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

Jean Verne

For the Moon

Concept: “Worshipers of the celestial sphere... crafted this helmet as a gift for their prophet ‘Moönface’”
Content: A glowing spheric helmet with an attractive quality.
Writing: Amusingly understated and delightfully literal.
Art/design: An elegant moon prophet belies a ridiculous helmet. 
Usability: Don’t get caught in the wrong orbit. 

Foundations

Concept: “Some of these (necromancy) weirdos do it with buildings.”
Content: Raise a house (from the dead)
Writing: Less-defined mechanics make this a concept open to interpretation.
Art/design: Recently resurrected tomb surrounded by boxed text.
Usability: The larger they are, the harder they’ll fall. 

FÖLK-LORE: Rendezvous & Romps

36 contributors
Concept: “What happens when the lore of our world collides with the Dying World of MÖRK BORG?”
Content:
The second volume of collected FÖLK-LORE Jam entries
Writing:
Varies by author, see individual entries under the FÖLK-LORE Jam tag
Art/design:
Varies by entry; single-page entries are well balanced in spreads
Usability: Varies by entry, but it’s all Mörk Borg—how tough could it be?

Inevitable

Concept: “DEATH COMES FOR ALL AND NONE SHALL ESCAPE ITS COLD EMBRACE”
Content: A gray pony and a mute child.
Writing: A hilariously sardonic twist on the classic reaper.
Art/design: Death peers out at you from between the text boxes.
Usability: Easy to use. Makes an excellent quest giver. 

Kill & Reuse

Concept: “The spiders in Sarkash are big, mean, vicious creatures... So when you manage to kill one you tear it apart and use all its parts.”
Content: A spider arts and crafts project that will get you hooked.
Writing: A viscerally consequential variant on the traditional grappling hook.
Art/design: An artisan's shop. Harassed by boxed text.
Usability: For AFTER the spider encounter. 

Klöss

“One cold winter night he refused to open his door to a beggar, he is now doomed to forever be generous.”

Knowledge is Power

Concept: “The great library of Galgenbeck is ruled by mole-like characters... It only makes sense that they would feed on bookwörms.”
Content: Worms that travel through books, figuratively.
Writing: A monster that encourages literacy. Laudable.
Art/design: I couldn’t spot the bookwörm in the backdrop.
Usability: Design that makes it easy to search for bookwörms. 

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. 

Legion

Concept: “a cursed undead shepherd kept alive by the powers of his 5 sheep”
Content: An extremely dedicated shepherd.
Writing: Provides context and history for a singular kind of undead.
Art/design: A legion of sheep behind boxed text.
Usability: Go for the sheep. 

Mesmerism

Concept: “People flock to his stall everyday and buy all his wares, and yet nothing seems to be happening... Why do they keep coming back then?”
Content: A different sort of alchemist, running a different sort of shop.
Writing: A engaging take on the snake-oil salesman. With an included hook to intrigue your scvm.
Art/design: A dingy street alchemist's lab draped in boxed text.
Usability: His wares could be worth quite a lot to the right buyers. 

Morbid Cache

Concept: “Necromancers are lazy bastards, hence why they make such scrolls.”
Content: A scroll to turn tombs into storage trunks.
Writing: Delightfully simple and open-ended desecration.
Art/design: A yellow spirit stalks behind the black boxed text.
Usability: Despoil or withdraw from the bank of the dead at any nearby gravesite. 

Negotiation of Fate

Concept: “Powerful runes capable of altering one’s fate in exchange of their vitality.”
Content: Trade life for luck.
Writing: A simple, evocative, (and miserable) tradeoff.
Art/design: A willing supplicant waits before the carved runes.
Usability: Strong visual design makes for an easy, engaging read. 

Obsidian

Concept: “Master jewelers have a story they like to tell their apprentice about obsidian.”
Content: Rules for crafting obsidian weapons and fueling them with souls.
Writing: Self-contained and loosely defined to be adopted to your setting. 
Art/design: Jewelers hard at work behind some box text.
Usability: Some sorcery is required, use at your own risk. 

Parasite

Concept: “If you ever drink the water of Lake Onda...”
Content: A thirsty little throat parasite.
Writing: Some serious slow-burn body horror.
Art/design: Thirstworms hiding in their natural habitat—behind the boxed text.
Usability: Mechanically more disease than monster honestly. 

