Nordic Larp

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  • Play Boldly – Let Yourself Be Vulnerable

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    Play Boldly – Let Yourself Be Vulnerable

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    Challenge yourself. Go beyond your comfort zone. Decide to do something you are not sure you can actually pull off. Try something new. Let your character be made a fool, or be seduced by the enemy.

    Play boldly. Let yourself be vulnerable. 

    It’s about you, your wants, and your fears. By challenging yourself and going beyond your comfort zone, you learn and grow as a larper. It’s about doing what you want even if it’s scary. About trying something new or letting someone else make your story take an unexpected turn.

    Playing boldly and letting yourself be vulnerable isn’t about what you do, but why you do it.

    Playing boldly

    Being bold is about doing things that feel scary but that you really want to do. It’s about making new choices. Getting your character in trouble, instead of avoiding it. Going ahead with a cool idea, even if you don’t know how to pull it off. Playing a new type of character even if you are not sure about how to do it.

    Playing boldly is not about the character. It’s about you. Be bold. 

    If a certain subject feels scary but you want to do it, approach it anyway. Play the romantic scene even if you are blushing. Do the thing you want to do, even if you worry that someone might think it’s silly. Dare to deal with serious subjects. 

    Playing boldly doesn’t come naturally. You need to push yourself to play boldly, to go beyond your comfort zone. To find the point where you hesitate, say “fuck it”, and do it anyway.

    As players it’s natural to want to feel safe. To stay away from things that scare us. No matter if it’s about physical harm or social shame, or worry of hurting others. Some caution is natural and healthy, but too much caution can harm your larp experience. 

    Too much caution can make you:

    • Pick a “safe” character concept, rather than the character you want to play or the concept that would challenge you in a fun way. 
    • Censor yourself and stay passive in order to not say or do anything wrong.
    • Distant and unengaged, because caring too much might get you hurt.
    • Block everyone else’s initiatives because you are scared of losing control.
    • Not take the initiative, because it feels safer to wait until someone else does it.
    • Focus on pleasing everyone else, while not enjoying yourself.
    • Be too focused on yourself, and see everyone else as a threat to your experience.
    • Repetitive, always playing the same type of characters and making the same sort of choices larp after larp.

    If you focus too much on staying safe, then nothing really happens, good or bad, because you don’t take any risks. Despite playing it safe you might still spend your time worrying about those risks or being bored and disengaged because you run on autopilot. Being overprotective can ruin your own larp and it also makes you a much less fun and creative co-player.

    So how do you play boldly? Begin by figuring out what you want to try even if it scares you.

    What we want differs, and so do our fears. What you find scary might be different from what scares me. If someone is used to fast paced action, then low-key emotional play might be challenging. For someone used to playing family drama, a boffer fight might be completely out of their comfort zone.  For someone who usually plays extroverted characters that drive the story, then picking a more introverted character and responding to events rather than driving them might be a bold move.

    You can always find some way to challenge yourself. Perhaps you want to try a different type of character, perhaps you want to play a scary scene with a friend you trust, or perhaps you want to wear a costume that shows more skin than you are used to. It doesn’t have to be something huge.  

    Letting yourself be vulnerable

    At knifepoint. Photo taken during play. På Gott och Ont - Illmarig (2023) Photo by Linn Vikman
    At knifepoint. Photo taken during play. På Gott och Ont – Illmarig (2023) Photo by Linn Vikman

    Doing scary stuff is hard, but letting yourself be vulnerable can be even scarier. Because letting yourself be vulnerable is about not being in control. 

    Letting yourself be vulnerable is the other side of playing boldly. It’s about trusting and opening up your play to others. Vulnerability can mean letting someone else’s actions take the story in an unexpected direction, or letting their actions affect your character. It can mean letting someone successfully kidnap your character even if it’s scary and takes the story in an unexpected direction. It can mean letting your character be really hurt by the insult someone hurled at them, even if playing on humiliation makes you feel nervous. Vulnerability can also be letting your character fall madly in love when someone else’s character flirts with them.

    When you let yourself be vulnerable you can still set boundaries for how far you want to take it. For example, allowing your character to be kidnapped but whispering to the other players that you are okay with being taken prisoner but not with brutality.

    Don’t go overboard

    Whatever boldness and vulnerability might mean to you, there is no need to take it too far. It should be like taking a roller coaster ride. Scary, but fun. Scary, but safe. (Not like jumping off a cliff and being smashed against the rocks, okay?)

