For all the writing I’ve done about larp, I haven’t made much effort to define it in this space. Larp, or LARP, is an acronym for “live action role play”; it’s a type of game that tells a story, which is acted out in real time by players who improvise all their lines. Asking, “what [...]... Read More
On a recent car-trip we mulled over the question: What if great literary writers of the last 200 years had penned Twilight? For starters, Cormac McCarthy's version would begin with necrophilia.
... Read MoreDoes the idea of larp fascinate you or pique your interest? Do you live in New Jersey? Do you play Knight Realms, Dystopia Rising, or another local game? Been to the DREAMATION and DEXCON conventions? Are you friends with a certain Rutgers physicist? Come on down to the Fallout Shelter (Comics, Games & Collectibles!) tomorrow night for [...]... Read More
Solmukohta, the weirdly-named Finnish edition of the Knutepunkt convention ended more than a week ago, but the symptoms of Nordic withdrawal linger. Do you suffer from this dread disease? Symptoms may include: using the prefix “knute-” for everything, regardless of appropriateness greater-than-normal addiction to social media new Facebook/forum friends excessive honesty logorrhea that may include long [...]... Read More
I’ve written about the programming that I enjoyed at Solmukohta, but I’ve got more observations scrambling to escape my noggin. Here they are, in no particular order: Travel Fatigue Foreign travel depresses my natural level of pep. There’s something about the unfamiliarity of small events — the rude-sounding “toilet” instead of the “restroom,” the luncheon [...]... Read More
After my stop in Denmark for Fastaval, I headed to Helsinki to participate in Solmukohta, the Finnish installation of the Knutepunkt conference that rotates its way around the Nordic capitals, changing its name according to the local languages. The event features larps, workshops, run-downs of completed or upcoming games, and tons of talks on larp [...]... Read More
A copy of the rant I delivered at 2012 Solmukohta. Profanity included.
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Yesterday, I riffed on Fastaval, an awesome Danish roleplay convention I attended as part of my two-week Nordic roleplay junket. Today, I want to talk about a few favorite elements of the convention that US convention designers might import into their own conventions: The Dirtbusters. So far as I know, the Dirtbusters were created — maybe [...]... Read More
The first stop on my crazy Nordic tour was Fastaval, a convention devoted to board-gaming, larps, and freeform games. What are freeform games, you ask? No one knows for sure. They are sort of like tabletop games, except you sometimes get up and act out scenes rather than simply narrating them. And on the whole, [...]... Read More
In my book, I wrote of last year’s trip to Denmark that it blew my mind. Well, this year’s trip, a two-week tour-de-force to the Fastaval and Solmukohta roleplaying conventions in Denmark and Finland broke my body. A vicious attack by a flat patch of street left me hobbled with a sprained ankle that compromised [...]... Read More
With the publication of Leaving Mundania imminent (May 1 is the official pub date, but a few large online retailers already have it in stock!), I wanted to share a few things I learned while reporting and writing a book on larp. 1. Geeks secretly rule the world. Don’t cross the geek mafia, because they’re [...]... Read More
Why on earth do people larp? Lots of reasons. Hear them from the giant, animatronic horses' mouths.
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