What do you think?
Rate this book
Pirate Borg
A scurvy ridden, rules light, art heavy RPG based on Mörk Borg. Inspired by history, fantasy, horror, and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won't save you from hordes of skeletons and ghost ships...
167 pages, Hardcover
Published February 28, 2023
7 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 1, 2025
This sounds so funky! Looks good but I would appreciate more descriptive explanation on how to actually play, what are the devils gifts, what do you do with the playing cards and what do you mean there’s a storyline but actually not? Overall this won’t be a problem because I’ll make it my own anyway but its definitely not for “new” players.
June 8, 2024
Can't wait to play this, wacky niche rpgs are what I want more of
October 19, 2025
There is a LOT of ideas, rules, random tables, ideas, monsters, etc crammed into this one. Mörk Bork products don’t usually have this much stuff in them.
This is definitely a great product with good illustrations and it has even a ship to ship battle system and it comes with a small adventure or mini campaign setting - and the setting is brilliant. It could have easily been its own product.
Pirate Borg dips maybe a bit too much to the realm of fantasy, but it is after all a Mörk product.
This is definitely a great product with good illustrations and it has even a ship to ship battle system and it comes with a small adventure or mini campaign setting - and the setting is brilliant. It could have easily been its own product.
Pirate Borg dips maybe a bit too much to the realm of fantasy, but it is after all a Mörk product.
July 26, 2023
Pirates. They are one of the natural evolutions of any property. Alongside Ninjas and Call of Cthulhu, if a property persists long enough it will eventually mature in to one of a few subgenres.
Mork Borg's gritty OSR formula lends itself to a darker sort of swashbuckling and Pirate Borg brings this in spades. Pirate Borg is set in an alternate history featuring a Caribbean eerily empty and combining elements of 17th, 18th, and 19th century piracy. It depopulates the Caribbean islands to kind of side step the problem of colonialism. I don't know that this is a wholly successful decision. It seems more of an avoidance that might have been better served by not cozying up to real history at all. In any case, it does at least show that they thought about it and new enough to try and find some way of separating the game from odious colonialism.
The timeline diverts mostly in one particular way: The unceasing discharge of undead from the sea and the drug trade that grows when it is discovered how potent undead bones can be. A massive miles-long fissure opens in the middle of the ocean and strange fish-like creatures begin to attack coastal settlements and boats. The world is ending and you are a pirate.
So, it's a game about age of sail pirates. The first question you might have is, "How are the ship-to-ship combat rules?" The answer is pretty good. They are streamlined and give everyone on the ship something to do during the combat round. It is possible to have tactically interesting but simplified ship-to-ship rules. If only Wizards of the Coast had realized this when they made Spelljammer. Oh well.
Pirate Borg also represents a good middle ground for readability of the text without sacrificing the in-your-face aesthetic of the Mork Borg line. Its art also includes a lot more color than I remember most Mork Borg titles having and it is beautiful.
This supplement also captures the so-dark-it-crosses-the-line-back-to-funny feel that Mork Borg often shoots for. The included prewritten module has an encounter in which the ghost of historical figure Sir Francis Drake appears and regales any audience with tales of his adventures. This is explicitly likened to Pirate Church in the text. It's great fun.
Mork Borg's gritty OSR formula lends itself to a darker sort of swashbuckling and Pirate Borg brings this in spades. Pirate Borg is set in an alternate history featuring a Caribbean eerily empty and combining elements of 17th, 18th, and 19th century piracy. It depopulates the Caribbean islands to kind of side step the problem of colonialism. I don't know that this is a wholly successful decision. It seems more of an avoidance that might have been better served by not cozying up to real history at all. In any case, it does at least show that they thought about it and new enough to try and find some way of separating the game from odious colonialism.
The timeline diverts mostly in one particular way: The unceasing discharge of undead from the sea and the drug trade that grows when it is discovered how potent undead bones can be. A massive miles-long fissure opens in the middle of the ocean and strange fish-like creatures begin to attack coastal settlements and boats. The world is ending and you are a pirate.