    You shouldn’t challenge your every fear at any single larp. That is just reckless. Take care of yourself.

    Playing boldly and letting yourself be vulnerable isn’t a perfectly smooth ride either. Trying new things and letting others take the story in unexpected directions means that you are taking a risk. Sometimes that risk will pay off spectacularly, giving you an amazing larp, sometimes it will be just okay, and sometimes things don’t work out. You might be disappointed or hurt.

    But by playing boldly and letting yourself be vulnerable you will evolve as a player. You will learn from the experience, no matter if the result is good, bad or average. This will lead to more awesome larps in the future, even if this particular thing didn’t work out.

    I also want to say that there is time and place for everything. Sometimes you just want comfort food and a cozy blanket, not boldness and vulnerability. That is okay. Larps can be a place to relax and recover. Not challenging yourself is just as valid a way of larping.

    Playing with others

    So far this article has focused on your own play, but larp is about interaction with other players. 

    When we play boldly, we must keep in mind that while we challenge our own comfort zones we must also respect the comfort zones of others.

    Let’s say Amira want to try something that is out of her comfort zone, like a violent torture scene (or an intimate love scene for that matter) with her fellow player Maggie. If Amira knows that she is going to be super uncomfortable during that scene, she should give Maggie a heads-up and check out if Maggie feels okay with Amira challenging her boundaries together with her too.

    “Psst. Out of character. I haven’t played this type of scene before. I want to give it a try, but it’s a bit  out of my comfort zone, so I am nervous and uncomfortable and might have to de-escalate the scene. Would you be okay with that, or should we take play in some other direction?”

    Because Maggie might not feel up for playing that type of intense scene with someone who is hesitant. Challenge your own boundaries but respect the boundaries of others.

    You can also invite others to play boldly and to let themselves be vulnerable, but you should never push them. 

    Remember the roller coaster ride? Inviting others to play boldly should be like asking “Hey, wanna come ride the roller coaster with me? ” and letting the other player gracefully decline if they don’t feel like it. It should never be like pushing someone into a roller coaster cart against their will! Consent is central.

    An invitation to play boldly can be an out of character discussion before or during the larp, but it can also happen in character. You just give the other player an opportunity to challenge themselves. If you know that Maggie has never been in a boffer fight, you can give her character a chance to join the war raid, but also give her a chance to gracefully decline if she doesn’t feel like it. “We could use a pair of extra hands during the raid. Are you up for it or are you needed elsewhere?”

    Playing boldly and letting yourself be vulnerable can be an infectious playstyle. If you play boldly by trying new things, then others may feel braver and also step up to play more boldly. If you let yourself be vulnerable by letting others take your story in unexpected directions, others will trust you to do the same. If you are bold enough to show vulnerability then others might also do that.

    It promotes trust, lets people try new things, and makes the larp more interesting and more fun. You lead by example.

    Conclusion

    Armed. På Gott och Ont, photoshoot 2017. Photo by Emmet Nordström
    Armed. På Gott och Ont, photoshoot 2017. Photo by Emmet Nordström

    Play boldly. Let yourself be vulnerable. But there is no need to go overboard with it. A little boldness and vulnerability goes a long way.

    Sometimes the results will be amazing, sometimes things might not give you the results you wanted, but it will make things more interesting, and it will help you grow as a larper.

    Challenge your own comfort zones, but respect others’. Communicate. Lead by example, and others will dare to play a bit more boldly and be a bit more vulnerable.

    Play boldly.

    Further reading

    There are other articles on great ways to play. We can play to lift, play to lose, and play unsafe. All of those ways to play are great approaches on how to create a better larp experience. You can combine all those with playing boldly and letting yourself be vulnerable however you want. Another link to check out can be this article on Brave Spaces in larp.

    Cover image: An intense gaze. Photo taken during play. På Gott och Ont – Illmarig (2023) Photo by Linn Vikman

  • An Introvert’s Guide to Playing High Status Characters

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    An Introvert’s Guide to Playing High Status Characters

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    As someone who is nominally a rather quiet introverted type of person but who absolutely loves playing the complete opposite – big commanding character types, I am often asked for advice on how to do it well. So here is my collection of tips and tricks that I have accrued over 20+ years of larping. I hope they can be useful.

