Author: Nór Hernø

Workshops are a staple of many Nordic larps, playing a crucial role in preparing participants to step into their roles, engage with the narrative, and collaborate effectively. While learning is a central aspect, workshops are more than just an educational prelude to the game; they are spaces where boundaries are negotiated, skills are honed, and the magic circle of the larp begins to take shape. 

Designing a workshop, however, requires a different set of tools than those used in larp design. Here, the focus is on learning outcomes rather than narrative, and on facilitating participants’ transition into the fiction of the larp. 

This article serves as a guide for designers, outlining a series of steps that will take you from the initial idea to the final plan for a learning design. While the focus is on workshops, a complete learning design often incorporates other formats, such as briefings and exercises (see “WEB: Workshop – Exercise – Briefing“). The steps described here can be applied to the entire learning design process. They are, however, particularly useful for workshops, which require more intensive design effort and work. In this context, a workshop is defined as: 

“An interactive and co-creative session focused on participants’ hands-on interactions” 

 Step 1: Examining the participants’ needs 

The first step in creating a learning design that aligns with your vision and the narrative framework of your larp is to consider what the participants need in order to play it.

To guide the process of identifying these essential elements, there are three key aspects to focus on:

• What participants need to know

• What participants need to create

• What participants need to do

Knowing: 

The knowledge you require the participants to have needs to match the learning outcome of your design. Is there any foundational knowledge they must have to engage meaningfully with the larp? This could include everything from safety mechanics to character memories, or the social dynamics of the setting. 

Creating: 

Consider what aspects of the larp you want the participants to contribute to and have ownership over. Creating together fosters co-ownership, and by allowing the participants to generate elements of the larp, there is a good chance they will be more personally invested and have an easier time remembering those design elements.  

However, be mindful of the limitations: There are things that you may not want the participants to create. For example, they may design aspects of their characters and relationships, but you might want to ensure that the framework and key narrative elements remain under your control to maintain coherence with your larp design. 

Doing: 

You can facilitate how the participants start to larp, work together, act and interact with each other, and feel safe doing so, through your learning design. This can be both explicit and implied: 

Explicit: You might need the participants to have specific skills or take certain actions. For example, if your larp includes tasks or jobs, you can create a learning design that explicitly teaches the participants to do it. 

Implicit: You might want the participants to have a certain behavior, for example if your larp emphasizes a specific form of interaction or mood, you can model the participants’ behavior implicitly through your design, by having them do the workshops in a certain way or by implementing themed tools like music, photos, directed movement patterns, etc. 

 Create a list, mind map, or whatever feels right for you, of the elements necessary for the participants to play your larp. If you already have specific ideas you want to include in your learning design, add them to this brainstorm too. 

Step 2: Sorting your ideas 

The next step is to start sorting through the brainstorm and ideas, considering the relevancy of the elements, determining if they can be combined, and identifying which formats best support the learning outcome you want from your design. The article “WEB: Workshop – Exercise – Briefing” covers the three learning formats, as well as a model for visualizing the balance between them. 

Do this sorting however you prefer. For example, if you have created a list, underline the most important elements and add their relevant learning formats. Alternatively, if you have done a mind map, grab some coloured pens and start circling. 

“Know” might be better supported with a briefing, “do” may play a greater role in exercises and workshops, and “create” is often a central element of workshops. However, this is not always the case. You might be able to integrate several elements of knowing into a workshop – for example, knowing the social dynamics of the setting, a shared cultural action, and so on – if it overlaps with what the participants need to create and do. 

When you have finished this sorting process, you will know what needs to be planned (briefings and exercises) and what needs to be designed (workshops). 

Step 3: Finding inspiration 

When you are aware of what kind of workshops you need to support your larp, you can start designing them. Luckily, you don’t have to start from scratch, as there are countless places you can draw inspiration from, including: 

• Other workshops: Examine workshops, both for larps and not, you have experienced, which have been successful in similar contexts. Think about what they consisted of, how they facilitated learning, and what kind of atmosphere they created. 

• Other people: Conversations with other larp designers, facilitators, or participants can be a valuable source of inspiration. Ask others how they design specific workshops, what their favorite workshops and -tools are, and what they have learned from experience. 

• Educational materials and exercise books: Look to educational resources such as teaching guides and manuals, or the many books on physical and team-building exercises. While these might not be directly related to larping, they often offer valuable inspiration, you can build on. 

• Online sources: The internet is an endless resource – Also when it comes to workshop ideas. From the specialized articles found at Nordic Larp to a simple Google search, type in keywords relating to your workshop needs and you get more ideas than you have time to read. 

