Tag: Nordic LARP

Your Game Is Not A Nordic Larp – And That’s Okay!

by Shoshana, posted in Criticism, Game Design, LARP Discussion and Theory, Not Ready To Make Nice

[Please note: This article was written in 2018 during the height of a debate about Nordic Larp and American Larp. I hesitated at the time to get involved in the debate due to health issues, but now think I’d like to contribute this follow up to the question. Please read with the understanding the information is a little dated, and updates may occur.]

 

Nordic Larp. What does that even mean?

I had the same question myself when I headed over to Europe for the first time six years ago for Knutpunkt, the large Nordic Larp conference held once a year in either Norway, Sweden, Denmark, or Finland. I had the opportunity to drop myself into the middle of a larp discourse already in progress there, at the crossroads of many countries all discussing the different aspects of the art form/hobby of live action games. While there I learned that the Nordic larp tradition was spreading in a big way, fostered by outreach from the Nordic countries to other larp traditions across the world.

Since that outreach began, Nordic larp and its design ethos and ideology has become a part of many local larp communities, its influence offering tools to designers outside of their normal design choices. This exchange is, at its very heart, a fantastic way to grow larp as a discourse and a design practice and art form, inspiring new creations across the pond. But things haven’t been entirely… smooth in this cultural and design exchange. Not by a longshot.

For the last few years, a growing rift has begun between the centralized (as it is) Nordic larp community and the American community, driven by the way in which certain conversations have been going between the two groups and certain ideological differences. At the core of that discussion is a single idea: Nordic Larp and the ideas it espouses are rooted in a specific tradition, and to take that name and brand your larp that way outside of the community can be a problem.

More plainly: hey, people on the outside, Nordic Larp is not necessarily yours, and taking the name for your own buzz and hype is maybe not okay.

And you know what? For a number of reasons, that’s a really good point.

Your game probably isn’t Nordic Larp – and that’s okay too! Here’s why.

I opened this article with a question: what does the term Nordic Larp even mean?

There’s a lot of answers to that question. And if you think that makes the arguments about the appropriation of the term difficult, you’re absolutely right. Ask Larpers in the movement there what Nordic larp means, and you will probably get a lot of answers that seem hand-wavy and unspecific. However, there are certain key ideas behind Nordic Larp you can point to as being “very Nordic.”

This definition (which is a little long) comes from the NordicLarp.org, a website which focuses on collecting articles, videos, and documentation all about the evolving Nordic Larp tradition and discourse.

Nordic-style larp, or Nordic larp, is a term used to describe a school of larp game design that emerged in the Nordic countries. Nordic-style larp is dramatically different from larp in other parts of the world – here are a few examples of aims and ideals that are typical for this unique gaming scene:

Immersion. Nordic larpers want to feel like they are “really there”. This includes creating a truly convincing illusion of physically being in a medieval village/on a space ship/WWII bunker, playing a character that is very close to your own physical appearance, as well as focusing on getting under the character’s skin to “feel their feelings”. Dreaming in character at night is seen by some nordic larpers as a sign of an appropriate level of immersion.

Collaboration. Nordic-style larp is about creating an exciting and emotionally affecting story together, not measuring your strength. There is no winning, and many players intentionally let their characters fail in their objectives to create more interesting stories.

Artistic vision. Many Nordic games are intended as more than entertainment – they make artistic or even political statements. The goal in these games is to affect the players long term, to perhaps change the way they see themselves or how they act in society.

We’ll come back to some of the elements in this description in a moment, but keep in mind as we go forward the following descriptions: Nordic Larp is focused on Immersion, Collaboration, and Artistic Vision.

Alternatively, Jaakko Stenros, a well-known researcher, academic, and speaker gave a lecture at the Nordic Larp Talks in 2013 about just what is Nordic Larp, a talk that’s been shared the world over.  I’d encourage everyone to give it a look before going any further (it’s not that long).

Stenros points out that early on in the Nordic larp scene, those within the community would label a larp Nordic when they thought it was a Nordic Larp – using the “I know it when I see it” method to build a body of work that helped define the later discourse. (And if you think that’s round-about, you’re not wrong). Yet within a few short years, the definitions of what is Nordic larp, while still widely debated, were solidifying to provide a larger context for those outside the culture and within.

During Stenros’ talk, he defines contributing elements to the definition of Nordic Larp. Some of them include:

  • Larps coming from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland)
  • A social phenomenon and an ongoing discourse focused on playing styles and design ideals, rather than just geography, inspired and informed by other scenes originally such as Fastival, improv theater, and larps from other countries which helped build the basis of the Nordic tradition.
  • Other elements to consider in this social phenomenon is the migration of influences, social situations that created the creation ground for the tradition, key works which influenced the discourse, social network structures within the key communities, and the people involved.

His stricter definition (influenced by the work done by Markus Montola and Bjarke Pedersen) is (at minute 10:19 in the video):

“A larp that is influenced by the Nordic Larp Tradition and contributes to the Nordic Larp discourse.”

Yup. A definition which is defined by itself. As my mother would say: Oy. Vey.

Please note that Stenros’ entire first ten minutes of the talk or so is about how his definition is not “the answer, but an answer” which he’s sure will be disagreed with, dissected, and transformed within a short period of time. What does that tell us? That Nordic larp was and still remains a shifting creature which is an all-encompassing term for a larger community, often defined less by what it is and more by where it comes from, what basic artistic principles created the initial cornerstone, and then set against the context of what it actually is not.

It’s also important to note that this definition, though I’m using it as the basis of a good deal of my discussion here, is also five years old. And as Jaakko notes, the tradition is ever-evolving. So by looking at the definition listed above from NordicLarp.org and then looking at Jaakko’s definition, the terms have evolved and narrowed down to identify specific design factors as key to the Nordic larp experience. There are also plenty of different introduction videos as well by thinkers and designers like Petter Karlson and others within the scene trying to define and identify what has become a slippery monster of a catch-all design ethos.

“[Nordic Larp is] a great term to describe a wide-cast net,” says Johannes Axner, editor-in-chief of NordicLarp.org and Swedish larper, “it’s pretty useless to describe individual larps.”

It’s that ambiguity, that wide net, which stands at the heart of this controversy. Nordic larp itself is a shifting mirage, defined by all those involved in the process over and over, grinding down the ambiguity to try and distill the essence. That essence is then interpreted, delineated, and slapped on games which run the gamut from block-buster big-ticket events to black box, small-scale experiences. And perhaps that defining and attributing is for more than just design reasons.

