Pirate Borg Starter Set Review: A Treasure Trove of Goodies | The Gamerheads Podcast

We had the opportunity to review the new Starter Set for Pirate Borg. While I have played a lot of different TTRPGs over the years, I will say that Pirate Borg is one of the most straightforward and easy to learn games I have ever played.

But what exactly is Pirate Borg? And who is this game for?

What Is Pirate Borg?

Ever want to sail the seven seas? Live a life of adventure? Fight hordes of undead? Make terrible life choices? Welcome to Pirate Borg, a TTRPG set in the Dark Caribbean. Pirate Borg takes inspiration from Mork Borg, keeping the rules light and encouraging players to jump right in and start playing.

The game is dark. While there are ways to make the experience less gruesome, it is something a group will want to talk through before playing. The setting is also something the group should discuss. While it can reflect elements of actual history, Pirate Borg adds a heavy dose of the mystical and supernatural. The result is a world that is just as fantastical as it is frightening.

Who Is Pirate Borg For?

Pirate Borg is perfect for those who want to jump right in and start playing. I received the Starter Set for review, and unlike other starter sets that feel like a light version of the full game, especially when it comes to character creation, the Pirate Borg Starter Set includes everything needed to start making characters and playing. Not to say that the core book does not offer more. It does. But I appreciate that I can take the characters created with the Starter Set and continue playing with them.

I get the sense that characters die a lot in Pirate Borg. It is a chaotic world and a lot of bad things can happen. If a group prefers long form storytelling where characters last more than a few sessions, it can still work, but players will likely need to spend quite a bit of Devil’s Luck. Devil’s Luck is a limited resource that helps offset the difficulty. The GM will probably also need to be a bit more forgiving.

What Comes in the Starter Set

There is a lot included in the Starter Set.

A Player’s Guidebook:

This is all a player needs to roll up characters. I rolled some characters up, and the guidebook does a nice job walking through the process. There are a lot of tables, and a lot of rolling on those tables, so quite a bit is left to fate. But it is fun. It took about fifteen minutes to create a character. In a world where characters have the potential of dying, it is nice to know that creating a new one is quick and easy.

Trapped in the Tropics Adventure:

The adventure book is really well written, giving new GMs and veterans plenty to work with. It walks through each encounter, highlighting the important areas to describe to the players, and it provides an ASH generator. ASH is a drug created by drying out the undead. The game also provides suggestions on how to change this if a group is uncomfortable with the idea of using illicit drugs.

I have two groups I am running the campaign with. One group deals with the ASH, while the other does not. Instead, we used the suggested alternative of ASH GEMS, jewels created from the hearts of the undead.

What I really like about the adventure is that it introduces players to several different mechanics such as roleplaying, combat, and naval battles. It also tells a fun story.

Dry erase boards and character sheets:

The book does not clearly explain how to use the dry erase boards, but the way I used them was during character creation. I had the players roll up their characters and fill out the dry erase board character sheet. Once we were happy with the characters, we transferred everything to the paper character sheets.

The dry erase boards work really well for character generation because they show which tables to use and which dice to roll. This makes the process very easy. We could have kept the characters on the boards, but it felt more permanent once everything was transferred to the character sheet. Speaking of character sheets, the starter set includes a pad of 25 sheets.

Resin Dice:

The game comes with all the dice needed to play. They are resin dice and feel like a nice quality set. The four sided die is different from any other four sided die I have seen. Normally it is a pyramid shape, but this one is more oblong. The two sided die is a coin, which feels perfect for a pirate themed game.

Maps and tokens:

The maps included provide a nice play space for placing characters during encounters. For those who have miniatures, they will work well with the battle maps. The game also includes a large number of tokens, so groups will not feel like they need to go out and buy or create their own.

Reference materials:

There are other reference materials included as well. For example, there is a map prop that becomes part of the adventure. The game explains how to incorporate it, and one part involves tearing the map in half. It took a lot for me to actually do that since I do not like destroying things, but for the game it makes perfect sense. The authors even encourage it and suggest that players will enjoy that moment.

Overall, the material included is really high quality. One thing I really like about the books is how straightforward everything is. There is no fluff. The art is incorporated into the wording as well. For instance, when creating a Rapscallion character, the featured skills for that class are presented on playing cards. For the most part this works. However, there are times when dark writing appears on a dark background, which makes the text difficult to read.

Final Grade: A

For groups looking for a game they can jump right into and start playing within a few minutes, Pirate Borg is a perfect match. It is a bit dark, so it will be helpful for groups to talk through how they want to handle some of the atmosphere. Players also should not get too attached to their characters. Pirate Borg is chaotic, and players will be facing a lot of danger.

The Starter Set does a fantastic job acting as a tutorial. It walks players through character creation, which can be completed in about fifteen minutes, and introduces the different aspects of play, from combat and roleplaying to naval battles.

This is probably one of the best starter sets I have ever used. I highly recommend this starter set for groups that are looking for a game that isn’t heavy with rules and want to play as pirates.

Review copy provided by UberStrategist PR and Free League Publishing