Whys and Wherefores

Explaining the Method Behind My Madness

In last week’s post, I revealed that I’ve decided to use Mörk Borg as the foundation for the rules of Secrets of sha-Arthan. I imagine that’ll come as a surprise to just about everyone reading this, which is why I want to spend this week digging into the reasoning behind the decision and laying out a clearer sense of what this actually means going forward.

Before we get into the hows and whys, though, I think it’s useful to provide a little context. There are three main factors that led me here and the first one won’t be all that surprising to anyone who’s played in one of my campaigns for any length of time.

Put simply: I’m not a fan of complex rules systems.

As a referee, I tend to run things pretty loosely. I only call for dice rolls when absolutely necessary and generally prefer to rely on my judgment and sense of what makes sense in the moment. In fact, the players in my long-running House of Worms Empire of the Petal Throne campaign often joke that it’s been months since I asked them to roll any dice at all. That’s not entirely true, but it’s true enough that the joke keeps coming up.

What is true is that I’ve always gravitated toward rules that support play rather than get in the way of it. I don’t mind rules, of course. I’m not improvising everything as I go, but I find that my best sessions happen when the rules are light, flexible, and easy to riff on. Once I have to stop and dig through a rulebook to remember how something works, I start to lose steam.

That’s a big part of why OD&D remains my favorite version of Dungeons & Dragons. Even compared to AD&D, which I still admire for its wonderfully baroque Gygaxian flavor, OD&D feels fast, simple, and creatively liberating. It’s a game that gets out of the way and lets me focus on the kind of play I enjoy most.

That’s Mörk Borg in a nutshell: light, flexible rules that are almost tailor-made for riffing and improvisation. I understand that some people find its rules too sparse and that’s a fair critique. For certain playstyles, Mörk Borg might not offer enough structure. However, for me, it comes very close to hitting my personal sweet spot. That matters. If I’m going to invest my time, money, and effort into creating Secrets of sha-Arthan, it needs to be a game I genuinely enjoy playing and refereeing.

Just as important is the second factor, which also addresses some of the concerns about Mörk Borg’s minimalist rules. Since its debut in 2020, the system has inspired a wave of excellent games that build on its foundation in creative ways. One of the standouts, in my view, is Pirate Borg, though it’s hardly alone. Pirate Borg showed me that it’s entirely possible to expand upon Mörk Borg’s framework to create something fresh, something compatible, yes, but with its own voice, identity, and rules innovations. That realization was key: if Pirate Borg could do it, so could SosA.

The final factor that led me down this path is, for lack of a better word, sentimental. On August 11, 2020, I reviewed Mörk Borg, marking the return of Grognardia after nearly eight years of silence. That post drew a large audience – it’s still my fifth most-read entry – and effectively launched the Second Age of the blog. In that sense, I feel a certain debt of gratitude to Mörk Borg for waking me from my long creative slumber. It’s thus fitting that I repay it by basing one of my projects on it.

Taken together, these three factors convinced me that Mörk Borg was not only the most straightforward but also the most sensible choice of rules for Secrets of sha-Arthan, given my goals and personal tastes. That said, I recognize this choice might give some readers pause, which is why Part II of this post (coming next week) will include several concrete examples of how I’ve adapted and expanded Mörk Borg to create a fantasy roleplaying game that, I believe, deserves a look even from those who might not usually be inclined to give it one.

In the meantime, here’s a brief preview of my overall approach: the Myrmidon, one of the game’s basic character classes. Don’t worry if some of it doesn’t make complete sense. More will be explained next week and in the weeks to come.

Myrmidon

You have sold your sword a hundred times and buried just as many names. Discipline is your creed, silver your comfort, and violence your trade. In foreign wars or palace coups, you stand where the pay is steady and the shield wall holds.

Abilities: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, –1 Presence, –1 Willpower.

HP: d8 ± Toughness. Fortune: d4. Necessity: d2.

You begin with a weapon of your choice (preferred weapon) and a set of medium armor (–d4).

Roll d6 for a starting technique. Others can be acquired in play through study or training.