Tag: Mike Pohjola

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2022 Linköping Talks

Pimp My Magic School – Mike Pohjola

In magic school larps, kids play young witches and wizards who go to school to study alchemy, telepathy, healing, runes, and other supernatural subjects. In his talk, Mike Pohjola talks about how his local magic school works – and how last Saturday, they tried something a little different.

Mike Pohjola is a Finnish novelist, playwright, entrepreneur, activist, and game designer. He has written several published tabletop roleplaying games, designed and organized dozens of larps, wrote the Manifesto of the Turku School when he was 21, and in his thesis argued that Aristotle really missed out on larping on account of living in Ancient Greece. Mike stopped being a goth idol to explore the life of a middle-aged dad.

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2016 Helsinki Talks

Monsters as Metaphors – Mike Pohjola

Finnish transmedia developer and larp designer Mike Pohjola talks about Baltic Warriors, a larp campaign of seven games in seven countries about the Baltic sea in the summer of 2015.

The larps were about political meetings on the topics of the eutrification of the Baltic Sea. “What is eutrophication, and how do you make a larp about it, since it’s an abstract concept that you can’t show?” And how do you make a larp about hubris? About the passage of generations? How do you let your players interact with consumerism, pride, nuclear radiation, puberty, or communism? This inspirational and funny talk answers that question! (Hint: the answers involve DEAD ZONES and some pretty awesome monsters).

balticwarriors.net

Mike Pohjola is a Finnish novelist, transmedia developer, game designer and entrepreneur. He has founded two media companies, that together have won an International Emmy Award, two Interactive Rockies, and a Prix Europa. He is a Master of Arts in Screenwriting from Aalto University, where his Master’s Thesis dealt with participatory storytelling in Classical Greece. He is also the designer and author of Age of the Tempest – a tabletop roleplaying game aimed for kids and beginners.

Site: mikepohjola.com
Blog: mikepohjola.wordpress.com
Twitter: @mikepohjola
Age of Tempest: myrskynsankarit.wordpress.com/age-of-the-tempest

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2012 Helsinki Talks

How to become a god – Mike Pohjola

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