So, it's a game about age of sail pirates. The first question you might have is, "How are the ship-to-ship combat rules?" The answer is pretty good. They are streamlined and give everyone on the ship something to do during the combat round. It is possible to have tactically interesting but simplified ship-to-ship rules. If only Wizards of the Coast had realized this when they made Spelljammer. Oh well.
Pirate Borg also represents a good middle ground for readability of the text without sacrificing the in-your-face aesthetic of the Mork Borg line. Its art also includes a lot more color than I remember most Mork Borg titles having and it is beautiful.
This supplement also captures the so-dark-it-crosses-the-line-back-to-funny feel that Mork Borg often shoots for. The included prewritten module has an encounter in which the ghost of historical figure Sir Francis Drake appears and regales any audience with tales of his adventures. This is explicitly likened to Pirate Church in the text. It's great fun.
November 16, 2024
Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!
Product- Pirate Borg
System- Pirate Borg
Producer- Free League Publishing
Price- $19.99 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/441728/pirate-borg-core-book?affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR- If you like Borg, you need to journey to the Dark Caribbean! 97%
Basics- YAAAARR! Pirate Borg brings Mork Borg to the high seas during the age of exploration. Avast and shiver timbers and anything else you would expect in this VERY deadly RPG. I will tell you right off the bat, if you don’t like Mork Borg, go away now! If you love Pirates of the Caribbean and simple, fun, and deadly RPGs, hop aboard!
Mechanics or Crunch- This book does exactly what a splat book should do. Pirate Borg provides classes, lots of random tables, rituals, and even sea shanties the players can use to fight things in the Caribbean. But, it also massively builds on the base setting by providing vehicle combat rules. You CAN’T have pirates without ships for them to plunder and fight. At worst, the book adds a new mechanic called Devil’s Luck. These act kind of like hero points in Pathfinder but in a much crazier way. You can use Devil’s Luck to prevent fumbles, reroll dice, and even reduce damage to your character. That alone with just a string of random tables will give you fun things to add and steal from this book. What’s here works and builds on the Borg system in a fun and fresh way. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- I like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Mork Borg, and Lovecraft. That’s honestly the sales pitch. You have crazy cultists, magic rituals, and the 1700s English just being evil to attract you to a world where you and your pals take to the high seas in a new sandbox that you can play in. All of this is laid out in what the book calls the Dark Caribbean. I am not leaning too hard on the Pirates of the Caribbean comparison, because you absolutely tell where this book comes from. It’s not copying the Disney homework, but adding its own bizarre, crazy, and amazing touches to build a world I enjoy. I love all those things, as my podcast feed can attest to, and if you’re this far into the review, you will too. 5/5
Execution- If the Borgs have one fault, it's the dedication to being Borgs. The borgs are not badly laid out, but they are laid out like metal vinyl record inserts. That dates me and if you have seen them, those inserts prioritized style over legibility. That’s the one fault here. It might not read as easy as the latest DnD manual. That said, I own vinyls and love the metal aesthetic, so it’s fine with me even if the occasional page might look a tad too much like death metal band name logos. The other thing I don't like is the lack of pregens. Now, I get that you can literally roll a character in about 2 minutes, but bring out some dead to make my life a bit easier. But, there are multiple character generators, so its not a major issue. Aside from those gripes, it’s a well done book. My complaints about being too artistic means the book is very artistic. It beautifully looks like Darkest Dungeon. And given the deadliness, that might be an amazing comparison. The digital version has books for JUST the players. I love that. What’s more, the base book comes with a whole sandbox adventure. It might be a bit deep for starter GMs, but honestly I LOVE when books do that. Any help a book and publisher can give me to just buy a book, skim, and get me and my buddies playing in 10 minutes wins my heart and soul over to you. The PDF even comes with character sheets for your ships! This books dedication to itself might hurt newer Borg players but is more of the quality I expect from all things Borg. 4.5/5
Summary- The Borgs are a fun family of games. I love everything about them, but they are what they are. It’s Death Metal: the RPG. This is Pirate Metal: the RPG. I enjoy that aspect of this game, but I can see how your average players wanting heroic fantasy might not want this. That said, this book builds into a fun place with excellent worldbuilding and craft. The period of exploring the high seas is fantastic and adding the magic and mysticism of Borg is a fun touch. This is a game you should check out if you want any of that at your table. 97%
Product- Pirate Borg
System- Pirate Borg
Producer- Free League Publishing
Price- $19.99 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/441728/pirate-borg-core-book?affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR- If you like Borg, you need to journey to the Dark Caribbean! 97%
Basics- YAAAARR! Pirate Borg brings Mork Borg to the high seas during the age of exploration. Avast and shiver timbers and anything else you would expect in this VERY deadly RPG. I will tell you right off the bat, if you don’t like Mork Borg, go away now! If you love Pirates of the Caribbean and simple, fun, and deadly RPGs, hop aboard!
