This year’s Knutebooks — the books of larp theory put out each year by the pan-Nordic convention Knutebook — are out and available for free download here.

Edited by Karete Jacobsen Meland & Katrine Øverlie Svela, this year’s trio of tomes focuses on short articles written for the layman.

My piece on larp safety and the social dynamics of large groups, called “Trampled by the Herd” is in the Crossing Habitual Borders (.pdf) volume. It combines a Freakonomics podcast on rules and mimes with some original reporting with clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Maria Schultheis, whom I asked to evaluate some safety techniques common to Nordic larp.

Readers here may also be interested in Eleanor Saitta’s piece “Mad About the Yankee” from the Crossing Physical Borders (.pdf) volume, which is a nice exploration of some of the issues — intra-national and otherwise — around the game.