The chilling winds of October carry dark omens. As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, the time has come for the Mörk Borg community to celebrate Morktober.
What is Mörk Borg?
For the uninitiated, Mörk Borg is an award-winning, apocalyptic and atmospheric tabletop rpg created by Pelle Nilsson (Ockult Örtmästare Games) and Johan Nohr (Stockholm Kartell) and published by Free League. It marries the essence of Nordic doom metal with the bleakness of dark fantasy. Recognized not only for its unique game mechanics, but also its visually arresting art and design, Mörk Borg is an unparalleled visceral experience.
Celebrating Morktober
As the leaves change and the familiar scent of pumpkin spice fills the air, the Mörk Borg community embarks on a special challenge: Morktober. Created by Exeunt Press, Morktober invites both seasoned players and newcomers alike to engage in a daily writing challenge. Each day of October unveils a new prompt to craft tales, characters, locations, and more inspired by Mörk Borg’s distinctive world.
Week 1 Prompts
Here are the prompts for the first week:
1. Teeth
2. Silver
3. Claw
4. Forest
5. Rats
6. Mask
7. Haunted
If you feel inspired by one (or more!) of these, then write it down and share it on social media with #morktober. You can also follow that hashtag and see the community’s contributions. Read on for my Morktober Week 1 entries!
1: Teeth
The Scroll of the Tooth Collector
Found amidst decaying tomes in a forsaken monastery, this brittle parchment holds the rite to summon the Tooth Collector, an entity that trades dark secrets for lost teeth – secrets that have toppled kingdoms and driven men mad.
Three human teeth, a droplet of the summoner’s blood, and whispered confessions of guilt bring forth this entity. It offers a forbidden secret that imparts insight or power.
2: Silver
The Accursed Drachma
Forged in betrayal, this tainted silver coin harbours a malevolent spirit. Calamity and misfortune strike its holder, but it’s true curse is an irresistible compulsion to keep it. Surely luck will change.
The holder can test Presence daily to attempt its release. Failure binds it another day. While held, the bearer faces daily misfortune be it physical, emotional, or circumstantial (GM’s discretion).
3. Claw
The Umbra Talon
A creature of pure nightmare, its body seemingly made of the void, save for its hypnotic eyes and its elongated claws. It hungers for souls, dragging victims into the eternal twilight of the shadow realm.
HP 10 Morale 11 Ethereal Veil -1d4 Soul Claws 1d6 Special: Gaze of Oblivion. Test Presence or become hypnotized for 1 turn, DR+4 to defend. A successful attack against a hypnotized target drags them into the shadow realm.
4: Forest
Blackwood Forest
A forbidden expanse where every tree bears gnarled, blackened trunks and twisted limbs. Each weeps a thick, crimson sap that pools on the forest floor in dark red puddles. The air is thick with the scent of iron, and the ground, perpetually damp.
The unwary might find the ground treacherously soft in places, ready to swallow explorers whole. Their bodies would sprout the roots of another twisted tree, adding one more weeping sapling to the landscape.
5: Rats
Rat King’s Crown
This tarnished crown is intricately crafted, with a central gem that seems filled with a writhing mass of tails. Wearing it bestows dominion over all vermin within a mile, calling them forth and commanding their allegiance.
For every command issued, your skin grows furrier, your teeth sharper, and your senses keener. A subtle twitch of the nose, a newfound aversion to light – the transformation is slow but irreversible. Use it too often, and soon, the one who sought to command rats becomes one.
6: Mask
The Unseen’s Eternal Vigil
In the doomed city of Lamer’s Reach, even the bravest souls dare not show their faces. Generations ago, the city’s leaders betrayed a powerful deity, The Unseen, and in retribution, it vowed to claim every face that met its gaze.
The Unseen stalks the fog-laden streets. Citizens are bound by terror to wear grotesque masks, obscuring their identity lest they be snatched away into the void. Those taken become faceless wraiths, bound to the deity.
7: Haunted
Wraithwright Quiver
Bound in pale, ghostly leather and embroidered with cryptic runes, this quiver never empties, eternally producing arrows crafted from pure ethereal energy.
Those struck feel no pain and see no wound, just an uncanny coldness as the arrow seemingly disappears. Yet, beneath the skin, the soul bears the strike of these phantasmal projectiles. They pierce their target’s very essence, tearing their spirit from their mortal coil, leaving behind an empty vessel with eyes devoid of life or purpose.
Experience More
The week’s prompts has brought us enigmatic artifacts, haunted expanses, uncharted territories of dark fantasy. But remember, this is just the beginning. Next week another set of prompts promising more doom metal magic.
If you haven’t already experienced Mörk Borg’s foreboding world, I highly recommend checking out the original Mörk Borg rulebook and its expansive supplements like FERETORY and HERETIC.
If you’re participating in Morktober, be sure to share your stuff on social media. And, be sure to tag me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Embrace the dark, and see you next week for more Morktober!