“Five years ago, no one cared what the exact definition [of Nordic larp] would be,” says Stenros. “This has changed. The term has now brand value. It is worth something.” This worth is at the heart of much of the argument going on within the larp communities, a brand value which, when attached to a game, evokes a certain response in players looking for that ‘Nordic Experience’ (capital N, capital E) they’ve heard so much about. The brand value, when added to the advertisement for a larp, interests those who have heard about games like College of Wizardry and Just A Little Lovin’ in Europe, who’ve seen documentation about games on battleships and in castles and yearn for something bigger than perhaps what they’re used to.

Similarly, organizers have deployed the branding of “Nordic Larp” or “Nordic Inspired” to evoke the specific school of design Stenros has described in his talk – and perhaps rightly so. These games can be said to have been heavily influenced by the Nordic larp design elements learned by engaging in spaces like Knutpunkt or online groups, or even by those who have hopped the Atlantic to play the Nordic larps themselves.

“If you brand something Nordic Larp, you might get cool indie cred in the US, or you might get some players who wouldn’t have considered going to your game.” Is that really what we’re doing when using the term in the United States? Relying on the branding of Nordic larp to bring in players who might be looking for that indie cred, or else looking for a new hotness they’ve only heard of and not seen elsewhere? I think (in part) the answer is yes. Stenros may have been writing about this in 2013 but in the years that followed, we’ve seen an uptick in games in the US using the term, and those games have been very high profile and considered en vogue right now. And that attracts attendees.

And that isn’t bad. In fact, for larp designers bringing in players from across traditions, having the brand recognition of Nordic Larp can spread a new tradition of ideas to audiences which might never have had access to it before. This especially works for those American larpers who can’t hop the pond or spend the money to attend Knutpunkt, whose finances don’t allow European trips, or whose mental bandwidth doesn’t allow them to engage with ongoing (and often complex and heated) debates in online spaces. Nordic larps or “Nordic inspired” games coming to the US allows people to see just what the (rightly created) fuss is all about.

However, in deploying that brand name, not only are organizers evoking an entire larp culture’s identity, but sometimes imposing their own outsider’s opinion on what exactly makes that culture tick.

It’s coming into someone’s home and asking for a recipe, then going home to make the thing and say their food is the same as the authentic cultural cuisine. That’s been happening for generations, as Americans recreate food (which is a cultural medium by the way) and define what it is and how it should be prepared based on their own internal design/creative choices. Or else they create food fusions, taking traditions and smashing them together to make new and interesting takes on traditional recipes.

And that’s what’s happening here. “Nordic-inspired” games are the fusion food of the larp world, considered pretty trendy, attention-grabbing and fun. Fusion is sexy, it’s mysterious: what can this combination create, bringing together the best of both worlds for something we’ve never seen before. And you know what? Fusion is AWESOME. Fusion dishes are exciting and innovative and create new and fabulous tastes based on cultural exchange. Fusion is a valid and impressive form of food evolution.

Where it can become a problem is where people misidentify or else co-opt food origins altogether for their own ends without giving credence to where it came from, or considering just how they may be erasing traditions from BOTH cultures to create this newly created dish… game…

This analogy has gotten away from me here. But I digress. Let’s look at some of the factors involved in this erasure.

We’ve looked a lot at the Nordic larp tradition across the pond and how it developed, but looking at the other side of this potential appropriation debate, we must also look at the development of larp cultures across the United States. Plenty of research has gone into the myriad traditions and groups which have deep cultural roots across the US, work done by academic powerhouses like Jonaya Kemper and journalists like Lizzie Stark. The United States has decades-long histories going back to the days of the evolution of simulationist gaming into live action spaces, and non-nerd community organizations like Model UN or murder mystery weekends.

These traditions are vast and wide-spread and often developed in tandem with one another over the years. Due to geographic isolation, lack of communication between groups, and schisms splitting communities over the years, different larp traditions have evolved to create design tools that can be both similar to those from other communities and also flavored with their own experiences and innovations. And due to how massive the United States are, that decades-long artistic growth from untold separate communities has created a tapestry of American larp culture which reflects the diversity which makes America what it is today: a complicated, culturally diverse, and often fraught hotbed of inter-community cooperation and friction.

It’s because of that complexity that United States larp doesn’t have a centralized definition, even though many from the outside have struggled and often erroneously attributed one to the scene (if there can be said to be a single scene). “American Larp” is often defined as “a form of roleplaying game where participants physically portray their characters” (Wikipedia) while engaging in competitive play, sometimes involving heavily controlled plotlines, live combat with contact safe (boffer) weapons, and “crunchy”, number-based systems which rely heavily on chance and competition rather than negotiation. American larp is also sometimes split in definition in an attempt to encompass those many traditions by putting them into several sub-categories: live combat (boffer) games, theater style games with no physical contact (like the far-reaching Camarilla Club or Mind’s Eye Society for White Wolf games), and the emerging and ever-growing freeform scene, with smaller and more personal games and less scenography or 360-degree immersion involved.

As you can imagine, these definitions are almost just as broad as the term Nordic Larp, even in their broken down form, and contribute to a generalization of what “American Larp” really is that does no one any favors. One could then instead go in and deconstruct just what design practices are employed by these American traditions, and you do come down (in my opinion) to some important cultural touch points which are pervasive in many designs, specifically:

  • a reliance on chance rather than negotiation,
  • a competitive spirit between players and therefore their characters,
  • a focus on secrets kept by characters rather than open sharing of plots beforehand or during play, and
  • stories heavily driven by centralized storyteller authority rather than created cooperatively and predominantly by players.

Yet even with these pinpointed overlaps in communities, these elements barely touch the complexities developed in US larps over the years. And many of the games being created defy these elements, operating outside of the definition traditionally ascribed to much of the American larp scene. These games instead incorporate perhaps some of these element – or none at all – and instead employ design choices we might more closely attribute to Nordic Larp games. This includes design ideological choices like cooperative narrative development, culturally important thematics, emotional roleplay focus over story and simulation, and strip-down of mechanics to more freeform design.

In that way, these games have more in common perhaps with Nordic design than with their American counterparts. But that does not make them any less a product of the American larp system. And to say these tools haven’t been employed by American larpers for years now is to erase literally generations of work by talented designers and powerful communities in favor of claiming techniques to a single community. Everyone in larp has been reinventing the wheel for years, but in the end a lot of our wheels ended up looking very much the same, and all doing the same job: rolling the hell along.

But then we come back to branding. And though a game might be incorporating elements which are recognized now during international discourse as “so Nordic,” the use of the term serves to attract players while largely undermining the complexity of the larp development in the United States and the world over. It appropriates the ever-evolving and often ephemeral Nordic Larp label for the sake of defining a game against the ‘American larp scene’ while still employing some of the techniques shared by both communities. And usually for the sake of creating distinction between what has come before, and the new hotness now.

In fact, many of the games being created are not Nordic Larps. They’re games which share design elements with Nordic Larps, elements which have been in use in the United States larp scene forever. And so the distinction belittles American larp while taking the brand of another community for our own. Essentially, it’s causing erasure on BOTH sides and causing further friction between American and Nordic larp communities.

