KVAD, Cultural Heritage, and an International Audience

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, I ran a roleplaying session in English for 30 international exchange students at Kongsberg Upper Secondary School (KVS). It was a great success, and I got to bust the myth that Vikings had horns on their helmets. This article describes how I carried out the program.

The Request

At the end of March, I was contacted by a representative of the Erasmus program at KVS. They had «heard many good words» about my work with roleplaying games. The theme for the gathering was «Cultural Heritage» and «invaders», and for the occasion they wanted to run a roleplaying session emphasizing this. The scope of the request was as follows:

• Three groups, with ten students in each (30 people in total)

• Each block lasts two hours (six hours in total)

• Everything in English (students from Turkey, Spain, France, Italy, Slovakia)

Preparations

I quickly wrote a project outline that I sent for approval. It was very well received, here is an excerpt from the outline:

In the roleplaying session, the participants will immerse themselves in roles and situations typical of/unique to the Viking Age (cultural heritage). The overarching context is the cultural turning point between Christianity and heathendom (invaders). The purpose of the program is for the participants to have fun while learning a bit about our Norse cultural heritage.

I. Introduction (A bit about me, the students, purpose and agenda) (10 minutes)

II. Opening (Cultural heritage, the Viking Age, and roleplaying) (20 minutes)

III. Roleplaying part 1 (30 minutes)

IV. Break (10 minutes)

V. Roleplaying part 2 (30 minutes)

VI. Debrief (How was this? What have we learned?) (10 minutes)

VII. Closing (Summary of the session) (10 minutes)

I have to admit that I was long unsure how to approach the roleplaying part itself. What kind of story should I emphasize? How should I organize the students? What method should I use? I sought initial advice from other roleplayers via the rollespill.info channels, through videos on YouTube and various articles. Eventually I called Jarle Haktorson, who has previously run Kvad for upper secondary school students with great success. From Jarle I got some good experience-based advice, which led me to the following choices:

• Use a simplified version of Kvad as the basis for the method.

• Use the module Hevnvisa as the basis for the story.

• Split the class in two, with one group playing before the break and one group observing. Then switch roles after the break.

Execution

I arrived early to prepare the classroom. I arranged the desks in a horseshoe, opening toward the board. In the middle of the horseshoe I set up a table with objects for the students to rest their eyes on. Among them the Kings' Sagas by Snorri Sturluson and a set of hnefatafl - Viking chess.

When I introduced myself at the start of the program, I challenged the students to pronounce my full name. There was some stumbling and fumbling, but laughter came easily in the classroom.

After this lesson in Norwegian pronunciation, I described the purpose of the session - namely to learn a bit about Norse cultural heritage through roleplaying as a medium. The students had no idea what awaited them, so I think it was important to manage expectations from the start.

Next, I introduced roleplaying as a concept and activity:

• Builds on one of the oldest traditions in the world - storytelling around the campfire

• Gives us the chance to put ourselves in someone else's shoes - making choices as the main character of the story

• We allow ourselves to play a little in a hectic, grown-up everyday life

• Uses a few simple rules

To set the context for the roleplaying, we talked a bit about the Viking Age, where the students did a brainstorm. They said out loud what came to mind, and I built on their answers in plenary. Beyond busting the myth that Vikings had horns on their helmets, we talked loosely around the pictures and words on the slide below.

Rules

Before the game itself started, we went through two rules. First a safety rule, then how the die works in play.

The purpose of the safety rule was to make sure everyone felt safe. Everyone was given a yellow note on their desk, representing the yellow traffic light, «time to slow down». The rule means that if anyone finds certain descriptions of violence or war uncomfortable (especially with the war in Ukraine ongoing in parallel), they can raise the yellow note and the game will change focus. A student from Slovakia noted with a twinkle in the eye that a yellow traffic light means «speed up» in their home country.

The rules for playing are quite simple:

• Each person plays a Viking character, for a little while

• They describe what this Viking does, in various situations

• When a problem arises, you roll a six-sided die to try to solve it

• If the die shows 1, 2, or 3, the character succeeds at what they are attempting

• If the die shows 4, 5, or 6, the character fails

The students immediately understood the concept after I demonstrated a short scenario with a random student. I told the student they were now a Viking on their farm, and suddenly I spoke with a slightly different voice. I played the role of «angry neighbor», wanting to seize the farm of the student's character. After I threatened the fictional Viking's life, I asked «what do you do now?» and gave the student a die. This introduced a problem, and the student explained what their character would do. Across the three blocks, some wanted to flee and others wanted to attack. Based on their choice, the student rolled the die, and I described the outcome based on the result. This little demonstration took less than a minute – and had a great effect.

The Roleplaying Begins

After this, we assigned characters to the group playing before the break. The characters were pre-defined, with one person from the elite, three free citizens, and one thrall. To reflect the differences between rich and poor in society (quality of life, education, health etc.), the rich character rolled two dice and picked the better outcome. On the opposite side, the thrall had to roll two dice and always pick the worse outcome. This rule made the hierarchical differences clearly visible, and it was something the students reflected on afterwards.

The story we played builds on Hevnvisa - an introductory adventure belonging to the roleplaying game Kvad (you can listen to the story in the podcast Vertshuset Spiller here). The students play Vikings in a heathen village that has been subjected to forced Christianization through violence. They have lost many loved ones in the atrocities, and now they will take revenge on the Christian King Sverre.

To make the flow of the story clear, I drew the main beats on the board. They were to plan the revenge in their own village. Then they were to choose a travel route to King Sverre, and once they finally arrived at the castle, they were to carry out the revenge. As they made plans, took choices, and came up with ideas, I wrote these down as points on the board.

Enthusiasm

The first five students in each block played out the first act. It took place in their village, where they planned the revenge and which route to take to King Sverre. Then we took a break. After the break, the last five students took over the characters. They carried out the journey and executed the revenge. This worked very well, and those observing stayed involved in the story. They felt watching the roleplaying was like watching an exciting TV series.

It was delightful to see how quickly the students got into the scenario, and they came up with a whole range of creative solutions. Let me put it this way, we had absolutely no need for the safety rule. If anyone could have used a yellow note to slow down the graphic descriptions, it was me. I'll admit I felt it a bit when things really heated up, with some of the students' teachers sitting at the back of the classroom observing. But they were completely absorbed in the story, so it didn't matter. Great spirits!

Some students were naturally more engaged than others, and that was of course completely fine. I still made sure that everyone encountered conflict and rolled the die at least once during the game.

All three groups finally managed to take their revenge on the traitor King Sverre. And every time, the roleplaying ended with applause, cheers, and high energy as we wrapped up the final scene. The revenge was fulfilled and honor restored. Hurrah!

Debrief

Before we finished, I asked the students some questions that we talked around. The first question was whether they had learned a bit about the Viking Age? They absolutely had, and what left the strongest impression was the differences in society (made visible through the dice mechanic) and women's strong position in society. The second question was what they thought of roleplaying as a medium for learning? The students were on the whole very enthusiastic about roleplaying, even though it was new to most of them. It was also nice to hear that they wanted more roleplaying sessions during their week in Norway.

Afterwards

After I had collected myself and tidied the classroom, I met the contact person again and could say my thanks. She smiled from ear to ear and said that when she walked among the students, the big talking point was the roleplaying. Incredibly fun!

This was a highly rewarding assignment, and I hope you have picked up some ideas or a little inspiration to run a similar program.

If you know someone who would like a similar booking, just get in touch.

-KO