Thrones: A Solo Friendly Mörk Borg Setting

Enter the Valley of Mist and discover who you are, Wayward wanderer...

THRONES

Thrones is a solo-friendly Mörk Borg setting-in-progress where characters attempt to discover who they are via Revelations as they explore the tangled and strange Valley of Mist.

It is unique in that it can incorporate elements of nearly anything as part of its particular narrative - the idea being that the world is somehow a combination of your own consciousness and that of your character who is trying to find himself among the shadows and wilderness of your mind.

The Thrones are some kind of Lovecraftian entities of the collective superconscious, perhaps, their formless presence acting as influencers of both you and your character from the ether of the unknown.

Maybe they are angelic beings of reason and artifice, or dark and terrible powers beyond imagine or reckoning.

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide and discover what you want here in this strange valley…or is it?

Perhaps you will learn about yourself alongside your character.

May we all discover who we truly are.

- Keep your blades sharp,

Castle Grief

YOU CANNOT REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE
BEFORE YOU CAME TO THIS PLACE…

The Village of Mist stands at the center of a large valley that shares its name, straddling the Fellbank River that flows through its fog-cloaked bottom.

Roads leave the village in all four cardinal directions, each one heading into the dark pine woods surrounding it, save the western route, which follows the Fellbank as it runs out of the forest and into the rocky lowlands.

A forlorn grey fortress rises from the stony roadway in that direction a few miles off. The villagers say it is the fortress of the Throne who rules the Principality of Mist, and protects the valley - from who or what, you don’t know.

The people of Mist call you “Wayward,” and say that there are others like you, who one day wandered out of the woods with no memory of who they were before they came here.

Mist is overseen by its Intercessor, Heremis, spokesperson for the Throne. His authority is enforced by The Order of the Fallen Star, and their commander, a brooding and melancholy knight called Lycaeon.

You have been told that each direction on the roadway holds its own dangers, and that there are no safe roads in the valley. Cryptically, the old woman, Elspeth, who runs the apothecary, says that there is no guarantee they will even lead to the same dangers each time - but that returning, they will always bring one back to the Village of Mist.

Her words that ring still in your mind, and have haunted you, as you equip yourself for your first foray into the thick white fog…

“Where you end up, on or off the roads, all depends on where you’ve been, and who you are. Or rather, who you were. Farewell, traveler, and may you find yourself before you find your death.”


YOU BEGIN PLAY WITH:

Gear
Gear
Weapon
Armor
Memory (1)

You may turn a card (see Tarot section) for your Memory as part of your first session. It can act as a recurring source of Revelation depending on how you play the game or what you decide  about your character during play.

1 Locket with a fading portrait of a woman

2 Bracelet with the inscription “From J, all my love.”

3 Map tattooed on human skin with 3 locations marked

4 Tattoo of a set of scales

5 Book on alchemical processes

6 Ornate Matchbox with a Tower on it

7 Scar in the shape of a Star over the heart

8 Weathered diary with references to dark rituals

9 A small vial filled with a thick black liquid

10 Rusted old crossbow covered with skull and bone markings inlaid with bone

11 Tattered and patched cloak with the emblem of a cup and sword

12 A bag of charred bones with esoteric symbols inscribed on them

13 Glass bottle with a luminescent dust (when inhaled it provides visions)

14 Delicate silver key with the word “DESIRE” on it

15 Weathered playing card with an unsettling jester on it

16 Hourglass with a small amount of black sand inside

17 Ornate wood and silver music box

18 Animal skull necklace on heavy rusting chain

19 Tarnished silver coin with a monarch’s visage on it

20 Stone amulet bearing a single symbol


MIST

Places from other games you’ve run, books you’ve read, real countries you’ve gone or heard about, films you’ve seen; they’re all here, but perhaps all different in some way.

No one can say for sure what they’ll find on an excursion from the Village, only that the return road always brings them back to it. Losing the road is a much more dangerous proposition - the woods are twisted and thick, and it always seems as though it is somewhere between dusk and nightfall here.

The things that lurk in the woods are not always eager to kill, or at least, not at first - but even those that seem friendly or disinterested often have dark intentions.

Those met on the roadway may be others like yourself, Waywards, or adventure or treasure seekers from the Village, of which there are many.

Some say there is a method to the madness - a reason to the rhyme of the shifting pathways and places in the Valley, but as yet, no one is certain what that is. One might encounter anything…or anywhere, out there.

Magic exists here in the form of alchemy, which creates items, elixirs, and so on that are used up or consumed to various effect, but “spells” take the shape of Ceremonies and Rituals - long form practice for strong results that must be learned through hardship and require difficult to obtain items to succeed.

All anyone knows about the region is that it is run by entities called “Thrones” or occasionally “Principals,” who use emissaries and heralds and stewards known as Intercessors to run their affairs. These entities control territories that seem to shift and change via unknown rules, and their territories are known as Principalities, of which Mist is only one small example.

Mercenary orders and knighthoods exist, as do robber barons, warlords, and the like, as the Thrones seem too caught up in their own larger struggles to concern themselves overmuch with what happens on a smaller scale.

TAROT 

Tarot controls the flow of the game, one card at a time.

At the beginning of each play session, turn three cards.

The first one is related to your character’s history. A clue of some kind, a Revelation about who or what they were or are, and what may have brought them here.

Any time a major event, trauma, battle, and suchlike occurs in-game, you may receive a clue as to who your character is - draw a card and let its interpretation guide the narrative.

The second is what is going on in the Village of Mist. An event, a happening, some news, factions adjusting or emerging, and so on.

The third represents what is happening with The Thrones, and the Principalities, and their relationships with one another - what is happening on a larger scale in this strange and dreamlike world. This draw colors the entire feel of the session, as these shifting intelligences influence and affect the larger world that Mist lies within.

During the game, any time you get stuck, can’t decide something, feel like things have slowed down, want to know the answer to a question, and so on, draw a card and use its meaning to move the pace.

Normal encounters and combats can simply use the standard MB ruleset, with any hacks or house rules you generally utilize.

To be continued…