Nordic Larpers express frustration about their culture being taken for profit here.

American Larpers feel under-appreciated, their traditions slighted and ignored in favor of the European import.

And so the fight has simmered, and recently exploded, and here we are.

But we’re missing a fundamental answer to this discussion altogether: games in the United States don’t need to be Nordic Larps to have the same elements. We’ve had those elements all along! We just didn’t have a brand, a label, and certainly not one with as much recognition as the hip Nordic Larp brand. (And I’m sorry for those who bristle under the use of such a capitalistic terminology for an art movement, but it is a brand today, used to sell experiences. And that class/political/economic issue is an internal debate for the Nordic community which has complicated the problem of tensions even further.)

American larpers don’t need to label their games as Nordic for them to be cool, and immersive, and emotionally intense, and freeform. We’ve had those for the longest time. In communities, for example, like Intercon and the Double Exposure communities, larps like these have been evolving for years now. Across the country, we’ve had people discovering these changes on their own. But because we’re not united in a single art scene, we needed a lable. And I believe for that reason, and for branding power, Nordic Larp was borrowed, the tradition imported, the ideology embraced.

Unless these games are run by Nordic teams in the US, even working with American larp designers (such as the teams running Just A Little Lovin’ in the US in 2017 or the newly merged Turtle House, made up of US company Imagine Nation and Dziobak Studios from Denmark), these games remain strongly American.

And I repeat. That’s okay. We can have our own hotness too.

In fact, I believe it is VITAL to the health of American larp and our pride as a larp culture that we embrace having our own hotness. That we work together in the spirit of growing national community connections to create discussions of commonality, and even perhaps create a term for our own adaptations of what traditions people are calling Nordic. “Nordic Inspired” doesn’t really hack it anymore and evokes that erasure again.

We’ve got our own thing going here. Why not find a name that serves to both give credit to the American developing scene and also detach ourselves from the appropriation of Nordic Larp? We don’t need to borrow anything when we’ve got our own sexy fusion going on, ready to evolve our larp communities to a bigger and better tomorrow.

On the opposite side of this argument is perhaps a valid point brought up by Jaakko Stenros within his above video, a point which sits strong in my mind when I feel a sense of irritation at the idea that Nordic Larp has been appropriated. As Stenros says:

“No one owns Nordic larp,” says Stenros in the introduction to his definition. “Not the designers, not the larpwrites, not the organizers. Not the journalists, not the experts, not the academics not the researchers, not the event organizers, or popularizers. Not the web service providers or the editors in chief, not the people who are working to import larp or export larp, not even the players.

“For we all own Nordic larp. There simply is no central bureau of Nordic Larp. And if there was, I can promise you that splinter groups would surface faster than you can say “Fucking fascists trying to limit my imagination to copyright my reality hacking tools, to steal my status and funding, and to take away my fun and misery.”

Nordic Larp in itself not only evolved, as mentioned above, by its creators and trend setters attending other larp traditions and creative communities to borrow techniques, but the community is defined by an ideology which does not belong to any individual group. It in and of itself is built around dozens of smaller communities, each networked together to define their games based on a shifting rubric. So then how can the Nordic Larp community claim ownership of this brand – simply because it’s Nordic? If the idea was to share ideas and continue to evolve Nordic Larp as a tradition, as it has continued to do over the years, then why invite outside input from (for example) Americans only to become upset when that input is given and swapped back to the US. Sharing ideas doesn’t necessarily happen the way one wants, nor produce some sanitized results. Cultural exchange is messy, and getting your peanut butter in your hummus can make some weird results that change the context of both ingredients for mixed results.

If you can’t own Nordic Larp, then is it fair to say you own or control the overall discourse? Especially when that discourse invited in the very voices now being criticized for appropriation? Is it appropriation or a cultural sharing, a blending? Or is it a one-way theft of ideas? That is at its heart the essence of a lot of discussions of what is appropriation in the first place in all media and art forms, and is now being reflected in the larp world, underpinned by a current of fear about American cultural colonization which has existed the world over since America rose to super-power and international media influencer status.

But is that what this is? Is this appropriation or exchange? The debate goes on.

While we fight about the issue, however, are there any solutions to positively influence this contentious debate?

I believe there are three major solutions.

  1. We as American larpers have a vested interest in discovering a new definition for what is coming out of the new evolution of larp right now, influenced as it is heavily by these ideas which appear parallel to Nordic Larp design. Nordic-inspired doesn’t cut it and does little for either us American Larpers or the Nordic community. Whatever we come up with, I’m sure we’ll fight about constantly. But having a brand new hotness all our own to reflect the hard work and in-house evolution we’ve done here in America would let us define ourselves a little more based on American ethos and make us look a little less like we’re blatantly ripping off another culture (which in fact we are not).
  2. American and Nordic larp communities must have conversations, both internally and between one another, about the manner by which people are sharing information, and whether or not it feels appropriative or acting as an exchange. A two-way street is an important start to making the cultural discourse feel mutual rather than either appropriative or elitist, depending on the interpretation of the side of the argument. Americans aren’t coming over to steal ideas and just be prescriptive about their ideas, and Nordic larpers aren’t demeaning all American larp as lesser and imposing their European ways on American larp communities. And if it feels that way, we should talk about why and try to mend those fences, for the sake of larp development and community relations.
  3. Last but not least (and perhaps harder still) is a revisiting of the way conversations about these issues are happening. Individuals are not only becoming burnt out, but there is very little benefit of the doubt happening. Instead, battle lines are becoming highly contentious, leading to many great designers and thinkers checking out of the conversation and perhaps even communities. We are imploding in on ourselves in an effort to preserve what we feel is vital to our identities, and a lot of that is based on the tensions rising and no assumption of positive intent. I believe that positive intent exists, and where it does not, it needs to be fostered to explore our commonalities and embrace our growing future as an international community. The alternative is cultural schism once more, something which has plagued larp communities everywhere forever.

I believe we are on the cusp of a very important turning point in international larp discourse, where the decisions we make now will cement either a continually evolving design exchange which could improve everyone’s games and communities. Or else we’re going to continue fracturing under the weight of our factionalism and concerns about appropriation and political/ideological entrenchment. And if that happens, what we will lose is the chance at a brilliant future of creation together that could be wonderful, if allowed to flourish and survive.

The decision on how to proceed is largely in our hands. We just have to communicate and do the (often) hard work to get us all there together.

Declaration of Larp Independence

by Shoshana, posted in Criticism, Game Design, LARP Discussion and Theory

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Okay, let’s face it everyone: America is kind of a terrifying place right now. It’s a country full of political infighting, awful rhetoric about nuclear proliferation, with a… severely problematic person in the White House. Every day as an American is an exercise in maintaining calm in the face of catastrophic governmental change.

