Nordic Larp Talks

NLT 2012 in Helsinki

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:05:00 +0200

All presentations from Nordic Larps Talks Helsinki 2012 are now available on the site.

Watch the presentations

How to become a god - Mike Pohjola

From preforming arts to larp - Johanna MacDonald

Larpification - Claus Raasted

The interplay between player and man in the street - JP Kaljonen

Getting A Haircut And A Real Job - Interview with Mikko Rautalahti (Remedy) & Andie Nordgren (CCP Games)

Experimental Larp Design - Jesper Bruun

Playing in Graveyards: Terror collides with larp - Lizzie Stark

Bonus: States of Play - Solmukohta 2012 book presentation - Juhana Petterson

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Playing in Graveyards: Terror collides with larp - Lizzie Stark

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:47:24 +0200

Lizzie Stark is a freelance journalist and author of the narrative nonfiction book Leaving Mundania, which explores larp from a variety of angles in the US and Nordic countries. Her writing has appeared on The Today Show website, io9. and in The Daily Beast. She holds a masters journalism from Columbia University and an MFA in fiction writing from Emerson College and is the founder and editor-in-chief of the online literary journal Fringe, which is dedicated to political and experimental literature.

Site: elizabethrstark.com

Twitter: @lizziestark

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Experimental Larp Design - Jesper Bruun

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:38:00 +0200

Jesper Bruun (Cand. Scient) is a science education researcher who has made contributions to the Nordic larp scene by writing academic articles and developing innovative games. His current interest in larp revolves around using non-traditional ways of communication in larps and using pre-larp workshops for teaching participants to play games. Both interests are represented in the tango roleplay In Fair Verona.

Site: Jesper Bruun at University of Copenhagen
Twitter: @jbruun

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Getting A Haircut And A Real Job - Interview with Mikko Rautalahti (Remedy) & Andie Nordgren (CCP Games)

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:17:00 +0200

Played around with larp and roleplaying all your life? Want to make so good use of all the experience gained after entering all kinds of strange worlds? Well, at least Mikko Rautalahti and Andie Nordgren has done just that and are now employed at the video game studios Remedy Entertainmet (Alan Wake, Max Payne) and CCP Games (Eve Online, World of Darkness). Here interviewed by Johanna Koljonen about their thoughts about their work today and it’s connections to their roleplaying background.

Mikko Rautalahti plays role-playing games because they’re awesome. When he’s not pretending to be somebody very interesting, or enabling others to do the same, he writes. Turns out that can be a real job! He’s currently employed at Remedy Entertainment as a senior writer, where he makes video games like Alan Wake. To the best of your knowledge, he has never punched a baby.

Site: funpastimes.com
Twitter: @MikkiRMD

Andie Nordgren produced the Interactive Emmy Award winning game The Truth About Marika and is currently working as a technical producer at CCP Games. She is one of the co-founders of the Geek Girl Meetup, a member of the change-through-participation think tank Interacting Arts, and was recently chosen one of ten people whose advice the next Swedish prime minister should heed by Internetworld magazine.

Site: log.andie.se
Twitter: @nordgren

Johanna Koljonen is a writer, Radio and TV host, critic, and a popular lecturer on larp and related topics. Her groundbreaking larp criticism, in essays like “Eye-Witness to the Illusion: The Impossibility of 360° Role-Playing” and “The Dragon Was the Least of it: Larp As Ephemera and Ruin” are widely quoted in the field. She is a co-founder of the TV, radio and web production company Rundfunk Media AB and has a BA in literature. She has hosted several popular radio shows such as “P3 Kultur – Nördorama med Johanna Koljonen” and “Jättestora frågor med Johanna Koljonen” on Swedish national radio and writes columns for Dagens Nyheter and Fokus. She is the scriptwriter of the Oblivion High series of graphic novels and the co-author of the book-length larp autopsy Dragonbane – The Legacy. She also won the innovator category of the The Swedish Grand Journalism Prize of 2011.

