Let's create a Pirate Borg character!

This week, to add to my series of character creation posts (which started a few weeks ago with a Cairn 2e character), I'll make a Pirate Borg character. This game is one of the countless Borg games that sprouted from Mork Borg, and recently had a wildly successful Kickstarter for its expansion Down Among the Dead and its Starter Set.
I've wanted it for a while, and finally got it last weekend at the release event of its Italian version.
Other than the character sheet, it has a very useful guided PC creation sheet that shows the various steps in a single A4 sheet.
Let's create a pirate!


 1. First we roll for our starting GEAR:
- d6 for the container: 5, a large sea chest (can contain 20 items);
- d12 for cheap gear: 2, d4 (2) candles (1 hours each);
- d12 for fancy gear: 3, fishing rod.

2. Next we roll for our ABILITY SCORES. We roll 3d6 in order for the 5 abilities, but then we convert the total into a modifier between -3 and +3:
- Strength: 11, +0;
- Agility: 9, +0;
- Presence: 12, +0;
- Toughness: 12, +0;
- Spirit: 13, +1.
Barely above average. But then again, in this game characters are not expeted to last long.

3. Now we roll or choose a CLASS, I'll roll a d8 to include the 2 optional classes: 7, Haunted Soul. It means we're some kind of supernatural being, let's roll a d6 to see which one: 3, Eldritch Mind, which means at the beginning of every fight we make a Presence test (roll a d20 and add our Presence modifier, trying to beat a Difficulty Rating), improving our chances to hit on a success and lowering them (but attacking twice) on a failure. Then we roll a d6 to see which "normal" class our Eldritch Mind is: 2, Rapscallion, an interesting class that uses a deck of cards to determine what powers it gains on level up.
Like any other class, Rapscallion modifies our stats: +2 to Agility and -1 to Strength and Toughness.
- Our starting HP is d8 + Toughness, 8-1, so 7;
- d6 for starting weapon: 5, Boarding Axe (d6 damage);
- d6 for clothing, 5, old uniform (which gives no armor);
- d10 for hat, 5, wig;
- d2 for Devil's Luck, a meta currency that can be used to reduce the DR of a test, inflict max damage, reroll a die, reduce taken damage or cancel a crit or a fumble: I'll roll a d6, 2, so we start with 2;
- d6 for class specialty: 4, Sneaky Bastard, which allows us, when we strike from the shadows or as a surprise, to make an Agility test, auto-critting on a success. [I'm not sure if this is after hitting with the attack or instead of rolling to hit...I think it's supposed to be instead of the attack roll].

4. Lastly, a few more rolls for our BACKGROUND INFO:
- d100 for Background & Starting Silver: 44, Deserter, we start with 2d4x10 (40) silver and a small bounty on our head;
- d20 for Distinctive Flaw: 13, Lazy;
- d20 for Physical Trademark: 10, Constant tics, especially on the index finger;
- d20 for Idiosincrasies: 8, When you're hungry you become a grumpy killer;
- d20 for Unfortunate Incidents & Conditions: 17, A silent ghost haunts you. It's always present, but only you can see it. [That ties well with our Eldritch Mind!];
- d100 for Thing of Importance: 89, Clothes of a special person. [Intriguing]

The only thing left is the name. Luckily the inside cover of the book has a table for that too: 3 times d12, 7 3 12, Samuel Robert Thomas. I like it.

And we're done! Like other games before, in Pirate Borg character creation directly gives you multiple story hooks that you could use right away. I'm in love with this game and I hope I'll be able to play it solo soon; to do this, I already downloaded from itch the Captain & Crew supplement, designed just for that. The core book is also full with random tables that would be golden for a solo game (or for a sandbox campaign with players). If I do start the solo game, expect a session report on this blog!

Have you heard of this game before? Have you played or run it? If you have, I'd like to hear about your experience.

This is all for this week, see you next Sunday for my next post!

May your dice never betray you,
Kirhon

 

 

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