art/design: Overall nice design; use of vivid yellow skulls to emphasize severity is a solid, well-devised feature
Usability: Very straightforward so you can focus on suffering from the wound instead of deciphering it

Eldritch Elevations
Michael Mars Russell

Concept: “Blessed are the Powers granted to us by the Basilisks and Blessed are we by their use!”
Content: 20 options for critical success when using Powers
Writing: Clear, concise descriptions of narrative and mechanical effects
Art/design: Economical type choices; presentation emphasizes the textual subject
Usability: Roll & read

Eskalating Eskatons
Banshee Games / Shawn McCarthyConcept: “Eskalating Eskatons ties the players’ spending of Omens to the Calendar of Nechrubel with a nifty rule and tracker.”
Content: The number of omens spent gradually reduces the size of the die rolled on the Calendar
Writing: Not wordy. Doesn’t need to be.
Art/design: Provides visual cues for use in the full-graphic version and verbal instructions in the printer friendly version
Usability: GM will need to keep careful count of omens used, but it’s obviously not a major chore

Horrible Wounds
vil

Concept: “Alternative death/ broken mechanics for Mörk Borg, including a simple way to deal with ‘sanity damage.’”
Content: Includes wound types and categories, conditions, and rules for healing
Writing: Straightforward instructions with vivid (and occasionally humorous) descriptions of wounds
Art/design: Poster version includes more visual flourish while print version is more visually conservative and economical
Usability: Printable version sacrifices visual character for easier readability on standard paper

Riders of the Apocalypse
I. McClung

Concept: “As the death of the world approaches, harbingers ride out, embodying all of its woes.”
Content: Stat blocks for avatars of misery and mechanics for introducing them into your game
Writing: Clear, concise, and characterful
Art/design: A mix of artists and styles embedded in Mörk Borg’s aesthetic
Usability: Straightforward layout; tables add variety without being overwhelming

The Secret Glory
Sean F. Smith

Concept: “A 1920s supernatural investigation version of Mork Borg. Mythos Borg.”
Content: Includes additional/alternative rules for occult investigation, gear, and a demi-class
Writing: Descriptive with a neutral tone appropriate to the content
Art/design: Nicely mimics a printed document from the period
Usability: Well laid out and split down the middle for easy use by GMs and players

The Shit-Black Death
Walton Wood

Concept: “Mechanics for virulent contagion”
Content: Rules for micro- and macro-impact of plague
Writing: Heavy on text, and on everything else
Art/design: Relatively subdued; primarily meant to facilitate usability
Usability: Fairly crunchy but not overly complex; requires external resources

Suffering Extended
Michał Gotkowski

Concept: “Alternative rules and extended content”
Content: Includes new options for starting equipment, companions, class-specific unarmed attacks, weapons, artifacts, armor, critical hit locations, bad habits, familiars, names, pack animals, minor items, and musical instruments
Writing: Captures the core book’s grim humor and tone
Art/design: Strong Mörk Borg aesthetic; sets itself apart with blue that harkens back to the core rulebook
Usability: Well laid out; available in single page and spread versions for convenience

We Die Alone
Peter Rudin-Burgess, Stefan Keller

Concept: “A solo roleplaying supplement for Mörk Borg”
Content: Rules tweaks, advice for setting scenes and building narrative arcs, and mechanics for GM-less play
Writing: A mix of game mechanics and metagame guidance
Art/design: Liberal layouts and more subdued design than some Mörk Borg publications, but still on-brand
Usability: Not as comprehensive as some other solo toolkits but it’ll get the job done