Site: johannakoljonen.com
Twitter: @jocxy

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

JP Kaljonen - The interplay between player and man in the street

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:39:00 +0200

JP Kaljonen is a Helsinki based visual artist. He works in the fields of social- and participatory art dealing with themes related to cultural interaction. His works are based on societal grounds and vary from video or photography to projects in public space. Kaljonen has realized his projects in different parts of Asia and Europe, and his works have been presented in group- and solo exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Recent shows include Backlight International Photo Festival, Finland 2011, Finnish Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma URB11-Festival, Finland 2011 and Porapara Art Space Public Art Exhibition at Patenga Sea Beach, Bangladesh 2012. He organized and developed the larp Dublin2 (Helsinki, 2011) together with artists Johanna Raekallio and Haidi Motola. The second production of the larp is organized together with Johanna Raekallio and Nordic cooperatives in Stockholm 2012.

Site: kaljonen.com

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Larpification - Claus Raasted

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:43:00 +0200

The term gamification has been a buzzword the latest years in the sense that games are slowly making their way into new parts of society. That is now happening with larp and Claus calls it larpification.

Claus Raasted has been a professional larper for a decade, is the author of 8 books on larp and splits his time between being editor-in-chief of the national Danish roleplaying magazine ROLLE|SPIL and doing larp stuff for a variety of different institutions and people. He also has his own weapons factory, but who hasn’t, these days?

Site: clausraasted.dk

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

From preforming arts to larp - Johanna MacDonald

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:07:00 +0200

Johanna MacDonald is a transnational Finnish-Canadian artist in theatre, performance art, stand-up comedy, drag performance, punk music, writing, video, and larp. She started out in Toronto with a fairly traditional education in drama-based theatre as an actor and director, but then moved to Finland, where she couldn’t make heads or tails of the language. This move catalyzed an interest in physical theatre and dance, which is where Johanna focused intensively for the next half-decade, training in about half a dozen well-known theatrical methodologies from butoh to biomechanics. Together with Aarni Korpela, Johanna is the creator of Walkabout, a long-term crossover project between larp, theatre, and performance art. Their latest project, The Lovers’ Matchmaking Agency, will be run in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Helsinki in the summer of 2012.

Site: walkabout.happeningfish.com
Twitter: @happeningfish

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

How to become a god - Mike Pohjola

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:42:00 +0200

Mike Pohjola is a writer, a game designer, an entrepeneur and an activist. He has written two novels, three table-top roleplaying games, a manifesto, several theatre plays, larps at art festivals and for fun, some short films, digital games, interactive projects, and lots of other stuff. He has founded two award-winning companies, that together have won an International Emmy Award for Best Interactive TV Service (The Truth About Marika), two Interactive Rockies (Conspiracy For Good) and a Prix Europa (The Forest of Babel). He’s currently working on his third novel 1827 – Inferno about the Great Fire of Turku.

Site: mikepohjola.com
Blog: mikepohjola.wordpress.com
Twitter: @mikepohjola

My presentation, How To Become A God, deals with the history of drama from Dionysian rituals to reality television, and beyond, and how all of this relates to roleplaying. While doing that, I’ll also answer a puzzling point in Aristotle’s Poetics that’s been bugging theatre scholars for three thousand years.
Nordic Larp Talks and State of Play

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

States of Play - Solmukohta 2012 book presentation - Juhana Petterson

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:05:05 +0200

Prior to the Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012, Juhana Petterson the editor of States of Play, the Solmukohta book of the year held a very convincing argument this years book are completely different compared to its predecessors. You can download the book as pdf at the site nordicrpg.fi.

Juhana Pettersson is the producer of the videogame tv-show Tilt and the director of publishing at Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Nordic roleplaying culture.

He has studied at the University of Helsinki and at Studio national des arts contemporains le Fresnoy. He was the editor in chief of the roleplaying magazineRoolipelaaja from 2007 until 2009. He has worked as the assistant editor-in-chief at the left wing arts magazine Kulttuurivihkot, and as a contributing editor at the pan-Nordic roleplaying magazine Playground.

He has written for publications such as Helsingin Sanomat, Image, Veli, City, Voima,Kumppani, Libero and Ylioppilaslehti, and also did some work for the now defunct indie tv station ATV.

