And on to one of the most interesting entries for the awards, Mork Borg from Stockholm Kartell and Ockult Ortmastare Games, published by Free League.
What to say about Mork Borg…?
Well, it’s eyecatching, that’s for sure. Not since the days of HOL from Black Dog games and the Maze of the Blue Medusa have we seen something quite like this, and in honesty, that immediately led the judges to ask the question. Like HOL many years before, is this a game that can be played, or is this a piece of art masquerading as a game?
The rules as presented are minimal, such as you’d expect for something running in the OSR universe, but as much as the book speaks of the end of times and the darkness rising, as far as all of us can tell, the darkness has already risen and the world is already doomed. Nothing the characters do will make any difference, and everyone is doomed.
Cheerful…
Not for kids, absolutely not for kids, there’s adult imagery throughout and if there is a way to defeat the evil and win the day, it’s not to be found in this book.
From a visual standpoint, it’s spectacular, colourful and chaotic in the most extreme, but when you look past the shiny, there’s not much in the way of actual setting, background, or ways in which to actually play the game. It is a visual record of the possibilities within the world, without ever giving you the world in which to play in the first place.
Could it be played?
Yes, absolutely.
Would you play it more than once?
Unconvinced.
If it was down to products that caught the judges eye this year, this one got all the awards, but it’s not, and while the book contained some interesting ideas, there wasn’t enough actual content within to hold the interest.