Yet in the face of such horror, there are people who are standing up against such forces. They remember the idea that was America, the ideology that sparked a revolution to turn a group of British colonies into their own nation. And as problematic as that history is (and it really, really is), there are some ideas in the documents of the founding fathers of America that have some great ideas.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

– Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

The Nordic larp world is known for its manifestos. From the serious to the tongue-in-cheek, manifestos provoke thought, even anger and irritation, among communities. They’re the voice of an idea given documented form, meant to share and debate and spark creative thought. The Nordic Larp scene has a lot of these manifestos. But I hadn’t seen that many which were very, very American.

So I decided to write one.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident-

That all men, women, and otherwise are created equal in the sight of the community of play.

That no man, woman, or otherwise is less or more than another, but stand shoulder to shoulder in the state of play that we enter to enjoy live action games. From player to organizer to business person and crafter, from the newest member to the longest-lived antediluvian of a group, we stand as a community at play, at once equal to one another in value and worth. By action alone does a member earn further respect, and yet this remains not to set them above or apart but to better the community as a whole. For without the community of play, the individual can achieve nothing alone.”

Welcome to the Declaration of Larp Independence (downloadable here). Based on ideas many larpers would call “very American,” it tackles the issues of equality in the larp community, responsibility towards said community, and more. May there be more American manifestos in the future. After all, we can’t let down the red-white-and-blue, can we?

I-love-america

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Video: “Ethical Content Creation and The Freedom To Create”

by Shoshana, posted in Game Design, LARP Discussion and Theory

I’m excited to announce that the video of my short TED-talk like Nordic Larp Talk in Gothenburg 2014 has gone up. The topic is “Ethical Content Creation and The Freedom to Create” which was based on my research for my article on ethical content creation in the WyrdCon Companion Book for 2013. I’m really proud to have been included in this brilliant event, and encourage folks to check out the other Nordic Larp Talks for this and year’s past.

Live Action In Words: A LARP Reading List

by Shoshana, posted in LARP Discussion and Theory

UPDATE 7/23/13: Holy cow folks! Only a few hours after I put up this post and people are sending me so many suggestions to add to the list. As I said in the post, this was not a comprehensive list but MAN the list is longer now. I might turn this into a perm-link on my blog and just keep updating but for now, thank you to everyone on Facebook for the suggestions (and spelling corrections – sorry bout that to those I misspelled or mis-linked). Updates ahoy!

A few days ago, RPG writer and all around awesome designer Josh Jordan asked me what I might put on a reading list for someone who wanted to get into learning more about LARP. It occurred to me that I couldn’t find many lists that had many of the texts that I drew on when growing up in the LARP community. So I put together a long list of the books I considered important reading for myself. Note: THIS IS NOT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST. There are dozens of other blogs, articles, books and magazines that are important and relevant and I urge folks to share at the bottom. This is just a reading list that has impacted me and my design. With that in mind, on we go!

Theater LARP 

The two biggest subsections of LARP in the US have got to be theater style-games and boffer or live combat games. Theater games have got their history going back ages but there are a number of books that seriously impacted the growth of the hobby.

White-Wolf-Minds-Eye-Theatre-Lot
So there’s a lot of these.

One such game system was the Mind’s Eye Theatre system created by White Wolf as the live-action version of their very popular World of Darkness tabletop series. Created in the 90’s, Mind’s Eye Theatre became the staple for live-action theatre games like Vampire: The Masquerade, Mage: The Ascension, Changeling: The Dreaming and half a dozen more. With easily over thirty books put out in the first line alone, Mind’s Eye Theatre became the originator for the often discussed rock-paper-scissor resolution mechanic in LARP, as well as a good example of the ups and downs of translating a tabletop RPG into a LARP format. The MET books became the basis for the live-action Camarilla Club, an international organization that united MET enthusiasts that still exists to this day. Since I’m a big fan of some of these supplement books, I’ll call out Mage: The Ascension and Changeling: the Dreaming as two of the better ones, as well as the Wraith book Oblivion. These books aren’t just well-done, they’re interesting when compared to their tabletop brethren and often beautifully laid out and designed. I’ll also toss in that a number of them were written by the amazing Peter Woodworth, whose blog will be linked later for sheer LARP advice awesomeness.

2372Mind’s Eye Theater books went through a number of revisions over the years. The second major revision after the 90’s version (known as Old White Wolf or OWoD) came when White Wolf reset its World of Darkness setting in the early 2000’s. This reset spawned a new set of books with new adaptations from the tabletop rules. These books changed one factor: like the tabletop, they had a core book with basic rules that could then be adapted to any of the World of Darkness core sets like Vampire or Mage or Changeling. The core book bears looking at for the rules adaptation alone, but if you’re not into the individual creature settings the later books are unnecessary (but decent reads).

Recently, Mind’s Eye Theatre has seen its third revamping when it was purchased by another company known as By Night Productions. This new version of the game will be taking the old rules system through a serious set of revamps and recently held a Kickstarter that was extremely successful. Though hints about the changes have been dropped, we’ll have to wait and see what that looks like.

Cover appropriately creepy
Cover appropriately creepy

So now that we’ve gone through Mind’s Eye, what else is out there for theater LARPs that we can talk about? How about my second love Cthulhu Live! Based on the works of HP Lovecraft, Cthulhu Live takes all the fun you have in those Call of Cthulhu tabletop games, puts you in a room and tries to scare the living pants off of you. This game had three editions and I can site both of them as great reads for different reasons. The second edition, while I’m more meh on the rules system, has a fantastic section in the back about staging games and how to create fantastic monsters and sets for your events. The third edition of this game however is what has my heart as a go-to for simple, intuitive game design that works fast and well no matter where you play. I was introduced to this game at the Double Exposure conventions by the fantastic PST Productions, picked up this book and never looked back. After playing nearly thirty of these scenarios, I’ve always felt this book and its system are a gem that not enough people appreciate for fluid game design and excellent intellectual property adaptation.

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And speaking of excellent adaptation and hidden gems, how about Passion Play. Passion Play is the LARP adaptation of the Fading Suns tabletop RPG. Haven’t heard of it? Its not that popular out there and it takes a hell of a lot to find the books these days, but Fading Suns is a fascinating space opera setting that dances over a lot of lines. Its parts Cowboy Bebop, parts Firefly and a lot of space baronies and weird interplanetary politics. Sound like fun? I thought so! I was introduced to the game as a LARP at a convention and worked my butt off to track down the LARP book. While it focuses a great deal on showcasing the setting, the book is a great read about how to translate an existing complex world into a LARP text and also how to adapt that property’s mechanics in a recognizable way. See if you can track it down – it’s not the easiest book to find!

