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Ex Libris Mörk Borg A directory of content, tools, and resources

curse

Dread Knight

Concept: “You were a champion of the Nameless One, dark master of an army so strong it would surely have spread its relentless tyranny across the whole world.”
Content: An primordial knight, fused into armor black as night.
Writing: Rules that shed light onto the champion of a dark past.
Art/design: Dark. Literally dark. With only white text to illuminate it.
Usability: Dreadful ink consumption. Mementos may be difficult to read on small screens. 

Dread Nights

6 contributors
Concept: “Honest work for those with a death wish, a lack of fear, or just desperate enough to do anything.” 
Content: A standalone gaslamp era gothic horror expansion for Forbidden Psalm, including 15 creatures of the night, infections, and a gothic horror themed campaign of grisly nocturnal scenarios.
Writing: Familiar horror tales stalk just beyond the illumination provided by clear mechanics and crisp scenarios.
Art/design: An elegantly restrained palette of red, black, and white. Shadowed by macabre illustrations in a variety of styles.
Usability: Clear index, reliable sections, quick reference, roster sheets, and consistent formatting make it a utilitarian wargaming rulebook. 

Face of Wry Prophecy

Concept: “A mannequin masque locked in an airy smile.”
Content: A fatal game of masque roulette.
Writing: Compelling core mechanics make a tense social minigame.
Art/design: A menacing masque hovering over cursed text.
Usability: It’s all bonus HP until someone’s dead. 

Flail to the Face Episode 3 Companion

Concept: “In honor of our third episode of Flail to the Face, we give you a follower, Brian the Goblin. Enjoy!” 
Content: Brian, the over-eager goblin-man-thing.
Writing: A goblin of surprising refinement and (dis)taste. Retired engineer.
Art/design: Brian. The name is clearly spelled out in the illustration. The A’s a little funny. 
Usability: A smooth-talking goblin who plays both sides. Sure to cause trouble for any scvm he joins. 

Fool's Gold

Concept: “The Basilisks have imbued the alchemist with great power, anything they touch turns to gold. Return them, dead or alive and great wealth and power shall be bestowed upon you.”
Content: A search for a prized alchemist in the horror house of Althus the Demented. 
Writing: Descriptions that naturally produce a narrative but allow for interpretation. 
Art/design: Informative sidebars and minimap features in clean black and white. Typographic and illustrative elements endcap the reference text. 
Usability: A slightly more expansive introductory dungeon inspired by Rotblack Sludge.

Galgenbeck Bestiary

Concept: “Galgenbeck… crooked thieves, cruel knights, obsessed zealots, broken souls.
And then there are the monsters.”
Content: At least nine (but potentially fourteen) monsters.
Writing: Strangely folkloric, highly specific, and vicious absurdism in its ecology.
Art/design: A mixed media collection dominated by sharp high-contrast marker, each creature layout accommodating its illustration.
Usability: Short, legible, and humorously horrific. Deluxe edition contains all 14 monsters.

Goblant

Concept: “The Goblant is a hybrid of a Goblin and a Giant Ant, and carries the Goblin curse.”
Content: Like goblins, but worse.
Writing: Just the mechanics. Let the name and depiction do most of the work.
Art/design: Top half art, bottom half text. Back half ant, front half goblin.
Usability: Practically begging for a goblant colony. 

Goblant Drone

Concept: “The Goblant Drone is a hybrid of a Goblin and a Giant Ant, and carries the Goblin curse.”
Content: A worker goblant.
Writing: Just mechanics. The name and depiction do all the work.
Art/design: Top half art, bottom half text. Back half ant, front half goblin. Ready to work.
Usability: It’s probably building the goblant colony. 

Goblant King

Concept: “Wearing only a loincloth and a child's tin crown, this abomination leads the Goblant colony. Armed with a skull-headed sceptre, he is itching for a good fight!”
Content: King of the goblants. Complete with tin crown and skull sceptre.
Writing: The origin of goblants revealed. Magic skull sceptre adds variety to the encounter.
Art/design: Top half art, bottom half text. Back half ant, front half goblin. 
Usability: A goblant colony waiting to happen. All it takes is one. 

Greyson’s Silver

Concept: “They will never get ‘hold of my silver; though if they do, may they be sated forever.” 
Content: A chest of surprisingly heavy coins.
Writing: A narrative origin for a uniquely cursed chest. Greed is not good.
Art/design: A cheeky little silver coin sticks its tongue out at you. Rightly so scvm.
Usability: Protip – it's cursed. Get swol. 

