Nordic Larp

Tag: psychedelia

  • A Trip Beyond the House of Craving

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    A Trip Beyond the House of Craving

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    (Originally written July 10, 2019).

    PLUS ONE, n. (+) The drug is quite certainly active. The chronology can be determined with some accuracy, but the nature of the drug’s effects are not yet apparent.((Shulgin and Shulgin 1990.))

    For some larps it is easy to write about the experience in a way that will make sense to those who were not there. I can describe the events of the larp as a narrative, perhaps focussing on some of the significant set piece moments of the experience, and this will enable others to get a sense of what happened because of a shared context and shared experiences. Even for non-larpers we can explain some of the things that happened in a way that will persuade them to say, ‘That sounds amazing!’ Of course the experience is subjective. Of the various people I know who have played the various runs of Odysseus (2019) over the last week, for example, despite playing ostensibly the same larp, with some overlap, their narratives will be similar, but their reactions to it will be personal. Just as it is with people who have played College of Wizardry, or Inside Hamlet, or any larp that has been re-run. For my UK friends who are unfamiliar with this concept, it is when you run the same larp – usually with the same characters (but different players) – multiple times. It is not a campaign, but literally the same game being repeated. You can play the same larp multiple times, but with very different outcomes.

    But I played House of Craving and it was different, and yet I am struggling to articulate how it was different and why. And so this is neither a review, nor a critical summary, but rather a gonzoid attempt to make sense of what the fuck just happened. 

    A recently widowed man discovers that his wife owned the house where she grew up and that she has left it to him in her will. He decides to spend the summer there – with his extended family and friends – in order to try to come to terms with her death. The characters are all broken in different ways: Some of them aren’t terribly pleasant, others are self-absorbed, others still are so damaged that they would be better suited to be anywhere but in close proximity to these others. Of course this terrible potential for conflict is what powers the engine of larp. But the house is beautiful, the cooking staff are geniuses, and there is a pool, and plenty of champagne, so what could possibly go wrong?

    Over time it becomes apparent that these twelve people are not alone. The ghosts of the house object to this family’s presence and, as the day progresses they will influence, manipulate, and then finally control the living family to play out a cycle of tragedy and abuse. Eventually the family will be absorbed by the house, and as the old ghosts move on – into the darkness – they replace their ghosts to become the ghosts for the next family to arrive. And then the cycle will repeat itself. Again and again.

    PLUS TWO, n. (++) Both the chronology and the nature of the action of a drug are unmistakably apparent. But you still have some choice as to whether you will accept the adventure, or rather just continue with your ordinary day’s plans (if you are an experienced researcher, that is). The effects can be allowed a predominant role, or they may be repressible and made secondary to other chosen activities.

    The stories of this larp – and those who played it – are interlinked and overlapping. A story written in an earlier run may persist as an artifact to be discovered by those who came after. A drawing or a photograph of Jacob may affect a different Jacob when he comes across it in a future run. A short story written by Monica in run 3 could be read aloud by Monica in run 5, but she has no memory of having written it.((Metalepsis, again.)) There are other echoes too, like a twisted game of Chinese Whispers, some stories are retold as remembered or as experienced by the players. Those of us playing run 5 do not know what happened in run 1, but some of that narrative surely became plot to drive our own story. Who are the authors of our fates? Those who played as ghosts in run 1? The others? Ourselves? I cannot say. 

    This larp is a horror story, it unravels as a descent into madness and death. From the player’s perspective, we think we will have an (un)easy revenge on the next set of family players; but we do not, because the true horror, and the fear is yet to come, as we discover what happens to our ghosts and the approaching darkness that will devour them. And worse still the human’s play back at you. After all this is larp not some Punchdrunk loop. Their agency is real.

    House of Craving is an immensely physical larp. You play it with your whole body in a way that I find terrifying; there is little abstraction, and more touch in this larp than I have experienced before; largely because of the proximity and influence of the ghosts. But as ever you retain autonomy, the option to tap out or to invite escalation exists.((I tap out once during the larp. I have one quiet regret for not tapping out a second time. I attempted to escalate but the mechanic – lightly scratching a co-player – does not work for those who bite their fingernails!)) Despite the ability of ghosts to eventually control humans, as players we remain responsible and accountable for ourselves and our own experience. We are instructed to steer for our own play, rather than to focus on the experiences of others. It is a bold undertaking, and a risky one if the players are not all on the same page. But for our run, we are all on the same page! We had an evening together before the larp: our players met for dinner in Odense and then had some self-guided workshops (with wine) at the venue. Here is the point I knew it would work. So much of what we do as larpers is subliminal. If you know your fellow players already it helps, but sometimes a group or an individual just does not gel. Our core-group of four players whose plots and backstory were intertwined clicked. Understanding that this group were all looking for similarly intense experiences really helped; we know even before the larp starts that we’ll be able to cooperatively play ourselves deep into the madness that is to follow. The word often used is chemistry, but perhaps it is more reasonably alchemy.((Or possibly pharmacology.))

