The Knutepunkt is an annual
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
conference held annually in the
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...
since 1997. It has been a vital institution in establishing a Nordic role-playing identity, and in establishing the concept of "
Nordic larp" as a unique approach. Though the conference started out strictly as a
Live action role-playing
A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their character (arts), characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of ...
(''larp'' for short) event, it has since embraced role-playing games in a more general fashion. Today the conference still has an emphasis on larp, but programs devoted to traditional
tabletop role-playing as well as newer arrivals such as
freeform are common.
A live action role-playing
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
movement, which pursues radical experimentation and the recognition of role-playing as a form of
art
Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
, has been connected to the Knutepunkt conferences. The scope of the Knutepunkt conference has expanded rather rapidly over the last few years with participants showing up from numerous non-Scandinavian countries. Since about 2003 Knutepunkt has seen participants from the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
,
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, among others.
Name
''Knutepunkt'' is
Norwegian for "meeting point" or "knot point" as it can be directly translated as, and locally the term is translated into
Swedish ''Knutpunkt'',
Danish ''Knudepunkt'' and
Finnish ''Solmukohta''. The name of the convention refers to the point where two pieces of rope or string joins in a knot, and varies with the organizing country.
History
The organising country changes each year in this order:
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
,
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
.
Publications
Since 2001 the Knutepunkt conferences have been accompanied by books on
larp theory,
with the exception of the 2002 conference in Stockholm.
*Anette Alfsvåg, Ingrid Storrø, Erlend Eidsem Hansen (eds.): ''The Book''. Knudepunkt 2001. no ISBN
*Morten Gade, Line Thorup & Mikkel Sander (eds.): ''As Larp Grows Up''. Knudepunkt 2003. . https://web.archive.org/web/20060718051716/http://www.laivforum.dk/kp03_book/
*Markus Montola & Jaakko Stenros (eds.): ''Beyond Role and Play''. Solmukohta 2004. . https://web.archive.org/web/20060615144314/http://www.ropecon.fi/brap/
*Petter Bøckman & Ragnhild Hutchison (eds.): ''Dissecting Larp''. Knutepunkt 2005. (print) (online) http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/kp05/
*Thorbiörn Fritzon & Tobias Wrigstad (eds.) : ''Role, Play, Art''. Knutpunkt 2006. . http://jeepen.org/kpbook/
*Jesper Donnis, Morten Gade & Line Thorup (eds.): ''Lifelike''. Knudepunkt 2007. . https://web.archive.org/web/20070314102705/http://www.liveforum.dk/kp07book/
*Jaakko Stenros & Markus Montola (eds.): ''Playground Worlds''. Solmukohta 2008. (print) (pdf) https://web.archive.org/web/20091221130755/http://www.ropecon.fi/pw/
*Matthijs Holter, Eirik Fatland & Even Tømte (eds.): ''Larp, the Universe and Everything''. Knutepunkt 2009. http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/
* Larsson, Elge (ed.): ''Playing Reality''. Knutpunkt 2010 ,
Interacting Arts. (print) (pdf) https://web.archive.org/web/20110818143459/http://interactingarts.org/pdf/Playing%20Reality%20(2010).pdf
* Thomas Duus Henriksen, Christian Bierlich, Kasper Friis Hansen & Valdemar Kølle (eds.): ''Think Larp - Academic Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051237/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/think_larp_web.pdf
* Claus Raasted (ed.): ''Talk Larp - Provocative Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051302/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/talk_larp_web.pdf
* Lars Andresen, Charles Bo Nielsen, Luisa Carbonelli, Jesper Heebøll-Christensen, Marie Oscilowski (eds.): ''Do Larp - Documentary Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20110812230824/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/do_larp_web.pdf
* Juhana Pettersson (ed.): ''States of Play: Nordic Larp Around the World''. Published by Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura in conjunction with the Solmukohta 2012 conference. / (PDF) http://www.nordicrpg.fi/julkaisut/states-of-play/
* Eleanor Saitta, Marie Holm-Andersen and Jon Back (ed.): “The Foundation Stone of Nordic Larp.” Published by Knutpunkt in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference (Print)/ (PDF) http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/8/80/2014_The_Foundation_Stone_of_Nordic_Larp.pdf
* Jon Back (ed.): “Knutpunkt 2014: Sharpening the Cutting Edge.” Published by Knutpunkt in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference (Print) / (PDF) http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/e/e8/2014_The_Cutting_Edge_of_Nordic_Larp.pdf
* Charles Bo Nielsen and Claus Raasted (ed.): “The Knudepunkt 2015 Companion Book.” Published by Rollespilsakademiet, Copenhagen, Denmark in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2015 conference http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/2/27/Kp2015companionbook.pdf
* Charles Bo Nielsen and Claus Raasted (ed.): “The Nordic Larp Yearbook 2014.” Published by Rollespilsakademiet, Copenhagen, Denmark in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2015 conference http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/6/6d/Nordiclarpyearbook2014.pdf
Video documentation
In 2011 the Knutepunkt conference was documented i
a number of videos now published on the Knudepunkt 2011 Vimeo Channel
References
External links
*{{cite web, url=http://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Knutepunkt, title=Knutepunkt, website=Nordic Larp Wiki, accessdate=13 August 2024
Gaming conventions
Live-action role-playing games