In the City of Malborn,Power is Bought,
Mercy is Weakness,
and Justice Wears a Mask.

Created byJames OhlenVeteran RPG Designer
Lead WriterAdrian TchaikovskyAward-winning author of Children of Time

Built within an extinct volcano, Malborn rises above the festering Pit. Once the heart of the world’s greatest empire, its glory has rotted into corruption and crime.

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Welcome to Malborn

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A City Where

Justice MustBe Taken

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In Malborn, corruption is law and survival is an art. Old Hunger has been breached, dangerous criminals have returned to the streets, and the City Watch protects those with the coin to buy it. Justice belongs to those bold enough to take it.

Three Core Books of Malborn

The campaign. The prison. The handbook.

Malborn: Old Hunger

Escape the Prison. Then Break Back In.

Old Hunger was never built to reform criminals. It was built to make an entire city afraid.

Begin in chains, stripped of status and equipment, and survive long enough to escape Malborn’s infamous prison fortress. Then return as experienced vigilantes, break back into the prison you once fled, and descend into forbidden levels where even the wardens fear to go.

What Awaits Within

  • 2 complete adventures that can be played separately, together or as an extension of Malborn: City of Masks
  • Prison politics, contraband, work details, alliances and rival inmates
  • Multiple approaches to escaping and later infiltrating Old Hunger
  • 18 new monster entries, plus crime lords, corrupt wardens and legendary inmates
  • 220+ pages of adventure

You escaped Old Hunger once. Now someone is asking you to go back.

Malborn: City of Masks

Become the Vigilante the City Deserves

Old Hunger has been breached, and some of the most dangerous criminals in the known world are loose.

Become a masked vigilante in a city where noble houses, criminal syndicates and corrupt authorities compete for power. Hunt escaped killers, investigate conspiracies, infiltrate criminal strongholds and wage war against Malborn’s Kingpins—while deciding how far you are willing to go in the name of justice.

What Awaits Within

  • A complete level 1–8 campaign
  • Hunt criminals across the Pit, Cesscourt and Upper City
  • 10 signature villains, plus an extensive Rogues Gallery of enemies
  • Detective work, heists, rooftop pursuits and vigilante justice
  • 400+ pages of missions, monsters, treasures, noble houses and criminal syndicates

Malborn needs heroes. It may have to settle for vigilantes.

Malborn: Vigilante’s Handbook

Create the Person. Become the Mask.

Create more than an adventurer. Create a double life.

Define the profession you live by, the event that drove you to vigilantism and the person who keeps you grounded. Then build the masked identity Malborn will come to know, with new subclasses, species, equipment, spells and rules designed for life as a vigilante.

What Awaits Within

  • 8+ new subclasses and 4+ playable species
  • 25+ pieces of specialized vigilante equipment, plus new spells
  • 7 Vigilante Backgrounds that define who you were, why you took the mask, and who deserves punishment
  • A guide for how to create your vigilante alias, appearance, costume, methods and reputation

Who you are matters. Who you become when you put on the mask matters more.

Behind Malborn

Portrait of James Ohlen
James Ohlen

From Veteran RPG Designer James Ohlen &
Award-Winning Author Adrian Tchaikovsky

James Ohlen: Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins, Neverwinter Nights

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Children of Time, The Final Architecture, Shadows of the Apt, The Tyrant Philosophers

Portrait of Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky
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Decades of experience in games and fiction brought together to create Malborn.

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Brought to You by Arcanum Worlds

An independent tabletop RPG publisher led by veteran RPG designer James Ohlen.

Selected Tabletop Work from Arcanum Worlds & James Ohlen

  • Heroes of Baldur’s Gate
  • Odyssey of the Dragonlords Remastered Edition
  • Minsc & Boo’s Journal of Villainy
  • The Stygian Passage
  • Chains of Asmodeus
Cover of the free 128-page Vigilante's Guide to Malborn128PAGES

Free Edition  ·  128 Pages

Begin Your Hunt

Free 128-Page
Vigilante’s Guide

❖

Get the free 128-page edition of the Malborn Vigilante’s Guide and discover the city, its vigilantes, and what awaits before the campaign launches.