Mechanics or Crunch- This book does exactly what a splat book should do. Pirate Borg provides classes, lots of random tables, rituals, and even sea shanties the players can use to fight things in the Caribbean. But, it also massively builds on the base setting by providing vehicle combat rules. You CAN’T have pirates without ships for them to plunder and fight. At worst, the book adds a new mechanic called Devil’s Luck. These act kind of like hero points in Pathfinder but in a much crazier way. You can use Devil’s Luck to prevent fumbles, reroll dice, and even reduce damage to your character. That alone with just a string of random tables will give you fun things to add and steal from this book. What’s here works and builds on the Borg system in a fun and fresh way. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- I like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Mork Borg, and Lovecraft. That’s honestly the sales pitch. You have crazy cultists, magic rituals, and the 1700s English just being evil to attract you to a world where you and your pals take to the high seas in a new sandbox that you can play in. All of this is laid out in what the book calls the Dark Caribbean. I am not leaning too hard on the Pirates of the Caribbean comparison, because you absolutely tell where this book comes from. It’s not copying the Disney homework, but adding its own bizarre, crazy, and amazing touches to build a world I enjoy. I love all those things, as my podcast feed can attest to, and if you’re this far into the review, you will too. 5/5
Execution- If the Borgs have one fault, it's the dedication to being Borgs. The borgs are not badly laid out, but they are laid out like metal vinyl record inserts. That dates me and if you have seen them, those inserts prioritized style over legibility. That’s the one fault here. It might not read as easy as the latest DnD manual. That said, I own vinyls and love the metal aesthetic, so it’s fine with me even if the occasional page might look a tad too much like death metal band name logos. The other thing I don't like is the lack of pregens. Now, I get that you can literally roll a character in about 2 minutes, but bring out some dead to make my life a bit easier. But, there are multiple character generators, so its not a major issue. Aside from those gripes, it’s a well done book. My complaints about being too artistic means the book is very artistic. It beautifully looks like Darkest Dungeon. And given the deadliness, that might be an amazing comparison. The digital version has books for JUST the players. I love that. What’s more, the base book comes with a whole sandbox adventure. It might be a bit deep for starter GMs, but honestly I LOVE when books do that. Any help a book and publisher can give me to just buy a book, skim, and get me and my buddies playing in 10 minutes wins my heart and soul over to you. The PDF even comes with character sheets for your ships! This books dedication to itself might hurt newer Borg players but is more of the quality I expect from all things Borg. 4.5/5
Summary- The Borgs are a fun family of games. I love everything about them, but they are what they are. It’s Death Metal: the RPG. This is Pirate Metal: the RPG. I enjoy that aspect of this game, but I can see how your average players wanting heroic fantasy might not want this. That said, this book builds into a fun place with excellent worldbuilding and craft. The period of exploring the high seas is fantastic and adding the magic and mysticism of Borg is a fun touch. This is a game you should check out if you want any of that at your table. 97%
January 2, 2025
Pirate Borg is Mörk Borg with pirates, a more sandbox feel and a ship combat system that feels like it belongs in Pathfinder.
