The Lone Bard

Let's Play Pirate Borg! Part 1: Character creation

The Campaign

Ahoy, scurvy bastards! It’s time to have some fun with cursed pirates in a decaying world. Let’s try Pirate Borg, a rum-infested Mork Borg hack created by Limithron.

Before we start, let me just say that Armada should be the game’s official song.

I fear none of these scurvy dogs – Hail Jolly Roger
Neither all their bloody kings or their gods
I’ll find a heaven of my own – Hail Jolly Roger
Freedom carved into the wound til the bone

Visions of Atlantis is awesome. I love how melodic/power metal bands lean 100% into the goofiness.

Anyway, Limithron kindly sent me Pirate Borg with a few extras that I’ll be using for this playthrough! How cool is that?

Besides the core rulebook, I’ll be using:

Brief overview

We play as desperate scoundrels of all types, like pirates, outcasts, and cultists, sailing the Dark Caribbean, a cursed archipelago where everything is hostile. The game has themes of eldritch horror, fantastical alternate history, and the undead.

It never feels too grim or oppressive though, because there’s a lot of humor in the presentation. Pirate Borg doesn’t take itself too seriously, which I love. It’s more campy, and the stylish illustrations, typical of the “Borg” genre, reinforce this mix of fun and dark.

The game is built on the foundations of Mork Borg, so it’s a rules-lite system with lethality, fast play, and emergent storytelling. It wasn’t designed with solo in mind, but M. Allen Hall created an independent module, Captain & Crew (C&C), that Limithron adopted into the official rules! They’re part of Cabin Fever.

Note: Captain and Crew is free on Itch, and Cabin Fever (digital) is free on DTRPG.

Checks are rolled with a d20 plus (or minus) a stat modifier against a Difficulty Rating (usually 12). Dice rolls are all player-facing. During combat, you roll to attack and to defend.

Outside of combat, checks become moves instead. We use 2d20. If both dice roll equal to or above the DR, it’s a strong hit, a successful check. If only one does, it’s a weak hit, a success with a consequence. When both roll under, it’s a fail.

Even though the game wasn’t designed for solo, there are a plethora of tables and generators in the books. We can create random islands, ships, treasure maps, jobs, hooks, pirates, coral reefs, and even flags! I’ll be using generators from all books.

In my RONIN playthrough (another Mork Borg hack), I chose to create a single character stronger and more resistant than normal. This time, however, I’m going with a full random party. I’m creating three characters with the generator on Limithron’s website and running with them.

Character creation

Well, this was interesting. My first PC, Nathalie “Byrd” Seszay, is a Sorcerer with just 1 HP. I’m doomed. She can’t ever be on the frontlines.

Each class has different Features, like unique skills. Byrd’s is the magic Protection, that adds -d2 damage reduction to a character.

Stats are rolled with 3d6 and we get a modifier depending on the result. Nathalie’s are Strength -2, Agility -2, Presence +1, Toughness -3, Spirit +3. Not great. For random traits, I rolled that she’s stupid, never blinks, becomes a murderous grump when hungry, and has no memory before a few days ago.

Timothy “Devil” Hennekes is a Brute who wields a brass anchor named The Negotiator as a weapon. He’s impulsive, infested with bugs, a voluntary insomniac, and is sometimes possessed by an undead spirit.

Nicolas “One-Eye” Vázquez is an extremely attractive and lazy one-eyed buccaneer. He carries a musket, people are jealous of his looks, likes to lead but often gets lost, and is a known pirate condemned to the gallows.

So how did these three get together?

I’m gonna say that Byrd and Tim met before, maybe in a tavern brawl. Tim got possessed and started beating everyone up. As soldiers of the British Empire arrived at the scene, Byrd, too stupid to realize the danger of a single jab putting her out of her misery, approached Tim and touched his forehead, shutting down the spirit.

The soldiers let it go, with their dislike of the Spanish Inquisition and all. Tim decided to accompany Byrd, becoming very protective of her. He’s known as the Devil because of the possessions, but isn’t actually a bad person--no more than a regular pirate, anyway.

If he’s siding with Byrd because he feels thankful and indebted or just because he thinks he has something to gain is anybody’s guess.

On an island near Port Royal, they witnessed a public execution. The most handsome man Byrd had ever seen was about to hang, but not if she could help it. Something in the man called to her, and it wasn’t just the thought of her riding him.

Note: I’m using Nick’s Thing of Importance here, a bag of white powder he believes is magical. Maybe the powder is indeed magical and Byrd sensed it.

She ran toward the gallows. Tim stared at the scene in disbelief, realizing what she was about to do. In panic and sleep-deprived, the spirit possessed him. He caused a ruckus that grabbed everyone’s attention. The soldiers noticed too late that the rope around Nick’s throat had been cut and he was running away.

Byrd grabbed Tim and they fled the scene with her leading, guided by a faint trace of something mystical, or maybe just her own lust. They arrived at the docks to find Nick preparing his dinghy to escape.

Byrd said he should instead lay low for a while and offered to help. Nick agreed.

During the next few days, Nick takes advantage of Byrd whenever he can, asking for money, food, clothes, favors, and whatever else he can think of.

Tim, furious to the extreme, doesn’t hide his dislike for the buccaneer and warns him not to hurt Byrd or he will lose more than just an eye.

After a while, the trio then comes across an interesting job request.

I’m going to roll for it on the core book’s Jobs & Quests table:

D20 Hook: 2, Raid a port
D10 Patron: 7, An old friend
D6 Requirement: 4, Make it look like someone else did it
D6 Time restraint: 6, This month
D6 Complication: The intel is wrong

This is very cool! The Complication will be a mystery to the characters, of course.

Let’s say someone from Nick’s past is asking for a favor. Or rather cashing in for helping him escape before. His name is

D66 Pirate names table
31, Don
31 (again!), Archer

Don Archer. He wants Nick to raid a small Spanish port warehouse on a nearby island, but must make it look like it was done by the British. Don is an arms smuggler. Tipping the conflict between the factions will make him richer.

Tim laughs at Nick’s crestfallen face, ready to leave him behind forever. Byrd, however, immediately says she will join Nick. Cursing and swearing, Tim is in.

I’ll call it here. Next time we start the game properly.

Pirate Borg and its additional contents are available on DTRPG and the Limithron website.

#actual play #dark fantasy #mork borg #pirate borg #rpg