Knutepunkt (known as Solmukohta, Knutpunkt or Knudepunkt when held in Finland, Sweden and Denmark respectively) is an annual Nordic role-playing convention with a strong emphasis on live-action role-playing. Knutepunkt 2009 will take place from April 16 to April 19 at Haraldvangen conference centre north of Oslo, Norway.

Call for Programme Knutepunkt 2009

Do you have an idea aching to be set free at this year’s Knutepunkt? Join us in making this a colorful event filled with all things strange, meaningful, useful and fun! Our goal is that people will leave inspired and with new tools which will make it easier to create more and better larps for more people.

There are few limits to what you can bring to the programme, but we have pinpointed six threads for which we in particular are soliciting contributions:

Creating larps – Workshops on larp design, practical aspects of larp production, methods for creating characters and building worlds.

Games – We want more games this year! Short larps and freeform scenarios. If you have a scenario for just a few participants, think about if it could be played by multiple groups simultaneously.

Researching larp – Presentations and debates. Have you published an article, a book or a thesis, or are you in the middle of the process of writing something which should be shared and discussed with more people?

Larp in “the Real World” – We want to showcase methods and experiences from using larp and role-playing as an educational tool. And is it possible to make a living out of larp-organising?

Rituals – Ecstatic drums, contemplative meditations and pledge of allegiance. Rituals are powerful equipments for building group cohesion and creating strong experiences in larps.

Get Physical – Drama and dance workshops. The body as tool and explorer.

Sign up here if you want to contribute to the programme

Albión was a mixture of the legend of Robin Hood and the fantasy of Shakespeare written and played in the Adventurous Romanticistic style in a Finnish forest in September. It was the fifth game of that style, directed by Katri Lassila and Tuomas Hakkarainen with help of Laura Kalli.
The main idea was to get the players run in the forest, use bows and swords and enjoy the feeling of the childhood plays. Still the story was written as interesting as possible,
taking inspiration apart from Robin Hood also from Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Gaiman’s Sandman, steampunk in general and the Legends of King Arthur. The theatrical playing style was inspired by adventure films and novels, the players watched in advance The Adventures of Robin Hood starred by Errol Flynn from the year 1938.

Main plot in short:
The evil queen Albiónia had murdered and seized the throne from her sister Amanda and had ruled the Albión (situated in a soft spot shifting in times in the Sherwood Forest) for three hundred years, three times more than the natural cycle of the Forest Folk was.
Amanda had sent her seven children to the different times and places to save them, but an old prediction told that after three hundred years of evil rule, on the Midsummer Night’s eve, the “Seven Flowers” would get together again and the queen would fall.

In London 1939 the war had just started, the world was in chaos and nobody except the Society knew, that the queen sitting on the throne of England wasn’t really the Queen Victoria but a human-like machine, put there by the Enemies of the Empire, the horrible secret society led by doctor James Moriarty.
The evil queen Albiónia had come to the year 1936 and wanted to conquer the world by making an alliance with Hitler. The Society had to act. The professor had designed a time machine, a wonderful instrument that brang the members back in time to help Vilja, the princess in exile to defeat her evil aunt.
At the same time the legend of Robin Hood was to be saved, as in the world where the Society left from, she had died in her youth in the hands of the evil sheriff (yes, they both were really women, the history books haven’t been accurate.)

What happened then? Did the characters succeed? Despite some bad luck and difficult situations (as Sir Remington shooting Robin by accident in a battle) the evil queen was killed and sacrificed and the world saved. And everything ended in some fireworks as all the good adventure movies do.

The adventures will continue most probably in the summer 2009 and will welcome all the foreign friends to join in too!