    The first morning consists of a series of workshops; these are designed to teach you how to play the larp. This is not simply an explanation of meta-techniques and an info dump of rules, but rather a set of subroutines that reprogramme the players to conform to the new social norms of the story world. We, the new players, are slightly nervous and slightly hungover, watching the players who had been the family the previous day. It is interesting. They smile, they hold eye contact for longer, they are unafraid, have no concept of personal space, and carry with them a nervous joy that permeates the black and white checked ballroom, empty but for a candelabra and a few chairs. I want to opt out of at least one of the proffered workshops, but force myself to take part; I am so far beyond my comfort zone that it becomes Brechtian. The sessions are physical; I am strong, used to fighting back; part of the exercise here is to give up control. The ghosts always win. Pushed to the floor with ghosts whispering in my ear I take a deep breath and relax, becoming one with the checked tiles beneath my cheek and I am not afraid anymore.

    The larp starts with a nap. The characters have fallen asleep before lunch and all awake in different parts of the house. They amuse themselves for an hour before lunch – Jacob and Wilhelm do “masculine things” in the garden, the homoeroticism of wrapping someone’s hands before putting on boxing gloves is lost in front of an audience sipping champagne – and then at lunchtime, things start to get weird. At six thirty the humans are utterly under the control of the ghosts, and by midnight they are destroyed and devoured by the house. The whole experience is ten to twelve hours of intense play but the following day the cycle repeats except the human players of the previous day are now their own ghosts and a new set of humans come in – as the same characters – to repeat the day. All except for the first run, where the ghosts are NPCs, and the last run, where the family players do not get to play ghosts. I played the penultimate run. 

    PLUS THREE, n. (+++) Not only are the chronology and the nature of a drug’s action quite clear, but ignoring its action is no longer an option. The subject is totally engaged in the experience, for better or worse.

    But when it comes down to it, I can’t begin to describe what happened. Individual events and scenes taken out of context may sound challenging, confusing, or simply make no sense, and the contexts are subjective. Instead I am going to have to resort to the obvious analogy. Larp is sometimes thought of as a consensual hallucination, and this one was more hallucinogenic than most. 

    The Shulgin scale – quoted throughout this piece – looks at the experience of a chemical over time, and describes the physical and mental effects of the experience on a positive scale of plus one to four (Shulgin and Shulgin 1990). As I am typing this, another player on a backchannel chat is describing the mental state of the players, four days after the larp, as like a comedown after 48 hours of MDMA. Their description is valid. Except there is no crushing bleakness for me. I am still on a high. I am mainly frightened that it will wear off and what it will feel like when it does. Other players have described this process already. Perhaps this is a part of the horror of this game, having to look in the mirror and realise that the larp is over and the magic circle is no more?

    House of Craving was a solid plus three for me. It is important to note that this is not a rating scale. A high number is not objectively the goal of larp, or the best thing. One cannot argue that any larp that fails to achieve it is a failure – because most larps don’t, indeed hardly any larps do, nor do they intend to. House of Craving was a horror larp, but there were no moments of blind terror or jump scares and it did not feel dangerous. The fear was the slow realisation of creeping entropy juxtaposed with beauty, and this juxtaposition made the fear feel much worse. My run produced two of the most beautiful larp moments of the 34 years I have been larping, including one which was so eye-wateringly incredible that it makes me gasp to think about it. I am not going to tell you what they were. It would be like describing the effects of 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine((DOC, a hallucinogenic amphetamine first synthesised in Canada in 1972 (Shulgin and Shulgin 1990).)) to someone who had not taken it. I can’t offer you details, only impressions.

    I played towards not some sort of death, but towards oblivion. My character’s ending was a ceding of control to the unknown by a character who was willfully in control of himself and his environment up to that point. He did not allow himself to feel physical fear or pain, he kept it inside, until – at the end – only fear remained. The only thing that scared him was the loss of his wife. His litany “without you, I am nothing” became the poem that ended the larp, as he slipped away from her and the lights went out. (Here I literally move away from my fellow players and end the larp alone in the darkness, I feel their hands reach out to find me, but I am gone.) “Without you I am nothing. Without you I am nothing. I am nothing. Nothing. (nothing).”

