Over the last year, I gave three speeches on Nordic and American larp. Here are the notes.
Don’t Touch or I’ll Sue: American larp as national metaphor
How American larp both reflects and is influenced by American values. Notes for my talk, given at Solmukohta 2012, Gen Con 2012, and Wyrd Con.
American Jerkform: A Manifesto
There’s a new school of highly conceptual gaming in town, and it wants to make you cry. Meet American Jerkform.
My Gen Con Pilgrimage
Gen Con is big. Really, really big. Bigger than any other convention I’ve been to. And although I walked around the convention center and at least four hotels over my three-day stay, Gen Con is so tremendously huge that I
Link Love: Larp Conventions
Shout out to some of the world’s larp conventions. This list would be way longer if I included all the general gaming conventions that offer larp as part of the fun; I tried to keep it to just the larp
Women Should Organize More Larp
Women of the larp scene: run more games! Men of the larp scene: encourage women to run more games!
Link Love: Larp Magazines
A thrilling compendium of larp magazines the world over. By which I mean live European magazines, and dead American ones.
I Caught a Fish THIS BIG: Realism, Tall Tales & American Larp
Does the historical inaccuracy of boffer larps reflect America’s truncated past? Plus, I finally find a way to use the words “simulacrum” and “hyperreality.” Come for the theory, stay for the shameless jargon-usage!
Ars Amandi: The Post-Coital Review
Lessons learned from a stateside Ars Amandi workshop. Six brave gamers tried out this Nordic mechanic for simulating romance and sex in larp, and raised a number of interesting questions about the technique.
Don’t Touch Me: Physical contact and litigiousness in American and Nordic larp
Scandinavians get handsy at larps, while Americans don’t touch each other (for the most part). I say a cultural tendency toward lawsuits should take part of the blame.