To say that this is the short list of theater style games is absolutely the case. Other books suggested include:

Also I’m going to plug an upcoming project that’s now in the works for theater style games – Chronos! Made by Eschaton Media, who incidentally created the Dystopia Rising tabletop books, Chronos is a card-based theatrical LARP system that will be publishing multiple skein worlds for players to enjoy. I’m particularly proud of this project because I’m one of the writers involved, with work done on the corebook as well as for a skein about animal spirits in a noir world. Check out the Facebook group for Chronos for more information or Eschaton Media’s website.

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There’s also a ton of theatrical scenarios that are great to take a look at, such as “Voyage of the Mary Celeste” and “Marin County New Age Society Cocktail Party” both by Interactivities Ink (thanks to Christopher Amherst for the suggestion!), but they can be found individually in locations online. (A link is provided to one such resource later in this post).

Another game I want to call out for awesomeness straddles the line between theatrical LARP and, well… more team building exercis – Shelter In Place. This Ennie Award winner is part party game, part zombie apocalypse LARP written by the fantastic JR Blackwell. I’m a huge fan of this simple, fun game. The book itself is gorgeously done and its a perfect example of how a LARP does not need to be complicated, but rather can be played anytime, anywhere, if its the right game.

Boffer/Live Combat Games

Jumping over from theater games, we’re going to talk about a reading list for boffer games! This list is a little more difficult to compile as many boffer LARPs don’t have physical books that have come out and rely on rules systems put out in PDF form. Still, we’re electronic savvy so let’s take a look at what I could dig up and put together.

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First will go the one nearest and dearest to my heart: Dystopia Rising. Its no secret that I’m a huge supporter of this fast growing franchise (I work for Dystopia’s flagship game in New Jersey as a full-time storyteller!) but part of the reason for that support comes down to the amazing rules system and LARP book put out by the game. First available in PDF form to players and now released in physical form, called the Dystopia Rising Survivor’s Guide, this rules system is a fluid bit of live combat gaming that combines melee combat and nerf gun ranged shooting into one zombie apocalypse mix. The book is also a great example of a great mix of world setting material, rules information and practical advice and rules for how to play in one of the games across the country. Its easily available to players off the website too and has a beautiful book now for those who want a home edition.

There are other boffer games out there of course. In fact, there are literally hundreds. The well-known names that I could mention include NERO and LAIRE, which are known for their branches across the country and their long history. A working list of these games would start with:

But this is by no means comprehensive. LARPing.org has a fantastic list on their site for games that is listed in the website links below that would do more justice to the vast number of these games then I could possible begin to. Sufficed to say, if there’s a flavor of boffer game out there you want to look into, that’s a good place to start looking.

Nordic Larp

images-3One can’t have a conversation about LARP right now without discussing Nordic Larp. The tradition is so huge in the art house style gaming sector in Europe that it has come over to spread its intense live-action joy over in the US. What’s Nordic Larp about? A great place to start learning more is in the Nordic Larp book, a whopping beautiful full-color textbook of a read by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola. This book breaks down the ideas behind the Nordic Larp movement as well as discusses the important games that have been done over the years. Recently the book was recognized for excellence by winning the 2012 Diana Jones Awards at GenCon. While this book is difficult to get your hands on in the US, it is worth what you need to do to get a copy. (I carried mine back all the way from Norway!)

Other resources on Nordic Larp include the journals for the Nordic Larp conference Knutepunkt. Well, its called Knutepunkt when its in Norway. Otherwise it is called Solmokohta in Finland, Knutpunkt in Sweden and Knudepunkt in Denmark . But the journals from these amazing conferences have some fantastic writing about Nordic Larp including theory discussions, game breakdowns and insightful essays. The physical copies are hard to track down except in Europe but they are available in PDF format. The easiest place to find them all? Linked to this Wiki entry! (Thank you to Nathan Hook for pointing me in this direction).

If that doesn’t give you something to start with, some more links to blogs and websites below will supplement all the Nordic Larp reading madness.

Freeform Games

UmS_coverLargeWant games with a little less crunch that employ a lot of the techniques of Nordic LARP? Look no further than the freeform or jeepform games being developed the world over. This style of games is focused largely around the Fastival conference out of Denmark and a great blog post by Lizzie Stark can give you the lowdown more on what this kind of games are all about. A great example of a game like this would be lots of work done by Emily Care Boss, like her relationship game Under My Skin. I’m still dipping my toes into this kind of LARP form but its influence has certainly unburdened me of the notion that system is a rigid form for storytelling in the hobby.

LARP Scenarios

Not all LARPs come in books of course, or even giant PDFs. Sometimes people write LARP games that come in single PDFs that are easy to access, print out, and play with your friends. These are often scattered all across the internet but a few locations have them all compiled for your downloading pleasure. I put these here because each of these LARPs is almost a unique book in their own right, and having a location to find them all is brilliant.

The first location is this LARP Scenarios posting on RPGnet’s Wiki. It’s got, no joke, more scenarios linked then I know what to do with, and each of them could be a fun encounter or event planned for your group. Special thanks to Nathan Hook for passing this along to me, I’d completely forgotten.

Another is Interactivities Ink’s website where they offer a number of free scenarios that one can download.

Books About LARPs 

From here we go over to books about LARPs themselves, specifically books that chronicle specific LARPs and document the events. This documentation is a very European concept in games but has been imported by folks like Lizzie Stark and Sarah Lynne Bowman to capture the ephemeral nature of LARP games. While there are bunches of these books, two stand out in my mind in particular as impactful of my understanding of other LARPs and how they work.

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The first is The Book of Kapo, edited by Claus Raasted. This book chronicles the Nordic game Kapo, which allowed players to experience simulated life in a ruthlessly bleak prison camp. The game was extremely well documented with extensive interviews with players and many photos and the book goes full color to showcase the full impact of the event. This book is also a little difficult to put your hands on as its availability seems to be mostly in Europe, but there are PDF versions available online.

matbus2012.p1A second book is a US creation this time. The book of the US run of the game Mad About the Boy, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman with layout by Claus Raastad, chronicles the work done to bring over the amazing Nordic game about a world where all the men have died and society is run by women. Inspired by Y: The Last Man this game has been impactful in gender discourse in games and the book spends a lot of time documenting in detail the experiences of the all-female cast of this one-shot American run of the game. The book is available in PDF format here.

Speaking of Claus Rasstad, another book for calling out is 100.000 Swords Can’t Be Silenced. This gorgeous PDF book, also by Rollespils Akademiet, is a short introduction to LARP with some amazing full color photography. Its intended to be an intro for kids but this book could be an example for all new LARPers. Its got some interesting things to say about framing violence in games too as presented to children that can apply to the discussion about violence in games in general.