    The patterns and the layers of the piece is what made it work; the ultimate form of intertextuality, stories tied into intricate and beautiful knots, held tight against willing skin. As a piece of ontological design which constructs a narrative and performative space – a larp if you like – House of Craving is a masterpiece of the form. It is a dramatically and personally profound piece of capital A-Art. Given the right players, a little bit of larp magic, and a prevailing wind, it can be life changing. It is certainly life affirming, sexy as hell, and really rather scary. 

    PLUS FOUR, n. (++++) A rare and precious transcendental state, which has been called a “peak experience,” a “religious experience,” “divine transformation,” a “state of Samadhi” and many other names in other cultures. It is not connected to the +1, +2, and +3 of the measuring of a drug’s intensity. It is a state of bliss, a participation mystique, a connectedness with both the interior and exterior universes, which has come about after the ingestion of a psychedelic drug, but which is not necessarily repeatable with a subsequent ingestion of that same drug.

    There is a point on the Shulgin Scale above plus three. Plus four, however, is a state of being which is profound by definition and by effect, but it can also be terrifying and dangerous. The experience of playing House of Craving was a powerful one yet it remained safe. But the fall out is even more fascinating. I feel fantastic; as though the loved-up effect of MDMA has persisted long after the chemical has worn off. My body image issues, whilst probably not gone for good, are certainly in abeyance; I went into the larp as someone who would describe himself as “old” “fat” “bald” “ugly” ”haggard”; I have come out of it with a healthy dose of “fuck that.” Do you know that we are all beautiful – all of us – and that is the truth, everything that tells you different is merely advertising? I have no religious conviction that this state of affairs will persist, but the larp has produced a profound effect on how I perceive who I am, and this is plus four, and it is wonderful.

    If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end, of the human experiment.

    — Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin, PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story (pp. 963–965).

    References

    Shulgin, Alexander “Sasha,” and Ann Shulgen. 1990. “#64 DOC.” PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Transform Books. Available at Erowid.org: https://erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal064.shtml

    —. 1990. PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Transform Books. Available at Erowid.org: https://erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal064.shtml

    Cover Photo: Promotional photo from House of Craving. Photo by Bjarke Pedersen.

  • Six Magickal Techniques

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    Six Magickal Techniques

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    Six magickal larp techniques were designed for “Walpurgis” (2018) and refined for its second run (2019). They were created to reinforce psychedelia, confusion and messing with dark undercurrents in a Psychedelic 70’s, Eurotrash surreal setting. Magickal techniques are specific and alternate ways to engage with oneself, with each other character, and with the environment in larp.

    The techniques were created by Juan Ignacio Ros and José Castillo Meseguer, working together as Somnia. They were intended to be a complete set: inclusive (for all magick went through them) and prescriptive (for they had to be followed if the character was performing magick and no magick was performed outside them). They were intended as approaches to follow and not definite “spells”, and similar outcomes could be achieved by many of them. They were all about how to do magick, how to be immersed while performing, and results were secondary.

    The techniques were also designed to enhance Somnia’s preferred style of seamless immersion and to avoid any blatant stepping out of the illusion to negotiate outcomes – play to flow. For that same reason, the techniques are autonomous and don’t require supervision, decisions or judgement from the larp organization. It was not an aim of the design to enable power fantasies, and we focused on psychological horror.

    The esoteric and occult make-up of the magic enacted by the characters through the techniques was seen a secondary concern, or a non-issue, but they enhanced the mood. These techniques benefit vastly if three principles are also followed:

    “There are no masters” – Even if characters think they are masters of the Occult, they are not, according to these techniques. There is no certain outcome for their performance and rituals.

    “You cannot be wrong” – While the actual performance could be compromised, characters are confident in their works – the same as in any movie with obvious silly rituals that are taken seriously nonetheless. As long as the participant put an effort delivering their “magick”, it was accepted and slight deviations are welcomed.

    “Outcomes flow along with the larp running course” – If a character wants to set up a specific situation or opportunity in advance, that is fine, but if the “magick” involve other participants’ characters, they are the ones who decide the intensity and persistence of the effects as they find them interesting. Attempts to perform them in a casual manner, to automatize or to exploit them can be seen as bad form and ignored, for these techniques are played to flow, to see what happens next, and not to abuse other participants’ goodwill.

    Lastly, a desired outcome could be irrelevant or going against the larp desired experience or the larp specific phase, flow or limits, so it is expected that participants restrain themselves if such is the case.

    Second Sight

    The Second Sight is seen as the foundation technique, for it is a requirement before performing the rest of them. It is an active technique to enhance the larp experience by engaging through the inner turmoil and phantoms of the portrayed character.

