Nordic LARP is a style and tradition of

live action role-playing games A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique featur ...

(LARPs) centered in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. New games premiere at the annual Knutepunkt Nordic LARP conference. Gameplay draws upon

acting techniques The following is a partial list of major acting techniques. Techniques * Classical acting is an umbrella term for a philosophy of acting that integrates the expression of the body, voice, imagination, personalizing, improvisation, external stim ...

and typically addresses serious and complex historical, political, and/or intellectual themes. For example, ''Just a Little Lovin'' deals with the

AIDS pandemic The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

within the

LGBTQ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individu ...

in early 1980s

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Games prioritize character development,

worldbuilding Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world or setting (narrative), setting, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing the world with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, culture and ecology is a k ...

, and intense emotional experiences, in contrast to American LARP, which prioritizes competition and strategy. Nordic LARP players use the term "bleed" to refer to the experience of continuing to feel emotions from gameplay after the game has ended. Nordic LARP shares similarities with the Chinese style

Jubensha ''Jubensha'' (), also known as script murder games, or simply script games (as many have evolved far beyond initial murder mysteries), are a Chinese genre of live action role-playing (LARP) murder mystery game, similar to what's known as "Parlour ...

Nordic LARP book

''Nordic LARP'' is the title of a book about the LARP style, edited by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola. The book won the

Diana Jones Award The Diana Jones Award is an annual award for "excellence in gaming". The original award was made from a burned book encased in lucite. The award is unusual in two ways: first, it is not an award for a specific class of thing, but can be awarded ...

in 2012.

External links

* Th
Nordic Larp Wiki
() has extensive documentation of games, techniques, theory, and culture.

References

{{Reflist Diana Jones Award winners Live-action role-playing games Nerd culture Role-playing