Another of note, suggested to me by larp writer and fellow American visitor to KP Christopher Amherst is The White War, the documentation of a well-known game “about culture clash in an occupied land.” I have JUST gotten my hands on this PDF thanks to the Rollespilsakademiet website (to which we owe much for many PDFs listed here) but I’m fascinated to give it a read. And kind of sad I didn’t grab the physical text while I was in Europe. (My suitcase was only so big!)

Books About LARP (Non-Fiction)

So now we head away from game books themselves and start talking about books that talk ABOUT LARP. These non-fiction books are not exactly entirely academic and so they get their own category away from the textbook section (see below). There are two that I would put forward as great examples of this category.

leaving-mundaniaThe first is the well-known Leaving Mundania by Lizzie Stark. A well-known writer and journalist, Lizzie spent time immersing herself in the world of LARP to research for this book, throwing herself into a boffer game for months and traveling all over the country to speak to gamers at conventions and events. The result is an intimate portrait of the hobby from the people who play it in many different ways told from the inside. The book’s widely available and is supplemented by articles on Lizzie’s blog.

The second is a collection of essays called Immersive Gameplay, by Evan Torner and William J. White. This book has a collection of discussions about roleplaying and the importance of immersive games in media in general. While not only discussing LARP, this book bears mentioning as well for great input on the conversation.

Another I’ll mention but that’s a little dated is The Book of LARP by Mike Young. This book has been around for a while and is an easy in for early discussions about what is LARP. It includes some basics and deserves a look for those who want to know more early discussion about the hobby. It’s not that easy to find these days either however.

I’m also going to include here Ethan Gilsdorf’s Fantasy Freaks and Gamer Geeks, the biographical exploration of one man’s journey to reconcile his geekiness. As a long time nerd who has mixed feelings about the hesitation lots of nerds feel about embracing the hobby, I found the book difficult starting off but thoroughly enjoyed it overall.

Then there’s Hamlet’s Hit Points, a fantastic resource about writing games by game design legend Robin Laws. This book is an essential tool for writing good roleplaying games, focusing on the traditional act structures of theater and film to instruct GMs how to craft better narratives. I almost hesitated to include this only because there are many writing books about roleplaying that I might do a separate post about but for now it deserves a place. (UPDATE: Do to the large number of just roleplaying and writing suggestions, I will be doing another post about this after all).

Perodicals

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While magazines about LARP are not as common, there is one in particular that I collected with some happiness. Playground was a LARP magazine collecting essays about Nordic LARP experiences and techniques, commentary and controversy. It is my infinite sadness that the magazine has unfortunately stopped being published, but there are still some issues out there to be tracked down (predominantly in Europe).

I’ve been looking for more magazines also but I believe most of them are in Europe and I’ve not found as many so far. Also, honestly, the age of the blogsphere seems to be putting these magazines to bed. But if anyone knows of any more, toss them my way!

Academic Texts

pg-coverSo here’s where the rubber meets the road. You want more on LARP and you want to go Academic, there are a few books you can look at. Pervasive Games by Annika Waern, Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola is an immediate go-to for me. The book not only talks about LARP but other pervasive (also known as big) games, such as ARGs. The book digs into the nuts and bolts of what makes these off the table and off the screen games work and the section on LARP is very well done.

Another book is called Functions of Role-Playing Games by Sarah Lynne Bowman. This book, while not just broken down to talking about LARP, discusses the psychological and sociological functions that role-playing games fill in society. A great piece of work by an amazing academic in the field!

An online academic resource to be found is the International Journal of Role-playing which acts as a gathering place for papers regarding roleplaying in all forms. Though not strictly about LARP, this resource is fundamental for anyone who wants to really get into the crunchy discussions about what makes roleplaying tick on a theory level.

There are many individual papers, doctoral theses and articles that could be included as well. However one particular one, On The Edge of the Magic Circle: Understanding Pervasive Games and Role-Playing by Markus Montola is, in my opinion, an important work on incorporating and understanding the construction of roleplaying games in relation to game design theory (such as the magic circle concept). Montola stands as one of the voices on pervasive games (as his above credit on the textbook shows) and his doctoral thesis stands as another example of why.

Blogs and Websites

And now the hard part. Blogs. There are LOTS of blogs that talk about LARP from across the world and tons of websites too. However here I’m going to list just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head that I read on a regular basis. These blogs have articles that discuss LARP events, theory and discourse that can provide great insight into the hobby. Take ’em as they come.

LARPing.org – This beautiful website has articles that cross the spectrum of games across the country. I highly recommend it for an eyeful of beautiful photos and thought provoking discussion. One of their best resources is also a list of games in all parts of the world, but especially by state in the US so check that out. (Also: support their visit to ComicCon!)

Nordiclarp.org – Want to know more about the Nordic scene, events and talks going on about the form? Check out this website. Its constantly being updated and has tons to say. They have a wiki too which is fantastic and a forum! Most of it is in English!

Dymaxion: A Nordic LARP Discourse – Want still more on Nordic LARP? This extensive breakdown on the Nordic LARP tradition includes videos and information about just what is Nordic LARP (a conversation and discussion that has been going on for a long time).

LARP Doctor – This website is completely new to me but its been suggested by a number of folks for great LARP articles. I’m really digging the discussions about great storyteller habits. (Also: support their visit to ComicCon!)

Confessions of a Wrathful LARPER – This blog run by Craig Page of the tri-state area LARP scene has many great articles about issues and ideas in LARP. I’d check it out for easy, fun and thoughtful reading.

Peter Woodworth’s Blog – You can’t get much better than Peter Woodworth’s writing on LARP. His discussion on play tactics are some of the best around and his advice on how to be a great player can inform designers on how to encourage such gameplay.

Lizzie Stark’s Blog – Informed by her experiences researching Leaving Mundania, Lizzie Stark has become one of the leading US voices in LARP, especially as an advocate for the Nordic tradition. Her advice about LARP on the blog and cross-posts about other great things going on in the hobby are fantastic for keeping track of the art-larp scene overseas and here in the states.

Nathan Hook’s Blog – Nathan Hook is a fantastic LARP academic from England whose articles have appeared in numerous publications over the years. His continued work on his blog is a worthwhile addition to any reading list.

The Larpwright – Eirik Fatland’s blog has multiple articles about LARP that highlight why he’s such a crucial figure in discussions about LARP theory overseas. I highly suggest his blog to anyone interested in technique discussion focusing on Nordic traditions, but his talks in general about how LARP can help us understand things like war are fascinating.

I am forgetting things. There’s no way I’m not. But this is a great start for a reading list that is very, very long. There are more projects in development which I’m looking forward to, including an upcoming book on writing LARP scripts and an encyclopedia of roleplay that will have tons of information on the history of LARP. But for now, this is the list that I’ve got. I hope you find something that fits your fancy.