The Adventurous Romanticism (article from the Solmubook 2008):
http://docs.google.com/View?docID=dgv58wsc_5fp265vgj&revision=_latest

Sir Remington meets an old friend:
http://docs.google.com/View?docID=df7kc8fv_38jvj539cn&revision=_latest

The Secret Document:
http://docs.google.com/View?docID=df7kc8fv_407cfwhsgt&revision=_latest

The pictures of the game:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lassila.katri/Albion_InCharacter#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lassila.katri/Albion_OffCharacter#

Yours - in romance and adventure,

Katri

October 24 - 25, 2008 will be two days that live in infamy… or at least two days that are defined by action in a Danish forest, where Rollespilsfabrikken (The Roleplaying Factory) will be organising the English language Warhammer 40k larp “It is better to die for the Emperor”.

It’ll be grim action, dark humor and Dawn of War quotes galore, and it’ll be held exclusively in English, so as to appeal to an International player base… because after our experiences with Motherland earlier this year, and the success of the English language game of En Stilla Middag last year, we’ve realised the great untapped potential of International larps.

“It is better to die for the Emperor” is one of these, and also interesting because (like The Motherland) it utilizes a high degree of “Pick-up-and-play”. Most costuming will be provided, as will weapons and special equipment. So if you’re not doing anything else in the end of October, come play with us… it’ll be a blast.

www.rollespilsfabrikken.dk/40k

Dragonbane was a fantasy village larp with the ambition to create a fully immersive world with working magic, a moving and talking dragon and characters played by people from several different countries and gaming cultures. It was played in Sweden in 2006.

Creating this document is a heroic effort, since much knowledge from big larp productions tends to fall out of memory. The report has a wealth of practical tips and insights, and gives a detailed picture of a project on the Nordic larp scene.

The report is a 9,5 M PDF document. Click here (or on the cover image) to download

What is the game about?
The participants get a chance to explore the myth about the masks. What happens when they step down into the flesh and wander our streets? Can they be encountered? Are they dangerous? There is a group of scientists claiming that those who approach the masks become cursed and develop strange ideas. Have you heard that time sometimes freezes at the Jakobsberg Station? And who is building labyrinths in the forest around old Runsa fortification?

What do you do?
In Maskspel you accomplish missions and playful events. You take part in closed gatherings and open street escapades. Everything is connected. Maskspel is a reality game. This means that reality itself and the public environment is our playground. Maskspel is played in groups of three or more people.

This autumn the project is financed by Arbetarnas bildningsförbund (Workers’ Educational Association).

Deltagarkultur, translated “Participatory Arts” or “Participatory Culture” is a new book in swedish written by Interacting Arts. The authors have all been heavily involved in the nordic live role-playing community. The book can be ordered here. If you know any publishing house that would be interested in a translation, please contact editor@interactingarts.org.

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter:

In spectator culture media, the role of the producer is to create suggestions. The role of the consumer is to recieve them. Communication moves in one direction only: when we look at a work of art, go to the theatre or see a film, we are supposed to remain spectators. If we paint on the paintings in the gallery, play the harmonica during a concert, or climb the stage shouting “Hamlet, No!”, we are in violation of the prevailent agreements of the particular medium. Such crimes against protocol are generally punished by lowered social standing, by branding the perpetrator a boisterous nitwit, and/or calling for a policeman. Unlawful dispossession is no more tolerated by spectator culture than by the authorities.

Every media structure constitutes a relation: who produces suggestions for whom? Being able to control the shape of suggestions means having a strong influence on the experience of the recipient. In other words, media relations are always relations of power. Media based on one-way communication have a visibly authoritarian structure. The recipient is, at best, able to avoid unwanted suggestions by severing the perceptive contact with the medium, but as long as she herself doesn’t assume the role of producer, all this means is that she has momentarily switched manipulators.

/…/

To be consecrated, elevated to the position of producer of suggestions is a dream of many consumers. Could this be because they would like to shape reality rather than be shaped by it? Produce the suggestions that create experiences of their own accord rather than be passive spectators?

