Category: News

  • Nordic Larps Talks coming (back) to Gothenburg!

    All the way back in 2014 Nordic Larp Talks was hosted in Gothenburg, this year in connection to Knutpunkt an A week in Gothenburg we are once again in the city to host a bunch of amazing talks!

    Nordic Larp Talks is a curated series of short presentations on larps, larp design, and larp culture in all their forms – a warm, lovely, intelligent kickstart to the main conference experience!

    This year’s speakers include Lara Hartung, Nór Hernø, Adrian Hon, Julia Lesniewska, Trine Lise Lindahl, Suus Mutsaers, Inge-Mette Petersen, and Katrine Wind. Their quick talks cover topics from character design to physical performance, larp uses from activism to education, and include an analysis of a bad larp with robots. Anne Grove from the KP book editorial team will also give a beginner’s guide to reading, loving, and writing for KP Books!

    Doors will open at 18:30, and the programme will start at 19 CEST. Entrance is free and the event is open to everyone. The in-person venue is Kronhuset (Kronhusgatan 1D, 411 13 Göteborg), close to the train station. It has 200-seats and is wheelchair accessible. The live stream is on the Nordic Larp Talks Youtube channel, where you also can find 130 amazing videos from the last 15 years to enjoy!

    The Nordic Larp Talks are presented in collaboration with Studiefrämjandet and supported by Västra Götalandsregionen and NordicLarp.org

    Nordic Larps Talks Gothenburg 2026 at Kronhuset
    Host: Johanna Koljonen
    When: 18:30 – 21:00 at Wednesday, April 15th
    Where: Kronhusgatan 1D, 411 13 Göteborg

  • Nordic Larp Talks Tampere 2024

    Photo by Tuomas Puikkonen

    For the third time, we had the pleasure to have the Nordic Larp Talks in Finland. This time in Tampere with 9 great presentations. You can find them all in this article. Please do, the are really worth watching.

    All the talks

    Also don’t miss these great photos from the event by Tuomas Puikkonen on Flickr

    Nordic Larp Talks Tampere 2024 was held on April 10th at Paidia – Living Lab of Play during A Week in Finland, which in part was connected to the Solmukohta 2024 conference.

    It was hosted by Johanna Koljonen and produced by Petter Karlsson in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies at Tampere University and Tracon ry, with economic support from Participation Design Agency
& Lajvverkstaden,

    Photo by Tuomas Puikkonen

    Nordic Larp Talks is a series of short, entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the tradition of Nordic Larp.

  • Nordic Larp Talks – Back in Finland

    On Wednesday, April 10th at 19:00 EET (20:00 CET) as part of the programme A Week in Finland for the larp conference Solmukohta, we are happy to announce that Nordic Larp Talks is back in Finland!

    The talks will be live at Paidia at Nokia Arena in Tampere and our ambition is as usual to both livestream and add all talks as video afterwards. Your host will be Johanna Koljonen.

    Our venue Paidia is located in Nokia Arena. You can find Paidia via Nokia Arena main A-doors, then go through the gates on your left and via escalators to 3.floor. For more information how to get to the Nokia Arena read this.

    Nordic Larp Talks Tampere 2024 is made in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies at Tampere University and Tracon ry.

    Nordic Larp Talks is a series of short, entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the tradition of Nordic Larp.

  • Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2017

    Nordic Larp Talks is a series of short, entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the tradition of Nordic Larp.

    The Nordic Larp Talks was hosted in Oslo at Deichmanske Public Library, Wednesday February 22nd. The Knutebook 2017s Book Launch Party was also a part of the program this evening.

    Videos will be posted here in a few weeks.

    Speakers
     
    Editors of The Knutepunkt 2017 Book
    Hanne Grasmo – Larp and I – till death do us apart
    Shoshana Kessock – Disability Access, LARP, And You
    Eirik Fatland – “In praise of hypocrisy”
    Maury Brown – Harassment, missing stairs and community safety
    Karin Edman – Witches of Ästad farm
    Simon Svensson – City in a Box – Creating a Dystopian Sci-Fi City in a blackbox
    Dmitry Ivanov – Infiltrating Reality: ‘Agents of the Future’ project
    Siri Sandquist – The Currency of “Pepp”
     
    *

    The event was hosted by writer and radio & television host Johanna Koljonen.

    Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2017 was produced by Petter Karlsson from LajvVerkstaden in connection with Knutepunkt 2017 and A Week in Norway with support from Deichmanske Public Library.

    Big thanks to the local Knutepunkt team helping out making this happen and special thanks to photographers Dmitry Samus and Kristof Trakal.

  • Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2016

    Nordic Larp Talks is a series of short, entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the tradition of Nordic Larp.

    This year Nordic Larp Talks will be hosted in Helsinki, Tuesday March 8th at 19:00 and you are of course more than welcome to join us!

    The event will be held at (Updated!) Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architechture (often called “Taik”, Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki, on the 8th floor which is located about 20 min away from the central station by bus. The evening will be hosted by writer and radio & television host Johanna Koljonen.

    Free admission. Doors opens at 18:30.

    PROGRAM
    19.00 – 21.00 Tuesday March 8th at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture , Hämeentie 135 C, 8th Floor. The programme will start at 19.00 sharp.

    SPEAKERS
    The KP Book Presentation – Mika Loponen, Kaisa Kangas & Jukka Särkijärvi
    Mike Pohjola
    Mirka Oinonen
    Tina Leipoldt and Larson Kasper
    Martin Nielsen
    Masha Karachun and Zhenja Karachun
    Maury Brown
    Martin Ericsson

    Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2016 is produced by Inside Job Agency in connection with Solmukohta 2016 and A Week in Finland.

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    Nordic Larp Talks 2016

  • Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2013

    Thank you all that joined us in the livestream or at Litteraturshuset in Olso!

    All the talks from Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2013 are now available at the site:
    Watch the talks

  • Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2013

    LIVE FEED

    Not in Oslo? Follow it live here at 20:00. Join us in the chat or at #nordiclarp on twitter.

    20:00 CEST (UTC+2 hours)

    Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany

    21:00 EEST (UTC+3 hours)
    Finland, Palestine, Israel

    22:00 MSK (UTC+4 hours)
    Russia – Moscow

    19:00 BST (UTC+1 hour)
    United Kingdom

    14:00 EDT (UTC-4 hours)
    U.S.A. – New York

    11:00 PDT (UTC-7 hours)
    U.S.A. – California

    Welcome to Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2013 – 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.

    20.00 – 21.30 Wednesday April 17 at Litteraturhuset Wergelandsveien 29.
The programme will start at 20.00 sharp.

    Facebook event: Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2013

    For questions contact: Trine Lise Lindahl trine.l.lindahl@gmail.com +47 920 65 145

    image

    PROGRAM

    Release of Four Anthologies that together forms the Knutepunkt 2013 book project


    Another Knutepunkt, another of book! This year, they come as a compilation of four, each book (hopefully) giving a glimpse of what is working its way around in the now oh-so-wide larp community. Larps, people, theories and ideas are crossing international borders, and we want to know what it’s like! In what ways is it encouraging us to explore our own, personal preconceptions and habits? What does it all look like? The two editors will be interviewed by Johanna Koljonen, explaining what kind of book they set out to do – and showing what it has become. You can download the books as pdfs.

     

    Karete Jacobsen Meland is a larper, organizer and now editor, from Oslo. Currently living in Trondheim, she is supposed to be studying towards becoming a clinical psychologist, while being a part of “the gaffa” (organizer crew) at the Larp Factory in Trondheim, an actress at the students’ theatre and writing a play for the student festival UKA-13. 

    Katrine Øverlie Svela is the other editor and the graphic designer of this year’s book. She comes from Oslo, but studies industrial design in Trondheim, where she also is one of the organizers at the Larp Factory. Currently Katti writes a children’s play for the student festival UKA-13, organizes seks:førti about design and architecture, and dreams of a larpful summer.

    What does ‘Nordic Larp’ mean? – 
Jaakko Stenros
    What is a “Nordic Larp”? What does that expression mean? A few years ago these questions were academic or trivil. That was before the term acquired recognition and brand value. Now there is something at stake. In this talk one of the editors of the Nordic Larp book explains what he thinks the term means, where it came from, who gets to define it, and what is so damn special about it anyway.

    Jakko 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, Jaakkohas 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).