    The key issue is the conscious distortion of perception, and should always be done through the character’s mindset.

    A recipe for workshops follows:

    Stop for a moment, look inside and try to see what is unseen, the hidden meaning behind what is happening, a subtle level beyond the evident reality of what you see. Let any image, impression or idea manifest in your imagination and hold unto it. Take your insight as the truth or vision your character is perceiving, within the worldview of the larp, however irrational or outrageous it could be, and go with it, act upon it.

    The Second Sight is intended to be used as often as possible for inspiration, or to decide if what another character is saying or doing is true, or to look for hints or motivations for anything, but also as a preamble to any act of magick, to “measure“ and ”perceive” hidden forces.

    It is a way to generate content for the larp experience in an unilateral way.

    Comment: We designed the Second Sight as a “symbolic mode” to engage the larp in a different approach than regular perception allows. We often felt that the standard portrayal of magic in larp relies too often on props, special effects and external actions. The inner action and symbolic significance of performing magick is too often overlooked or not considered, so we used this technique as a prerequisite and threshold for all participants to help them find subjective meaning in sometimes absurd and illogical actions that have sense within themselves.

    We stressed the importance of the Second Sight for the second run of Walpurgis, as we found it under-used during the first run.

    This technique encouraged participants to tap into their visions and ideas for the larp, situations and characters “in media res” and forge new paths of action.

    Divination

    This technique is performed to deliver indirect suggestions for a character ‘s next actions or path, by looking into the blurry past and the hidden present. It could be performed by a character on another, or by the character alone over themselves, as a form for diegetic steering. It requires a divination tool, but anything could be used if it makes sense for the larp itself.

    When a seer performs the reading on another, they require a framework for the interpretation of the signs, and it can be as vague or specific as the consultant wants.

    The answers from the divination should include situations the character who asks for the divination will most surely come across (or have the delusion of encountering), as proofs or triggers behind the divination messages.

    Comment: Divination is best for “soft” influences and suggestions. Anything goes with it, and any vague statements and inaccuracies make it very fitting for the “consultant”character to fill up the blanks. It is taken for granted that the “seer” character will start any reading after they enter the Second Sight.

    Sorcery

    There is no subtlety in sorcery, a blunt and direct technique to exert power and obtain results and alterations in the outer world and in others. It is defined as engaging through forceful commands and overt manipulation.

    The effects on other characters depend a lot on the dramatic abilities of the performer, for they are delivered mostly through personal influence.

    Examples of sorcery execution could be the ritual delivery of a charm, talisman or potion with the intent of a direct change on another; the use of gestures, looks and words to convey psychic manipulations or cursing; the composition of some sort of semblance or doll, etc. All of them are tied to let the target character know about the intent.

    There are many ways of performing sorcery, but with each one the sorcerer is sending a clear message: the character wants a specific result or course of action, is not afraid to force it, and the consequences be damned.

    Comment: Successful use of sorcery goes through the principle of “play to flow” for all involved participants: go along if it is well delivered and makes sense, display resistance even if the character is going to lose, let the circumstances and the specifics of your character decide.

    By design, subtle and indirect influences, charms and enchantment were not considered for “Walpurgis”, as we aimed for overt and dramatic interventions.

    Journey

    The technique for Journey was designed to enable travelling through other worlds, alone or in company. It is also seen as engaging through delusions and mindscapes.

    It comes in two modes: a mind trip and a physical walk, and both can be performed alone or with company, and take for granted the Second Sight is being used. As a mind trip, the character sits and navigates through a predefined inner landscape of the larp, using the guidance of another character who takes the lead and suggests (but not describes) what is happening or following their own path.

    As a physical walk, the character moves through a path after night falls, but projects the inner landscape they should be navigating in the outer world. It can also be performed with another character leading the path and suggesting the zones they are travelling through.

    This technique has worked better when performed with some aim or purpose of what the character wanted to find, and dressed up with rituals, music, candles or special lights.

    Comment: “Walpurgis” had a predefined inner landscape – the Underworld – for the characters to travel. It was broad and based on Mediterranean otherworlds (specially the Greek Hades) and the larp location, a group of cave houses in Southern Spain, was well suited to it.

    Implementing this technique in a larp would require to define an inner landscape or otherworld with the principles that operate inside and the kind of experiences that the Journey might provide. Otherwise, it could end in aimless wandering and complete disconnection.

    Evocation

    Evocation is intended as the conjuring of otherworldly beings to interact with them for information, exchanges, dealings and pacts. The technique was conceived as engaging through the perspective of a third person with an inhuman mindset: The Other, a character that is played through another character. Different kinds of Others could be conceived: long dead people, personifications of a specific emotion or complex entities who could be conscious but utterly alien.

