#mork sjal

[imsobadatnicknames2]

After months of slowly chipping away at this I FINALLY get to post it.

A couple years ago, as some of you might know, I started working on Mörk Själ, a soulslike hack of Mörk Borg, as a little passion project of mine. I've released a couple versions of it, but I've been working on a BIG update for a year or so, and it's finally here, and I finally decided I've done enough work to actually put a pricetag on it.

So... the full version of Mörk Sjal is here, boasting:

Fast character creation with randomly generated starting equipment

Simple but tactical combat rules.

Simple stamina management and equipment damage systems.

Instructions to convert creatures from Mörk Borg, B/X, and AD&D

Public domain art edited by me.

Aside from correcting a few typos and modifying mechanics from the previous version, this new release includes a ton of new content, namely:

Creature generator.

Weapon generator.

A pretty sick dungeon module.

The Black Salt Temple is a 100-ish room dungeon, heavily inspired in concept by the Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral here in Colombia.

In fact, all the pictures used are Creative Commons licensed photos of sections of the cathedral, heavily edited by me.

This new version of the game is $8 USD.

There is also a free version available, including all the rules and content of the old release. You just miss out on the new stuff.

I'm super proud of the work I did on this, even if it just started out as a little hack I made out of spite because I hated that the official Dark Souls RPG was built on the D&D 5e system. Hope y'all enjoy it.

[gamejoypod]

We just finished our first time playing Mörk Själ tonight!

It's a souls-inspired ttrpg hack of Mörk Borg made by @imsobadatnicknames2 and it was a blast!

I'm pretty inexperienced with old-school styled systems & dungeons so it was a lot to manage, but the rules were compact & presented well enough that I felt confident running a game with only 2 days notice

I'm a real big fan of the stamina & death rules in particular, those were really exciting to use. Character generation is a breeze, too! Loved rolling on the Broken Bodies and Hazy Memories tables

My players didn't make it very far into the dungeon included with the game, but Black Salt Temple is *huge* so we're definitely coming back.

The game went out on a high note though. The cleric ran from a TPK back to the bonfire, resurrecting the rest of the party. The sorcerer rolled a 2 on a d100(!!!) so she came back hollow and attacked the others, resulting in her very quick death.

10/10, would have 6 deaths in 3 hours again. you can grab the game for yourself here!

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Before Black Salt Temple, I actually made two other attempts at creating a starter module to include in the full version of the Mörk Själ rulebook. My approach for these was to try to create a "microcosm" of a souls game with a few distinct interconnected areas, and they both were scrapped when I realized I would just keep adding stuff and with how many ideas I had for areas I wanted to add they were quickly ballooning past anything that would fit into the scope of a starter module. Which is why in Black Salt Temple I decided to restrict my scope and keep it contained to a single location.

I'm still pretty fond of the second one here. As you can see it's clearly color-coded: The blue area was intended to be a prison which would serve as the start location, the read area was intended to be an Undead Burg-type ruined city, light gray was a cementery+catacombs, dark gray was intended to be a sewer+a few cave systems, and the golden area on top was intended to be a palace-typle place which would require the players to do some stuff in the other locations to be able to gain access to. I want to maybe finish it in the future, or at least finish the palace and release it as a standalone area, I really liked how it was coming around and don't want it to go to waste.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Been working on this for a bit: Ensam Själ. It's a set of tools and procedures for Mörk Själ, my soulslike hack of Mörk Borg.

In it you will find a 2d10-based Yes/No oracle with a chance for random events, a variety of dark fantasy-themed spark tables, and a set of specific procedures for exploration using these tools.

It takes inspiration from a lot of different solo and GM-less rules, such as Mythic GM Emulator, Conjectural Roleplaying GM Emulator, Game Master’s Apprentice, Solitary Defilement, FORGE, and my very own Pocket Delver (If you've played Pocket Delver, the last set of random tables should look pretty familiar)

As always, licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0, so feel free to poach and steal any bits and pieces you like from it.

It costs $5 USD, but there are 10 community copies available, and I will be adding a new community copy for each sale made. Also, for the next two months it will be available at a discounted price for everyone who already owns the full version of Mörk Själ.

Plus. If community copies run out and you still want a free copy because you can't or just don't feel like paying for it... you can just message me about it, and I'll be more than happy to give you a download code.

Anyway hope y'all enjoy it :)

As a little demonstration of how it works, I will copy the full example of play I included at the end of the document under the cut.

Example of Play

Here is a demonstration of solo play applying the procedures contained in this document.

After randomizing character creation, our chosen undead is Abigeal of Kingfisher Thicket, a Battlemage with a missing foot and vague memories of being betrayed by an old ally.

Abilities: Strength +2, Agility 0, Toughness -1, Presence +2

HP: 5

Inventory: Shortsword, Fur Armor, Lantern, 3 Flasks of oil.

Inventory slots: 4/13

Stamina: 9

Spells: The Fortress, Merciful Sunlight

Her main goal is to track down and punish the old ally who betrayed her, who is...

Roll on NPC spark table: 64 – Arrogant, 16 – Thief

... an arrogant thief by the name of Ciannán the Grinning.

Rolling on the Area spark table (22, 26) we find out that she begins her quest in a flooded prison. I’ve decided that the enemies for this area are: Nuisance: Sewer Rat – Normal: Ghost – Tough: Wraith – Miniboss: Amphibian Shaman – Boss: Giant Sewer Rat.

