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Endless Journeys Announcement - DäveBorg Endless Journeys
🕑 Added 2023-01-11 15:52:06 +0000 UTCHey all!
Thanks so much for your feedback yesterday on Endless Journeys, both in chat and on Discord.
Since I posted v 1.0.4, a lot has happened.
We finally heard "something" from Wizards of the Coast, and then both Kobold Press and MCDM mentioned that they would be releasing their own systems. I keep hearing of other companies saying they're going to do the same.
After meditating it on a bit, I decided that my initial take might be the wrong direction. With these older publishers getting into the market and making more fantasy rulesets, it doesn't seem like the right move to try to make something that's like Fifth Edition or at least another clone. Because, as a consumer, the question becomes, "Why not just use Dungeons & Dragons?" Or even Pathfinder. Emotions are high now to be anti-D&D/WotC, but they'll eventually fade away.
So that's why I decided to turn to Mörk Borg.
What is Mörk Borg?
If you haven't heard of Mörk Borg, it's part of the "old-school renaissance," which means it's a lot simpler than Fifth Edition. In fact, the rules aren't much more than "roll a d20, add a number, and compare it to another number." A super simplistic system, so it's easy to learn.
The biggest thing that stands out with Mörk Borg is its original art style.
It's "a doom metal album of a game. A spiked flail to the face. Rules light, heavy, everything else."
Why Mörk Borg?
So some of you might be wondering why I'm moving to Mörk Borg, as it might, on the surface, seem pretty different from Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. However, there are a lot of benefits for myself and, in turn, all of you.
Learn more about Mörk Borg from the official site.
It's supported by Free League.
If you don't know Free League yet, they're just amazing. They have a lot of cool brands, such as Blade Runner, Aliens, Tales from the Loop, The One Ring, and more. I've had the opportunity to meet them at conventions, and they're friendly, easygoing, and very accepting of third-party publishing culture.
The license is crazy simple.
Not only does Free League have its own open license for its core games, the Year Zero Engine, but Mörk Borg has a license that's super easy to use, allows you to mark it as "compatible" with a logo, and really doesn't require all the hurdles that even the 1.0a OGL does.
There's already a lot of content for it.
Already, there are a bunch of books out there for it. And a lot of third-party publishers are moving into the space. So you're going to have a glut of content right from the get-go. Yes, the core book is a little hard to read (I had to get a "readable" PDF myself), but I'll probably just rewrite the ruleset anyways to fit with Endless Journeys.
It stands out.
With all the different companies about to release their own rulesets, I have no doubt that all of them are going to look like the same fantasy style that we're so used to seeing—lots of pretty fantasy art, a handful of classes and races, weapons, and so on and so forth. But Mörk Borg stuff is different. Sure, it's got "classes," but they're much simpler and go with the theme of the game.
I can customize the heck out of it (and you'll help).
The Mörk Borg engine itself is very simple. But you can add so much to it. And that's what I plan to do. I want to add new rules, classes, heritages, rules, etc. And since I love getting ideas from all of you, I can make what you want to use. It's hackable, so if you don't like a particular rule, you don't have to use it.
I can still make the same sort of adventures.
Because Mörk Borg runs on a d20 system, the adventures will still be pretty similar. I can create adventures using the same format with the same types of numbers, and they won't look any different. The other bits—new monsters, etc.—will look a little different, of course, but I'll offer guidelines for customizing those.
I repeat: THE ADVENTURES WILL REMAIN THE SAME.
I don't have to stress about building a whole new SRD.
I had a lot of fun writing the Endless Journeys SRD but quickly realized that it's pretty tough to create a ruleset that makes everyone happy. So instead of wasting energy tweaking and iterating a complicated system a thousand times over, I can just start with something simple and create new things for folks that they can add, subtract, ignore, love—whatever—that will make everyone happy.
Basically, Mörk Borg is the "smartphone," and the stuff I'll make will be the apps for it.
Got questions? Ask 'em below!
I'm sure some of you have questions, concerns, comments, etc. Feel free to ask them below. I know it's a weird time, but I'm pretty happy with this decision. And I think it's going to be a lot of fun for me and everyone else included.
