To the beat of this turbulent year’s final breaths, we look back with pride at 2020 and the MÖRK BORG mess we made. It’s been quite the ride. Here’s a month-by-month breakdown/boast fest.
JANUARY
We launch morkborg.com to have somewhere to pour the steady flow of downloadable content, and our merch store MERCH BORG with our contributions to the world of High Fashion. (link to American store)
November Sun: “It’s unreal. This is the best book I’ve read in years probably.”
FEBRUARY
The game is officially released in stores and sells out pretty much the same day (which is both exciting and terribly frustrating). The first couple of unboxing videos and reviews are coming in. They’re good. Phew.
Bloat Games: “It’s an art piece to have in your collection.”
RPGBuyer: “Mörk Borg is unlike any other RPG.”
The Dread Gazebo: “Mörk Borg is the RPG worried parents from the 80’s thought actually existed.”
MARCH
Right before these things were made impossible, the official MÖRK BORG release party leaves Bar Brooklyn, Stockholm smelling of charred books and empty bottles. The MBC spits out the hex crawl adventure The Death Ziggurat.
Bud’s RPG review: ”Quite simply, MÖRK BORG is one of the most outstanding books I have ever had the privilege to review.” ”This is the OSR taken to a completely different level.” 10/10
APRIL
1762 Kickstarter backers help make the zine MÖRK BORG CULT: FERETORY a reality, giving the MBC physical form. In other zine news, the Swedish OSR publication Night Yeast is released, with a bunch of MB content.
Reviews from R’Lyeh: “Mörk Borg is the roleplaying game your mother warned you about during the Moral Panic of the eighties — brutal, in-your-face dread and despair, a low and bloody guitar riff of a game.”
No Dice Unrolled: “Mörk Borg has captured me from the first moment, enveloping me in a black embrace of eternal perdition.”
MAY
Roll20 is cursed with the first VTT MÖRK BORG character sheet. People are actually playing this game.
JUNE
We participate in Dissident Whispers; a massive, collaborative RPG anthology of 58 original adventures, raising over $60k for Black Lives Matter bail funds. Also, we’re nominated for 4 ENnies!
There will be Games: “This is RPG as a work of art, as much a delight to behold as it is to play, offering heaped spoonfuls of inspiration with each fevered turn of the page.”
JULY
We launch our dungeon generator DNGNGEN which will create more harrowing hellholes than you’ll ever need: https://dngngen.makedatanotlore.dev/
Just One More Fix: “If you’re looking for an OSR style game — this is it.”
AUGUST
A busy month. We win three gold ENnies (Product of the Year among them!) and one silver. The Guardian of all things features MÖRK BORG a day before the legendary OSR blog Grognardia returns from an 8-year hiatus to review it. Strange days. Also, we run out of stock again.
Grognardia: “This is a fantasy roleplaying game that has lodged itself in my imagination, which is a remarkable thing, after having read so many others over the course of my life.”
SEPTEMBER
Suddenly we’re nominated for the esteemed Swedish Design Prize (the first RPG product to ever be) and we open up the MÖRK BORG Third Party License, allowing anyone to publish things compatible with the game without us taking a cut.
Līber Lūdōrum: Mörk Borg is an object to be examined and appreciated. It is not simply game mechanics to learn, a text to read, or an artbook to peruse; the union of all three dimensions lifts both book and game exponentially higher than the simple sum of those parts.
OCTOBER
Together with Games Omnivorous and Exalted Funeral we ran a Kickstarter for Putrescence Regnant, an adventure module and experi-metal vinyl album in one. Among the guest artists are Wayne June, narrator of Darkest Dungeon, and Greg Anderson of Sunn O)))
Rolling Boxcars: It’s as if your high school buddy, a total metalhead, made a notebook of all his ideas for a bad-ass D&D variant.
NOVEMBER
MÖRK BORG CULT: FERETORY is officially released into stores. And s̶̗͙̉̓̔͋̈́ò̴̦̘̻m̶̧̛͓͚̱̂ẻ̶̛̖͈̺̺͙̜̾̃t̸͎͆h̶̝͖͇̱̉̿̓ḭ̵̙̬͔͇̠̌͜n̷̡͈̗̘͎̯͋͐͊͝ģ̶͙͑͋̄̌͘ ̷̜̲̫̬̜̂͂̔̀̌̃͝î̴̟̭ş̸́͒̏̒̀̽ ̷͚̎͊̀̅͌t̸̖͓͖͆͑̂͛e̶̼̬͚̻͑a̶̢͕̲̮̔̽̉̔ş̶̡̭̞͕͆͗̆̇è̵̯͇͓̲́̌̚͠ͅd̸͓͇̤͎͉̫́̇̅̿̐͝.̷͇̮̘͇̈́. It’ll be a real thing.
Gaming Trend: “Mork Borg is a new landmark in how to write, present, sell, and think about an RPG.” “Mork Borg has permanently raised the bar for RPG products.” 100/100
Victory Condition Gaming: “If you’re looking for a rules-light, in your face, dark gritty death-world, I don’t think you can get much better than this.”
DECEMBER
The amount of content released under the MÖRK BORG Third-party license breaks triple digits. And another project, MBC:H, is announced. Expect more info at the dawn of the new year. But don’t expect it to be pretty.
Looking back at this strange year, where we started and where we’re at now, we’re awestruck by the support and the hellish warmth of our community. And as we’re putting an end to this wonderful/terrible year you have our word: more MÖRK BORG is coming. Tack!
Johan & Pelle