While inspiration can come from many sources, it’s crucial to tailor it to the specific needs of your larp. You should never attempt a 1:1 replication of a workshop. Every larp is unique in its narrative, setting, and participant dynamics, and your workshops need to reflect that uniqueness. What worked in one context may not be directly applicable in another. 

Step 4: Adapting, designing, and describing 

After gathering inspiration and ideas, you need to start adapting and designing the workshop, transforming your ideas into a concrete plan. Start describing the workshop step by step and let the following questions guide you in this process, adapting the workshop to the participants’ needs and your larp design: 

• Does it align with the larp? Do not use a workshop just because it is fun or interesting. It needs to align with the required learning outcome, so be prepared to kill your darlings. 

• Does it fit with the mood and setting of the larp? If your larp is light-hearted and fun, you want different workshops than if it is dark or emotionally intense. Aligning your workshops with the mood of the larp helps participants immerse themselves. 

• Does it support the desired participant behavior? The workshop should foster behavior and interactions that align with your previously defined “doing” elements. If the participants’ behavior during the workshop can mimic how they are expected to behave during the larp, you can help facilitate their transition into the fiction of the larp. 

• Can it be adjusted for practicality? Not all exercises are suitable for every group or available time and space. Ensure that the workshop is feasible for the available space, time, and the size and composition of the group. 

Considering these questions when describing the workshop can help guide your design process. A well-designed workshop supports your game by guiding participants toward engagement with the narrative and their roles within it. By designing and adapting with that in mind, you can create a workshop that is both unique to your larp and effective in helping participants immerse themselves in the experience. 

Step 5: Structuring your learning design 

The final step to creating a learning plan is structuring all the learning formats and sessions. This includes both the briefings, exercises, and workshops you have planned. Establishing a structure helps you organize the content and further develop it by uncovering oversights or additional potentials. 

To guide this step, use the 6W-Structure: 

• When 

• Where 

• Who 

• What 

• How 

• Why 

The first three Ws cover the practical information you need for running the learning plan: When and where will the learning session be held, and who is involved (both facilitator and participant group). This will help you map out the plan and identify most logistical issues, such as whether the schedule works (remember everything takes more time than you think) or if the location fits the planned session. This is especially necessary for more complicated learning plans with several locations and facilitators but is also useful as a framework for simple plans. 

The next three Ws cover the content, descriptions, and your design choices: What is the headline of the session and what materials are needed, how is the session is conducted (described step by step), and most importantly – why it is done. Asking why you are doing said learning session helps you reflect on your design choices and easily share these reflections with others. It also helps you discover if you have overlooked something in step 4, such as whether your chosen workshop aligns with the larp or if something in the workshop actively works against your design. 

As a rule of thumb, always ask “why” 3 times to get from the surface descriptive level to the conscious design level. Through this process, you might discover a flaw in your design and fix it before the plan meets the participants, or realize that, by changing a few elements, you can achieve an even better outcome. An example could be the following workshop:

This difference in the reason behind the workshop can help you design for that specific purpose. In the first example, you might want to instruct the participants to collaborate during the ritual, aiming for impressive and empowering aesthetics, whereas the second example might shift the workshop’s focus to clearly define the individual participants’ tasks and how they can fail.

The final result can be presented in table as the following (short) example: 

This table functions not just as your finished design overview, but also as a runtime plan ready to use.

By following the steps outlined in this guide – examining participant needs, sorting ideas, finding inspiration, adapting designs, and structuring them – you have the tools to create a purposeful learning plan with workshops tailored to your specific larp. By aligning your learning design with not only the learning needs, but also the narrative, mood, and desired behavior, you ensure that every element of the workshop contributes meaningfully to the overall experience of workshop as well as larp.

Cover image: Panopticon workshop, photo by Christian Kierans

“This workshop could have been an email” 

This is a statement I have encountered in the larp community quite a few times by now, which is rather tragic to someone who has worked professionally with learning design for years and has a deep passion for it.  

Designing and organizing a larp requires skill. The same applies to designing the learning experience required to play said larp: It necessitates a distinct focus on learning output and the methods required to achieve that goal. Creating a learning design equal to that of our larp design will help us facilitate the participants’ transition into the fiction of the larp, as well as better their recollection of important information.  

The first step of creating a learning design is to consider what the participants require to play your larp. The next step is to take the available learning formats into account, figuring out what format will best allow that to happen. Often, everything we facilitate for the participants prior to the start of the larp (and sometimes during) is referred to as “workshops”. The problem with using “workshop” as a blanket term is that workshops are a specific kind of learning format, and this term does not encompass everything we do prior to a larp. This can cause a clash of expectations, making the participants feel like expressing the opening sentence of this article. After all, the worst workshops are those that aren’t actually workshops. 