    Evocation requires two characters, the one who calls forth, and a companion who helps and will serve as the basis for the Other.

    The evocation ritual is performed in a dramatic way by the one who calls, and conveys to the companion all the information they require: titles, powers, attitude, quirks and demeanor. At the climax of the ritual, the companion embodies the Other. Outwardly, there are no changes, but the magician can see them through the Second Sight.

    Then follows a power play between the Other and the magician, who are constantly testing each other’s power and will through their interaction and exchange, trying to gain the upper hand. The entity could ask for prices, obedience, tasks or information. At the end of the interaction, the entity departs by its own volition or when it is banished, and the companion has some distant memories of the interaction.

    A particularly dangerous – yet intense – variation is the summoning of a being of desire for the magician, a “demon lover”. The demon lover embodies the qualities and possess the gender the character finds most attractive. The companion embodies the demon lover and interacts – there could be words, touch, a playful exchange, violence, slight gratification or any kind of interaction, but there should be no fulfillment. Whatever interaction develops, it should be unsatisfying and frustrating at the end, but it might be insightful.

    Comment: Consent and safety are paramount when playing with Evocation, and particularly if any kind of intimacy is going to be enacted. It is understood the participants would have negotiated before the larp their interaction limits and are able revoke them at any point. To implement this technique, it should be also stressed that whoever plays the companion character could return to their normal character even if they don’t feel threatened, but don’t like how the interaction is developing, stating that the entity has gone.

    That all interactions were unsatisfying was a design feature for “Walpurgis”, but it could be different for another larp. However, we thought it was better to avoid power fantasies and any kind of wish fulfillment.

    Metamorphosis

    The technique for Metamorphosis is the process of becoming the alien Other, engaging inwards through a self-inflicted change of the character.

    It allows to change the character by direct ritual action during the larp, to discover new or vestigial aspects unknown before or to fumble and mess with oneself in a horrible and permanent way, whatever seems more interesting. Altering character traits, mindset or basic social functions, like substituting words for humming or rhythmic clapping, or losing the capacity to express some thought or emotion could be some examples.

    Tools for Metamorphosis are meditation, concentration, devotion, the invocation and absorption of god forms and specific actions undertaken as a means of transformation.

    Comment: As “Walpurgis” themes were horror, confusion and lack of identity, Metamorphosis was the way to go for radical transformations and experimentation, never to “improve” the character or give them an advantage over others, but to make them different from normal human beings by becoming the Other. Metamorphosis was intended as a permanent change, for a passing influence was the purview of other techniques such as Sorcery.

    An important point of note was that Metamorphosis was sought after by the character, and it was always personal. This could change for another larp in which a character could alter others’ core identities by sorcerous means.

    Additional comments

    The techniques were intended as a whole, but they allow for ample experimentation using only a couple of them. For instance, a short chamber larp – “δαίμων” (Daimon, 2019 and 2020), written by Juan Ignacio Ros for Somnia – has used only a streamlined version of Evocation. Other magickal techniques could be designed for specific larps, considering the needs, the design and how they would enhance the way the characters could interact.

    We made slight adjustments on the techniques for the second run to explain them better, but they stayed mostly the same.

    The biggest changes were connected to Evocation, to offer a more practical approach about it and establish better that the technique should be used with a companion who would perform the entity evoked.

    We altered Sorcery so it was understood only as “brute psychic force” and not as a general guidance and manipulation, for we felt it was needed to avoid vagueness and convey the coercive nature of such magicks.

    The definition of Metamorphosis was confusing for the first run, according to several participants, so we stressed that the Otherness that took over the character was inhuman, alien, unknown: connected to the chthonic and titanic nature of the Dark Gods that the characters followed.

    For the second run of “Walpurgis,” an online session was set up before the larp to give examples, describe and comment on how a participant could produce their larp content through these tools. Extended workshops would be also highly advisable to practice the techniques if participants are not familiar with them.

    These tools required engagement and a bit of preparation, but were designed to flesh out and guide interactions in a “magical” mindset, and to enrich the larp experience when Occult and ritual magic are considered.

    Cover photo: From the second international run of Walpurgis. Photo by Stefano Kewan Lee.

    This article will be published in the upcoming companion book Book of Magic and is published here with permission. Please cite this text as:

    Ros, Juan Ignacio. “Six Magickal Techniques.” In Book of Magic, edited by Kari Kvittingen Djukastein, Marcus Irgens, Nadja Lipsyc, and Lars Kristian Løveng Sunde. Oslo, Norway: Knutepunkt, 2021. (In press).