Penumbra

Concept: “They owed their success to magic rings stolen... but as quickly as they became legendary... they mysteriously disappeared...”
Content: A ring of shadows.
Writing: A powerful artifact balanced by a powerful drawback.
Art/design: A magical assassination obscured by rules text.
Usability: Whatever you do, don’t fail (with the ring on). 

Phantoms

Concept: “These are the ghosts raised from the graves of the forgotten dead.”
Content: A table of local haunts.
Writing: Creative mechanics turn ghosts into environmental effects.
Art/design: A haunted figure stalking some box text.
Usability: Can be applied to most any location in the Dying World. 

Presage

Concept: “As you put on the cape, feathers start growing from under your skin...”
Content: A cape to become the bird of your dreams (or at least omens).
Writing: A surprisingly flexible and self-regulating magic item with gut-wrenching descriptive text.
Art/design: Some winged angel, tastefully protected by some boxed text.
Usability: Make sure to emphasize the bone-crunching transformation. 

Punishment

Concept: “Swinging that much metal at the face of anyone is sure to cause some damage.”
Content: Entirely too many flails (9) on a stick.
Writing: A flail with a short evocative history and a unique combat reaction.
Art/design: A breathable, clean layout hides a dirty and cluttered armory.
Usability: Push your luck to deal extra damage (possibly to yourself) 

Scriptures

Concept: “The one responsible for scribbling the magic scrolls.”
Content: A miserably overworked scroll scribe.
Writing: The satirical origins of all the dying worlds scrolls.
Art/design: Strong clean hierarchy over a yellowed still-life backdrop.
Usability: Fulmör the Scrollsmith deserves a raise. 

Survival

Concept: “Entries to the maze can be found in several houses of the village and of course in the cemetery.”
Content: A village hideaway, and its buried occupants.
Writing: Implies as much as it says about the sad history of this place.
Art/design: A tunnel entrance buried under the boxed text.
Usability: Stats for villagers when needed. 

Tenacious Helmets

Concept: “A monster based on unfinished business, misplaced trust and faulty armour”
Content:
A trap/monster/item targeting unwary and acquisitive adventurers
Writing:
Includes background, behavior, effects, and a stat block (of course)
Art/design:
The illustrations will make you want one despite the adverse effects
Usability:
Multivalent but ergonomic in any capacity

The Benevolent Ignoramus

Concept: “A titan decided to steal a powerful artifact to try and save the Dying World. Sadly for the Dying World this titan was not particularly bright or agile.”
Content:
An ironic take on the mythic fire-bearing savior archetype; also includes stats for ancillary antagonists
Writing:
Well written and filled to the brim with dry wit
Art/design:
Intended for easy reading with color to add visual emphasis and focus
Usability:
Designed for a longer-running plot arc rather than a one-shot encounter

The Gardens at the Bewitching Hour

Concept: “The gardens were an extremely popular spot in Grift …. Now it is nothing but weeds and despair.”
Content:
A crawl through a baroque pleasure garden
Writing:
Primarily descriptive; adds clever nuances to monsters and NPCs
Art/design:
A nice map and clearly delineated locations
Usability:
C’est magnifique

The God King

Concept: “He called himself ‘The THIRD Basilisk’.”
Content: A legend of one seriously pretentious bastard, and a possible origin story for the Dying World as we know it today.
Writing: A miserable little myth befitting a doomed and dying world.
Art/design: Some uppity reagent overshadowed by his own legend.
Usability: Introduce it to your players. Let them decide how true it is. 

The Wicked Ensemble

Concept: “Take part in a dance battle orchestrated by merry skeletons and show off your infernal dance moves!”
Content:
A performance-based encounter including mechanics for variations and dance moves
Writing:
Takes itself 100% seriously, and it’s spectacular
Art/design:
Uses signature yellow and pink to more festive effect; the ligature is also a nice touch
Usability:
Easy for DMs, probably a confounding challenge to players

Trick Sword

Concept: “A strange contraption is attached to the hilt of this blade... what does it do?”
Content: A sword that throws its weight around.
Writing: Unpredictable, elegant, dangerous, and occasionally dense. As all magic swords should be.
Art/design: Background illustration obscured by hefty rules texts.
Usability: Pull the lever. Hope for the best. 
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