    Welcome to Larp. Let’s Play
Jana Pouchlá
    Larp is cool and fun. And it is a great experience to try it out. Or it should be a great experience if your organizers are prepared to deal with newcomers. In this talk Jana Pouchlá describes some basic arrangements that make new larpers feel safe and enjoy the game. She also argues why newbies sometimes are better larpers than super experienced players.

    Jana Pouchlá is a professional lecturer of larp and soft skills. Her favourite challenge is to connect these two worlds as larp is a great way to guide adults towards participation and active learning.  Pouchla has an education from theatre university and currently works in the larp company Court of Moravia.

    Three Ways to Make Games More Inclusive – 
Lars Nerback
    How do you, as a game designer, work to get a diverse group of participants to feel welcome and included? Lars Nerback talks from his experience in working with educational larps in schools, and gives three examples for making inclusive games.

    Lars Nerback is one of the owners of LajvVerkstaden (”The Larp Workshop” directly translated), a Swedish company that designs and runs educational larps for children, teenagers and adults. Apart from his work as game designer and project manager, Lars is deeply involved in issues of social justice and equality.

    The Mixing Desk of Larp – Martin Eckhoff Andresen
    How do you teach the complexity of larp design to beginners? This was the question that triggered The Mixing Desk of Larp – a framework for thinking about larp design. Like the sound or light technician adjusting faders to achieve the desired effect, the larp designer adjusts the faders of the Mixing Desk of Larp to change his or her game. This talk explores how this can make larp design easier to teach as a game design discipline. It also helps designers become more aware of the default positions of their larp design.

    Martin Eckhoff Andresen is a larper, organizer and game designer from Oslo, Norway. He has been involved with Fantasiforbundet’s “Larpocracy” projects in Belarus, that explore the role of games as a tool for informal education. He has edited Playing the Learning Game – A practical introduction to educational roleplaying (2012). At daytime, he’s finishing a master thesis in economics.

    No Training can Replace Experience, or Can it? – 
Stefan Deutsch
    Larp is great in building strange realities, far-away worlds and fantasies unheard of. But can it also be used to recreate authentic situations from real life to enable development workers to not only know about intercultural competence, but maybe even develop it before really coming in touch with a foreign culture?

    Stefan Deutsch plays and facilitates larps for nearly 20 years, co-wrote one of Germany’s most controversial larp rules system and was one of the organizers of the MittelPunkt larp conference in Germany. He lives in Germany and Tanzania and works as a consultant for a software company and larp.

    Bleed: How Emotions Affect Role-Playing Experiences
Sarah Lynne Bowman 
    What happens when roleplayer’s in-game feelings spill into their real lives? How are role player communities affected by what happens in a larp? This talk will explain the phenomenon of bleed in role-playing games and advocate for greater awareness of the phenomenon and increased discussion surrounding the emotional content of role-playing games.

    Sarah Lynne Bowman (Ph.D.) teaches as adjunct faculty in English and Communication for several institutions including The University of Texas at Dallas. McFarland Press published her dissertation in 2010 as The Functions of Role-playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems, and Explore Identity. Together with Aaron Vanek, Bowman co-edited The Wyrd Con Companion 2012, a collection of essays on larp and related phenomena. Her current research interests include examining social conflict and bleed within role-playing communities, applying Jungian theory to role-playing studies, studying the benefits of edu-larp, and comparing the enactment of role-playing characters with other creative phenomena such as drag performance.

    How Can we Know what Actually Happened in a Larp
 – Annika Waern
    The stories people tell about larps they have attended, lie very far from what they actually experienced in the game. Also, everyone tells a different story, and this is particularly true for players and organizers. Is there a way to understand what actually happened in a larp, and can we tell a single more coherent story about how a larp played out? This talk is about techniques to study larp.

    Annika Waern (Ph.D) is a professor and game researcher at the department of Informatics and Media at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has a long-standing experience of studying games that play out in the physical world, including but not limited to larp. Together with Markus Montola, and Jaakko Stenros she is author of Pervasive Games: Theory and Design (2009).

    Watch this space for updated information about the speakers.

    Nordic Larp Talks is Oslo 2013 is organized in connection with Knutepunkt 2013 and A Week in Norway.