    You may think that to be a convincing leader, you need to be loud, charismatic, outgoing and confident in real life. However, I have found a number of strategies that can be used to ‘fake it’. And indeed, it is highly likely that many real life leaders are actually ‘faking it’ by using very similar strategies.

    Please note that some of these techniques should be calibrated with other people in advance so that everyone is on the same page and no one gets hurt by your antics!

    With that, let’s go!

    Goetia, photo by Kai Simon Fredriksen Goetia, photo by Kai Simon Fredriksen

    Take up Space

    This for me is the core rule. Many of us in real life (especially those of us born with the curse of being British) are taught from an early age to not take up space. To not be a hassle or a bother. To not get in other people’s way. To not make a scene. So, the golden rule is to throw all of that out of the window. If you are high status, take up as much space as possible. Some simple ways of doing that:

    • Wear big clothing. Obviously costuming will depend greatly on the setting of your larp, but there are always ways to go big. Whether that’s wearing a great billowy cloak, a huge bustle, a ridiculous hat… If your clothing is big, you will look big and people will pay more attention to you. You can also add accoutrements to your outfit to look more extravagant (ie, bling bling bling!), but even a simple costume will demand respect if it fills the room.
    • Move! And keep moving! Don’t ever be static. Use the space around you. Stride across the room. Pace around while talking. Use your hands and arms to gesture. If you keep moving, people have to keep adjusting themselves to watch you, and that means you have their attention.
    • Where possible, be higher than those around you. If there is a stage or podium, use it. If there is a high table, sit at it. Otherwise, try ordering everyone around you to sit while you remain standing. Or reverse that – be the only one sitting while everyone else has to stand.
    • Walk through people not around them. In a typical larp, there will be clusters of people talking. Don’t go around them. Barge through the middle of them, forcing them to move aside for you.

    Example: At Goetia – Night of 100 Demons, I played Belial, the King of Pride. I wore a coat with an attached cape that billowed while I kept moving around. I strode about like I owned the place, and people had to dive aside to get out of my way!

    Goetia, photo by Kai Simon Fredriksen Goetia, photo by Kai Simon Fredriksen

    Meanwhile at Wicked Hearts, a short American larp about Imperial Russian fairytales. I was playing Old Man Winter. The costume brief was to dress extravagantly for the Imperial court, but I decided to subvert that and instead wore a simple ragged robe and bare feet. It definitely made the desired statement and made me stick out!

    Claim Your Territory

    A good tactic that has worked for me is to claim a space at the larp – whether that’s a room, a table, or a corner with a good chair – and make it my own. Decorating it adds to the effect, but the main aim is to make it clear to everybody in the larp that this is YOUR space. If interlopers try to move into your space… get them evicted. Use the people under your command to hustle them out.

    Use that space. Occupy it. Demand that people come to you. I have spent entire larps in just one place. People who want to talk to me HAVE to come to me. And even if it is me wanting to talk to another person, they still have to come to me, not the other way around. Having underlings helps a lot with this. Dispatch them with the message that you want to talk to someone and get them to bring that person to you. In a good play-to-lift environment, people should be more than willing to go along with this.

    Cyberpunk London, photo by Alex Helm Cyberpunk London, photo by Alex Helm

    I used this technique at Cyberpunk London where I was playing a London gangster boss. I claimed a booth in the nightclub and didn’t move from that spot for the entire game. Instead, a constant stream of visitors came to me.

    You Don’t Have to be Loud, but You Do Need to be Clear

    Having a loud booming voice definitely helps but is by no means essential. As a naturally quiet person, I have achieved much by speaking in a low but ultra clear tone. Be very precise with your language. Make statements not questions. Say exactly what you want and what you mean. Do not hesitate in your language, just demand. Keep it calm and clear, and people will listen. And if someone tries to interrupt you, interrupt them back: “I AM SPEAKING!”.

    As another mob boss in Tenement 67 (a British take on Cyberpunk style game), I exuded calm and quiet confidence throughout the game. I never raised my voice once. People said they found it quite intimidating as they began to realise that the quieter I was, the more furious my character had become, and they quaked accordingly.

    Cardinal Wolsey at Meeting of Monarchs, photo by Oliver Facey Cardinal Wolsey at Meeting of Monarchs, photo by Oliver Facey

    Be Unpredictable

    If people are not paying attention to you, or if they are disrespecting you… get their attention by doing something they are not expecting. Here are some suggestions:

    • If someone disrespects you, calmly stand up, stride across the floor and slam them against the wall (get quick consent first, of course!). Then calmly return to your place.
    • If the tone in the room is serious, crack a joke.
    • Make a ridiculous demand. Call for food or a new chair, or simply demand the people around you shuffle around into a more pleasing arrangement.
    • Walk away mid-conversation. Nothing is more infuriating than someone declaring they are bored of you and leaving you to it. So, infuriate people in this way.

