Avast ye, tabletop gamers, and embark on a swashbuckling fantasy with a Cyber Monday sale from Limithron. Pirate Borg, a standalone system based on Free League’s MÖRK BORG, is a rules-lite game about being the most dastardly pirate to ever sail the seven seas, and the first printing of the Core Book is on sale for $34.99 (was $39.99).
Coming from the Old School Renaissance style of tabletop gaming, the system focuses more on player agency and strategy over character optimization, with character creation itself optimized for random generation. There are six primary classes of pirate for players to choose from, including rapscallion, swashbuckler, brute, zealot, sorcerer, and buccaneer — each with their own approach to life on the open ocean.
You can expect your pirate to die more frequently than your average D&D adventurer, but combat isn’t a slog, since players make all the rolls. When enemies attack, the game master doesn’t toss the liar’s dice; instead it’s the Player Characters who roll to defend. And of course, you can’t have a pirate game without rules for naval combat, so it comes with stats blocks available for 18 different ships.
The full color book’s artistic design blends MÖRK BORG’s psychedelic eldritch grunge with the 18th century pirate aesthetic, like weathered parchment and skeletal iconography. There are maps included, both for treasure and navigation, with tables for cargo, quests, rumors, uncharted islands, and anything else that might arise on a piratical adventure. An introductory adventure, The Curse of Skeleton Point, is included with the text.
