ELDRITCH BORG

“You fool! You are dead. Perhaps you do not know it yet…”

A fast-paced, old-school roleplaying game using the MÖRK BORG rule system for investigations into cosmic despair. Take on 1920s archetypes and descend into forgotten caverns, manors, and sewers — all while losing your sanity.

Unfold the Chart Read the Playtest
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Welcome to the Gilded Rage

The Eve of the Apocalypse

There are no storm clouds on the horizon. They’re all right overhead, along with all the late omens of today’s Armageddon. The days aren’t numbered… everyone stopped counting.

“Great old gods awaken by the day, casting their dark eyes upon you, sending their courtiers to flay the faith from your bones as you reload your Thompson gun. All the clues in the world couldn’t tell you one simple fact… it’s already too late.”

Roll a d20 to determine what apocalypse will be yours to cherish. Roll numerous times if you dare…

APOCALYPSES STACK.

A great kraken drags a schooner beneath the waves
3.

Explosive wars dominated the seas, as the Esoteric Order of Dagon and their Deep One raiders blockaded all human life. The rising tide swallowed entire archipelagos as the world began to float to its grave.

16.

The Great City of R’Lyeh rose from the waves, in its nightmarish totality. By starlight, all with a view of the city could see the bulbous head of Cthulhu… and feel his gaze in turn.

20.

The world ended in the blink of an eye. As for how everyone in the world died, well, this is that story…

Character Creation

Eight Doomed Archetypes

From all walks of life, you waltz to the tune of your dirge, praying to a godless sky. Picture a dark street in black and white… if you could be anyone leaning on a lamppost here, who would it be?

1

Detective

2

Archeologist

3

Devoted

4

Damned

5

Scholar

6

Socialite

7

Performer

8

Gangster

There are no good deaths awaiting you. Only the screaming finales and slow ends under the needles of the unspeakable.

What Lurks Inside

Gunpowder, Moonshine & Sickening Sorcery

Quick pick-up games of pulpy crawls between clues, conversations with babbling non-player-characters, and thrilling last stands.

You Meet in a Speakeasy…

Ever since the War on Liquor, talk of cults by candlelight is best saved for the “Gin Joints,” “Blind Pigs,” and “House Parties.” Generate one in seconds — entrance, entertainment, specialty, owner…

…and its secret. More than a few are owned by monsters, human or otherwise.

Sanity Checks

Some creatures and places were never meant to be beheld by humankind. Fail, and lose your grip as the crushing weight of reality closes in around you.

In Total Darkness: lose 1 Sanity every 15 minutes — real time!

Automobile Combat

Newfangled death machines rocket across the blighted road, dogged by hunting monstrosities. The “shotgun” seat takes on a literal meaning.

Shift gears, adjust your mirror, and bless your hood ornament with a Yaddithian Funeral Chant.

Eyes of the Dark Gods

Discover a horrible truth and Incur the Eye of a god of the Pantheon. From Eye, to Interest, to Favor — or to Ire, and soon, the Wrath.

Devotion is tracked for each character individually. The all-seeing find no more reason to hide from your gaze.

Rituals & Corruption

Twenty Eldritch Rituals, powered by spent Sanity. Contact with the horrors beyond the veil carries permanent Eldritch Corruption — webbed fingers, sickly wings, hooves for feet.

The effects are permanent. Do not reroll duplicates.

Clue Crawls & Cult Creation

A full anatomy of the Clue Crawl for game masters, faction cases, and rules to grow a cult of your very own. Plus a Bestiary crowned by the Random Horror Generator.

Secrets have a way of sequencing themselves just beyond our perception.

The Great Cults

Four Powers Race to End the World

Join them, rob them, burn their chapels, or borrow their library cards. Every faction comes with members, goals, loot, strongholds — and a fully keyed Faction Case to raid.

Their strongholds are marked upon the Chart below. Choose your patron poorly.

Bizarre Locales

A Chart of the Dying World

In the basements of the world, there lie abysses that have never and shall never know light. Press a seal to open its dossier. Small sigils mark the strongholds of the Great Cults.