Thanks all!
- Dave
Comments
Naked_SoNUshka
You know, it's not a bad idea at all. your job is to make everyone happy, so go for it!
Greg Laurich
What are we looking at price-wise for the core rule books? My HS gaming club is meeting tomorrow about the OGL 1.1 and I have a feeling they are not going to be giving WoTC any more money.
DM Dave
My plan is to customize Mork Borg so that it fits everyone. The basic system is very dark and simple, but I think I can really build it out to be a bit more.
DM Dave
Oh yeah, for sure. I'd stick with 5e if I could. But unfortunately that won't be an option.
Joshua VanDuke
I've been with you for quite some time. I plan on sticking with ya through the changes to come.
Dr. Feargood
I wish you luck; not a patreon, but I did your last Kickstarter. I will be sticking with 5E, too much invested, and I have enough material to last a lifetime. This whole situation is going to hurt TTRPG across the board.
Medic Joe
Gotcha. I certainly haven't looked through all the licensing information, but I figured I would just toss it out there as an option. Honestly, I don't care what game system you build your adventures for. I'm looking for the story content and settings not mechanics. I just Savage them all and use the Savage Worlds rules with my group, but I use your adventures, and it works out great! Takes me all of 20 minutes to prep a game that will last all evening.
Tim Rich
Are you going to do any other systems? Mork Borg is fun, but it's not everyone's cup of tea
DM Dave
Looks like a limited license, a la what other companies do. That wouldn't work with what we do.
DM Dave
Hmm, they must have just released that. But I'll share it with other creators that they're opening up
DM Dave
Yeah, the artwork is pretty wild for their core products, but the game itself and the company is very good. They're the only one that I felt comfortable with joining. Plus, I can just, like... email the CEO or ping him on Discord. :D
DM Dave
Well... we tried. LOL But that's a conversation for another time. But too many folks are trying to push to the front of the pack. So instead of getting caught in that crossfire, I'm just going to push my chips towards Free League.
DM Dave
For sure. I think Pathfinder will somehow survive this all. And we'll continue to make fantasy stuff that works with adventures. I just didn't want to get mixed up in the forthcoming "RPG wars" that we're about to see happen.
Dirk Fontenot
so so great to see creators jumping to (imo) more exciting systems, the indie scene is where it's been at for a while now. Can't wait!
Medic Joe
I was hoping that you might use Savage Worlds, as they just released their new Fantasy Companion and their Savage Universe resource. https://peginc.com/set-a-course-for-the-savage-universe/ I mean, they've been around for 20 years...
There does need to be a D&D like clone that is open and free to use by all publishers. If it was a choice between closed Hasbro D&D with no 3rd party support (ie. 4th edition 2.0) and an open D&D like game with vast 3rd party support, I'd go with the open option. The whole reason I choose D&D in the first place was because it had the most 3rd party support, otherwise I would have gone with Pathfinder. Fracturing into a billion different systems is not a solution IMO. Fate already fills the rules light roleplay focus niche and it works fine and it is open. The alternative is for publishers to make system agnostic content that can be used with any system and not be loaded with pages of stat blocks that are not relevant if used with another system.
UNDRESS_ME
I think this news will be a shock to many, but don't worry. You should do as you see fit. And I definitely think everything will turn out great. Good luck then
Ben Corbett
I gotta be honest. That is what I was hoping for too, but it appears we are in for a rough ride while all these different systems and creators try to jockey for market position and supplant themselves as the top dog. It all depends on how long these creators can go with significant cuts as their audience is spread out. I really can't help but think this was Hasbro's hope then have the content creators come back with their tail between their legs and ultimately sign up. If only they would come together they could stand a chance.
Nicolas Desjardins
I gotta take a looksee at Mork Borg now ! Since the artworks always threw me off, I never really gave it a chance. I can't wait to see what you make of it and for it !
Hunter Harwood
I was hoping that instead of 10+ new ttrpg systems coming out of this OGL debacle, we'd see some of the larger content creators join together to either settle on one platform or create a new platform/framework that all could build upon, in a similar fashion to open source software.
