The technical museum of Stockholm, Tekniska, has launched a series of roleplaying meet-ups called Slay Beyond Slay. I attended the May meet-up for a cosy look into the Stockholm roleplaying scene.
The theme for the day was Developing Roleplaying Games and the event included a stage interview with the creators of the games MÖRK BORG and CY_BORG, Pelle Nilsson and Christian Sahlén.
The main focus of the event was to play games and after a while participants fanned out to play games at tables spread throughout the exhibition space. Especially moody was the table who played Mörk Borg in GRUVAN, a replica of a mine that tells the story of iron extraction in Sweden. This night, it was a scenic backdrop for other stories. I counted around eight tables in total and while I didn’t join in on a game myself, I listened in on a few. Fun was had, stories were told. Games included Tales From the Loop, Mörk Borg, and Oceania 2084.
To participate you pay entrance to the exhibition which are open until 22:00. You can volunteer to host an event and get entrance paid. Next event is June 1st.
MÖRK BORG and CY_BORG
Pelle and Christian are your typical reserved Swedes, clearly preferring sitting behind a screen or table talking with close friends over being put on stage. Even if in such cosy surroundings.
A third person behind the games, Johan Nohr, was not present. Johan created the distinct visual style that is a major contributor to the success.
I was left with an impression of MÖRK BORG being a work of passion, created out of a wish to create an accessible and inspiring game that was easy to get to the table. Pelle and Johan jammed away on the idea for a year until they got on the Kickstarter train via Fria Ligan and things took off. With a day job with strict demands for how and what to write, creating MÖRK BORG was a creative outlet with complete freedom of expression.
With more than 1500 third party spin offs of Mörk Borg and 300 third party spin offs of CY_BORG and with a large community worldwide, the games have taken on lives of their own. As Pelle stated: It is pretty hard to come up with something new for MÖRK BORG now that hasn’t already been done.
Oceania 2084
Oceania 2084 is a game inspired by George Orwell’s 1984 and is currently under development. Designed by Johan C. Eriksson, on the page on itch Johan describes the game thus:
Oceania 2084 is a game about resistance against a totalitarian world, ushered in by ecological collapse and authoritarian populism. It is also a game about emotional struggles, relationships, love, betrayal, deceit, and the horrible reality of an avoidable future. The player characters are part of a slowly emerging resistance movement.
From what I picked up listening in on the table (as Big Brother), the players create their characters together using prompts to establish relations, back story, motivation and opposition. Looked fun, the players enjoyed coming up with a plot to free a giant tortoise from a local zoo.
This is a game to look out for.