GVix’s Mörktober 2023 – 31 Phantasmagoric Entries

Concept: "31 Phantasmagoric Entries”
Content: “A compilation of all my postcard-entries for Exeunt Press' MÖRKTOBER challenge”
Writing: An impish collection of grisly gifts, ghastly guests, and grim tables for rules and quests.
Art/design: Heavy-bordered postcards of inked and crosshatched illustrations in an array of bright uniform colors.
Usability: Available in individual postcard PDF, or advertisement spread png. 

Half Cursed

Concept: “Locked in a strange body, partly the one of a Goblin, you have survived the curse but developed some physical similarities from your left arm to your shoulder.” 
Content: A transitional take on the Goblin Curse.
Writing: A deeply human take on being uncomfortable in your goblin skin.
Art/design: A dynamic figure reaching out from a dynamic half-shaded layout.
Usability: An ordered three-column structure feels balanced, navigable, and stylish. 

Larceny

Concept: “...the riches have been untouched for centuries... the reward would be unrivaled.”
Content: Stolen coins and the details of their curse. 
Writing: Demonstration of the pettiness of the shadow king’s line.
Art/design: Shadowed halls containing boxed text.
Usability: It can be hard to spend stolen coins. 

Malleus Mörkicarum

Concept: “Foul witchcraft abounds in these dying lands.” 
Content: Witches and devils the inquisition warned you about, and the fanatics they didn’t. Curses abound for an unfortunate scvm.
Writing: Some clever wordplay and mechanics liven familiar inquisitorial tropes.
Art/design: Illustrated trappings of diabolism and inquisition sprinkle the text. 
Usability: Interaction of text and background symbols may hinder the reader. 

Man And Beast

Concept: “THERE IS NO TIME FOR PRETENSES OF CIVILITY.”  
Content: A collection of creatures and features that blur the boundary of man and beast.
Writing: Sapient mechanics for visceral beings.
Art/design: Fangs and teeth. Text occasionally unclots into the color of blood.
Usability: Available in print-friendly or lightly blooded. 

Mask of Scvm

Concept: “In the troll’s nest you find the...” 
Content: “Mask of Scvm” plus rules for when you’re boned.
Writing: Un-skeletal descriptions of skeletonification and a new way to die.
Art/design: A horny mask smiles over the bloody discharge of its latest charge.
Usability: For scvm who want to show off their bones. 

Mirror of Despair

Concept: “You are your own worst enemy.”
Content: A mirror trap.
Writing: Mechanics establish disturbing doppelganger scenarios.
Art/design: An elegantly efficient mirror hung over wallpapered rules text.
Usability: Helpful visual emphasis on rules based on likelihood of use. 

Miserymobile

Concept: “Time for a new car that's completely compatible with MÖRK BORG. The... Miserymobile?”
Content: Conversation about a broke ass Mazda 6 cum rules.
Writing: Mechanics that live up to the name.
Art/design: Don’t waste your silver.
Usability: Contains exploding dice. 

Monsters!

Concept: “A collection of the MOST DISGUSTING and terribly vile MONSTERS!” 
Content: Twenty of them, to be a little more specific.
Writing: Horrendously hilarious creations from tormented traditions. Malformed for the morbidly curious.
Art/design: Sharp points and serrated edges brutalize the darkly patterned forms of this miserable tome, contrasted occasionally by excruciatingly clinical white.
Usability: Richly stylized only where they know you’ll work for it. Legible everywhere it counts. 

Mörk Borg Cult: Heretic

9 contributors
Concept: “A zine full of MÖRK BORG stuff. Most of it is created by our wonderful community and will be (or already is) made available for free download on morkborg.com, but there is also exclusive official material.”
Content:
Generators for cults and curses, feats, 2 classes, black-powder weapons, 2 long adventures, a pair of 1-page dungeons, and a quartet of monsters/NPCs
Writing:
Varies by author but consistently emphasizes images and concepts that are grim, creepy, and/or outright weird
Art/design:
Every entry’s layout, graphic design, and coloration are distinct, creating a lot of visual diversity and easy navigability; sweet foil printing on the cover and first page; fold-out covers just to cram as much content into this zine as possible
Usability:
The only obstacle is deciding what to read first.

