Gift Horse 26: The Pirate Borg Review
General Overview
Pirate Borg is a pirate themed reskin of Mork Borg, but calling it a reskin makes it seem less than it is. It is definitely an offshoot of Mork Borg, but it is a fully fleshed out game with very different choices to Mork Borg.
A Mechanic that works really well
Players roll to defend, the GM doesn't roll to hit. That is excellent and it really speeds up combat. It makes things flow faster. Armour is a die that the players roll to lower damage.
A detail that lifts above its weight
The 4d20 Carousing table is great. I love carousing tables and this one is well designed. It players with both the results on each individual die and ties them together with the table result as well as how much money is lost (or potentially won). This is a well designed table that takes up only a chunk of a page with so many good combinations possible. At first I thought some were bad design such as one result: Last night you (Killed)(Yourself). You wake up...(with a noose around your neck)and now you are... (on a wanted poster). But there are rules for being (un)dead and there is an inquisition. A+ for this table.
Constructive Feedback
One tweak I might suggest is having the monster damage be flat to further speed things up given as the armour is already a source of damage variability to the player. This would mean the GM doesn't ever roll dice and it can speed up combat by removing the GM as a bottleneck.