Legacy of Kain Is Getting a TTRPG

The British publisher Lost in Cult is publishing a Legacy of Kain tabletop RPG that uses the MÖRK BORG system. Today, Lost in Cult launched a new BackerKit crowdfunding campaign for two new Legacy of Kain books. One of the books is a new encyclopedia detailing the world of the Legacy of Kain video game franchise. The other is Legacy of Kain: Scourge of the Sarafan, a new TTRPG book in which players take on the role of vampire hunters trying to keep the dwindling population of Nosgoth safe from vampires. The book includes six playable character classes, Sarafan weapons and spells and various monsters from the franchise.

The Legacy of Kain franchise is set in the world of Nosgoth, which has decayed due to the decline of nine pillars. The games follow several anti-heroes (Kain and his vampire follower turned wraith Raziel) with themes exploring predeterminism and the nature of free will.

MÖRK BORG was originally released in 2019 and is an OSR-style game that focuses on the final days of a dying world. The game features lethal combat and a unique aesthetic inspired by heavy metal music. Legacy of Kain: Scourge of the Sarafan is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License.

The Legacy of Kain BackerKit has raised £120,919 to date. A description of the new game can be found below:

Lose yourself in Legacy of Kain: Scourge of the Sarafan, a gothic tabletop role-playing game set in the grim and murky world of Nosgoth — a land of frozen lakes, bitter mountains and deep, sunless forests. Embody the warrior-priests of the Sarafan Brotherhood, an order of vampire hunters who fight tirelessly in a great crusade to keep the human population of Nosgoth safe from the growing vampire scourge.

 

[TwoSix]

The Soul Reavers are fun, but I would love to see a true remaster of Blood Omen. The writing and voice acting in that game were phenomenal for something that came out in 1996.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This has some serious potential to be cool, if they handle it right. Mainly I hope they do better with the layout and graphic design then Mork Borg did.

The layout of Mork Borg and Cy_Borg was an intentional design choice by Stockholm Kartell. I don't think there's any reason to be concerned about the layout here.

 

[jdrakeh]

The layout of Mork Borg and Cy_Borg was an intentional design choice by Stockholm Kartell.

I know, and I hate it.

I don't think there's any reason to be concerned about the layout here.

Maybe. Some spin-off products have retained the neon colors and scatter shot layout. Some haven't. I'll wait and see what they do with this one.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe. Some spin-off products have retained the neon colors and scatter shot layout. Some haven't. I'll wait and see what they do with this one.

I only own two Borg derivatives. Pirate Borg is actually messier than Castaway, although still pretty legible. Castaway, while gorgeous, is extremely clean and easy to read, while still having style for days. I'd love to see more indie games take its design cues.

 

[jdrakeh]

I only own two Borg derivatives. Pirate Borg is actually messier than Castaway, although still pretty legible. Castaway, while gorgeous, is extremely clean and easy to read, while still having style for days. I'd love to see more indie games take its design cues.

I own Pirate Borg and find it acceptable. It clearly takes some design cues from Mork Borg, but is much more legible to me. I haven't seen Castaway.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Borg systems are awful, but his settings, while crude and done in broad strokes, are compelling. I will likely use the Pirate setting (concept) in the future, with the obvious changes.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I own Pirate Borg and find it acceptable. It clearly takes some design cues from Mork Borg, but is much more legible to me.

I think Pirate Borg could be clearer -- the character sheet puts style ahead of usability, for instance -- but yeah, it's definitely better.

I haven't seen Castaway.

I got it as a Pirate Borg supplement, but it's more properly a Lost/Prisoner/Robin Crusoe riff, if Robinson Crusoe had washed up on a very bad supernatural isle. It's art-forward, but with more of a modern poster design, rather than aping punk/metal concert posters like Mork Borg does.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I will admit that while I wasn't expecting Raziel or Kain to be playable, that fact that we are playing as the Sarafan, and not Vampires, is the biggest shock to me.

Exactly. This is a franchise famous for letting you play Shakespearean vampires in every title. But the tabletop game is about playing the vampire hunters? What? I can understand a making a game about playing the vampires and then a spinoff supplement about playing the hunters, but this? Who is this for?

 

[Weiley31]

Exactly. This is a franchise famous for letting you play Shakespearean vampires in every title. But the tabletop game is about playing the vampire hunters? What? I can understand a making a game about playing the vampires and then a spinoff supplement about playing the hunters, but this? Who is this for?

Oh I'm still getting it, believe me. I'm all for any kind of Legacy of Kain content. There's plenty of Mork Borg material out there that you can simply use those for non Sarafan options, like Demon Dogs from Mantic Games. (the same people that did Nightfell for 5E and Pathfinder 2).

Timeline wise it's most certainly a prequel and NOT during the Hylden Lord rein(as the Sarafan Lord) in Blood Omen 2.

Although, I guess one could play this during the Blood Omen 2 timeline as well during the period Kain was out of commission.

I think the NEXT biggest shock for me with this was that it's using Mork Borg, of all the choices out there, as it's system.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think the NEXT biggest shock for me with this was that it's using Mork Borg, of all the choices out there, as it's system.

It makes sense to me. It's a free system, well known, and if you aspire to a rock and roll attitude, as Legacy of Kain does, it oozes attitude in a way that no other RPG system I can think of does.