Something strange is happening in Slovenia. Some people aren't acting like themselves. Luckily, there are some brave people, who will investigate what has happened. It seems that the main Slovenian map, hidden in the centre of Ljubljana is missing some parts. StoryLand of Options - SLO Game is a roleplaying game inspired by different geographical, economic, cultural, and historical characteristics. You must work with your fellow players, famous Slovenian people from different regions, follow the roads of Slovenia and find the missing parts of the map by undergoing different missions. Your success depends on your imagination!
Introduction
Project description and description of the game in connection with project goals
We developed a game called Storyland of options, shorter SLO game.
StoryLand of Options - SLO Game is a roleplaying game inspired by different
geographical, economic, cultural, and historical characteristics. The player must work
with their fellow players, famous Slovenian people from different regions, follow the roads
of Slovenia and find the missing parts of the map by undergoing different missions. The
success of players depends on their imagination.
Target audience
The game is primarily intended for higher education students; however, there is no age
limit for playing. Students do not need any pre-knowledge except basic English language.
Short description of the main steps
step: Player creates the story
step : Choosing a sight
step : Choosing a story
step : Choosing two random words
step: Creating the story
step : Gamemaster telling the starting story
step : Player continuing the story
step : Other players guessing the hidden word
What do we need for playing?
How to create a character?
Let's see the example of character creation:
Player D got Oton Župančič as a famous person. They wrote the name on the character
sheet. They also came up with a nickname for the character. After that, they choose two
characteristics for their character (kindness and humour). They also wrote down 2
strengths for their character (fitness and good swimmer) and 2 weaknesses (fear of spiders
and fear of heights). They wrote down the characteristic (creativity), strength (he is a
polyglot), and weakness (problems with learning due to lack of money) from the
character's card.
How to use the game in (higher) education?
Learning goals
The main learning goals we are trying to achieve with the game are:
Goal 1: students increase their general knowledge about Slovenia and Slovenian culture
We achieve this learning goal by using a map of Slovenia, cards with different sights
in Slovenia, characters are based on famous Slovenian people and stories students
are creating are based on situations from Slovenian folk tales.
Goal 2: students practice and develop communication skills in English
We will achieve this goal by having the whole communication in the game and all
materials in English. Also, students' stories should be written and told in English.
Goal 3: students practice and develop intercultural awareness and tolerance for differences:
different perspectives and points of view, observation, empathy
We will achieve this goal by character creation. Students are creating different
characters. Each character must have some characteristics, strengths, and
weaknesses. Three of the nine character features are already predefined based on
chosen famous Slovenian people. Students will have to put themselves in the role of
different people and act like them.
Goal 4: students improve their decision-making skills and increase their ability to take
practical and effective actions, etc.
We will achieve this goal by putting students in different problem situations from the
ancient world. They will need decision-making skills and the ability to take practical
and effective actions if they want to solve the problem situation successfully.
Goal 5: students practice and develop collaboration skills in English
We will achieve this goal by allowing students to play a game in pairs. Each pair will
represent one player. Students in pairs will have to collaborate in English to create a
common story. Students will in some cases have to collaborate in English with other
players (pairs) to find the hidden word from the story.
Get the board!
With the board in the shape of Slovenia, we support the idea of a cultural component in
the game.
The game starts with the empty board as
shown in the picture. Students can see what
the main features in a specific region in
Slovenia are.
Some features are shown multiple times which
indicates some general characteristics of our
country (for example, since we are known as
a land of castles, there is more than one
castle on the board).
The idea of the empty board is to motivate students to
solve the problem situation that they get because
each solved situation (that is Innovative story) brings
them a puzzle piece (besides points), which completes
the map on the board. The game consists of three
rounds, so players will complete their path with three
puzzle pieces, where each of them uniquely represents
the region they are currently investigating.
Enjoy the sights!
The Sights Cards are also one of the elements which represent the beautiful geographical,
economic, cultural, and historical characteristics of Slovenia.
Since we have 7 starting points and consequently 7 paths on the map, each path is
represented by one of the rainbow colors. Colors are consistently used throughout the
whole game. For each path, we have six different sights cards.
Meet the characters...
In the game, each player becomes one of the famous Slovenian people. Roleplaying
games are all about putting the players in the role of a different person. Since one of the
goals of our game is getting familiar with Slovenian culture what can be better than
putting players in the role of different famous Slovenian people – mathematicians,
athletes, artists, linguists, doctors, etc.
As mentioned before (while describing the sights cards) each famous person is placed
into one of the 7 regions. Each region is marked with a different colour. With this
approach, players will be able to identify famous persons by the region they were (are)
living in.
... or become a gamemaster
For the gamemaster (the GM) we prepared
the Gamemaster handbook which is more focused on the GM
work during the game.
A teacher should choose the GM a day
before (if possible) the game is played, so
they can have enough time to learn all the
rules and background of the game. They
need to put themselves in the game world if
they want to lead the game in the best
possible way.
Besides the Gamemaster handbook, we
prepared a gamemaster sheet that should
help them in monitoring the game on each
turn. In this way, their work will be more
transparent and easy to follow – for them
and other players.
Adapt the game with empty templates!
The game can be used in different subject areas. Since the game is very specific and
connected with Slovenian culture it can be used in fields like English grammar, Slovene
literature, computer science – game design.
With some modifications, the game can be used in different subject areas. That is why we
prepared empty templates for the board, sights- and character cards.
Download all materials
Board,
Puzzle pieces,
Characters cards,
Character sheet,
Sights cards,
Stories,
Random words,
Gamemaster sheet & Handbook,
Instructions,
Quickguide.
The game was prepared at the University of Ljubljana (UL), Slovenia.