(By Kristoffer Haggren, Elge Larsson, Leo Nordwall & Gabriel Widing)

We want your papers. We want your articles on engaging play, your well-written seductions, your entertaining and bright ideas. We will help you write them.

The working title for the Knutepunkt 2009 book is “What matters”. What really matters in larp design? What matters in larp experience? What matters for you personally? What matters for the hobby? We want to identify and document tools and methods that makes it easier to realize your larp dream. We want to make it easier to create more and better larps for more people.

The subtitle of the book is “Fun”. Fun can be serious. Fun can be subtle and sophisticated. Fun can be many-layered. But it is fun.

Our hobbies, lifestyles, art are something we love being a part of. Show us that love. We especially want articles based on personal, real experience. LARP reviews. Techniques and experiments. Reflections on a life of LARPing. Please send us your ideas as soon as possible!

Formats

We accept contributions of different lengths and genre, including journalism, photography, personal recollections and the traditional academic paper. We encourage authors to choose the size and genre that best fits their content. This year, we’re particularly looking for “one-pagers”: a statement, an observation, a question that fits onto a single page - or less

What is Knutepunkt?

Knutepunkt (Knudepunkt/Knutpunkt/
Solmukohta) is an annual Nordic festival/conference focusing on live roleplaying (larp). In recent years, Knutepunkt has been accompanied by the publication of an anthology of articles on the practice and theory of (live) role-playing. Work on the 2009 Knutepunkt in Oslo is underway. The Knutepunkt web pages can be found at knutepunkt.laiv.org.

Timeline

July - August: Exchange of ideas and abstracts
September: Writing, writing, writing
October: Editor comments and rewrites
November: More rewrites
December: Editing and proofreading
January: Layout and printing
At least two weeks before Knutepunkt: Papers published online
Knutepunkt: Papers published in a printed book

Contact

The book is edited by Matthijs Holter, Eirik Fatland and Even Tømte. Send your abstracts, ideas and questions to knutebok09@yahoogroups.com.

Höjdpunkt vill ta rollspel till nya höjder oavsett om det är levande, friforms- eller sceniskt rollspel. Vi vill föra samman lajv och friform, föra tillbaka friformen till konventen, undersöka gränserna mellan klassisk och interaktiv teater, laborera med vad det är att vara en bra spelare eller spelledare, och vi vill göra det genom att göra det som vi först fastande för: att uppleva genom spel.

Höjdpunkt skall vara en vitamininjektion i lajv- och rollspelssverige. Det är ett ambitiöst mål, och vi behöver din hjälp för att nå det. Vi vill ordna höjdpunkt lite som ett knytkalas där så många som möjligt tar med sig något för de andra att uppleva, känna och prova. Det kan vara nytt eller gammalt, lånat eller eget, stort eller smått.

Vi vill gärna att alla deltagare bidrar med någonting och precis som vanligt blir det billigare för alla som tar med något till kalaset, i det här fallet ett arrangemang, en insats som medarrangör eller spelledare. Men vi vill också att alla skall delta i andras, eftersom spelande är ett skapande det också. Naturligtvis får du komma på Höjdpunkt utan att arrangera något, men tänk efter — det behöver inte vara så fruktansvärt allvarligt eller pretentiöst. I vår erfarenhet har nya arrangörer ofta en fräsch vinkel eller nyskapande idé, och det är med dessa idéer som vi kan ta rollspels- och lajvsverige till en ny nivå.

Nu kör vi.

Anmälan och mer information på: http://www.hojdpunkt.org

Ole Peder Giæver, one of the authors, says:

It’s been described, by authoritative sources, as “LSD for nerds” and “It’s a surrealistic role-playing game. Imagine if Jorge Luis Borges and Salvador Dali had redesigned Over the Edge.”

Mr. Pettersson has published some documentation of the game. Go check it out!

A pirate radio station, a sheet monster, God and the Super-Ego, an underground complex and abducting passersby into the game. Read all about it.