PACIFIC ATLANTIC INDIAN HERE  THE  WORLD  ENDS Esoteric Order of Dagon, San Francisco ChapterEsoteric Order of Dagon, Polynesia ChapterEsoteric Order of Dagon, Venice ChapterEsoteric Order of Dagon, Okinawa ChapterEsoteric Order of Dagon, Innsmouth ChapterChurch of Starry Wisdom, Boston ChapterChurch of Starry Wisdom, Paris ChapterChurch of Starry Wisdom, York ChapterChurch of Starry Wisdom, Venice ChapterChurch of Starry Wisdom, Cairo ChapterChurch of Starry Wisdom, New Orleans ChapterMiskatonic University, London ChapterMiskatonic University, Egypt ChapterMiskatonic University, Antarctica ChapterBrotherhood of the Yellow Sign, Paris ChapterBrotherhood of the Yellow Sign, London ChapterBrotherhood of the Yellow Sign, New York ChapterBrotherhood of the Yellow Sign, Berlin ChapterBrotherhood of the Yellow Sign, Venice Chapter ARKHAM, MAAPPALACHIAANTARCTICAR’LYEH & THE HIDDEN CITIESDAGON’S REEF THE DREAMLANDSbeyond the veil CARCOSAbeyond the veil
Order of Dagon Starry Wisdom Miskatonic Yellow Sign

Carcosa and The Dreamlands lie beyond the veil of this world — consult the medallions at the chart’s corners.

Limited-Time-Only Playtest

Light the candles.
Put on the big-band jazz.

Prepare to step into a world drowning in disaster whose only hope is you, dear reader, and your set of polyhedral dice.

Get the Playtest PDF Open the GM Screen Roll an Investigator

ELDRITCH BORG · GAMEMASTER’S SCREEN

← RETURN TO THE WORLD

The Party HP ≤0 unconscious · negative dead

PlayerCharacterHPSanityInitStatus
Heads, characters go first. Tails, enemies.

The Darkness Encroaches

4
LIGHT SOURCES

    Clue Oracle d10 per god

    THE EYES OF A DARK GOD…Press a god to draw a clue from their table.

    Tables & Generators

    THE TABLESRoll when the players start digging in the dumpster.

    Combat

    Initiative
    Flip a coin — heads, characters first; tails, enemies. Individual order: d6 + Agility.
    Turns
    Move up to 25’ and use one thing (weapon, ability, ritual, environment, item).
    • Melee: DR 12 Strength to hit
    • Ranged: DR 12 Presence to hit
    • Avoid attack: DR 12 Agility
    • Enemies roll no dice, except armor & damage
    Damage & Armor
    On a hit, roll weapon damage; target reduces it by their armor die.
    Naturals
    Nat 20: attacking, double damage; avoiding, free attack. Nat 1: attacking, d2 — 1. weapon breaks, 2. target gets a free attack.
    The Brink
    0 HP: unconscious until healed. Negative HP: dead — roll a new one. Many creatures deal a flat −d2 Sanity when they attack.

    Sanity

    The Check
    d20 + current Sanity, succeed on 12+. Fail: lose d2–d6 Sanity.
    Roll When You…
    • See a creature for the first time — d2
    • See an ally killed by a creature — d6
    • See a corpse of a creature’s kill — d2
    • See an extradimensional creation — d2
    • Learn a new Ritual — d4
    At 0 / Negative Sanity
    At 0: roll an insanity die (starts d8, grows daily) with every d20 — add to physical, subtract from mental; +2 melee damage. Negative: roll behavior — 1. fight closest, 2. flee, 3. pass out, 4. become a Random Horror in d6 rounds.
    The Right to Descend
    Burn 1 Sanity to reroll any check or damage. Fail, and something awful transpires.
    Regaining
    Rest 4+ hrs +d2 · Rest 8+ hrs +d4 · Sedative +d4 · cigarettes & liquor per their rules.

    ELDRITCH BORG · INVESTIGATOR’S DOSSIER

    ← RETURN
    Eldritch Borg character sheet

    Name

    Prefix (20%) · First · “Nickname” (50%) · Last · Suffix (20%).

    Class

    Abilities

    3d6 per ability: 3–4 → −3 · 9–10 → +0 · 17–18 → +4. Class alters these.

    Vitals

    HP and Sanity dice depend on class.

    Class Feature

    Weapons

    Clothes & Flair

    Items

    Starting gear: 1 container (d4), 2 common (d10), 1 expensive (d12).

    Wealth

    Devotion

    Background

    Physical Traits

    Beliefs

    Rituals

    Eldritch Corruption

    Permanent. Do not reroll duplicates.