...well, more like thoughts about random RPGs. I've been doing another weeding of my bookshelves and contemplating some things; and while I'm not working through the roleplaying section as yet, I have been doing some more thinking about what's on my shelves (see also my previous thread about 'what do you own the most books for that you don't play).

I won't call these reviews, 'cause I still have not and probably will never play most of this stuff; and there are things I own a couple or more versions of, so maybe some comparisons will be interesting. But just thoughts on things as games, as reading material, and whatnot.

I'll kick this off with a recent acquisition, and unusually, maybe a quick trip to the weeding box: Mork Borg. I went in pretty blind on this one; I'd seen it called out as a rules-light, kind of grimdark humor, mid-apocalypse low-fantasy game/setting. Unfortunately, it kind of comes off more like an edgelord-y art project. Before even getting to the actual content, the book is physically hard to read with some of their font and color choices. Big splashy black and white comic art with text sprinkled all around it. Neon yellow and pink, even for some of the text. Ow, my eyes.

There are the bare bones of a game here: there's a bunch of random tables; simple mechanics for character generation, combat/skill resolution; some monsters, even a sample dungeon...but there's just not a lot of substance to it. Nor is there a lot of humor, just edgy "look how awful everything is" with a side of trying to make it gross. It tries to kind of lean into the religious-horror stuff, but doesn't really succeed there either. As a 'the apocalypse is happening right now' setting, I expect it to be pretty hard on characters, so I guess it succeeds in that regard though.

I think it's telling that a lot of the games I've subsequently looked at that are derived from MB have a way higher page count. "Old school" and "rules-light" games have a reputation for very much being a 'jump on board the USS Make S*** Up', but I personally need something to hang my hat on in the first place, and if I just had the MB core book and some dice I'd struggle to make something fun out of it either as GM or a player. If I want grimderp I'll go play Old Warhammer, Trench Crusade, or an upcoming book that I actually enjoyed reading.