River’s Edge

River’s Edge is a role-playing game that invites its players to help avert an imagined environmental disaster threatening a large body of water much like Philadelphia’s own Schuylkill River. The game is aimed at teenage players ranging from 13 to 18 and is playable nearly anywhere (including outdoors). It takes roughly an hour in duration and requires an adult facilitator to run the experience. The overall goals of the game are to encourage problem-solving, investment in the situation, relationship-building, listening, and compromise. Points are awarded for these behaviors in various ways throughout.

The game’s action unfolds in three rounds, each with a changing game mechanics. Players will learn the value of listening to each other and find incentive to genuinely hear the concerns of others; see how collaboration and compromise are key to creating consensus across groups of differing needs; sacrifice in order to achieve larger aims; and use their imaginations and personal creativity to propose solutions for large-scale problems.