Let’s generate a room:

Roll for number of exits: 6 - three exits. Roll for cardinal directions: 2 – NE, 4 – SE, 8 – NW. I chose not to roll for exit type for the time being and assume the three of them are horizontal

Roll on room content tables: Encounter: 11 – Nothing. Loot: 8 – Weapon (Roll on weapons table to determine weapon: Femur) . Room feature: 9 – Nothing.

Standing on top of a small ledge, Abigeal looks upon the rest of the flooded room, an abandoned guard post in an ancient, now flooded prison.

Is there a light source in the room? (2d6 on Soul Oracle: 6 – Yes) Luckily, the light that filters from the cracks on the ceiling above is enough to see clearly.

Is the water shallow enough to walk across it? (2d10 on Soul Oracle: 4 – “Yes, and...”) The water is shallow enough to reach all of the doors walking, and barely deep enough to get your feet wet. Due to the Yes, and Response, Doom is increased by 1.

Abigeal ignores the femur floating in the water, instead going to check the coffer beside the old guard table.

Is there anything of value in the coffer? (2d10+1 on Soul Oracle: 12 – No, but...)

There is nothing in the coffer, but when she crouched down to check it she managed to spot something in the water under the table.

Is it a key? (2d10+1 on Soul Oracle: 8 - Yes)

Abigeal grabs the key she spotted under the table, and then finally decides to check the door to the Northeast.

Room generation:

Roll for number of exits: 2 – None, the room has no doors other than the one she came in through.

Roll on room content tables:

Encounter: 16 – 1d3 tough enemies. Loot: 11 – Nothing. Room feature: 12 – Nothing.

Upon entering the flooded guard barracks, Abigeal suddenly finds herself facing a Wraith. As she wasn’t making any particular effort to conceal herself, she’s spotted almost immediately.

Roll for Wraith HP (4d8): 21

Initiative: Test Agility DR12. 19 - Success, Abigeal acts first.

Knowing she can’t defeat the Wraith head-on, Abigeal tries to use her Merciful Sunlight spell to blind it.

Spellcasting: Test Presence DR12. 18 – Success.

Casting Merciful Sunlight and aiming the bright light directly at the wraith’s eyes, Abigeal manages to blind it for 8 combat rounds (There is no set effect for blinding, but I’ve decided the DR to avoid the wraith’s attacks has been reduced to 6)

The wraith tries to hit Abigeal, but she easily avoids its touch and counterattacks with her shortsword, just barely managing to hit its almost incorporeal form. She decides to spend one Stamina to add one damage die to her attack, hitting with 2d4 for 7 damage.

I will omit the full play-by-play narration of the encounter, but Abigeal manages to defeat the wraith after seven rounds of combat, with her HP reduced to 4 and her Stamina Reduced to 3, and earns 250 souls. She rolls her weapon’s Usage Die, but luckily it comes up 3, so her weapon isn’t damaged. However, when rolling her armor’s UD it comes up 1, so her armor receives one level of wear and its UD is reduced from d8 to d6.

After stopping to catch her breath, she recovers 2 Stamina, and decides to examine the room.

Is there any container for guards’ belongings still intact?

(2d10+1 on Soul Oracle: 3 – Yes, And...)

There is not only one, but several barrels and coffers containing the former guards’ belongings. Among them, she finds 2 bombs, a net, 20 ft of rope, and a spear. Due to the Yes, and Response, Doom is increased by 1.

Abigeal takes the spear and the two bombs and adds them to her inventory.

She then heads back to the guard post, now taking the door to the southeast.

Roll for number of exits: 3 – One exit. Roll for cardinal directions: 3 – East. Roll for exit type: 3 – Horizontal.

Roll on room content tables:

Encounter: 11 – Nothing. Loot: 16 – Random scroll. Room feature: 14 – Major obstacle.

Rolling on a spark table to determine what the obstacle is, I decided to roll Verb + Subject

31 – Increase. 16 - Adversity

Towards the center of this room, the water level is much higher respective to the floor, making it impossible to traverse to the other side walking.

Is the scroll on the side of the room Abigeal can reach on foot? (2d10+2 on Soul Oracle: 11 – Random Event)

A random event occurs. Before determining what it is, I resolve the yes/no question by looking at the result of the higher of the two dice. As it’s an even number (8), the answer is yes, the scroll is floating on the side of the room Abigeal can reach on foot.

Roll for event type: 12 – Reveal

Something is revealed to not be what it initially seemed. I decided to roll Adjective + Subject and...

21 – Ancient. 12 – Ally.

Rather serendipitous.

I decided to interpret this as... she suddenly remembers this was an important place for her and Ciannán, back in the old times before the undead curse.

Is this where he betrayed her? (2d10+2 on Soul Oracle: 21 – No, and...)

This doesn’t seem to be the case, quite the opposite, in fact. Due to the No, and Response, Doom is reduced by 1.

Is this where they met? (2d10+1 on Soul Oracle: 10 – Yes, but...)

She recognizes this as the place they met, but she can barely remember anything from that encounter other than the place itself.

I’m going to stop playing here for the time being, closing this example of play on what I think is the most interesting note so far.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

How did you get the Dark Souls fonts to use in your ttrpg? Also couldn't you get in trouble for using the game's official fonts and stuff?

Well, neither of those fonts were actually created for Dark Souls, actually! So it's not like they own them.

The title font is Optimus Princeps, and the regular text font is Matisse Pro.