It seems like there’s a natural line from the Nordic Black Metal Apocalypse of Mork Borg and the apocalyptic sagas of viking mythology. A jagged, blood encrusted line but a solid line nonetheless. Broken Brain Games laid an early claim to this idea with RaganaBorg: Saga of the Chosen.
While this hit a lot of the notes you might expect from a Viking themed member of the Borg Family, designer Erica Lowe has taken the feedback she’s received running the adventure at multiple conventions to polish up the concepts. That work is culminating in the RagnaBorg Core Book kickstarter. I spoke with her before the launch of the crowdfunding project about what she’s learned running the game so much, why RagnaBorg needs a YAY VIOLENCE chart and how to make death meaningful in a game where players expect to die at the drop of a hat.
“At GaryCon 2023 Anthony Gerber, who owns Talon & Claw said ‘I want someone to write an adventure about Thor’s dropping Mjolnir into Midgard during his fight with Jormungandr’”, said Lowe. “Anthony hired Kurt Venetis and I. We used his adventure idea as inspiration to create RagnaBorg: Saga of the Chosen. By Gamehole Con 2023 it was for sale at the Talon & Claw booth. Before Kurt and I could start working on a new RagnaBorg product he had to step away due to life and career demands. I expressed I wanted to take the foundation of what we created in the original zine and make it into something bigger. So I started revising elements from Saga of the Chosen, and started working on new content for the project. I hired Matt Myslinski (creator of Chainsaw, art/design for Wasteland Degenerates and Rapture Ruckus) for art/layout.”
Designers often play games of “what if?” after they release a game. Supplements often solve the problem of integrating that great idea you had six months after the game came out. But Lowe not only saw some adjustments she wanted to make but a new member of the family she wanted to integrate.
“I ran over fifty games of RagnaBorg in a year,” said Lowe. “I knew some of the old elements needed to be changed. Also Viking need their ships to explore. Adding Pirate Borg naval combat mechanics made sense. Some would say there are similarities between Viking and Pirates. I considered making my own naval combat mechanics, but Pirate Borgs are excellent. Most Borg lovers collect and play multiple Borg's. Using their mechanics offers an easy transition for DMs or players who are experienced with Pirate Borg. I had to make some minor changes, since Vikings do not have cannons. I added a Naval Single Runes and Binding Runes that can be written on the wood of Flogaldr trees. Flogaldr trees roots are linked to the roots of Yggdrasil; this is the only wood Runes can be added too. This encourages players to explore Broken Midgard and offers a way to upgrade your Longship. Making it compatible with Pirate Borg also gave me the chance to create an ASH table for my Broken Midgard setting. An ASH addicted Polar Bear makes for an epic moment at the table.”
The most memorable Borg Family entries contribute something new to the concept. Mork Borg’s rules lightness makes it very easy to layer on new concepts and ideas. With the journey to Valhalla as an important part of Viking hero stories, RangaBorg needed something to reflect the concept.
“I’ve been a supporter of Mork Borg since I grabbed my copy,” said Lowe. One of the issues I heard time and time again is that death has no meaning in their system. Players expect their characters to die, it's more a matter of when and how, then if. I wanted death to have meaning in RagnaBorg. I created the Call of the Valkyries table. Once a player dies they roll on the table it determines if you go to Valhalla or Helium. Will your grandmother who now is a Valkyrie gather your soul from the battlefield or will the dead drag your soul to Helium? In the “growing stronger” or leveling up players can choose between rolling on the level up chart or gain a +1 to their Call of the Valkyrie roll to increase the chance they will go to Valhalla.”
Fans looking to make their combat even more brutal can check out the YAY VIOLENCE table. Characters tend to die in a spectacular manner at zero hit points but sometimes that’s not enough. The chart offers a nice slow motion moment of carnage in battles that are known for their brutal brevity.
“My favorite system is Dungeon Crawl Classics,” said Lowe. “All those chaotic roll tables. I’d never seen a crit chart in a Mork Borg hack before, so I made one for RagnaBorg. It also serves as a war cry to increase the bond at table. When someone gets a nat 20 everyone celebrates, then the player rolls 2(d20) chooses the violence they prefer. The results on the crit chart are tongue and cheek for example: ‘Snap, Crackle, and Pop your arm off-your blow dislocates the target's shoulder and deals additional d6 damage.They cannot attack with a two-handed weapon’”
Stretch goals include zines with new adventures, rules and monsters. Lowe has a lot of fans in the Borg Family community and many of them are potential contributors to the game.
“The stretch goal I’m most excited about is adding a Legend of Midgard written/art/layout by Brian Colin,” said Lowe. “Brian [is the] owner of Creature Curation, creator of Vast Grimm, The Molt, and Crawling Death. The idea of him making a gross twisted space monster that ends up in Midgard makes me so happy. To clarify what Legends of Midgard these are legendary monsters for players to hunt. Each one was written by someone who’s inspired me and provided me guidance over the past two years. Each monster has lair information, custom items, and crazy stat blocks.The idea came from a video game I used to be obsessed with the MMO Guild Wars 2. On my server we did a nightly world boss hunt. I wanted to bring that idea to RagnaBorg, to me a campaign of sailing around the world hunting legendary monsters sounds epic, what better way to reach Valhalla.“