Inside the guide
  • A first look at the city of Malborn and the prison of Old Hunger
  • 5 Subclasses, 3 Species, 6 Vigilante Backgrounds, 43 Vigilante Items
  • Vigilante Guise System, Maps, Wanted Posters and More
❖ Get the Free Guide ❖

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The Art of Malborn

Enter the World of Malborn

Vigilantes. Criminals. Living prisons. A city built on secrets.

Your Civilian Life. Your Secret Identity.

Become the Mask

Create the person Malborn knows by day and the vigilante it fears by night.

Build a civilian identity with its own profession, relationships and reputation, then create a vigilante guise with a unique name, appearance and methods.

Both identities matter in play. Protect your secret, use each life to open different doors, and face the consequences when the two begin to collide.

Civilian identity beside the vigilante it conceals
Civilian identity beside the vigilante it conceals
Civilian identity beside the vigilante it conceals

Secret Identity

A profession, contacts, and a place in Malborn.

Anchor

Someone worth protecting when vengeance consumes everything else.

Personal Story

A personal story interwoven with the main narrative.

8+ New Subclasses

Forge Your Vigilante

New subclasses shaped by Malborn’s faiths, criminal orders, secret societies, streets, and brutal institutions.

Lotus Warrior — Monk Subclass

Lotus Warrior

Monk Subclass

Weaponize narcotics to transcend pain, perception, and mortal limits.

Oath of the Owl — Paladin Subclass

Oath of the Owl

Paladin Subclass

Become the masked nightmare criminals fear whenever darkness falls.

Gaoler — Ranger Subclass

Gaoler

Ranger Subclass

Turn every battlefield into a brutal maze of traps and restraints.

4+ Playable Species

Peoples of Malborn

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Play the strange peoples who survive, prosper, and struggle within the City of Masks.

Spriggan — Playable Species

Spriggan

Playable Species

Mischievous fey who can change their size and eventually ride giant wasps into battle.

Malborne — Playable Species

Malborne

Playable Species

True natives of the city, marked by tattoos that reveal lineage, status and hidden affiliations.

Kobold — Playable Species

Kobold

Playable Species

Descendants of ancient metallic dragons, these cunning scholars explore the forgotten ruins beneath Malborn.

Vigilante Backgrounds

Who Are You Beneath the Mask?

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Choose the profession you live by, the event that drove you to vigilantism, and the person who keeps you grounded.

Penitent — Character Background

Penitent

Character Background

Turn underworld experience against former allies and atone for past crimes.

Judicator — Character Background

Judicator

Character Background

Abandon failed justice and wage a personal war against organized crime.

Predator — Character Background

Predator

Character Background

Hunt monsters worse than yourself while questioning whether you can change.

10 Signature Villains • And Many More

Hunt the Rogues of Malborn

Hunt escaped killers, impossible thieves, monstrous crime lords and vigilantes who crossed the line.

Ypo the Maw

Ypo the Maw

Sister Mercy

Sister Mercy

Mr. Owl

Mr. Owl

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Vigilante Equipment

Tools of the Trade

Specialized gear, alchemy and contraband for the streets of Malborn.

Sky Dog

Sky Dog

Patrol Malborn’s skies aboard a jellyfish-skinned airship.

Roof Skipper

Roof Skipper

Glide between rooftops on articulated mechanical wings.

Three-Fold Grasp

Three-Fold Grasp

Throw three hooked weights that entangle and cripple prey.

Stinger Swarm

Stinger Swarm

Unleash a living swarm of stinging wasps.

50+ Hand-Drawn, Full-Color Maps by John Stevenson

An Entire City, Mapped from Rooftop to Underworld

Malborn features more than 1 million square feet of meticulously detailed city maps, hand-drawn by John Stevenson. Streets, interiors, furnishings and hidden passages are all rendered for exploration and combat.

Every map is designed for both VTT play and full-color printed battle maps, turning the city itself into your tabletop battlefield.

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Malborn map 12

Crafted by Human Hands

Every illustration, map, and word in Malborn is created by professional artists, cartographers, and writers. No generative AI is used in the art or writing.

Hand-Painted Art
Hand-Drawn Maps
Human-Written Words

The City Is Waiting

Enter Malborn

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