From DOOM to Warhammer 40,000, Hell (or whatever fancy name your favorite setting has for it) is one of the most fascinating locales to visit. Sure, it's no mai tais by the beach, but it's more "fun" to see the damned wail in terror. Most times, Hell is just brimstone and pitchforks, but some settings have more visceral metaphors. In HELLSPAWN, the realm is portrayed not as a pit, but a violently bureaucratic nightmare.
In HELLSPAWN, you play as, unsurprisingly, hellspawn. Bound in blood pacts, you must hunt down Malefactors, escapees of Hell who threaten the fragile order. Scattered across Dying Worlds, it is the Hellspawn's job to cauterize these wounds before they fester. As with every Mork Borg affair, Hellspawn is an exercise in how metal the best tabletop RPGs can get.
I've written about tons of Mork Borg games already, and I never get tired of gushing over the artwork. The use of few primary colors to showcase silhouettes of the most brutal imagery imaginable is always a treat. The inspirations, which you see graciously splayed above, include the likes of DOOM, Hellraiser, and Paradise Lost. That combo platter of physical and psychological pains brings some deliciously brutal vibes to the tabletop.
The appeal of Mork Borg is very much thanks to how the gameplay vibes with the aesthetic. It's rules-lite and focused on action-packed gameplay that feels dangerous and exhilarating. The creators even provided a nifty playlist of soul-rending songs to rend souls to. I also had a hearty chuckle at their disclaimer that no AI was used in the game's creation. All of mankind's suffering is proudly handcrafted by Hell's bureaucrats, straight to your doorstep.
The HELLSPAWN Kickstarter campaign ends on December 11, 2025.
For a hell of a good time, the Wargamer Discord is your go-to spot for tabletop madness. For Warhammer 40k's version of the sufferverse, read our Warhammer 40k Chaos guide.