Pirate Borg by Luke Stratton is a brilliant mix of horror, humour, and high adventure. This combines with an underused setting and a table atmosphere few other systems achieve. Playing Pirate Borg is speedy and really easy for both gamemasters and players to pick up and play. This all makes the system an easy recommend for pretty much any gaming group’s library.
What’s The Vibe Playing Pirate Borg?
Pirate Borg’s artwork is a brilliant example of this system’s greatest strength. It’s dark, but it’s vibrant; it’s grim, but it’s stylish; it’s horrifying, but it’s inspiring. Mixing opposites is what Pirate Borg does best. For me, it’s what makes it so brilliant.
Many games try mixing themes and ideas, but end up feeling clumsy or confused. Other systems do one thing very well, but lack variety. Pirate Borg’s execution is so good, it creates huge variety in tone and gameplay but always feels consistent; the system encourages the group to change vibe as needed at any moment, and it always feels right.
Opposites are at the heart of the game’s creation. Luke Stratton, aka Limithron, lists his inspirations at the start of the rulebook. Lovecraft, The Darkest Dungeon, and Mothership share a page with, among others, The Goonies, Hook, and Indiana Jones. So, characters sail in the Dark Caribbean, a reimagining of the region moving towards the end-times; they’ll encounter terrifying undead, horrors from the ocean, and doom cults of Cthulhu. Yet, they can fight back: fire cannons broadside; swing on ropes to board enemy ships; explore lost ruins and find buried treasure, all to a soundtrack of sea shanties and players shouting “Yarrr!”
It’s safe to say my group are having a blast with it.
General Gameplay
The system states its influences from MÖRK BORG openly—though it’s a lot more reader-friendly. Characters have five stats: Strength, Agility, Presence, Toughness, and Spirit. Players roll a d20 to pass checks, adding modifiers from their stats; it’s a roll equal or higher system, so players from systems like Dungeons & Dragons will be comfortable here.
Just like MÖRK BORG, gameplay is very fast and very deadly. It’s not unusual for characters to have less than six hit points; attacks usually deal a d4 or a d6 damage, but an iron grenade, for example, does 3d6. Consequently, just like my recommendation for a Shadowdark campaign, it’s probably better to see a long adventure as a TV show with a big cast of characters; instead of a movie focusing on a few protagonists, all the crew’s stories combine to make a larger narrative.
Character Creation in Minutes or Even Seconds
Appropriately, character creation is very fast. In 13-20 rolls, a character is ready with stats, equipment, flaws, trademarks, tendencies, and background hooks; players can choose class and some starting gear if they wish, though. Classes include Brutes, Buccaneers, Sorcerers, and Zealots. The book also includes two optional classes: Haunted Souls—undead variants—and Tall Tales—Merfolk, mutants, and sentient animal options.
Conveniently, there’s a free online character generator here if people need a character in one click. This fast character creation meant my players were happier to take risks. This made the number of iconic moments in a session much higher. If players need an hour to make a character, cautious gameplay is a natural reaction. However, in Pirate Borg, making a character only takes five minutes, or the time it takes to click a link. Consequently, my players chose to do things like duel on a yardarm of a burning ship and explode their ship’s magazine; they actively looked for those chances with big silly smiles and an enthusiasm for more.
Playing Pirate Borg Unlocks Creativity
With no skill lists, players feel a lot freer in choosing their actions. The game encourages style and improvisation. It also encourages speed. Making 12 the default Difficulty Rating (DR) for checks and using group initiative are just two ways gameplay keeps moving; the gamemaster’s bookkeeping stays low, so everyone has more time for action.
However, it would be wrong to say Pirate Borg lacks depth. For instance, armour soaks damage, but heavy armour makes dodging attacks harder. Players face interesting choices at every stage of the game. As another example, black powder weapons have some of the most powerful attacks, but a critical fail—or fumble—can seriously hurt or kill a character. Magic, too, does incredible things, but it can endanger the whole party. Even the limited inventory space makes choosing what to take and what to leave behind an important decision.
Another example of this is the Devil’s Luck mechanic. Unlike in MÖRK BORG, characters have either d2 or d4 luck points. Players can choose to use these points for effects like getting maximum damage on an attack or reducing a critical hit or a fumble; they also allow re-rolls. These replenish with a six hour rest, but only if the character has none left. It’s another interesting decision for players to make. It does make characters just a bit more survivable; however, the system is still very much a lethal game.