    At Goetia (again), the King of Pride was furious for being snubbed by the chefs in the banquet (if you know about the trifle, you know…), and demanded chocolate as compensation. Minions and NPCs alike scurried around to fulfil this demand! Later on in the game, I strode out of the banquet in a fury, screaming that nobody was paying attention to me! (I was the King of Pride after all).

    Use Your Underlings

    If everyone is playing to lift, the people under your command or beneath you in the setting hierarchy will want to do what they can to big you up. Calibrate with them so they know what you need. If one of them does have a particularly loud voice, use them to announce your arrival or to silence the room when you want to talk. Dispatch your minions across the room to deliver messages for you, to intrude on other people’s conversations in your name, to spy and obtain gossip, or to simply tell everyone how great you are. The more people talking about you, the better.

    As a Sith Lord, photo by Alex Helm As a Sith Lord, photo by Alex Helm

    Do Not Tolerate Disrespect

    This for me is the hardest aspect to manage. If someone disrespects your status, then what do you do? I’ve found a few things to try:

    • Turn to your underlings and loudly ask them if this person is seriously disrespecting you. It’s a rhetorical question, but signals to them to support you.
    • Be over the top in your reaction. Huff and pant in annoyance. Shake your fist. Throw a tantrum. Make it very very clear that you are annoyed, and other people around will start to notice.
    • Demand an apology or compensation.
    • If you have some supernatural power or equivalent to display your might, use it. Especially if it forces them to the floor before you.
    • If you have some societal authority or similar, then invoke it. Demand they bow or kneel or salute.

    If nothing seems to work, then it’s time for calibration. Grab the offending player OC and talk it out. Often they are simply enthusiastic about their character and are not intentionally trying to bring you down, so a quick chat will resolve things. And if that doesn’t work, then involve the game organiser, who will generally be keen to help.

    At Mörkveden, I was playing a terrifying 800 year old undead draugr warrior, but was being snubbed by some mortals. This was proving impossible to resolve in character without taking actions that would remove someone from the game, so instead, I asked their group leader for some calibration. It was quickly revealed that they hadn’t intended the disrespect effect and apologised profusely. From there we were all able to work out what to do next to make everyone feel as badass as desired.

    Those are my techniques, but I am sure there are more, so if you are reading this, feel free to add something in the comments!

    Ludography

    Goetia: Night of 100 Demons by OmenStar. Ingestre Hall, UK, October 2023. There will be another run in 2024/25. www.omenstar.com
    Mörkveden also by OmenStar. Berghem Lajvby, Sweden, August 2023.
    Cyberpunk London, OmenStar again! Camden Underworld, London, UK. October 2022.
    Tenement 67 by Carcosa Dreams. Oakham, UK. August 2019
    Wicked Hearts by Alison Joy Schafer and Kristen Patten, run at Consequences, UK in 2023, but it has also run several times at Intercon in the US.

    Photo by Resafey, from Harvest Dance. Image has been cropped.

  • Wielding the Magic of Anticipation

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    Wielding the Magic of Anticipation

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    Maximizing the emotional impact of anticipation for better play.

    “I see you shiver with antici-

    -pation”

    – Rocky Horror Picture Show

    The sweet moment when you close your eyes full of expectation while your lips get closer and closer to another person’s lips for the first time. So close that you can already feel their breath caressing your cheek… when you can sense the warmth of their body close to yours. This seemingly endless moment when your heart starts beating a tiny bit faster and when you do not yet know if your and the other’s lips are really going to touch.

    Isn’t this moment of sweet anticipation often more intense than the kiss itself?

    Or the last moments of a desperate bunch of rebels before the attack of an overpowering group of stormtroopers. Waiting to stand their ground for the last time and defend their base with their lives. The last glimpses they might exchange, someone patting a friend on the shoulder. Fear and hope in conflict with each other. Final encouraging words by a leader.

    Isn’t this moment of gloomy, yet heroic anticipation much more interesting than the following fight? 

