New in Larp: September 10, 2012

Want to know what’s new in larp? Here’s the coolest, most interesting stuff I’ve been reading about the hobby for the last couple weeks:

  • A fascinating series called The Gamer Wife, over at Gaming as Women. Written by the pseudonymous Finaira, an analog gamer-for-life who married a pillar of her local gaming community, the series deconstructs the stereotype of “Gamer Wife.” With wit, candor, and a side of anger, the series tackles the ways her marriage has impacted her gaming life. Part 1 (the intro), Part 2 (switch from girlfriend class to wife class), Part 3 (wifely responsibilities), Part 4 (how the rpg table changed), Part 5 (accusations of favoritism).
  • This Just In From Gen ConA podcast series of interviews with many awesome gamers who went to Gen Con. I really enjoyed John Stavropoulos’ talk on safety in tabletop roleplaying games. There are many other interview gems too, from Emily Care Boss to Margaret Weiss and everything in between.
  • ENnie winner JR Blackwell talks back to this bonehead with a savvy piece of satire about the geek pecking order. As she puts it. “If there is a Geek Hierarchy, one where the more knowledgeable, experienced,  “truer” geeks get to question the authenticity (questions usually directed at women) of others, then I submit that you, infintile-excretion-who-asks-me-to-name-10-DC-characters, may no longer question me, and furthermore, I claim the right to question YOUR authenticity.”
  • The landing page looks scary in Finnish, but just click on the link to download Finnish roleplaying guru J. Tuomas Harviainen’s doctoral dissertation on larp, Systemic Perspectives on Information in Physically Performed Role-play. According to the synopsis, it takes a look at larping in “historical re-enactment, sadomasochist roleplaying and post-modern magic.” I am still working my way through it, but if you’re into larp theory, you won’t want to miss this one — not the least for the impressive bibliography at the end.
  • Thomas Be tells us all about  a Swiss one-shot demon larp in readable prose. Come to gawk at the costumes, stay for commentary on game design.
  • The rumors are true! Swedish games do get government funding, and Elin Dalstål tells us how over at Gaming as Women.
  • Identities at Play, British researcher Nathan Hook’s master’s thesis on bleed, immersion, and larp as therapy, is available both in book form and for free download. I haven’t managed to wrangle a download yet, but am looking forward…
  • Behold! A diverse taxonomy of story games. Some enterprising soul made a fascinating list of genres and illustrative games.
  • Hat tip to Jaakko Stenros, who hipped me to awesome-looking new games magazine Continue.
  • Fiasco designer Jason Morningstar taped all of his panels from Gen Con. I thought the international gaming one was particularly interesting. You can also catch audio of panels from Dragon Con including him and others over at Third Eye Gaming.

And a few more time-sensitive concerns:

2 thoughts on “New in Larp: September 10, 2012

  1. More time-sensitive concerns:

    1. There are still a few LARP slots open at Time Bubble, October 5-7 at RPI in Troy, NY: http://timebubble.concentral.net/schedules/48

    2. There are still a few LARP slots open at SLAW, November 9-11, at WPI, in Worcester, MA: http://slaw2012.concentral.net/schedules/47
    My team is running Collision Imminent!, the fabulous horde game called “the loudest LARP ever run”.

    3. Intercon M, the sixteenth annual New England all-LARP convention is looking for game bids. We need more LARPs to run, as well as panels and discussions. (We’d love to have you back, Lizzie!) We’ll be opening up for player signups in November, and we’re always looking for interesting events: http://www.interactiveliterature.org/M/index.php