A couple of weeks ago I played in Living Embers, a new(-ish) larp designed by Patrik Bálint, David Owen, Karolina Sołtys, and Laura Wood. It had run at Stockholm Scenario Festival and at Consequences towards the end of last year, and participants had raved enthusiastically, so I’d been keen to give it a go! The Read the full article…
Back in the autumn I played in Brudpris, a one-off weekend larp designed by Anna-Karin Linder and Carolina Dahlberg. This was the third run, and was organized by Mads Dehlholm Holst, Mads Havshøj, and Oliver Nøglebæk, at a scout hut in Denmark. It was played in English, and there were 51 players, from (I think) Read the full article…
I went for the second time to Stockholm Scenario Festival, early in November – you can read here about my first visit, last year. This time I was part of a quite decent-sized UK-based contingent, and I think overall the attenders might have been a bit more internationally mixed than last year. In stages I Read the full article…
Last weekend was the tenth annual run of Consequences, the UK chamber larp convention. When it started it focused very strongly on the style known here as freeform, but in recent years it’s broadened out considerably, and you can find a real mix of styles and approaches. It’s a very friendly, mingly kind of convention, Read the full article…
Have played a couple of great boardgames recently! Mysterium So this is a coop game, for 2–7 players, in which one person is a ghost and the others are psychics trying to work out who killed them (by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko). The original Polish version came out a few years ago, and then Read the full article…
I’ve recently run a couple of small chamber larps in London. I like the intimacy of a small group of players, and the way that everyone is involved in everything. It makes for a very tight focus on design, and needs every element to be working together. The ‘standard’ length is usually around 4 hours Read the full article…
At the weekend I played in this small, experimental chamber larp designed by Karolina Sołtys with help from the Reactor Core. For five to seven players, it took place on a grassy riverbank (if you can call that a ‘chamber’) and lasted about 10 hours. Content warning: discussion of suicide and mental illness. Each player Read the full article…
Monica Hjort Traxl and Mo Holkar Sex! Isn’t it great? And a significant and thought-provoking part of human experience. Interesting because of the effects it has on people; dramatic because of the emotional stories that can be woven around it; fun because it’s (usually) enjoyable, and we’re all grown-ups here, aren’t we? If you’re designing Read the full article…
I forgot to say, this was a couple of months ago now, I wrote a guest post on the excellent Plan B Rollespil blog – about my experience playing and GMing scenarios at Fastaval that didn’t win prizes (because people tend mostly to talk about the ones that do win). Check it out!
Have you been tempted by the open sea? You feel it: passion unbridled with no dull excuses. The world outside is a faraway grey street where words are blades that hurt. This is our utopia of intellect and illusion: we are the dry-mouthed seafarers, as wounded as proud, as mad as holy. The Siren Call Read the full article…