The book, much like Mörk Borg and Cy:borg, has a distinct art style, light and fast rules (besides the ship combat), lots of tables for stuff and skimming the surface idea when it comes to lore/background. Add to that a neat summary of rules in the back, decent index, intuitive character sheet for new players and it's overall just a really nice rpg book to have.
It also continues the Borg paradox of being a weird book, but thanks to the index and rules overview in the back it's incredible to use in play. Statblocks, motivations, everything has easy access info for use in play, easy to find stuff and just a joy to deal with. It has to be said that some of the page spreads are hard to read for regular eyesight at times, so it can be a struggle for people that struggle with iffy color/font combos.
Had a lot of fun with chargen, the light and fast rules plus the sandbox approach to being a pirates in the cursed caribbeans when I played. The ship combat was not fast, intuitive nor fun. Too fiddly, too many detailed rules and too "boardgamey" for my tastes.
Overall a very nice book just to mine from and do the odd one shot ON LAND with. If I find (or come up with) more rules light sailing/ship combat rules I'd prolly love the game even more.
The book, much like Mörk Borg and Cy:borg, has a distinct art style, light and fast rules (besides the ship combat), lots of tables for stuff and skimming the surface idea when it comes to lore/background. Add to that a neat summary of rules in the back, decent index, intuitive character sheet for new players and it's overall just a really nice rpg book to have.
It also continues the Borg paradox of being a weird book, but thanks to the index and rules overview in the back it's incredible to use in play. Statblocks, motivations, everything has easy access info for use in play, easy to find stuff and just a joy to deal with. It has to be said that some of the page spreads are hard to read for regular eyesight at times, so it can be a struggle for people that struggle with iffy color/font combos.
Had a lot of fun with chargen, the light and fast rules plus the sandbox approach to being a pirates in the cursed caribbeans when I played. The ship combat was not fast, intuitive nor fun. Too fiddly, too many detailed rules and too "boardgamey" for my tastes.
Overall a very nice book just to mine from and do the odd one shot ON LAND with. If I find (or come up with) more rules light sailing/ship combat rules I'd prolly love the game even more.
April 13, 2025
The theme and style of this game hit the perfect spot that gets me excited about TTRPGs in general. PirateBorg isn't about min-maxing your character — it's about driving the story forward. For a change, it’s not about medieval superheroes, but rather whacky, squishy pirates with a lust for gold and glory.
I strongly recommend starting with the introductory adventure Buried in the Bahamas. My group had a blast with it — one of my players was especially thrilled to die twice during the opening scene.
10/10. Yo-ho-ho! Best enjoyed with a glass of daiquiri — or just drink pure rum like there's no tomorrow!
I strongly recommend starting with the introductory adventure Buried in the Bahamas. My group had a blast with it — one of my players was especially thrilled to die twice during the opening scene.
10/10. Yo-ho-ho! Best enjoyed with a glass of daiquiri — or just drink pure rum like there's no tomorrow!
Read
February 12, 2023Lacks some of the poetry of the original Borg, but this is nevertheless maybe my favourite iteration of the Borg genre, hitting a theme and setting and tone that is extremely my kind of thing. The rules are simple, the random tables excellent, the art varied and superb, and all of it works together to evoke the exact mood the author's going for: a bunch of grimy, greedy, no-good pirates fighting to survive in a world even worse than they are. Incredible stuff.
October 27, 2025
love the overall vibe this book gives. the art is excellent and draws you in. the game itself is a blast to play. I believe that a person would need to be familiar with RPG games in general or they might feel a little lost but for even mildly experienced players this is awesome. it leaves out the bloat leaves in the crazy good times! wish I could find a group to play it with all the time
July 2, 2023
Simple and fun. Clever even. I look forward to giving this a spin.
But best of all, this is a place for booze soaked scallywags and ridiculous pirate hijinks.
But best of all, this is a place for booze soaked scallywags and ridiculous pirate hijinks.
April 3, 2025
The detail and flavor is amazing. Worth picking up even just to skim and get ideas from
September 19, 2025
One of the most fun Mork Borg spinoffs that has been created so far.
December 4, 2025
Brb, going to hit the high seas 🏴☠️
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews