Mork Borg De-Lethalizer
Making the TTRPG Mork Borg slightly less deadly
August 15, 2024
Mork Borg is incredibly fun. I picked up the book on a whim at a local bookstore and immediately fell in love with it. A TTRPG with striking artwork, strong themes, and all mixed with some of my favorite music genres, I literally couldn’t ask for a more suitable book.
However, as suitable as it may be, I found it a bit too lethal for a long overarching game. Players want to hold at least some familiarity with their characters before inevitably losing them. My goal is to bring death into the realm of “bad mistakes” rather than a fact of the world, which I understand goes against the overarching theme of Mork Borg, however, I feel this encourages players to put more effort and emphasis on the characters they play and the world they belong to.
Most of the following rulings are modified or reference a free supplement called “Horrible Wounds” by vil. Most of the following ideas, tables, and conditions were taken from this or changed from their original form to fit this ruling.
The goal isn’t to remove the lethality of Mork Borg entirely, just to make it fairer if something unexpected happens. When a character reaches HP 0, a D4 dice will firstly be rolled. This dice ultimately determines the future of the character. The following is the rulings I have come to use for my games:
If the dice rolls 1 you die, and you flip a coin on whether you survive for a while longer (“Dead Man Walking”), however at this point, death is certain. On a 2 you are “Gasping for Life”. You will likely die, but if you have some particularly helpful party members, you may just live. And for 3 and 4 you survive but come out with a Horrible Wound.
Dead Man Walking means your death is inevitable, but not immediate. You will test Toughness DR16 after every round. When you fail, you die. No mortal can save you.
Gasping For Life means you’re hanging by a thread -- you’re bleeding out, in shock, fighting the urge to give in. Test Toughness DR10 after you perform any action. If you fail, you die. An ally can try and patch you up using bandages and an Agility DR12 test. Success lets you act normally again; failure means you must test Toughness DR10 or die. You still suffer all other consequences from the Wound aside from the Gasping for Life rule.
If you receive a Horrible Wound, the most relevant Horrible Would
| Crushing (D4) | Things that bludgeon to death: fists, bricks, maces |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hit in the gut. Lose next round coughing blood. |
| 2-3 | Knocked out for d4 rounds. |
| 4 | Shattered limb* . |
| Gasping | Fractured skull. Gasping for Life. You’ll hear a ringing forever. |
| Dead Man | Caved-in skull. Dead Man Walking. OR Hit to chest explodes heart. Blood gushes from your mouth, eyes, and ears. |
| Deaths | You’re dead. Chest completely crushed. Your corpse’s a blend of blood, guts and equipment. |
Note that after you are at 0 HP, you may not go below. However, if you take damage again, you must roll the dying process once more.
Horrible Wounds can be healed after combat (assuming they are not a more permanent wound such as a mutilation). Whoever is performing treatment must describe what they’re doing and test Presence. The DR for presence is made on a case-by-case basis. Some factors to consider are:
Failing the test deals 1d4 damage to the target. Success means the target wakes up 1d6 hours later, with 1d4 HP.
The first barrier has the player rolling for a 25% chance to die, a 25% chance to be Gasping for Life, and a 50% chance to survive with a Horrible Wound (The original Horrible Wound supplement has around a 30-40% of survival). When Gasping for Life, you are presented with a 45% chance to die (assuming +0 TOU), and when healing you have a 55% chance to fail (assuming +0 AGI), in which case you are presented again with a 45% chance to die.
Thus, the probability of death (also assuming no additional actions are taken) is ~25%, which is in line with the goal of these rulings.