The Roleplaying Game Silverheart in the Making ⚒️🎲

The town of Kongsberg turns 400 years old in 2024, and the municipality is planning a grand anniversary year for the mining town by the Lågen river.

After 12 years on the move, I moved back to my hometown. As I started taking walks in the neighborhood and reading the names on street signs, I gradually felt a wish to get to know the town's history again. I surely learned about this during my school years, but it had unfortunately faded from memory.

Idea

That was when the idea arose of writing a roleplaying game that communicates the cultural heritage of the mining era. After reading up a bit on the timeline, I saw that the end of the 1700s in particular was an exciting period. This era covers the drama around the Silver Works' heyday and the subsequent decline, when it was temporarily shut down in 1805.

Konseptskisse av rollespillet Sølvhjerte

Pitch

With the coming anniversary year in mind, I first sent an email to Kongsberg Municipality explaining the idea and asking whether they might be interested in collaborating. This led to some positive meetings, resulting in a letter of intent where we jointly aim to carry out the development of SILVERHEART. We have established a project group that meets monthly to check progress and status. The group consists of the project manager of Kongsberg 400, an advisor at the municipality's childhood and education office, and a museum educator from the Norwegian Mining Museum.

De sentrale aktørene Kongsberg Kommune, Norsk Bergverksmuseum og Kongsberg 400

Ambition

Our shared goal is for the game to be distributed to all lower secondary schools in the municipality and used as a tool for learning. The purpose of the game is to communicate local history in a fun and engaging way. Instead of "reading page after page in a dry textbook", learning can happen by taking part in an exciting story.

Process

The development process is already well underway. I have landed the concept, keep reading up on various source material, and have come a good way with the first draft of the manuscript. I have also held a working session with author Matthijs Holter, to learn from his experience with educational roleplaying games and the Lærelyst method. The project group has met several times, and next time the ambition is to run a small play session!

Rules of Play

Roleplaying takes place as a conversation, where the goal is to create an exciting story together. The participants actively contribute to the narrative through the choices they make. Seen from the outside, a roleplaying game resembles a board game. You typically gather around a table with a rulebook, a map, and some dice. Unlike a board game, the action mainly takes place in the imagination.

One person takes the role of game master. The rest of the participants are the main characters. The game master keeps track of the rules, gives the players challenges, and describes the surroundings. The main characters drive the story forward by exploring the game world and solving various missions.

Once the action is underway, the characters run into challenges. To solve the problems they must cooperate, think creatively, and make choices. When something is at stake, dice are rolled to see whether the characters succeed. For example sneaking past a robber, or climbing a rock face. The game uses ordinary Yahtzee dice, and rolling high is good for the characters. If they fail, the characters must face the consequences.

SILVERHEART can be played in both small and large groups, by the family at the Easter cabin and students in a classroom.

Konseptskisse av spillets oppsett

The Road Ahead

The plan is for the roleplaying game to be finished in late 2023 and ready for distribution to the schools in early 2024. I have applied for several grants and hope more will join the team, so I can free up time for the project in a busy everyday life.

After the schools have received their copies, I imagine distributing the game commercially. Several retailers have already reached out and are interested in stocking it. Maybe it will even be translated from Sølvhjerte into English eventually, as SILVERHEART? Who knows, it would be fun to contribute a cultural export for Kongsberg.

With a Heart for Kongsberg

On a personal level, it means a great deal to be able to give back to the town I come from. This project brings me joy, and I look forward to spreading the good word about Kongsberg with others.

To be continued!

-KO