Mountain Resonance and the stories we tell
By Dr Manuel Kolb
Mountains are magic. There's a certain transformation that happens to you between standing at a mountain’s foot, being small and looking up, to standing at the top of a summit, being tall and looking down. These journeys we take to achieve this transformation start long before the first boot on the rock and even before the actual plan. They start with a desire and a vision. They start with a longing for adventure and with awe for the mountains. Yet for me, the combination of this longing and awe led me down a different route. Instead of up to a real summit, it led me to imaginary mountains and shared story-telling. It led me towards creating a game called Mountain Resonance.
Mountain Resonance is a free tabletop roleplaying game (often called TTRPG or just RPG) that combines the aesthetics of 1930 alpine mountaineering with a game system facilitating a story of adventure and challenges. The most popular TTRPG is Dungeons and Dragons, not only due to its appearance on the Netflix show Stranger Things. Similar to D&D, Mountain Resonance requires a Warden (some call them Dungeon Master), who guides players through the game. They create the world and enforce the rules. Instead of fighting goblins and trolls as superhuman heroes, the players of Mountain Resonance will be challenged with the dangers of climbing with 1930s equipment, surviving in the outdoors, and navigating cultural and interpersonal differences as regular human characters. There are no superpowers to save you. The lightweight rule system is designed to emphasise the attrition of this journey and support the story of tangible human struggle. The stories that get told collaboratively are set on the mountain ranges of an imaginary country suffering from the effects of a thirty year long colonialist war. Players are either of indigenous or colonist heritage and have to overcome their differences to work together if they want to survive. The game can be set during the active war time, just after the colonists 'won', or when everyone realises that the suppression of the indigenous culture lead to a neverending winter. The resulting stories are suspended between hope and hardship.
To play Mountain Resonance, you'll need a group of 2 to 6 friends, a set of dice (two 10-sided dice and one 20-sided die), the free game, and a few hours to sit around a table. This table can be your dinner table, a table in a mountain hut, or a digital one through a voice and video chat. One person will take on the role of the Warden and should have read the lightweight rules before everyone meets up. The others will play as Mountaineers and can learn the rules at the table in 20 minutes from the Warden. They don't need to know anything in advance.
You can download the game and everything you need to play it for free at https://licet-bovi.itch.io/mountain-resonance.
To get you started it comes with three one-shots, short stories of about three to four hours that can be played in one sitting. The short stories each come with ten pre-generated characters that are ready to be played.
This game was not made in a free solo attempt. It was always a team effort. I got a team of specialists together to create my vision of this game. Dr Charles Werren advised on all things mountaineering to make it a realistic experience. Liam Stevens consulted on all cultural matters to ensure a safe experience for everyone. Chris Comins designed a character sheet so players can identify with their imaginary Mountaineer easily and have all information ready while playing. The resulting digital book was beautifully illustrated by Martin Necas and craftfully laid out by Dai Shugars. So I would argue, even if there's no room in one's life for an RPG, the book alone is worth a look. A printed and expanded version will be published later in the year through crowdfunding. In the meantime, I started a blog called Mountain Missive where I talk about the design process of the game and share short snippets of in-game stories. Any further information and how to reach the community playing this game can be found at the download link.
