Nordic Scene

The Solmukohta conference is over, and all the participants have a new book in their hands: Playground Worlds - Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games is a new anthology from the nordic larp conference Solmukohta/Knutepunkt/Knutpunkt/Knudepunkt (Nodal Point) edited by Markus Montola and Jaakko Stenros. You can find a list of earlier books in the series here: Solmukohta 2008 Book and the Book History. From the back cover of the book:

Playground Worlds is a collection of articles on role-playing games by leading researchers, artists and other experts. The book documents the theory and practice of the Nordic role-playing scene – one of the most vibrant in the world – and presents numerous methods and techniques that are directly applicable to larp design and production. It also offers a peek into some Anglo-American role-playing cultures.

The book is divided into three sections. Community and Journalism includes articles on role-player communities written particularly with an eye for approachability. Art and Design covers role-play as the product of a creative process, exposing philosophies and intentions behind specific role-playing works while providing advice and guidance for prospective designers. The Research and Theory section focuses on recent advances in analytic and academic thought on role-play.

The book will be published online at some point in the future, but for now you need to get hold of a physical copy. Details about how to do this can be found at the book page at the Solmukohta website. You can also read article abstracts and look at some images from the book.