Give Your World Consequences — Using the MÖRK BORG Prophecy System

Today I want to highlight a "hidden" mechanic in MÖRK BORG—the Prophecy system.

To sum it up: the DM rolls their chosen dice (1d2,1d6,1d10, etc.) at dawn.  If it is a 1, the prophecy advances and some terrible events sweep the land.  This escalates with each 1 until the 7th 1 is rolled where the DM is told: "the game and your lives end here. Burn this book."

Wow.

That is Metal.

Not only is that thematic and bold—but it addresses something I think is missing from modern day ttrpg DM session prep.  Fun.  Sitting down and just typing up notes is a quick way for me to feel that prep is a chore—which hurts my interest in getting ready for the game.  Using the Prophecy system, each time I prep (assuming the sessions generally begin at dawn) I get to play a micro game.  Does the world get worse?  

Now I am not advocating for every DM to build in an objective time their world violently ends.  But this mechanic can be ported to encompass anything that the players do not have control over. |That is something very important—the players cannot have control over the advancement.  For a setting to feel "real," things need to be happening in a way that the players cannot influence.  For example, they cannot solve the B plot while they focus on the A plot.  A DM could easily tie this mechanic to a D plot.  Some event that they are personally interested in seeing what happens but the players have not made the focus on the adventure.  

In my Old School Essentials game, the King will die on the seventh 1.  His death will drastically change the state of the world.  One through six will usher in events leading up to that situation that also are felt no matter where the players may be.  The events will not be anything that commands player action.  Similar to MÖRK BORG's world ending, the players cannot influence the death of the king.  It is inevitable.  What makes this a wonderful tool for DM's is that the level of unpredictability leads me to be excited to prep!  Is this the day the third 1 is rolled?  Whew it is not—the Party will wake without there having been a new disaster in the world.

This mechanic also increases verisimilitude.  Often RPG forums frequently tell new and experienced DM's to give the players "consequences" for their inactions to show that the world is moving.  "The clock is always ticking!" many say, without any further detail into making that just more work for a DM.  Employing "Prophecies" [read: any world changing consequence that is going to happen, it doesn't need to be an actual prophecy] sets triggers that will occur in the world ahead of time.  

With their timing being sudorandom, even the DM cannot initially prep for them.  This means you cannot preset your expectations.  If you know ahead of time all birds stop flying on the 5th day of the campaign, all your prep for days 1-4 will reflect that knowledge.  But if you prep 1-4 like "normal" sessions and then the 5th day comes, a 1 is rolled, and the birds lose flight.  That is engaging.  That generates new interest in the world and can take the story in a direction you would not have otherwise considered.  Because the players need to hear/see the worsening situation.  Even if they are deep unground, they have to find out on that day the birds no longer fly.

Now I want to briefly mention that this "gamification" of DM prep is not just seen in MÖRK BORG.  Stars/Worlds Without Number adds the GM turn—where the factions get to act and influence the world.  This takes a little more work for the DM to prep during the worldbuilding stage, but is also super useful.  Random tables get close to achieving the gamification ideal in helping break the rut of generic prep and to jumpstart creativity.

I have yet to play or read its rules in earnest, so a review is still a ways a way!  I just wanted to highlight a mechanic that I feel could go unnoticed.  Add tools to your game that allows the preparation to be a soloRPG that you run for you.  It will get you more excited for your sessions and take the story/setting in ways that you might not have imagined.  It may also be the key to help you push through the times where you lack motivation.

As a quick aside—ZineQuest 3 is coming up next week!  It is such a great time to celebrate the indie developers in the ttrpg scene who continue to put out amazing products.  I will certainly try to make a post discussing some of the gems but there are many other bloggers—such as Thought Eater (https://frothsofdnd.blogspot.com) and Pandatheist (https://boneboxchant.wordpress.com/) who are covering the available products in a much more comprehensive manner.  Check them out!