Playing Pirate Borg Means Adventure
The biggest mechanical difference to MÖRK BORG is actually in exploration. While exploration in MÖRK BORG is very abstract, Pirate Borg comes with a gorgeous map of the Dark Caribbean. Cities and other places of interest are waiting for adventure, and support is there for a hexcrawl campaign if desired. Gamemasters are free to use real, historical sites for inspiration. However, the alternative timeline and spaces on the map also give freedom to introduce new stuff if it’s more fun.
Similarly, the setting comes with factions ready to use as required. Parties can face the British, the French Indies, New Spain, their Inquisition sub-faction, and cultists of the Sunken One. Add historical figures, and gamemasters have a long list of very different people—both real and fictional—to inspire adventures; and that’s all before adding their original ideas. It encourages a world of shifting allies, enemies, and frenemies. This results in a huge variety of adventure types and consequences to have fun with.
It’s also worth mentioning this setting takes little effort to convey. MÖRK BORG, and most homebrew settings to be honest, need a bit of work for the players to understand. However, in Pirate Borg’s case, mention Pirates of the Caribbean to them, and the game can probably start right away.
Ship Combat Rules? Ship Combat Rules!
What pirate game would be complete without naval combat rules? Pirate Borg does not disappoint. I’ve actually followed Luke for years for his work as a map maker. Long before Pirate Borg, he became the go-to online resource for ship combat maps and assets for historical and fantasy adventures at sea. He even made a system agnostic—though D&D 5e focused—quickstart for ship combat here.
That ruleset’s evolution is obvious in Pirate Borg, but the mechanics feel more streamlined in this system. The crew’s captain decides the ship’s movement on a hex map. Non-captain characters each choose from a list of 10 actions; for games with only one or two players, ships always take a minimum of two crew actions. Actions cover all the iconic moments like firing cannons, changing the ship’s speed, ramming, and boarding; there’s also a choice for original player ideas. It’s fast, flavourful, and very open to creativity.
Who Should Be Playing Pirate Borg?
Honestly, the brilliant mix of opposites means it should work for nearly any table. It’s very easy for a game to be cinematic, heartfelt, heroic, anti-heroic, horrifying, and funny. Not just campaign to campaign or session to session, but moment to moment. Of course, groups can stay with one tone or a couple of themes if they want. However, the flexibility my group felt was wonderful. Gameplay never felt derailed or inappropriate because all of these vibes work well. It was so easy to revert, maintain, or evolve the action as needed. That seemed to relax everyone more than usual, and increased their connection to the story even more.
Of course, people who love pirates should check this out. Enjoying Pirates of the Caribbean, Treasure Island—book, film, or Muppets version—and Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag are good indicators. The cosmic horror influence is also really strong, so weird fiction lovers will get a thrill, too.
It’s so fast creating new characters and starting a game, Pirate Borg is great for one-shots and short adventures. When nothing is ready for a session, or a group want a break from another system, Pirate Borg is an awesome backup. It can handle nearly any vibe, and can be over as quickly as needed.
However, it’s equally brilliant at long campaigns. Experience the Dark Caribbean moving towards the end-times; see factions old and new rise and fall, helping then attacking the crew as they struggle to survive; play a pirate crew that shrinks and grows; build a fleet and watch it burn; face the Leviathan and find the Necronomicon. There’s so much potential, it’s fantastic.
Where To Get Started
People wanting to try Pirate Borg only need the core rulebook, found here. It has all the official rules, classes, and monsters currently available; there’s a starter adventure, The Curse of Skeleton Point, also included in the back of the book.
For a step-by-step guide on how to play, Luke’s YouTube channel is a great resource; it also has some fantastic interviews with big names in the hobby there!
For questions, extra resources, news, or place to hang out, the Discord server is a nice, welcoming place to try.
It’s worth noting Pirate Borg is a growing game. Earlier this year, Luke had a really successful Kickstarter for the Down Among the Dead expansion. With four times more money raised than the original Kickstarter, and over a 1,000 more backers, support is growing. The book will add more character classes, more adventures, more gamemaster support, and even funded a comprehensive starter set. Luke and his team are very active on the Discord asking for feedback as the materials come together. Check it out! The project is definitely building momentum, and it’s wonderful.
Playing Pirate Borg Will Suit Almost Any Table
Pirate Borg’s ability to handle so many different vibes and still feel consistent is fantastic. The game won’t be for everyone, but it feels like nearly anyone will have a great time with it. It’s really easy to get started, and so simple to run and play. Sessions seem to always have really cinematic moments and player creativity is actively encouraged. The game’s support is growing; its future is looking really healthy. Overall, I’m really excited about this game and it’s an easy recommend. Give it a try!