He has written a book called Roolipelimanifesti (Like, 2005) and a roleplaying game called Ikuisuuden laakso (Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura, 2009). He edited a collection of roleplaying games called Unelma Keltaisesta kuninkaasta ja muita tanskalaisia roolipelejä with Kristoffer Apollo and Tobias Wrigstad (Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura, 2011). He lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Site: juhanapettersson.com

Photo by Tuomas Puikkonen (CC BY 2.0)

Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:05:00 +0200

From the esthethic view of being a god in the immigrant camps of Finland to being on top of the digital game era and doing the tango with vampires in the Winter Garden.
We are larp.

Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012 - was an evening of entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the Nordic tradition of live action roleplaying games.

SPEAKERS

Mike Pohjola - How to become a god

Johanna Macdonald - From preforming arts to larp

Claus Raasted - Larpification

JP Kaljonen - The interplay between player and man in the street

Panel with Mikko Rautalahti & Andie Nordgren - Getting A Haircut And A Real Job

Jesper Bruun - Experimental Larp Design

Lizzie Stark - Playing in Graveyards: Terror collides with larp

The talks where presented by writer, radio & television host as well as winner of the innovator category of this years The Swedish Grand Journalism Prize award, Johanna Koljonen.

It was live streamed on nordiclarptalks.org and all talks are now available to watch with the player above. During the next days they will be published as separate clips.

NLT 2012 Helsinki was part of the A Week in Helsinki-program prior to the roleplaying conference Solmukohta.

Photo by Tuomas Puikkonen (CC BY 2.0)

Prior to the talks we livestreamed the presentation of this years Solmukohta book, States of Play by the editor Juhana Petterson. You can download the book as pdf at the site nordicrpg.fi.

Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012 took place on April 11th at the PRKL club in central Helsinki, Kaisaniemenkatu 4. Hosted by Johanna Koljonen and produced and livestreamed by Petter Karlsson & Björn Falkevik from Falkevik & Danehav. Big thanks to the whole A Week in Helsinki crew for making this happen.

Documenting the Nordic Larp Scene

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:03:05 +0100

Jaakko Stenros (M.Soc.Sc.) is a game researcher at the Game Research Lab at the University of Tampere, Finland. Currently he is working on a dissertation on the limits of games. Together with Markus Montola, Jaakko has edited three books on larp, Playground Worlds (2008), Beyond Role and Play (2004) Nordic Larp (2010). They are also authors of Pervasive Games: Theory and Design (2009).

Site: Nordic Larp Book
Watch the our special talkshow about the Nordic Larp Book

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Can Playing Games Teach Us About War?

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:02:05 +0100

Eirik Fatland is a larpwright and interaction designer from Norway and has has since 1994 been involved in the design of around 10-15 larps. He has written several articles for the Knutepunkt books, larp magazines and the Amor Fati website.

Site: The Larpwright

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Not Another Story About Boy Meets Girl

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:05 +0100

Tor Kjetil Edland was one of the organizers of the (almost) all female larp Mad about the Boy the summer of 2010. He is an active member of Laivfabrikken Oslo, a network organizing monthly larps in Oslo, and has been part of producing two Knutepunkts, the annual Nordic larp conference. Other larps on his resume include Just a little lovin’, 1942, New Voices in Art, Limbo and Kristianiabohemen. Most of his professional career has involved working on international development projects, and he is currently managing women’s rights projects in Africa and South Asia in the YWCA/YMCA movement.

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Horror and Tragedy in Nordic Role-Playing

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:05 +0100

Markus Montola (M.Soc.Sc.) has worked as a researcher both at University of Tampere and at Nokia Research Center, with role-playing and pervasive games as main research interests. Together with Jaakko Stenros, Montola has edited three books on larp, Playground Worlds (2008), Beyond Role and Play (2004) Nordic Larp (2010). They are also authors of Pervasive Games: Theory and Design (2009).

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Role-Playing as a Teaching Method

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0100

Sanne Harder is a Danish scenario writer, who has more than 15 productions behind her, both LARP and tabletop, among which the most prominent are Agerlund (2009) and Felicia’s Story (2008). Her work has been published several times, both as part of antologies and as stand alone scenarios. Sanne has many year’s experience as a judge at the Danish scenario convention Fastaval. Here she has also been awarded prizes for her work. She has been a contributing writer and editor of several Danish (and international) magazines about roleplaying. In her professional life, Sanne is a teacher. She has studied theory of teaching at the Danish University of Education, where her work has focussed on competencies as an alternative approach to modern teaching. She has worked professionally with roleplaying in education for several years.

