Sanne Harder
Sanne Harder (sometimes credited as Sanne Harder Flamant or S. Benarzi) is a Danish game designer, who has organized and written scenarios since 1994.
As part of the Nordic Larp Talks in 2011 she gave a talk titled "Roleplaying as a Teaching Method."
Sanne Harder | |
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| Nationality | Denmark |
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Fastaval
Although Sanne had written and organized several prize-winning scenarios during the mid-1990s, her real breakthrough as a game designer came when she debuted at the Danish convention Fastaval in 2000. Her scenario ‘Majgækken’ was meant as an attempt to explore other genres than the ones that are conventionally associated with roleplaying games: It was set in the early romantic era, based on historical Danish personalities, and the plot revolved around the creative abilities of a few competing poets and playwrights. The scenario earned Sanne one of the prestigious Fastaval prizes, the Otto.
In 2013, Sanne contributed with her key scenario, ‘Son of the country’. The scenario, which was extremely personal, was about the life of Sanne's father - a German Jew who fought in WWII.
Larps
Although the Danish RPG scene was very segregated between Larp and pen and paper during the 90s, Sanne managed to divide her time equally between the two. With the exception of Agerbørn from 2009 (with co-organizers Jesper Heebøll and Elisabeth Nørresø Haase Kytösaari), Sanne's preferred medium is the chamber larp, with somewhere between 10 - 30 participants. She has worked to bridge the gap between Fastaval scenarios and larping by borrowing elements from either.
Related projects
Sanne has been involved with numerous roleplaying related projects. She was one of the main forces behind Projekt R’lyeh, a Danish collection of canonic scenarios. She has also been involved with the making of several roleplaying magazines, such as the Danish magazine Rollespilleren, where she functioned as chief editor for a while, and the Nordic magazine Playground, where she was one of the Danish editors. For several years she has functioned as judge at Fastaval.
Teaching with roleplaying
Sanne has a BA in teaching from 2003. Since then she has also studied theory of education (in Danish: ‘Didaktik’) at the Department of Education at Aarhus University. Using her practical and theoretical knowledge of both teaching and roleplaying, Sanne was involved with developing the groundbreaking methods for using roleplaying as a tool for teaching at the Danish private school Østerskov Efterskole. The school is also known as ‘the world’s first roleplaying school’.
Professional career
Sanne started teaching roleplaying to youngsters at the Danish institution Ungdomsskolen (youth club) in 2000. At the same time, she was studying teaching. It became evident to her that the two could be combined, and she started to organize learning games professionally, while still taking care of her studies.
In 2008, Sanne was employed at an alternative school. Here she was able to refine her methods of using roleplaying as a means of organizing teaching by running several roleplaying productions. She had very good results, and the school now runs roleplaying productions as part of their curriculum.
In 2012, Sanne stopped as a teacher, and started working full-time as a freelance game designer, focussing on learning games. Today she co-owns the company Copenhagen Game Lab which is a learning games studio, where she produces RPG-inspired digital courses for the Danish school.
Awards
- Elysian Fields, 1998: ‘Best Scenario’, ‘Best Characters’, ‘Best Presentation’ at Viking-Con
- Majgækken, 2000: ‘Best Characters’ at Fastaval
- Felicias Fortælling, 2008: ‘Best Characters’, ‘Best Gaming Experience’ at Fastaval
Scenarios
Credited as main game designer, unless otherwise stated.
- Vampyrnatten (1994)
- No Business like Show Business (1996)
- Elysian Fields (1998)
- Et Navn (1998)
- Familien Hoffmans jul (1999)
- Majgækken (2000)
- Oktovia (2001)
- The Making of Titanic II (2001)
- Guru (2002)
- Fra Høje Himmelsale, co-designer (2003)
- Et Hjerte af Guld (2003)
- Felicias Fortælling (2008)
- Agerlund, co-designer (2009)
- Gender Bender, part of the compilation Bag din ryg (2010)
- Delirium, part of concept design team (2010)
- Nattens Børn (2012)
- Søn af Landet (2013)
- Before We Wake (2015), with Nina Runa Essendrop, Jesper Heebøll Arbjørn, Kristoffer Thurøe, Peter Schønnemann Andreasen, Mathias Kromann Rode, and Kirstine Hedda Fich
Projects
- Project R'lyeh, a scenario database containing the 100 best Danish free form scenarios.
- Viking-Con, as a so-called green shirt, working on the web page.
- Rollespilleren Danish fanzine about RPG. As editor and editor in chief.
- Playground International magazine about RPG and related issues. Editor.
- Østerskov Efterskole part of work group.
- Fastaval, scenario judge and chief judge.