My first steps into TTRPG design - part 1

As someone who enjoys running games and is interested by the OSR, it was only a matter of time before I got the idea of creating my own system. Let's face it, the DIY nature of the old-school games makes game design the natural follow-up.
This didn't start now, for a while I've been writing down what elements of the different games I liked the most, with the vague idea of someday putting them together to make my personal heartbreaker, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

But then Mork Borg happened. Or rather Pirate Borg, to be precise.

I've been aware of the Borg games for a while, but never pulled the trigger because the aesthetics, while cool, seemed a bit..."much" to me; I'm not too much of a fan of grimdark and excessively violent imagery. But I was interested.
When I finally got the Pirate Borg book I was instantly hooked, as I mentioned in my character creation post; and the process was so quick, so easy and yet so evocative that I immediately started setting up a solo campaign in the game (here you can read how the first part of that solo game went). So I decided to give Mork Borg another chance by reading the free Bare Bones edition and...I was in. I see how the light rules easily step aside and don't interfere with the flow of the game. This feeling was confirmed once I finally got to play in my first Pirate Borg one-shot online. It was like a breath of fresh air after the bloat of 5e, especially in combat (although I'll still play it and run it, if anything because most people I can play with use it...although I'll try to convert people).

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was watching some history videos on Youtube (another passion of mine), specifically about the Bronze Age Collapse, which is a fascinating topic: many civilizations around the Aegean Sea and the Middle East suddenly disappeared or were severely weakened in the span of roughly 50 years, and to this day we are not sure about what exactly caused it. To the people living in that period, it must have felt like the end of the world.

That's when it hit me.

That's the moment the idea for a Mork Borg hack set during the Bronze Age Collapse dawned on me. It's so crazy it might just work.

Since then I've been coming up with ideas for it: so far I have a few Cultures (Myceneans, Minoans, Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians) a few ideas for mechanics which are constantly changing, and I've been debating whether to include classes as a base (as in Pirate Borg), only as optional rules (as in Mork Borg) or not at all. It'll take a while to define everything, but I am in no rush and I am enjoying the creative process.
I am also working on another couple of Mork Borg-related ideas at the same time, because my brain is uncapable of sticking to just one idea at a time; but you'll read about them in the next couple of weeks. I'm also writing this series of posts as a way of keeping myself accountable and focused on these projects, rather than starting them and then letting them go, as it has happened way too often to me in the past.

What about you? Have you created your own hack, be it Mork Borg, B/X or anything else? Or are you working on it? If you'd like to talk about it, I'd be happy to hear about it!

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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