    Is it not those moments when events are yet to happen that spark our excitement and that send our emotions on a rollercoaster ride? No matter whether can foresee the outcome or not, these moments of anticipation hold a bewitching power. 

    Skillful authors use these moments to build up suspense in their novels and also to forge a stronger bond between you, the reader, and the novel’s characters. Screenwriters use them to hook you to their shows and movies while displaying their characters’ virtues and flaws. 

    Some of us larp folk instinctively use moments of anticipation to develop intense scenes during larps. However, not all larpers and larp designers are aware of the magic of anticipation, let alone of how to wield this magic. So let us quickly look at one or two things that you can do to start using the magic of anticipation to enhance your own experience as a player.

    First – and this is the most important rule of all – don’t rush to the anticipated event!

    Learn to relish moments of anticipation. Like in the first example with the kiss, you might be eager to take the next step in a chain of events. Maybe you feel like you cannot wait until the anticipated event is going to happen but learn to endure this suspense! Dive into this sweet kind of excitement in order to fully unlock its potential.

    Second, use those moments to delve into your character’s unique personality!

    Use the moment of anticipation to dive even deeper into your characters’ hopes and fears. In these moments the anticipated event is like Schrödinger’s cat. Every outcome is possible which allows you to portray and experience different aspects of your character’s personality. Imagine the worst possible thing to happen and let your character react to it! Or let your character dream of the best possible outcome and share it with somebody to play on hope! Maybe old memories from your background story surface or maybe something that happened earlier during the larp acquires new gravitas.

    Third, let your emotions flow!

    Moments of anticipation are often moments when emotional waves become massive, when feelings can’t be held back anymore. Use your whole body to feel and portray those emotions. This might be a shivering breath before you kiss or shakily grasping your best friend’s hand before you storm out into battle. It might be a long thankful smile at your mentor before you climb the stage to hold a speech.

    Fourth, focus on your co-players too!

    As we all know, larp is a co-creative medium and we all want to have a good experience when playing. So try to find a good balance between exploring your character during moments of anticipation and giving the floor to other players. Those moments of anticipation are a perfect opportunity to learn more about others’ characters and to develop your character’s relationship to them further. You can also use the things you learn from such moments about others’ characters later in the game to create intense personal scenes.  

    Now, let’s briefly take the designer’s perspective.

    If your larp is a complete sandbox, you probably don’t have much influence over moments of anticipation. However, if you have at least some rough cornerstone events planned for your larp, then you should definitely add enough occasions and time for your players to savor the anticipation.

    Of course, sudden surprises and unexpected turns of events have their own magical charm but don’t forget to add opportunities of anticipation. Let your players wait before a big event is finally happening and give them hints about what they can expect to spark the flame of their imagination. You can drop allusions with the help of supporting characters or in-game materials such as a newspaper. Or you can simply use transparent design where your players know off-game where the story arc is going.

    The imagination of your players is a powerful tool! Just think of a horror movie as an example – usually, we are far more frightened when we haven’t seen the monster. When we know that there is something lurking, some eerie imminence, our imagination fills in the gaps and often our imagination does it far more effectively than any creature designer. 

    Give your players time to envision the worst or the best before you actually let it happen. If you want, you can even guide their imagination by using sound effects, music, lighting, and so on. Just read up on how to use those things when designing larps to get some inspiration. A good starting point is the article “The Fundamentals of Sound Design in Larp” by Anni Tolvanen and Irrette Melakoski (2019) published in the book Larp Design.

    No matter if you look at anticipation from a player’s perspective or from a designer’s – relishing moments of anticipation can definitely create intense scenes. Let’s all be more aware of the magic that lies within anticipation and let’s use it more consciously!

    References

    Tolvanen, Anni, and Irrette Melakoski. 2019. “The Fundamentals of Sound Design for Larp.” In Larp Design: Creating Role-play Experiences, edited by Johanna Koljonen, Jaakko Stenros, Anne Serup Grove, Aina D. Skjønsfjell and Elin Nilsen. Copenhagen, Denmark: Landsforeningen Bifrost.

    Cover photo: Illustration by Nina Mutik.

    This article is published in the Knutpunkt 2022 magazine Distance of Touch and is published here with permission. Please cite this text as:

    Fischer, Olivia. 2022. “Wielding the Magic of Anticipation.” In Distance of Touch: The Knutpunkt 2022 Magazine, edited by Juhana Pettersson, 105-107. Knutpunkt 2022 and Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura.