Events

Description: http://fate.laiv.org/dogme99/en/index.htm
Responsible: Britta Bergersen
Place: MS Innvik - Art Bed & Breakfast
No of players: 13

Description: We play what we like from the menu; Doubt, Lady & Otto, Gang Rape, Fat Man Down, Drunk, The Mothers
Responsible: Frederik Østergaard og Tobias Wrigstad
Place: St. Olavs plass, room 540, entrance from Universitetsgata
No of players: flexible

This is a character-centred larp by Andrea Castellani and Anca Burescu.
The larp is for eight participants (four males and four females), playing 25-30 year old Romanian immigrants in Italy.
The original larp should last 24 hours, but the version presented here
is a 4 hour long adaptation.
Because of the potentially strong situations presented in the larp, only participants who reported positive experiences in "close to home" themed larps will be accepted.
Responsible: Andrea Castellani
Place: MS Innvik - Art Bed & Breakfast
No of players: 4 + 4

Description: Set in the Babylon 5 universe.
As the minbari fleet advances on Earth, a group of pilots are gathered together awating their orders. Explores the themes of conflict and sacrifice.
Responsible: Nathan Hook
Place: Faculty of law, Karl Johans gate 47, Styrerommet
No of players: 9

Description: We play what we like from the menu; Doubt, Lady & Otto, Gang Rape, Fat Man Down, Drunk, The Mothers
Responsible: Frederik Østergaard og Tobias Wrigstad
Place: St. Olavs plass, room 540, entrance from Universitetsgata
No of players: flexible

We encourage people to dine with us at the “Colletts café”
You need to sign up!

Description: join the actors on stage and make the play happen
Responsible: Margrete Raaum
Place: Underwater pub, Dalsbergstien 4

No of players: 60

Description
This year we have invited Martin Svahn and Johan Nilsson from Frispel to write an official opening game for Knutepunkt! Everyone will get the chance to play this game in groups of 10 during the first evening of Knutepunkt. The School Trip is a game about a class reunion where 10 people from the old class meets 15 year after their last year at school. They meet to catch up on what has happened since they saw each other last. But as expected they have all changed substantially from whom they were as kids. However, they share the memory of a traumatic event which happened during a school trip to London 15 years ago. And this past event caches up with them in unexpected ways on this fateful day of the reunion.

Since this game will be played simultaneously by everyone at Knutepunkt it isn't necessary to sign up for this event.

Who
The Writer's Collective Frispel is celebrating 10 years in 2009. They are freeform game creators from Mora, Sweden. Frispel writes games which are in the borderlands between traditional roleplaying games, art and improvisation theatre – with a slight touch of madness.

Description:
The Larp Show with Joc is the opening talkshow on the first evening of Knutepunkt. A diverse range of guest will try to answer the fundamental question – Larp: What matters?

We expect that the audience will be of great help in finding the answer(s) to this existential question.

It isn't necessary to sign up for this event.

Who
Johanna Koljonen is a cultural critic and rpg theorist.

What
Tribal hang-out for your basic needs. With atmosphere, without alcohol.

Who
Hosted by noiade Hanne Grasmo and her fellow tribe members.

There is no need to sign up in advance.

Description
Slightly funny, very offensive...

Who
"Claus Raasted is not a person. He's an event. - quote: Tim Fitzler, Germany"

There is no need to sign up in advance...

Description
Based on an exercise from South American Nicolas Nunez' ritual theatre, this is a one-hour physical ritual that is a great way to start the day or perhaps a good "quiet time" to also process other activities. There are six ten-minute physical meditations that take up the hour.

Who
Johanna MacDonald is a professional actor, dancer and performance artist, originally from Canada and living and working in Helsinki. Most of her stage experience is from physical theatre, butoh dance, mask and commedia dell' Arte, and improvised/devised theatre. She runs workshops on different physical approaches to theatre, all of which basically work on the performer's awareness of his or her own body, and developing the freedom to improvise without tension.

Description
This year the Knutepunkt book articles were made available online before the festival, to give attendants the opportunity to read and digest before coming to Knutepunkt. The editors also chose a less academic profile for the book, to make it more accessible to the general Knutepunkt public. We would like to invite you to join the editors for a chat about the book and its contents, with the hope of sparking some debate and inspiring next year's editors.

Who
Matthijs Holter is this year's editor of the Knutepunkt book. He is the writer of the Norwegian tabletop game "Draug" and is also the host of an annual small indie roleplaying convention in his own home. The last year he has been working on the use of roleplaying as a learning incentive in the class room.

Description
This is a 4 part Game which could be seen as 1 whole story played by 4 different player groups or as a workshop in gameflow in different LarpForms. The Workshop will reach for a common ground on gameflow from Erlend's mix of experience from Fantasy larps, Historic larps, Political larps, ArtHouselarps, Pervasive larps and Freeform. Examples of composition will also include experience from other mediums such as music (Erlend plays saxophone and piano), film (he has directed 3 documentary films), and dance/performance.

Who
Erlend Eidsem Hansen has organised more than 20 larps the last 20 years, and taken part in over 200 games. He is also one of the founders of Knutepunkt. Erlend has recently finished an art project with Norwegian/Isreali choreographer Mia Habib. Currently he is working as a director/producer in the national childrens channel in Norway. Erlend Eidsem has recently finished the editing process of his documentary Exil, never mind reality. He believes that character driven docmentary films have more in common with larps than the most often inspired material from feature films of fiction. Erlend is anarchist of nature, but will here focus on pacing, structure and scripts, leaving the larphacker discussions for other fora.

Description
This Crash Course in Using Light Equipment is primarily for those who will use the light equipment in the colour box when running games in the box.

Who
Daniel Windsvold has both played and organized larps. He is Master of Lights at the student society in Trondheim, Norway. He also works with light as a freelancer.

Description
We would like to present Czech (and mention Slovakian) larps, their history, present and future of the most popular events and organizations in our country. We also want to talk about new and interesting projects like Czech-Slovak national larp conference, politics-based larps, larpedia, chamber larps movement, opening larps for general public etc.

Let´s come and see that we play more than just boffer battles. Themes we use are more colourful than fantasy and sci-fi and our players are not kids only.

Who
Jana Jevická, age 24, studies theatre faculty of The Janáček´s University of music and performing art in Brno, Czech Republic. She is focused on drama in education, non-professional theatre and pedagogical aspects of larp. She is a member of civic association Court of Moravia, where she is responsible for fund-raising, project management and creating a pedagogical methodology for certain larps.

Tomáš Kopeček, age 30, lives in Brno, Czech Republic. He has been larping as player, organizer and theorist since mid 90's. He is focused on new ways and uses of larp phenomena. He has Ph.D. in Computer Science and for last three years he was working on projects combining computer simulations and live role-playing at few Czech universities.

Description
Torstein will share his knowledge and experience about the financial sides of organizing LARPs. What works, what doesn't, and why?

Who
Torstein Utne is the organizer of several LARPs, Beer-lover, computer-geek and loudmouth. His qualifications include a total lack of economical sense and education. On the other hand he's never organized a LARP that has run a deficit and has helped several businesses turn around a profit, so he must be doing something right.

Description:
Under my Skin is a live form game in the Jeepform tradition. You play people in a social circle who begin falling in love with friends who are not their partners. The game deals with the fallout of these decisions and explores the issues facing the characters in their own psyches and primary relationships.

Who
Emily Care Boss, is an independent role playing game designer from the USA. She is author of Under my Skin, a jeep influence game about infidelity and faith, as well as two other tabletop role playing games Breaking the Ice and Shooting the Moon with a romance theme.

Description
The pseudo-historical village of Cinderhill was built for Dragonbane, and now is a monument over its success and failings. Without any activities for soon 3 years, a small group of Finns and Swedes are trying to save this enormous resource for the Scandinavia larp-movement and needs your help. Meet up, discuss the future of Cinderhill, get a presentation of the place as it stands to day and what plans exist. Helpers, builders, larpers, organizers, youth workers etc. are all invited to see what is happening with one of our Pan-Scandinavian gems.

Who
Morgan Jarl is a physical theatre practitioner and teacher, with his roots in the Scandinavian larp community. Educated in England and USA he have been the artistic driving force behind 2 theatre companies, 30 odd theatre productions and 15 odd larps. He makes his living from teaching courses in non-verbal communication and characterization.

Description
Hey, mainstream larp in Italy is quite similar to the rest of the world (you know, Vampire larps, boffer larps and the like), so you smart KP-goers don't need more than five minutes about it. After those five minutes (OK, ten minutes if you're particularly interested), I'll talk about those Italian larps which (maybe unknowingly) are quite different from the mass. The general idea is to give you some basic info about the historical development of these weird phenomena, with practical examples from a number of interesting, experimental, moving, outrageous larps from different scenes across our funny boot-shaped peninsula. I expect questions and discussion. Come as you are. Italian prog rock and cantuccini will be freely distributed. Cantuccini are a kind of biscuits.

Who
Andrea Castellani is 33 year old. He passed smoothly from pretend play to murder mystery games, then to the "Flying Circus" tradition of Italian theatre-style larp, and finally he elaborated his own "Karstic Style" of larping (see this year's Knutebook). He lives in Prosecco (near Trieste) and Milan, and he works in zoology, science communication and history of science.

Description
A new workshop in Anna Karin's series of drama workshops. This time it's all about different ways of using monologues as techniques in larps. Exploring the monologue as a method - allowing the inner drama to speak, in 15 minute scenarios.

Who
Anna-Karin Linder studies theatre and has created the larps The Last Supper and Club Felis and was a director at A Nice Evening with the Family. She is a forceful advocates for greater use of meta techniques in larps. And she will be you DJ at the party at this year's Knutepunkt.

Description
The setting is the finest pub in Heaven, also called Fønix Caelus. This is a game where everybody get to play angels. The time is just before Creation. God has just announced that he plans to create the universe and the humans. Not everybody thought this a good thing. One of the greatest subjects of conversation is the big quarrel between the Archangel Lucifer Morningstar, who has questioned the Lord's decision, and the Archangel Michael, who defends His Word. But even though it has been quarrelling, the angels meet at the pub Fønix Caelus to relax, drink wine and eat waffles. Even the Holy Ghost might drop by.

Who
Danel Morlandstrø is a young larp-organizer from Bergen, Norway.

Description
Charles Nielsen & Sindre Titlestad Westgård shares their experience from children- and youthLARPs in Denmark and Norway as an introduction to a workshop designed to share knowledge, goals and ethical issues. The workshop will make room for a lot of issues regarding rules, responsibilities, startup, empowerment and so on through it's open design based on the café dialogue method.

Who
Charels Bo Nielsen - started larping at the age 11 and is still a young guy who recently left the ranks of teenagers. At the age of 15 he started organizing larps for young people.

Sindre Titlestad Westgård – Organizes a continuous storyline youthLARP with 17 runs so far. Has pedagogical background, and runs a firm (Tidsreiser/Timetravels) working with LARP as a red line in events and teaching.

Description
A two part workshop in spatial design, interior architecture and scenography for Larps. Part 1 will be held on Friday and part 2 on Saturday.

Who
Despite her never-ending love for tiki bars, pink lawn flamingoes, glittering wallpaper and shiny objects in general, Ingebjørg Berg Holm has managed to get a master degree in spatial design and is working as an interior architect. As a LARPs organizer, she has stumbled around in the field of scenography, armed with a staple gun, gaffa tape and lots and lots of cotton fabric.

Description
Doubt is a freeform/jeepform role-playing game for four players about the semantics of relationships and about infidelity. Doubt is about temptation, the importance to love and be loved. About constant choosing. About living with one person, and at the same time dreaming of others. Doubt ties into the story-now movement, where players create their own story collaboratively using parameters and material provided by the game. The game is played out on two simultaneous scenes that reflect on each other, two parallel interconnecting stories if you well. Jeepform games closely resemble mini-larps, but focus more on story-telling and story immersion than character immersion. As an example, each player will play at least two characters in Doubt and meta techniques are used to "step out of the diegetic story" to comment on it. Expect to be moved, to play close to home and the unexpected.

Who
Tobias is a jeepform evangelist Scandinavian in the US. He is obsessed with meta techniques and somehow returning back to Sweden.

Description
Sometimes parts of a larp can be downright dull. Everybody is just milling about waiting for something to happen. In this workshop we will explore how we can strengthen our ability to create interesting scenes on the spot and without fear.

Who
Peter Sigurdson Lunga has completed a bachelor in Drama and Theatre-Communication. He is an aspiring theatre director and dramaturge and tutor of improvisation and theatre sports. He is a founding member of the improvisational theatre company “Teater Liksom”. He recently directed the play: "The Goat: or, Who is Sylvia?"

Description
Do you want to produce a larp but don’t know where to start? Have you made larps before, but your production always seems to fail due to “unforeseen events”? Then this is the lecture for you. The aim is to give a rough outline of how to produce a larp, including the most important tasks, when and how to do them. In addition, we will look at some of the most common pitfalls are and how you can take them into account in your planning.

Who
Kåre M. Kjær has been organizing larps since 2002, always with a focus on the production aspect and how to optimize and minimize it. He holds an engineering degree within industrial management and works as a project manager in a software company, and like to use his knowledge and experience from both of these in a larp context to improve the degree of professionalism in both his own work and the work of others.

Description
Many things are still unsaid about how to design larps. For example, we still don't agree on what a "plot" is, or how to make a good one. In this panel we invite some larpwrights with interesting opinions to share and debate their perspective on good larp design, and perhaps reveal a secret ninja trick or two in the process.

Who
An ancient Panclou proverb states that "every time Eirik Fatland invents a theory about larp, a mime in New York explodes". When not killing mimes, he works as an information architect and social media consultant in Oslo.

Description
A workshop/discussion on how we create a world that is easily playable for participants. What things can we actually play on and how is a culture made alive? What things do we need to know to portray a different culture in a believable way? How can a player immerse themselves into a world and how is it facilitated by the organizer?

Who
Morgan Jarl is a physical theatre practitioner and teacher, with his roots in the Scandinavian larp community. Educated in England and USA he have been the artistic driving force behind 2 theatre companies, 30 odd theatre productions and 15 odd larps. He makes his living from teaching courses in non-verbal communication and characterization.

Description
"A Night in the Box" is a two-part journey into free/jeep form black box larping. The two larps are connected through method only - there is no requirement to participate in both.

"A Place for Me to Rest" (Nattro 120mg) is a dream play wherein we follow the dreams of a young girl in an insane asylum, either dreaming or dying. The scenario makes extensive use of monologues - it is the only method of communication between characters during the game. " A Place for Me to Rest" is a black box remake of the Swedish free form/larp hybrid "Innan Hösten" (Before Autumn) by Martin Brodén and Tova Gerge. No costume or equipment requirements. Original larpwrights: Martin Brodén, Petter Karlsson and Emma Öhrström.

Who
Martin Brodén is a long-time jeeper obsessed with finding a narrativistic fusion of traditional larping and free form roleplaying. Petter Karlsson is a young god who just finished organising the Swedish larp/free form-convention Prolog 2009. Maria Ljung is a even younger god who has been a long time coming.

Description
After having residents in town fallen victim to an unexplained mental disease all rights and wrongs shuffle. As victims of this plague mumble things they would never say, enchant songs they have never known and die twitching in the third day – aid comes when religion and law unite to create a lethal weapon against diabolic forces.

Who
Osher El-Netanyani has been larping in Israel since 1993, organizing since 1997. He'd love to see you in his game.

Description
Does live-action role-playing have anything to do with democracy? It is believed that activities – any activities – done together in non-profit groups, such as clubs and associations, contribute to democracy. This is one of the reasons for supporting youth organizations, at least for the Swedish State. It has been said that interactive activities such as role-playing games and live-action role-playing create a context that is less hierarchic, and thus more democratic, than that reproduced in traditional, so called passive, art. It is also believed that role-playing can be used as a pedagogical tool for teaching, for example democracy. Is this true? Are these aims even contradictory? Are they true in all cases or are there differences between different kinds of role-playing games? Are there important differences between the Nordic countries? Are these important from a democracy perspective, or for the development of live-action role-playing as a cultural context?

Who
Tobias Harding has been a role-player and live-action role-player since he was thirteen years, currently working in a research project studying democracy as a practice in non-profit organizations. In this context I hope to study how organizing live-action role-playing, a relatively new activity, has developed into an increasingly well-ordered and institutional activity, and how democracy has been interpreted, and re-interpreted, in the context of this new form of culture and in the organizations that has developed within it.

Description
What scholarly ideas about communication can be brought to bear on understanding RPG play as a special kind of language use, and what implications do those ideas have for play, design, and further research? This presentation explores those questions, extending the observations from the Knutepunkt 09 book chapter, "The Ironical Rhetoric of the Real in RPGs." It invites discussion of the criteria for defining an RPG research agenda.

Who
Bill White is an associate professor of communication arts & sciences at the Altoona campus of the Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches courses in public speaking and mass media. He is also the designer of the forthcoming small-press tabletop RPG "Ganakagok." He is interested in the scholarly exploration of role-playing as language use and social interaction.

Description
Claus Raasted and Anders Berner have collaborated with photographer Christina Molbech to produce a photo book showing off great larp photos from 2008. Claus will present the book and also talk about his next larp Vaterland, also rumored to become a very photogenic event.

Who
Claus Raasted is not only a horrible person. He's also firebrand who believes we need to fight for our community if we don't want to end up without it.

Description
An educational roleplaying game, where the participants play European leaders between 1884 and 1940 who try to get as much out of Africa as possible. The activities vary from roleplaying over board game to school assignments (yes, you have to do the assignments to participate).

Who
Malik Hyltoft and other teachers from Østerskov Efterskole

Description
This is a taste of the the Solgløtt games held by annual Solgløtt larp group. This is an humerous outdoor competition where roleplaying is an essential part of the experience.

Who
Solgløtt is a larp organization from the Southernmost part of Norway.

Description
Creating larps that blur the line between life and game have special
design considerations. This lecture charts the area of pervasive larps
and gives concrete guidelines how to make them work.

Who
Jaakko Stenros is a game researcher at the University of Tampere Game Research Lab. For the past few years he has been specializing in pervasive games and is writing a book on the subject with Markus Montola. He has role-played for 20 years, and has written on the subject in numerous places for over a decade.

Markus Montola is a game researcher and a doctoral candiate in University of Tampere, Finnland. He is writing his thesis on role-playing and pervasive gaming. During the last 20 years he has tried out most of the various forms of roleplaying and is a regular writer for Roolipelaaja magazine.

Description
A workshop exploring different categories of rituals: from ecstatic Dionysian to classic Greek tragedy.

Please note that this workshop has been moved to later in the afternoon compared to the preliminary programme.

Who
Mike Pohjola is an author, poet, screenwriter, larpwright and a RPG designer. He has created larps for several arts festivals in different countries. He is now involved with the Company P in the creating of ground breaking pervasive entertainment.

Description
Putepunkt is a laidback larp workshop on pillows («pute» in Norwegian) about the creative parts of making larps. You can exchange ideas and experiences on how to make the larp of your dreams come to life, how to create and maintain a larp community and how to have great fun in the prosess.

Who
Solgløtt is a larp organization from the Southernmost part of Norway.

Description
In October 2008 some 40 people gathered in the Kamensky forest outside Minsk, Belarus, to arrange and participate in the larp "1943". This larp was the product of one and a half year of work, which started at Knudepunkt 2007, "How can larp change the world?" This lecture will be a presentation of this work. For those of you who have read the Knutepunkt article "Larp in Kamensky forest" this will be the opportunity to hear the Belarusian verison of the story.

Who
Alexander and Aliona - trainers and coordinators from from educational NGO who use larp as an educational tool for working with different target groups in their organisation. In 2008 they organised historical larp 1943, in Belarus, as part of a project about civic and historical education.

Anita Myhre Andersen - is a Norwegian teacher at "Rudolf Steinerskolen" in Bergen.
She also works with larps for children in "Tidsreiser", larps for the human rights house: "Raftohuset" and with her master degree of middle age history. She has been working with larps since 1995 and has among other things been involved in the production of "1942" (in Bergen, 2000) and "1943" (in Belarus, 2008).

Description
Elge Larsson's annual Knutepunkt lecture will as usual explore some key issues both on how and why we larp, the lives we live and the realities we find ourselves in

Who
Elge Larsson is a kind of academic scholar with a wide interest in most form of humanistic studies. A translator by profession and larper by interest, he is part of Interacting Arts, a group of arts producers and theorists, based in Stockholm, Sweden

Description
The traditional party.
Dresscode: Show Your True Colour tonight!

It isn't necessary to sign up for this event

Who
You. Me. Everybody.

DJ - Anna Karin will play "Art vs Trash"
VJ - Erlend will show images from our collective subconsciousness
Master of Lights - Daniel will make the room as colourful as yourselves
Special guests - Miss Intoxica and Empress Devillina. They are: The Fleshoticas!
And Our Master of Ceremonies will be our favorite struggling artist Lars, who has picked up a few tricks in Hollywood!

What
Tribal hang-out for your basic needs. With atmosphere, without alcohol.

Who
Hosted by noiade Hanne Grasmo and her fellow tribe members.

There is no need to sign up in advance.

Description
This lecture will present a model for structuring the process of organising a larp in a number of phases, each with its own characteristics, challenges and advantages. The premise of the lecture is that an increased awareness of these phases will help optimize the distribution of the resources available to organizers, thus make better larps with the same resources. The model is a collaboration between Kåre M. Kjær and Morten Lahrmann, who both have a background in modern industrial management and have been active larpers and organisers on the Danish scene since respectively 2000 and 2001.

Who
Morten Lahrmann is a Danish larp organiser (dormant), master thesis student in business engineering, self-employed consultant, member of several boards including the Danish National Roleplaying Association and Østerskov Boarding School, medieval re-enactor, notorious point-and-talker and Knutepunkt addict. Main interest being the application of modern management tools in the context of larp with the goal of elevating the current larp scene to new heights by improving the utilisation of resources.

Description
Players and their expectations are the clay from which the larpwright fashions Good Experience. The art of designing larps is thus the art of predicting and manipulating player behavior. But how? This rambling and incoherent lecture will fluctuate at unpredictable intervals between the hands-on practical and the far-out theoretical. Don't bring your dancing shoes.

Who
An ancient Panclou proverb states that "every time Eirik Fatland invents a theory about larp, a mime in New York explodes". When not killing mimes, he works as an information architect and social media consultant in Oslo.

Description
Anger Management is about a man, James, who is in therapy to deal with his anger and violence, towards others and towards his family. This game is played out over three scenes in a therapist’s office, where James had to confront a difficult moment that tried his patience that possible pushes him to beat his wife and child. The game is an unfinished draft. We'll collect feedback from players, possibly videotape or record parts of the sessions and feed that back to Ryan.

Who
Ryan Macklin is an American game designer from the Forge tradition and a known voice in RPG podcasting (e.g., Masterplan) and the editor of Finis, a collection of fictive last pages from solo adventure books sold for the benefit of the Katrina victims. Ryan is 30 and lives in California, US. Sadly, Ryan will not attend Knutepunkt, but is sending his latest manuscript for this game, that's been in development for several years. The on-site GMs are Tobias Wrigstad, Frederik Berg Østergaard and Thorbiörn Fritzon—a Swede in the US, a Dane in Switzerland and another Swede in Denmark. They are gamewrights from the freeform tradition.

Description
This talk describes an experiment to incorporate performing arts techniques into tabletop role-playing and bring the result to a theatre stage, done in 2008. The performance was drawing inspirations from cinema, actor reading sessions and poem performances. Conclusions of the experiment outcome are presented and discussed.

Who
Florian Berger has run workshops on tabletop game mastering at the biggest independent German role-playing convention since 2006. He recently published the first German book on system-independent pen&paper game mastering techniques.

Description
In a physical character workshop, we'll spend some time training various parts of the body, working on strengthening awareness of the various body parts and their movement capabilities. This work can also include image work, expanding movement vocabulary by using the imagination. We then move on to building a character by placing the character's dominant energy in a specific area of the body, and trying out different images to find a character's tempo, rhythm, shape, and voice.

Who
Johanna MacDonald is a professional actor, dancer and performance artist, originally from Canada and living and working in Helsinki. Most of her stage experience is from physical theatre, butoh dance, mask and commedia dell' Arte, and improvised/devised theatre. She runs workshops on different physical approaches to theatre, all of which basically work on the performer's awareness of his or her own body, and developing the freedom to improvise without tension.

Description
A two part workshop. First we will try out hypnosis as a means for getting into character. Every participant each bring a character which we shall get into by hypnotic induction. In the second part we discuss how hypnotic elements can be used in LARPs and how it can serve as a foundation when designing rituals. This workshop will be held twice.

Who
Gustav Nilsson study psychology at University of Lund. There he has worked with the professor of parapsychology in a project of hypnosis.

Description
The talk will give an overview of some of the current efforts to document rpg's and a quick walk-through of why it actually can't be done - and what we might do about that!
Warning: if you are allergic to scientific theory, this is not for you.

Who
Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt is a Danish philosopher, specializing in theory and models of science, explanation theory and metaphysics. He works as a manager of a community youth house where he uses game mechanics to educate kids in the ghetto.

Description
The people called the Nitu live on a gigantic island of ice in a starlit sea that has never seen the Sun... but now the dawn is coming. What will it mean for the People, and how will they face the rising of the Sun? A jeepform-like variant of the forthcoming small-press "indie rpg" Ganakagok.

Who
Bill White is an associate professor of communication arts & sciences at the Altoona campus of the Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches courses in public speaking and mass media. He is also the designer of the forthcoming small-press tabletop RPG "Ganakagok." He is interested in the scholarly exploration of role-playing as language use and social interaction.

Description
GR is an experiment in game design using fiat as a means of oppression and experimenting with playing violent and nasty situations. The game focuses on the mechanics of a gang rape situation, the actual act, and to some extent the lead-in and aftermath. The game needs one victim, and two or more rapists. Preferably at least four. The duration of the game varies with the number of rapists, but is generally about one hour, plus de-briefing. Written partially as a comment on the American no-touching-in-larp situation, the game can be played entirely without physical contact if desirable. Don't expect that to make the game less stressful. Expect to use words you seldom use in public, to be required to imagine and speculate about things normally not in your frontal lobe. Don't play this for a laugh. Expect this to be worthwhile but not "fun." Probably not for unstable players. No audience. You either play or stay away.

Who
Tobias is a jeepform evangelist scandinavian in the US. He is obsessed with meta techniques and somehow returning back to Sweden.

Description
Larps cease to exist the moment they end. Yet we have a responsibility to the ones that come after us to document what we do and have done. Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola are planning a coffee table book that document the achetypical games of last 15 years of the Nordic larps scene. Come and discuss what that book should include.

Who
Jaakko Stenros is a game researcher at the University of Tampere Game Research Lab. For the past few years he has been specializing in pervasive games and is writing a book on the subject with Markus Montola. He has role-played for 20 years, and has written on the subject in numerous places for over a decade.

Markus Montola is a game researcher and a doctoral candiate in University of Tampere, Finnland. He is writing his thesis on role-playing and pervasive gaming. During the last 20 years he has tried out most of the various forms of roleplaying and i's a regular writer for Roolipelaaja magazine.

Description
An experimental labyrinthine improvisation. Bodies moving through an inner landscape. A modern Theseus tale for lost minds. Outdoors. Bring warm clothes.

Who
Gabriel Widing is a member of Interacting Arts. He is a theorist and organiser interested in role-playing, dance, reality games and play. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Description
A two part workshop in spatial design, interior architecture and scenography for Larps. Part 1 will be held on Friday and part 2 on Saturday.

Who
Despite her never-ending love for tiki bars, pink lawn flamingoes, glittering wallpaper and shiny objects in general, Ingebjørg Berg Holm has managed to get a master degree in spatial design and is working as an interior architect. As a LARPs organizer, she has stumbled around in the field of scenography, armed with a staple gun, gaffa tape and lots and lots of cotton fabric.

Description
The different impact on learners of scene, narration and competition. The use of edu-larp for motivation, presentation of subject matter and skill training in educational contexts.

Who
Malik Hyltoft is one of two principals of Østerskov Efterskole, a school which uses a pedagogy based on role-playing. Through his affiliation with the company, Dank Spilldesign, he has produced a dozen learning games. He is the self-proclaimed founder of Danish larp, having participated in all kinds of non digital role playing since 1982.

Description
An academic lecture on what is currently actually known about the similarities between role-playing and ritual. Based on two forthcoming research articles by J. Tuomas Harviainen and Andreas Lieberoth.

Who
J. Tuomas Harviainen is a Finnish theologian, information scientist and larp designer. His larps have been run in a dozen countries, and he has been a very frequent contributor to the Knutepunkt books. He believes that proper research provides new clues for the design of better larps.

Description
We will work with a small collection of acting techniques specifically selected for their usability in a larp context. The goal is to give the participants a hands-on introduction at a practically applicable level of very specific tools, that can be used for character work, body consciousness, being present and impulse training, intimacy handling and more. Experience with acting and theatre is a definite advantage.

Who
Jannick Raunow is 31 years. Danish. He's been larping for 15 years. Knutepunkt regular. He'll be finishing his actor's education this summer and he is working as an actor. Last year he attended Solmukohta with an acting workshop as well and have been running such workshops in larping circles for a few years now.

Description
In the first part of this lecture Wagner Schmit will talk about Brazilian role playing games, what and how they play there and what type of games have been made in Brazil. In the second part he will talk about the use of RPG (focused in Larp) in education in Brazil and research on this subject.

Who
Wagner Luiz Schmit is a Psychologist with a Master degree in Education. His dissertation was about the use of RPG in education in Brazil. He has played table top RPG since 1994 and a couple of larps per year since 1996. He has organized regional RPG events, and has given a course for teachers on the use of RPG in education and used role playing as an educational tool in an institution for low income teenagers and for some schools.

Description
A talk about some of the problems facing us as the gap between the old and the new guard of larper widens, each group doing their own things without anyone in the middle to "bridge the gap". The debate will focus on how to do something about it.

Who
Claus Raasted is not only a horrible person. He's also firebrand who believes we need to fight for our community if we don't want to end up without it.

Description
Mini-larp inspired by a Doctor Who episode. You're trapped, powerless and terrified, in a shuttle on the dark side of the moon, as the knocking on the wall begins...

Who
Stefan G. Jordan started larping in 1994, wrote a few rules systems, got over it. First KP in 2004, started MittelPunkt in 2005.

Description
Some Nordic larp veterans started a Stockholm-based media company three years back. They have focused on interactive and participative media - essentially combining roleplaying methods with traditional media. Their latest project just launched. It’s an interactive web drama augmenting Joss Whedon’s new show Dollhouse. The game is called Dollplay and it’s as close to video roleplaying as we can get. The idea is that people can make their own videos and communicate with the main character through them.

Who
Martin Ericsson is the Creative Director of the Company P. He has pushed the boundaries for what larp can be for more than a decade and has recently created the pervasive games Sanningen om Marika and Dollplay.

Mike Pohjola is an author, poet, screenwriter, larpwright and a RPG designer. He has created larps for several arts festivals in different countries. He is now involved with the Company P in the creating of ground breaking pervasive entertainment.

Description
This lecture is about a larp-projekt we did with traumatised Kids and kids with disordered behaviour (mostly aggressive behaviour). We used larp as a method to work with both groups to help those kids to learn from each other and to give them the opportunity to try new strategies for their behaviour. A leisure educational project - the focus on leisure and the education seen as by-product.

Who
Alexander Böpple & Larson Kasper are two German larpers who tried almost everything in larp they were able to get their fingers on. Both love to work with children and even though they come from different directions (one is a educator the other a teacher) they have one common destination: save the larp save the world...

Description
Welcome to the worst hang-over of your life. Yesterday you were partying with strangers. Today you are nauseous, dizzy and angry. And do not remember what exactly happened. Did you insult, beat and/or fuck someone? Possibly the very wrong persons? A discourse-oriented 2-hour larp for 10 players, a favorite from earlier larp conventions. Players are expected to be mean to one another. Game material is in English, but you can play in any language. Not being understood can be part of the fun!

Please note that this event has been moved to later in the day compared to the preliminary programme.

Who
J. Tuomas Harviainen is a Finnish theologian, information scientist and larp designer. His larps have been run in a dozen countries, and he has been a very frequent contributor to the Knutepunkt books. He believes that proper research provides new clues for the design of better larps.

Description
Linda is celebrating her sixth birthday and you are invited. Participants will be playing Linda's guests. Do you like cake, birthday-hats and not too afraid of balloons? Come play with us!

Who
Mona Liland Aabel, Kaia Aardal, Grethe Strand, three Norwegian girls who enjoys participating in larps just as much as creating them

Description
How can you apply for funds for your larps or projects, and what really matters when you write and plan your applications? Through practical exercises we´ll look at what to write and what not to write when applying for funds, and we´ll look at some of the possible sources of funding, especially for nordic projects.

Who
Martin Eckhoff Andresen is a head of economy for Knutepunkt 2009, and has been involved in the process of funding the conference. He´s a BA in social economics, and works in the Norwegian Youth Council. There, he´s responsible for a norwegian cultural fund for young people, Frifond Barn og Unge.

Description
A party. A predestined meeting. A web of interlacing stories. We will gather our inspiration from the director, play write and theatre theorist Bertolt Brecht and his acting theory of Verfremdung, Haltung and Gestus, his aesthetics made widely known through the films Dogville and Manderlay by von Trier and his concern with social problems, morality and relationships. 2 hours of black box larping - expect all sorts of meta techniques and shifting perspective as player, director, narrator and audience. Working of a model of larps created by the participants in workshop before play, come ready to hack out some relationships and plots.

This larp will begin at 16:00 in Seminar Room 4, and move to the Colour Box from 17:00 to 19:00.

Who
Morgan Jarl is a physical theatre practitioner and teacher, with his roots in the Scandinavian larp community. Educated in England and USA he have been the artistic driving force behind 2 theatre companies, 30 odd theatre productions and 15 odd larps. He makes his living from teaching courses in non-verbal communication and characterization.

Description
Our starting point will be two radically different, but widely used approaches to Character Creation. The first part of the workshop will focus on what matters when creating characters for a larp. What is important, and, more importantly, what is not.
The second part aims to define and describe a set of tools that will make it easier to create great characters based on the things that matter.
The ultimate goal of the workshop is to inspire people to make better characters, and thus better larps.

Who
Asbjørn Rydland has created and co-created more than 20 larps in the last 15 years. He is one of the driving forces behind the larp world "Veiskille" ("Crossroads"). Rumors says that he really is a werewolf and needs to shave every 9 hours to be able to pass as a human being.

Kristian Spilhaug is usually involved in at least three different projects at the same time, because he has not yet fully mastered the ability to say "No". This is also the reason why he is Head of Information at Knutepunkt 2009.

Description
They will not larp for fun anymore. But for cash. Buisness Larpers turn their passion in new directions to become rich and famous, or at least manage to live their dreams. Would you like to make a living of your larp competence, too? Meet the pioneers that larp as full time jobs: employed with film, interactive media and art, organizational development, events and education. Experience in this panel debate how it is possible.But is it really larp they are doing? And how do they contribute to the larp community? Maybe the proffesional larper is the main reason for lack of attracting new people into larp. Maybe very few of us want to work for free with our big ideas, when there is cash to catch. Or maybe we can not change the world, or make the dream come true, if it wasn’t for "Dreamworld Inc."?

Who
Hanne Grasmo is a sociologist, educator, theater instructor, author and editor. She has made money from larping, but never a living. But Hanne used her larp competence to start her own company: Using interactive theatre to change attitudes in the petrol industry. She has made the larps: Magic Around Every Corner, AmerikA, The Social-Femokracy, Wa, "Nådestøt" and BDSM Harry Potter. She has published a book on leadership, a book about sexuality for young people and the so far only book about larp in Norwegian.

Description
Dreams of the Universe is a teaching session under development at the Danish National Museum. It is interdisciplinary, coupling history and physics. The aim is for students to understand some of the factors of scientific changes. The framework for understanding these changes is the theory of Thomas Kuhn. The case is the change from a geocentric model of the universe to a heliocentric model of the solar system.

Who
Jesper Bruun works as a research assistant at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen. He holds a degree in physics with a thesis in the didactics of physics. Long time organizer and player of role plays in Denmark. Valdemar Kølle is 32. He is Master of Science and holds a degree Physical Education, with a thesis on Larping as motivation for Physical Activity. Long time organizer of both professional and pro bono Larps. He was there in the beginning of Danish Larp tradition and is still hanging on.

Description
A contemporary family drama where each character is played by two players. Five siblings meet after both parents have been killed in an accident. The inheritance must be discussed and the troubled relationships between these five brothers and sisters take centre stage. A form experiment aiming at developing character dialogue and enhancing character drama. The two players alternating in the same role switches between being on and off stage.

Who
Johan Röklander and Åke Nolemo are veterans of the Swedish larp scene. They could not come to Knutepunkt this year, but one of their games is still here: "The Family Andersson" will be facilitated by Tor Kjetil Edland, this year's head of programme.

Description
A seminar based on my expirience as larper and organizer, on books read on the subject (In particular "Roleplaying, The Guide to the Advanced Level" by Bjørn Porup Thomasen). It then moves on to a project on Østerskov Boarding School where levels of experience and especially commitment will be attempted measured and then used as requirements certain larps. The seminar ends with an open discussion on the matter, hopefully bringing international perspective.

Who
Morten Tellefsen has been a larper and larp-organizer since '96. Morten has been involved in several large international larp projects, including Khypris IV and Dragonbane. He has since 2000 worked with professional larp organizing for a number of corporations including Zentropa Interaction and Midgaard Event. Morten has just moved into one of the employee houses at the Danish Roleplaying Boarding School: Østerskov, where he is full time employed as organizer and pedagogue/coach.

Description
How do I get my players to interact? - What to think about as a larp organizer. As a larp organizer you sometimes strives for realism, and this creates a problem. It’s realistic to be stuck alone in a watch-tower, or at a boring diner, but it’s not fun. It’s kills the game and prevents us from doing what we love the most: larp.

Who
Anna Westerling was the head organizer of A nice Evening with the Family, Höjdpunt and Knutpunkt 2006. Former editor-in-chief of Fëa Livia. Engineer in Industrial management and second lieutenant in the Swedish army.

Description
As a folklorist I look at LARP in the context of traditional cultural practices. My presentation is going to draw listeners' attention upon the way how LARP movement started its way in Bulgaria back in year 2004, how its different elements and representations were influenced by different cultural symbols and understanding and how gradually it evolved to what is the actual LARP gaming today. The presentation will also treat the elements of constructing personal identities via local or ethnic identities and how these latest do influence the development of a LARP game session.

Who
Angelina Ilieva is a PhD student at the Institute of Folklore at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. Her PhD thesis is dedicated to fan cultures and fan communities, particularly science fiction and fantasy fans. Larp is an important part of the fans' activity in Bulgaria and takes a significant role in her study.

Description
"A Night in the Box" is a two-part journey into free/jeep form black box larping. The two larps are connected through method only - there is no requirement to participate in both. "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" is Lovecraftian free/jeep form in black box. No costume or equipment requirements. The scenario is loosely based on “Beyond the Mountains of Madness” by Chaosium, and is about the Starkweather-Moore-expedition to Antarctica 1933-34. The plot will not be kept secret - previous experiences with the publish role-playing campaign is not an obstacle for participating in this game.

Original larpwrights (Prolog 2009): Martin Brodén, Kristoffer Lindh, Emma Öhrström, based on the roleplaying book with the same name by Chaosium (1999).

Who
Martin Brodén is a long-time jeeper obsessed with finding a narrativistic fusion of traditional larping and free form roleplaying. Petter Karlsson is a young god who just finished organising the Swedish larp/free form-convention Prolog 2009. Maria Ljung is a even younger god who has been a long time coming.

Description
A two part workshop. First we will try out hypnosis as a means for getting into character. Every participant each bring a character which we shall get into by hypnotic induction.. In the second part we discuss how hypnotic elements can be used in LARPs and how it can serve as a foundation when designing rituals. This workshop will be held twice.

Who
Gustav Nilsson study psychology at University of Lund. There he has worked with the professor of parapsychology in a project of hypnosis.

Description
Interacting Arts gives new and old stories of our past work within role-playing, art, activism, theory and performance.

Who
Interacting Arts is a group of producers and theorists, founded 2001, based in Stockholm, Sweden. They explore the possibilities of interaction in various fields, such as art, role-playing, social experiments, literature, activism, reality gaming etcetera

Description
Defining Moments: A Game of Making a Career in Larping is a TV show where larpers tune in to get the dirt on the kings and queens of art-house larping. Surely we've all played elves at some point. Through collaborative creation facilitated by GM's in producer roles, we will roast well-known personalities in the larp sub-culture using the power of the jeepform toolbox. This is speculative larps on speed! Showcasing a host of freeform and jeepform techniques, demonstrating how you can incorporate meta-techniques, time/space displacement and bridging the audience/participant gap, all the while being an actual game. Expect comedy, surprises and shocking truths! It's a larp and it's a freeform game. And it's fun! You can watch and vote, or participate on stage. This is a game that fits all levels of hangover. Nu kører vi!

Who
Frederik Berg Østergaard, Joc Koljonen & Tobias Wrigstad are jeepform power-users. A Dane in Switzerland, a Finn in Denmark and A Swede in the US, they represent a Knutepunkt microcosm. Frederik and Tobias are pushing the jeep agenda to the rest of the role-playing world and Johanna is already famous both in the larping world and as a real-life TV host.

Description
Exil is a documentary film about World of Warcraft players and how the game affects their lives in this reality.

It isn't necessary to sign up for this event in advance.

Who
Erlend Eidsem Hansen has organised more than 20 larps the last 20 years, and taken part in over 200 games. He is also one of the founders of Knutepunkt. Erlend has recently finished an art project with Norwegian/Isreali choreographer Mia Habib. Currently he is working as a director/producer in the national childrens channel in Norway. Erlend Eidsem has recently finished the editing process of his documentary Exil, never mind reality. He believes that character driven docmentary films have more in common with larps than the most often inspired material from feature films of fiction.

It is not necessary to sign up in advance.

Description
Walkabout is a performance game that will last a day and a night in Helsinki; the part that is played at Knutepunkt will be significantly shorter, although it will go overnight. Characters based loosely on the major arcana of the tarot deck are part of the game's (or the world's, if you will) "inner circle." Are they gods? Immortals? Or just pulling your leg? Performers and "audience" are both players, but they start on different levels. Walkabout is part performance, part card reading, part game. (Sleeping is possible... theoretically, at least.)

Who
Aarni Korpela and Johanna MacDonald of Teatteri Naamio ja Höyhen in Helsinki are working on a performance project that combines elements of LARP and gaming with theatre performance. We're working together with 8 other gamers and performers

Description
45 minute long cute black and white mute film done with a 0 budget, Astonishing Adventures, is based on the Adventurous Romanticistic characters of the Lassila and Kalli. In the parts you'll see some of the hottest Finnish larpers. Before the showing of the film the directors will give a short lecture on how the movie was made.

It isn't necessary to sign up for this event in advance.

Who
Katri Lassila is photography artist doing her doctoral studies at the department of film at the University of art and design Helsinki. She's been writing larps since 1998 in Finland and experimenting with different genres and larp styles. From 2003 she's been developing a larp playing style called Adventurous Romanticism in five larps, first with Laura Kalli, later with Tuomas Hakkarainen. Lassila writes and photographs regularly for the Finnish roleplaying magazine Roolipelaaja and is contributing yearly in the Finnish roleplaying convention Ropecon.

Timo Degerth is a Finnish larp writer, producer and the co-director of the movie "Astonishing Adventures - The Movie". He is a veteran of the Finnish larp scene and is a writer and photography artist now doing PhD studies in the film department.

Description
A short look at how our bodies communicate, how status and emotions affects our bodies and others perception of us. A short lecture introduce the subject and then we work on our feet to try some of the concepts out. To be aware of these things makes us able to affect our own emotions and sensations, others perception of our characters and develop a keen sense of what others are really expressing.

Who
Morgan Jarl is a physical theatre practitioner and teacher, with his roots in the Scandinavian larp community. Educated in England and USA he have been the artistic driving force behind 2 theatre companies, 30 odd theatre productions and 15 odd larps. He makes his living from teaching courses in non-verbal communication and characterization.

Description
A seminar for past, present and future organizers of Knutepunkt. I want us to discuss cooperation in the years to come, and what possible directions we want the conference to develop in.

Who
Trine Lise Lindahl is the lead organizer of Knutepunkt 2009. She has organized several larps, big and small and was also part of the organizing committee last time KP was held in Norway when she became a converted Knutepunkt enthusiast.

An ancient Panclou proverb states that "every time Eirik Fatland invents a theory about larp, a mime in New York explodes". When not killing mimes, he works as an information architect and social media consultant in Oslo.

Description
Welcome to the worst hang-over of your life. Yesterday you were partying with strangers. Today you are nauseous, dizzy and angry. And do not remember what exactly happened. Did you insult, beat and/or fuck someone? Possibly the very wrong persons? A discourse-oriented 2-hour larp for 10 players, a favorite from earlier larp conventions. Players are expected to be mean to one another. Game material is in English, but you can play in any language. Not being understood can be part of the fun!

Who
J. Tuomas Harviainen is a Finnish theologian, information scientist and larp designer. His larps have been run in a dozen countries, and he has been a very frequent contributor to the Knutepunkt books. He believes that proper research provides new clues for the design of better larps.

Description
Five very different people meet at a vernissage. When something unexpected happens, they are forced to come to terms with themselves as well as the others. The game focuses on emotions, hidden fears and the relations between the characters

Who
Karsten Dombrowski and Martina Ryssel. They met years ago and instantly hated each other. Karsten says Martina is a self-centered, cynical bitch who doesn’t know anything about the finer points of Larp organisation. Martina says the same about Karsten. Nobody knows why they still organise Larps together...

Description
Good communication in a group creates a far better working climate and more energy. Learn how to avoid the most common mistakes and examine your own communication style. The workshop will serve you some tricks to create a good communication in a group of organizers. We will mix theory with a lot of action.

Who
Miriam Lundquist is a drama pedagogue who professionally is focused on group dynamics and communication. She is a larp-, convention- and course organiser, both professionally and in non-profit organizations. She just finished organising the Swedish larp/free form-convention Prolog 09.

Description
Exil is a documentary film about World of Warcraft players and how the game affects their lives in this reality.

Who
Erlend Eidsem Hansen has organised more than 20 larps the last 20 years, and taken part in over 200 games. He is also one of the founders of Knutepunkt. Erlend has recently finished an art project with Norwegian/Isreali choreographer Mia Habib. Currently he is working as a director/producer in the national childrens channel in Norway. Erlend Eidsem has recently finished the editing process of his documentary Exil, never mind reality. He believes that character driven docmentary films have more in common with larps than the most often inspired material from feature films of fiction.

It is not necessary to sign up in advance.

Description
The role-playing game community has always emphasized the clear-cut distinction between the player and the character. This makes sense for both practical and psychological reasons, but it is not strictly speaking true. This talk first explores why and how. Then it discusses parallels between the player-character relationship in intense or long-term role-playing games and the ongoing person-avatar relationships that are becoming increasingly everyday in mainstream society, thanks to multi-platform entertainment and constant online presences through hand-held devices.

Who
Johanna Koljonen is a cultural critic and rpg theorist.

Description
The closing of Knutepunkt 2009

Who
Any and all. You don't have to sign up for this event :-)