 

Updates on 11/23 include: Additions such as the Larp Scenarios wiki page from RPGnet, Nathan Hook’s blog, spelling errors and link problems, 100.000 Swords by Claus Raastad, Shelter in Place, new boffer games added, Markus Montola’s doctoral thesis, Hamlet’s Hit Points, and a few more.

Exploratory or Exploitative: LARP as Emotional Tourism

by Shoshana, posted in Game Design, LARP Discussion and Theory

Not long ago I went to Knutepunkt, the Nordic LARP convention held outside of Oslo. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was probably one of the single most transformative trips of my life. One of the reasons for that was the intense level of thought it forced me to put towards LARP design. It made me consider, among other things, why I love LARP more than other gaming forms. I came to the understanding through that week that I adore LARP because of it’s ability as an immersive, performative form to allow me to experience life through a different lens for a little while. It gives me experiential knowledge of being inside a simulated environment that is tactile, sense-based and interpersonal in a face-to-face setting. That to me makes LARP, above other kinds of roleplaying games, a special kind of interactive experience.

Yet one of the ideas brought up at Knutepunkt and later when I returned to the US was the idea that LARP could be a form of emotional tourism.

What does that term mean? Emotional tourism is the idea that a person steps outside of their comfort zone to go to another part of the world to ‘live’ for a little while in the boots of another person. Sometimes that can be benign, like going to couch surf on someone’s futon on the other side of the country to see how people live there (see: house or apartment swapping). Yet the negative use of the term emotional tourism usually is leveled at folks who will travel somewhere less prosperous in an effort to experience how other people less fortunate or more at risk live. People seek out these experiences to be shook up out of their comfort zone, to really feel what it’s like to not live a safe life, and can be considered exploitative, the mark of the privileged trying to assuage guilt rather than really learn anything. Examples I’ve heard bandied around are rich children going to tour refugee camps in foreign countries, or volunteering to build houses in impoverished areas while ‘roughing it’ with the locals for a little while.

The term emotional tourism interests me on a completely different level – isn’t it good to be trying to help other people, even for a little while? – but putting that question aside, I was perplexed by the idea that LARP might be considered emotional tourism. Are LARPs a way to emotionally experience something that you don’t have in your every day life? Yes, perhaps. So is that exploration then or exploiting situations that aren’t our own for recreation? And is it one or the other?

Let’s build a scenario: LARP organizers decide to do a game based on a real-world serious topic, such as the plight of immigrant workers in the United States. The idea of the game is to have players work through the confusion of giving up everything you knew to find a home in a new country, especially if you have to seek that new home by dangerous and illegal means. The issue is a hot button one, so the designers abstract the game. They make it about two no-name countries in a heavily industrialized cyberpunk future, in which a non-technological country is going bankrupt and people must flee to a better land where they can get jobs. Players play the game on a camp site on the edge of a small city and must cross the acres of land to reach a checkpoint into ‘the city’, living by their wits to survive and get to their new promised land. Through the experience, players emotionally get in touch with feelings of isolation, uncertainty, guilt and a myriad of other feelings while getting a look at big issues like bigotry, immigration, economic issues, violence and nationalism. At the end of the game, they walk away from the game with a new look at these topics, so closely mirroring real world concerns through a game setting.

Now, one could say that the players are signing up for a weekend of ‘fun’ to experience these things, and that optional sign up and the implication that the experience is recreation for the players makes the game somehow more exploitative. In the real world, folks who experience the race for a better life across the US-Mexican border aren’t doing it because it’s a ‘fun’ artistic experience they’re having on a weekend with their friends. Yet players of a LARP can opt in to the game atmosphere to get a taste of these situations as a recreational activity. If the events become too intense, there is always the option to step away and return to their everyday lives, a fact that those in the actual situation cannot do. Is it then exploitative to take these real-world scenarios and parrot them in games for the exploration of gamers?

The question isn’t for LARP alone. Games which mirror real world content, such as first person shooter war simulations, by the same token could be considered emotional tourism as players are given the opportunity to ‘feel’ what it’s like to be in a battle. Yet it’s the immersion and live element of LARP that makes the question more immediate. Where the controller and video screen creates a medium boundary between the player and the world they’re experiencing, a LARPer does not have that medium between them and experience. Therefore the emotional intensity level can be ramped higher due to direct interaction with the intense environment.

I feel like perhaps this is the reason why roleplaying games have focused so heavily on fantasy content for so long. It’s easier to discuss questions of real-world issues when given a separating medium between you and the content. It’s easier to talk about racism when discussing the hatred between elves and dwarves in Lord of the Rings, or questions of slavery when playing in a post-apocalyptic setting like Dystopia Rising. Without that filter, I believe people encounter a discomfort with engaging with these big problems, especially when it could be construed from the outside – or even the inside – as emotional tourism from a place of privilege.

My answer to the question of whether LARPs might be emotional tourism is simple: yes, they might be. But they don’t have to be. The idea behind emotional tourism being a bad thing comes down to a question of intent. First, players come to games for many different reasons. Sometimes, it’s to emotionally express or experience. Sometimes, it’s just to hit lizard folks in the noggin with a latex sword.* But even if a player does go to throw themselves into a role, the reasons behind it are not always for exploitation of the plight of real world people. A player might go to experience something that helps them explore themselves, their feelings, and a new atmosphere that teaches them rather than lets them get a vicarious thrill. It’s that difference – the educational experience versus the vicarious visceral one – that sets the line in my eyes between exploration and exploitation, and that keeps me from feeling uncomfortable with the notion of LARP being the negative kind of emotional tourism.

Is this a cut and dry answer? No, it’s almost identification by degrees. But with more ‘serious’ games being run by the year – thanks in no small part to the spread of the Nordic LARP and freeform traditions into other countries – we are seeing more real world topics being tackled in ways that are devoid of fantastical medium, or at least more thinly veiled than ever before. Designers must, in my opinion, carefully consider why they’re creating their games and how they are representing these real world issues so as to keep from treading over that fine line into exploitative territory. Emotional experience is not a bad thing on its own – like many other things, it all comes down to the design.

 

* (Just kidding folks – don’t hit people in the head, that’s generally frowned upon).

LARPing Like It’s… Cold? Knutepunkt 2013 (Part 1)

by Shoshana, posted in Convention Report, Game Design, Geek Culture

How much can I get into one suitcase? Do I need a sleeping bag? And what does one wear to a Nordic LARP anyway? These were all questions that ran through my mind when I packed in preparation for my first jaunt overseas in a long while. I was going to attend Knutepunkt, the Nordic LARP conference held once a year in one of the four countries that make up the heart of the Nordic scene – Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. I’d be spending four days in Oslo for the Week in Norway program and then would head up to the main conference up in Haraldvangen, a camp grounds on a beautiful lake. Looking back now back in Brooklyn, I realize I was in no way prepared for how much this trip would have such a profound change on my life.