Site: The Role-Playing Teacher

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Fabricating Madness

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0100

Peter Schønnemann Andreasen was one of the organizers of the larp Delirum in 2010.

Photo: Jakob la Cour www.jakoblacour.dk

Playing With Personal Development

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0100

Bjarke Pedersen runs the Copenhagen based company Odyssé which focuses on interactive storytelling, larping and participatory events. He also works together International artist Brody Condon on interactive performances in Europe and the States. He has played, designed and organised larps since the late nineties. He has made everything from children-larps for the Royal Danish Theatre to an elaborate simulation of life aboard a Soviet submarine.

Site: Odyssé
Twitter: bjarcore

On Games: Painting Life With Rules

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:33:00 +0100

Thank you for Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen 2011

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:29:00 +0100

Last night a packed room at Huset in Copenhagen and vibrant a crowd on the live-stream watched Nordic Larp Talks 2011.

Photo: Larson Kasper

We would like to give a final big hand of applause to our fantastic speakers. Your speeches were awesome and we salute you.

Also we are so grateful for the production team from Knudepunkt 2011; Nynne Søs Rasmussen, Anders Berner, Jens Niros, Juliane Mikkelsen, Kristoffer Thurøe, the people at Huset i Magstræde, SocialVideo Production for the live-streaming and all others who made this event possible!

You can watch the stream in full in the player below for now, but in the following weeks will will post the individual speaks here at the Nordic Larp Talks site complete with links and references.

On Games: Painting Life With Rules (starts at 02:15)
Johanna Koljonen

Playing With Personal Development(starts at 12:00)
Bjarke Pedersen

Fabricating Madness(starts at 22:00)
Peter Schønnemann Andreasen

Role-Playing as a Teaching Method(starts at 34:55)
Sanne Harder

Horror and Tragedy in Nordic Role-Playing (starts at 45:55)
Markus Montola

Not Another Story About Boy Meets Girl(starts at 54:15)
Tor Ketil Edland

Can Playing Games Teach Us About War?(starts at 1:05:25)
Eirik Fatland

Documenting the Nordic Larp Scene(starts at 1:20:42)
Panel: Johanna Koljonen & Jaakko Stenros

Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen, 16 Feb 19.00 at Huset

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:55:00 +0100

Welcome to Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen 2011 - an evening of entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the Nordic tradition of live action roleplaying games.

The evening is hosted by writer and radio & television host Johanna Koljonen.

Free admission.

19.00-20.30 at Huset i Magstræde, Rådhusstræde 13, Copenhagen
The bar is open after the event.

The event will be streamed live as it happens, on this page:
http://nordiclarp.knudepunkt.org/

Facebook event: Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen 2011

Press contact: Kristoffer Thurøe k@doodlers.dk +45 2980 8128

Program

Nordic Larp culture
Johanna Koljonen

Fabricating madness
Peter Schønnemann Andreasen

Learning through playing
Sanne Harder Flamant

Playing with personal development
Bjarke Pedersen

Why some games use our real life fears and emotions to create stories
Markus Montola

Not another story of boy meets girl
Tor Kjetil Edland

Can playing games teach us about war?
Eirik Fatland

Documenting the Nordic Larp Scene - the making of the Nordic Larp Book
Panel: Jaakko Stenros & Johanna Koljonen

Watch this space for updated information about the speakers.

Nordic Larp Talks 2011 is organized in cooperation with Rollespilsfabrikken and Bifrost, and supported by DUF and Københavns Kommune. It is a part of the programme the week before larp conference Knudepunkt.

About Nordic Larp Talks:

The first Nordic Larp Talks event took place in Stockholm in 2010, in connection with Nordic larp conference Knutpunkt. All the talks can be seen on this website:

Introduction to Nordic Larp

Transmitting a political vision through larp

The Quest for the Perfect Manifestation of a Dream

Portraying Love and Trying New Genders

Larp as Borderland Festivals

High Resolution Larping

Critical Strategies of Larp