The Quack and the Dead

This week Mörk Borg gets truly ducked over and we bet it all on red...

A little sneak peak for you of the linocut art prints our cover artist Mat Pringle is making to accompany the new issue…

After a brief break from reality we are back in the office, which is fairly sub-optimal it must be said, still it has given me a chance to look over some of the features in our upcoming 5th issue with fresh eyes, and let me tell you, you are in for a treat.

I have to especially mention Dan Thurot’s piece on politics, and societal conflicts, in boardgames which sees him speak to Amabel Holland about This Guilty Land, Taylor Shuss about his recent board game Stonewall Uprising, and Tory Brown creator of the brilliant new Votes For Women.

It’s a fascinating piece that looks at how tabletop games engage with these kind of weighty, difficult subjects and I’m incredibly glad to be able to find space for features like it, alongside ones looking at everything from the slapstick violence of Paranoia to the alcohol fuelled excesses of Barkeep on the Borderland.

We do like to try and provide you with a healthy, varied diet here at Wyrd Science…

Anyway you will be able to enjoy all those features and lots more soon enough, so why not pre-order a copy now, or get yourself in the mood by picking up a back issue or 3 at up to 50% off.

Right, on that note read on for two games we think you should check out this week that both definitely lean towards the more gonzo side of the tabletop games spectrum and see you same time (maybe), same place (definitely) next week.

John x

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DUKK BÖRG

We’ve long contended that Gem Room Games’ Dukk Börg was pretty much perfect in almost every way except one, it didn’t exist as a physical book. Thankfully that historic injustice is finally being resolved as the greatest MÖRK BORG meets DuckTales role-playing game you never knew you needed makes its way to Kickstarter.

Yes, you read that right, DuckTales, that classic Saturday morning cartoon featuring the extraordinary adventures of Scrooge McDuck and nephews, as they travelled the world in search of fabled treasures whilst trying to keep Scrooge’s own fortune out of the clutches of the nefarious Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys. Ah, to be 9 again…

Dukk Börg then makes the most of MB’s fast paced, rules lite system but leaves behind the wretched streets of Galgenbeck, and instead sees you roll up yourself a determined little duck treasure hunter who must head out by plane, train and space ship to explore and hopefully plunder ruined cities, contend with rival gangs and otherwise get into all kinds of pulp scrapes. It is, of course, all rather great fun.

Anyway, as it happens it also turns out we were wrong in our initial estimation of the game and that it actually could be improved upon, as the team behind it have taken this opportunity to give the game’s rules another polish, include an introducktory adventure and finally find space for more wonderfowl illustrations (ok, i’ll stop with the terrible puns now) including guest art from Johan Nohr himself. Eggcellent stuff! (sorry)

CAMPAIGN ENDS: SEPTEMBER 26

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BLOODSPORT GAMBLER

Less than a week ago I was walking around a ruined Roman amphitheatre, a desolate space where countless gladiators fought and died under a pitiless sun, their blood staining the bleached white sand wine red for the edification of a baying crowd.

It was a sobering, sombre experience and one that I clearly took absolutely nothing home from as this week I’m here to tell you about Bloodsport Gambler, a new 1/2 player game set in the brutal, mutant filled fighting pits of Ghoulmorrah.

The twist in Bloodsport Gambler is that it’s not actually you, oiled of limb & gladius in hand, down in that sweaty pit. Nope, you’re up there in the baying crowd, betting slip held aloft as you try to desperately crawl your way out of, a literally, crushing debt by gambling on the outcome.

The game itself is simple enough, each round three fights are announced featuring 6 of the game’s remarkably horrid looking 18 fighters, each with their own different stats and rank (to determine who is the favourite and who is the underdog in any given death match).

Fighters then get randomly dealt weapon cards face down, and finally a card featuring a secret is placed, again face down, between each fighter. At this point the odds are announced, and players can start playing their own action cards to try and somehow influence the result, generally by quite horrible means.

One you’ve played your cards, betting commences, and the fights begin. All the weapons are revealed, secret cards turned over and played cards revealed, the results of each fight worked out and its time to settle up with the bookies and see if you’ve managed to clear your debts or dig yourself an ever deeper hole. Judging by the looks of the loan sharks of Ghoulmorrah six foot will probably be enough.

All in all it’s a brutal, bloody and quite a wonderfully horrible looking game, with visceral artwork reminiscent of the old Fighting Fantasy books (or indeed the more recent Escape the Dark… games) that will have you cheering from the rafters, or as likely crying into your cups when you bet the farm on a mighty Putrid Snake Beast and they unexpectedly get wrecked by a pathetic Doomed Monstrosity.

Are we not entertained? Yes Doomed Monstrosity, yes we are, take the afternoon off.

CAMPAIGN ENDS: OCTOBER 5

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A collection of other things, both interesting and inspiring, gaming related and not, culled from around the web...

• Bill Willingham has made a lot of money for DC Comics over the years with his multiple award-winning Vertigo series Fables. He is also very tired of dealing with their bullshit, and having been kicked around by the now faceless corp one too many times has announced he’s putting the story into the public domain.
  
  It’s a righteous move and you should read his full announcement here. Now copyright/trademark law being what it is, and majority of Fables characters being culled from folklore, it’s hard to say really what this actually might result in but still as one fingered salutes to the suits go this is up there with the best.
  

• Andrea Grimes writes for DAME about how the damage that has been done to Twitter/X over the past year to 18 months has delivered a hammer blow to independent journalism. Well worth a read.
  
  And, as I was saying over on Bluesky earlier this week, whilst we’d never make any claim to breaking world changing news it’s certainly something we’ve both seen and been massively affected by too.
  

• Speaking of the joys of independent geek related journalism, the hits just keep on coming!
  

• On a happier note we’ve talked about Boss Dog’s amazing tee-shirts in the past, well they’ve out done themselves this time with this incredible Simon & Garfield number… Want to look as cool/ridiculous as us, then don’t hang about as it’s another super limited drop…
  

• We are big fans of S.Elizabeth’s books - The Art of the Occult and The Art of Darkness, and regularly dip into both when looking for inspiration. So we’re very excited to see that a third book in the series, The Art of Fantasy - bringing together works inspired by myth, fantasy and the unreal - will be out in October.
  
  If you’re in the US we can very much recommend ordering it via our friends over at Fiddler’s Green, and whilst there maybe treating yourself to some of the other fine titles they both publish themselves and stock.
  

• Very sad to see board game publisher, Stronghold Games, using AI art in their Terraforming Mars series of games, especially when you consider the vasts sums of money they’ve made from it.
  

• Finally if you’re interested in fantasy miniatures and happen to live in the North Lincolnshire area then you’re in luck as to go along with the wonderful Art In Miniatures exhibition they’ve been hosting this summer/autumn, the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre will be hosting the premiere of the accompanying documentary on October 14, tickets available here.