Instead of using “workshops” to describe the time before a larp set aside for the participants’ learning experience, I suggest using a more neutral term like “larp preparations” or, as I prefer appreciating alliteration, “pre-play-prep”. 

The most common learning formats used for the pre-play-prep before a larp are: workshop, exercise, and briefing. The WEB model described below is a visual tool in two parts, created to define, distinguish, and summarize these three types of learning sessions. In this context, the three formats are defined as follows: 

Workshop: An interactive and co-creative session focused on participants’ hands-on interactions. 

Exercise: An activity where participants, individually or in groups, practice a given technique or skill. 

Briefing: An orientation session that informs and instructs participants before they are to do something. 

Each type is suited to specific learning goals and participant engagement levels, and understanding these differences can help create better experiences for the participants. 

The WEB Model: Spectrum 

The three types of learning sessions can be positioned on a spectrum indicating the participants’ level of activity, agency, and degree of co-creation.”

The learning sessions have a shared purpose, which defines their focus and design – Learning – Although they approach learning in different ways, using different tools and techniques to facilitate the process. 

It is important to note that the model is a spectrum and not a scale. The spectrum does not indicate value or learning output, as none of the learning sessions is inherently better than the others. Each one is best for different purposes: 

• Workshops can give participants co-ownership of a given project, as participants co-create the content. They are ideal for creating shared narratives, culture, and routines, which are not previously defined by the larp designer.
  Examples: Creating (fully or in parts) characters and relationships, developing rituals, establishing the cultural customs of the group, etc.

• Exercises give participants the opportunity to practice and train a given technique or skill, making them comfortable repeating and reproducing it in another context.
  Examples: Practicing meta-techniques and game mechanics, rehearsing a ritual, practicing specific interactions and behaviors, etc.

• Briefings are good for clear and direct distribution of information, where every participant or participant group need the same instructions necessary to participate in the larp or a different activity.
  Examples: Giving the participants practical information, explaining setting, rules, meta-techniques, game mechanics, etc.

In some cases, it can be impossible to distinguish clearly between the three types of learning sessions, as they might overlap or mix different approaches, e.g., when the participants rehearse the ritual they just created together, when the explanation of a meta-technique transitions to practicing it, or when participants practice specific interactions and behaviors by embodying their characters while co-creating the scene in which these interactions occur. 

In other cases, the difference between the three types of learning sessions is clear to the point it can be comical to imagine using the wrong one: You would not workshop the location of the toilets or the schedule of the larp. 

The reason why it is important to be aware of the type of learning session is two-fold: 

1. It helps you be aware of your pre-play-prep design choices and what kind of learning output you might want for a given session. Do you want your participants to co-create something new? Do you want them to repeat something you have created? Or do you want them to listen to and understand a set of instructions?
2. It helps you and the participants manage expectations, such as energy levels and the type of engagement required.

The WEB Model: Pre-Play-Prep Sum 

In a learning design consisting of multiple learning sessions, the sum of the sessions can be represented in the following figure:

For example, if your learning design consists primarily of briefings combined with a few exercises, the sum of the sessions might be represented as follows in the figure:

The sum of learning sessions is again not an indication of value or learning output but solely a depiction of variation in the pre-play-prep. If there is a strong tendency toward placement in a corner of the triangle, as in this example, consider whether this aligns with the desired learning design or if more variation is needed. 

For example, if greater participant activity and agency are required, one or more suitable workshops can be added to the pre-play-prep, altering the figure:  

This approach to pre-play-prep provides a structured framework for designing larp learning experiences and helps visualize the balance of learning sessions. This can support the designer in making informed choices about how to engage participants effectively and ensure the desired learning outcomes. A clear understanding of the different learning formats allows both designers and participants to manage expectations about the level of participation and the type of engagement required in each session, leading to a more enjoyable and cohesive experience – and fewer workshops that could have been an email. 

Footnote/anecdote regarding the model: 

The WEB Model was created on the final night of the 2023 Danish Larp Designers’ Summer School in response to participants repeatedly asking me about the difference between a workshop and an exercise – a situation prompted by a dare. The finishing touches and the English translation of the model (originally titled “BØW” in Danish) were completed in preparation for my 2024 Solmukohta talk and workshop on the subject. Subsequently, the model was reintroduced to the Danish Larp Designers’ Summer School as part of my workshop design class in 2024.

Cover image: Panopticon workshop, photo by Christian Kierans