This is Part 1 of my analysis of the whole Nordic LARP adventure. There’s so much to talk about I’m splitting it up. Pictures included are credited to their creators.

To Begin – What is Nordic LARP?

That question is a little harder to explain than one would imagine. People have been debating the actual definition for the movement for ages, so I don’t presume to have a good one just yet (if I ever will). For better and more concise explanations, I refer to Lizzie Stark’s blog. Or even better, check out Jaakko Stenros’s wonderful lecture in the Nordic LARP Talk series. But here we go anyway, let’s give it a shot, with a little context to the overall LARP community included too.

To those who are familiar with live action role-play games, or LARPs, a simple introduction would start by saying that there are lots of different traditions in the LARP community. Within the United States and abroad, the major traditions include:

  • Theater-style games: these are usually categorized as games that involve non-physical combat styles and simulation of events through description and symbolic representation.  Famous theater-style LARP systems include the Mind’s Eye Theater system by White Wolf for it’s World of Darkness setting. It’s meant to be (mostly) no physical contact.
  • Boffer games: This is a broad term for games that involve actual physical contact in their combat systems. Players use latex or foam weapons to engage in simulated combat, while magic and other supernatural events are symbolically represented using things like ‘spell packets’ (tiny bean bags or birdseed filled sewn packets) or light sources. These games tend to aim for more physical immersion in environment design to help drag the players into a What You See Is What You Get atmosphere.

While these are two of the predominant systems of gameplay in LARP, each full of their own traditions and development history, there is a third tradition that has been gaining more international attention in the last few years. That tradition is known as Nordic LARP and though as the name suggests it began in the Nordic countries, its influence has been felt across Europe and in recent years in the US, Canada and South America.

So what is Nordic LARP? It’s a tradition of LARP heavily influenced by artistic and theatrical expression that focus on high immersion both in environment and emotional/psychological engagement. The games in this tradition tend to focus on serious material and frame their games with workshops before the game and debriefs afterwards to present a well-informed and emotionally safe environment to engage in serious subject matter. The games also utilize what are known as metatechniques within the game to structure the play, drawing heavily from theatrical and cinematic influences. The culture also involves putting aside stricter goal-driven, ‘winning’ mindsets by encouraging players to often ‘play to lose’ so as to experience a richer story in game, as well as encourages players to create characters that let them play close to home and tie themselves emotionally to their characters. This can cause a lot of bleed, emotional cross-over from your character to yourself, which is something that Nordic LARP encourages for richness of play.

THE book on Nordic LARP.
THE book on Nordic LARP.

What develops out of these and other complexities of the Nordic tradition is a body of games that are deeply touching, well-structured, and immersive to players. The Nordic community is also heavily interested in cultivating a body of work which documents LARPs, since by nature larps are ephemeral and cannot be repeated exactly. For that reason, one can read up on some of the major games over there, like Mad About the Boy (based on Y: the Last Man), Kapo (a prison-camp LARP about internment and the loss of humanity during incarceration), and Just A Little Lovin’ (about the AIDS crisis in the 80’s in NYC). There’s also an amazing textbook on the community called Nordic LARP by Jaako Stenros and Markus Montola which has received critical acclaim, including winning the Diana Jones Award at Gencon in 2012.

Knutepunkt developed as the convention center of this developing community, a conference where games could be showcased and discourse on the art of making larps could be held. As far as I can tell, Knutepunkt is THE place to discuss Nordic LARP and welcomes passionate designers and players from everywhere once a year. This was my first time in attendance.

The Trip Over and A Week in Norway

I caught a flight overnight and arrived in Norway Monday morning. I was traveling with Chris, a DC area gamer and larp organizer that I met earlier this year at InterCon. We stayed together at a local hotel in Oslo while participating in A Week in Norway, the four day extended programming provided by the Knutepunkt organizers for those who wanted to cram more Nordic LARP experience into their trip. From Monday on they had a community house open with games and food available all day, and events planned for the participants. We did a workshop on rituals in LARP, a particular favorite tradition of the Norwegian designers, that took place inside a mausoleum. We listened to talks about Nordic LARP hosted by Nordic Larp Talks, including presentations by Jaako Stenros (co-author of Pervasive Games and the Nordic LARP book), Annika Waern (Pervasive Game co-author) and Sarah Lynne Bowman (author of The Functions of Role-Playing Games). And one of my personal favorites, we played a game called Limbo, held on a tram as it rode around the city and experienced being trapped in Purgatory.

Part of the events scheduled also included larps written by participants in the Larp Exchange Academy, an extension of the summer LARP Exchange Academy run in Vilnus, Lithuania in June. These brave souls traveled from their home countries to be holed up in a house in the hills outside of Oslo to spend three days writing LARPs. The results were some brand new games which we play tested during that week we were there. I had the pleasure of playing a game called Stereo Hearts, in which the players explored inter-personal relationships using songs on your playlist and recited monologues. I was at first skeptical – I’d seen game jams done but a game jam on larps? And a game about playlists to share emotion?

I was never so happy to be wrong. Stereo Hearts proved to be a moving, extremely engaging game with some fantastic use of Nordic metatechniques. I don’t think I’d ever engaged so quickly or so deeply in emotional relationships in a LARP. Afterwards, I felt emotionally exhausted and yet happy, as I’d been deeply touched by the depth of internal struggles we’d experienced in a brief game.

That is a great way to describe most of my week in Oslo – emotionally exhausted and yet happy. I had never imagined that immersing myself in the Nordic LARP scene would require me to open up quite so much of myself, both in games and in inter-personal relationships. I spent a lot of the time meeting new people and discussing the differences between LARP cultures in different countries, and as a result met a lot of wonderful, friendly, intelligent folks from more countries than I could name. Personally, the games that I was introduced to also required me to dig deep into my own emotions to feed the role-play and I soon found myself exploring some deep-down emotionally intense places both during and after events.

I soon realized why the Nordic larp tradition focuses intently on what is known as debriefing or after-care, in which organizers go over the events of the game and how players felt about what went down. While this might sound very touchy-feely to gamers from America, this culture of after-care is instrumental in giving players an avenue to express what they felt in a game should they feel the need. I found myself being open and honest about how events in character felt and what I was thinking about after the game ended, a space that I often find lacking in American LARPs. I also found myself talking extensively with other designers and larp academics about the emotional implications of the idea of ‘bleeding’ in and out of ones character, whether that was ‘healthy’ and whether or not after-care was needed – all fodder for a blog post all it’s own shortly.

Overall, the week in Norway provided me with insight into how the community worked and gave me a great taste of what’s to come. Because if I believed that four days in Oslo with Nordic LARP was intense, I was nowhere prepared for the awesomeness of Knutepunkt 2013.

To be continued…