This article explaining nordic larp culture is certainly dated here and there (the list of Knutepunkt traditions is best ignored) – but it has a lot of good information that I haven’t seen anywhere else. If you’re from somewhere else in the world and are trying to figure out what’s what in the Nordic tradition, it will be immensely helpful. If you’re from a Nordic country but not very familiar with the neighboring larp cultures, it’s a good read as well.
Appeared in Dissecting Larp in 2005.
A non-fiction book that’s mainly about larp in the US, but that contains a few chapters on Nordic Knutpunkt style larp as well. Read more about the book here.
Published in 2012.
Note: I write “Nordic Knutpunkt style larp” for a reason. I’m not a fan of using the term “nordic larp” to describe artsy avant-garde games as opposed to fantasy games. Apart from how confusing this descriptor is for people who play non avant-ga
rde games from Nordic countries, there’s actually an even better reason to avoid it: A lot of the things that are pinpointed as specific for the Nordic style are just as prevalent in classic fantasy games from the Nordic countries as they are in avant-garde black box games.
I’m all for describing a game like Mad About the Boy as nordic larp – it’s saying that Krigshjärta and other “mainstream fantasy” campaigns aren’t that’s nonsense. This point should actually become quite clear to Nordic readers of Leaving Mundania, as the book does a great job of describing how North American mainstream larping is done. The short version: It’s not like nordic mainstream larp. At all.
“A television show about two unique groups of teenagers dealing with life in high school during the 80’s.” (from imdb)
In one of the last episodes of this too-soon canceled series, charismatic burn-out Daniel ends up playing Dungeons and Dragons with the titular “geeks” of the show.
First aired in 2000.
A YA novel by Swedish writer (and larper) Sofia Nordin about a young girl who discovers larp. It was shortlisted for the prestigious August Prize, but unfortunately hasn’t been translated into any other language as far as I know.
Published in 2009.
A model for analysis of larp created by Norwegian organisation Fantasiforbundet, to be used at The Larpwriter Summer School in 2012.
I was one of the teachers at the summer school, and used the mixing desk model there (and later in other contexts) as a tool to workshop new larp concepts. For this purpose in particular, and making larp theory accesible in general, it is awesome.
Here’s the model itself, and here you can find a bunch of ted style talks about different parts of the model.
I can’t really speak to whether this Hollywood comedy gets the portrayal of American fantasy larp right, but it absolutely nails the geek pride aspect of larping. Bonus points for the existence of at least one female geek with agency in the film.
For those who read Swedish, I wrote a pretty lengthy review of Role Models when it was new.
This article details the game mechanics in the larp Totem that was played in Denmark the summer of 2007 and discusses the possibilities of creating a larping language of smaller gestures. Among other things, it explains Ars Ordo, the less well known cousin of the game technique Ars Amandi (aka “the arm sex thing”).
Appeared in Playground Worlds in 2008.
Basically, this is a straight up work of genius that breaks down how larps actually work, and how you as a designer can work with the quirks of the medium instead of against them. Read it.
Appeared in Role, Play, Art (free pdf at the link) in 2006
The show as a whole: “Two brothers follow their father’s footsteps as “hunters” fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds including monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth.” (from imdb)
The episode: At this point, the show had already established a meta-ish plot where there (for supernatural reasons) exists a pulp urban fantasy book series that exactly mirror the main characters lives. In this episode, they happen upon a con dedicated to the books, that also includes a larp.
It’s a fun episode, but it’s more on point about general geek culture than how larping is actually done (American con-larpers, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong).
Also: There are two newer episodes called “The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo” and “LARP and the Real Girl”, both guest starring Felicia Day, but I’m a few seasons behind and haven’t seen them yet.
The show as a whole: “A smarmy lawyer, whose education is deemed void by the bar, is forced to attend a local community college with an extremely eclectic staff and student body.”
The episode: “The study group plays Dungeons & Dragons with another classmate to improve his spirits, but Pierce’s jealousies cause their good intentions to backfire.”
In my personal view, this episode shows a remarkably low level of geek shaming for a mainstream TV production. It’s also startingly accurate in portraying how RPGs are actually played.
Here’s a clip from the episode.
Good Larp Reads 