“LET ALL PARTAKE IN THE SUFFERING”: MÖRK BORG as a Visual-Material Toolkit for Fan Remix

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Berge PS
2022 DiGRA ’22 – Proceedings of the 2022 DiGRA International Conference: Bringing Worlds Together

MÖRK BORG—an ENnie award-winning, heavy-metal, rules-lite tabletop roleplaying game (TRPG)—provides a unique case study into fan-creator and remix culture. Defying the reactionary ethos of other ‘old school revival’ games, MÖRK BORG reimagines the established dungeon crawler in politically subversive ways. Half rulebook, half artbook, MÖRK BORG has engendered an impressive response from fan-designers—eliciting hundreds of hacks, adventures, monsters, and zines. This article explores the MÖRK BORG fandom as an active zine culture and supportive community for new TRPG designers. I analyze how the visual and material design of the MÖRK BORG sourcebook—namely its visual layering, palette, typography, and deathpunk emphasis on illegibility—empowers even novice fan-creators. Pulling from game and feminist media scholars, I argue that MÖRK BORG extends ongoing discussions of punk zine culture to tabletop roleplaying games and serves as an exemplary toolkit for inclusive and remixable analog game design.