Odd Gob’s Mask

Concept: “A fleshy mask of unknown origin... It delights in making its wearers speak profanities at inopportune times.” 
Content: A manipulative mask that just won’t let you go.
Writing: A curse description befitting a dramatic image.
Art/design: A grinning demonic mask visually tethered to an unfortunate scvm. 
Usability: Includes separate artifact illustration. 

Odd Gob’s Silver

Concept: “Pouring molten silver over his head, the Doctor sought to end his monthly transformations. Unfortunately...” 
Content: A lycanthropy cure gone horribly wrong.
Writing: A hilariously horrific inversion, and a valuable new source of silver.
Art/design: The man, the beast, the experiment framed in rich comic panel style.
Usability: Available in a free and a paid version, with Dr. Nottahwulf’s tragic tale. 

Peddling Ye Olden Tales

Concept: “The travelers encounter a cryptic storyteller weaving tales of darkness in the woods. 
Content: Campfire tales made grimly manifest as cursed artifacts and plot hooks.
Writing: Classic folktales twisted by the nightmare logic of the dying world.
Art/design: Yellowed photographic illustrations haunt a blacked pamphlet layout.
Usability: Structured and legible 

Pirate Borg

6 contributors
Concept: “Inspired by history, fantasy, horror and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won’t save you from the hordes of skeletons, the Kraken, or even your own crew.”
Content: A standalone game for nautical scvm. A complete ruleset with 8 classes, naval combat rules, 18 vessels, over 80 monsters & NPCs, suitably scvrvy equipment, and a substantial introductory sandbox adventure. 
Writing: A rich grog blending history, fantasy, and horror. As doomed as the Dying Lands... but with more drowning and animated skeletons.
Art/design: Crisp richly colored and strongly contoured illustrations, lovingly textured maps, and full-color spreads. 
Usability: Larger, slightly crunchier, but with ample built-in references and tools bookended for ease of reference. 

Plague Bringer

Concept: “Your body is steeped in plague. You are a walking vector and the powers you bear can harm OR help...” 
Content: This scvm took plague doctor literally.
Writing: A textbook of un-sterile (read: virulent) medical methods for friend and foe alike. 
Art/design: Plague mask, leather coat, heavy gloves, and text obscure a coagulated scab of a backdrop.
Usability: For when you desperately need to incorporate more infection mechanics. 

Reptilian Anomoly

Concept: “You were cursed, condemned to creep through the lands as an alligator.” 
Content: Gator man, gator man. Does whatever a gator man can.
Writing: Mutable class features disguised as a curse that just won’t settle down. 
Art/design: More gator than man. Scaley in all the right places. Plenty of green.
Usability: Combat monster, not likely to death roll. 

Restless Wanderer

Concept: “You can’t remember when you last slept. In times of stillness your incessant thoughts are akin to torture. The only escape is to keep moving... Your blistered feet walk paths the living have long forgotten.” 
Content: I feel seen.
Writing: Witty. Ruminating. Wretched. Ranged. Wordy.
Art/design: A “class”-ic format. Overanalyzed by the hooded figure depicted here.
Usability: A flavorful and utilitarian addition. 

Righteous Paladin of Charlamange

Concept: “Righteous Paladins of Charlamange have contracted a disease that slowly transforms them and their equipment into perfect vessels for divine righteousness.”
Content:
Some simple mechanics for contracting and resisting the disease, and some pieces of delusion-inducing equipment for the unfortunate knights
Writing:
A few paragraphs of mechanics, short descriptions of gear, and some flavor verse
Art/design:
Core text is in old-style roman for easy reading; blackletter flavor text and headings complement the illustrations’ historical flavor
Usability:
Discretely organized for easy navigation and use

Ruined Reflections

Concept: “Somewhere hidden in the ruins of the Palace of the Shadow King a mirror stands in the center of a chamber... Before it sits the severed head of Baol Rulg”
Content: A mirrored reflection of possible futures. A potential omen. A severed head.
Writing: A descriptive cinematic encounter with unusual furnishings.
Art/design: Focal central illustration. Staggered text elements. Considerate use of yellow and pink. 
Usability: Spacious and legible. 

Somnolevolence

Concept: “Those who suffer these Miseries and perish with them shall be reborn too. Suffer with them, in everlasting Misery.”
Content: A dead basilisks’ dreamcrawl.
Writing: A tortured text with misery lying just below the surface. A dying world dress rehearsal, complete with psalms.
Art/design: Strong cover illustration and design elements support a tortured narrative. 
Usability: Clear rules pamphlet with a self-contained map. Available in full color, print-friendly, and digital formats. 
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