Åmericån Style

One of the express purposes of this blog is to bring the Norwegian style(s) of play and game design to the English-speaking world. That makes it doubly fun and satisfying to read about other game designers taking their inspiration from our designs! And the best thing is when that inspiration comes back as fuel for us to improve our designs – or make new ones.

Jason Morningstar just released his free game “Last Train Out of Warsaw”, which uses the Archipelago II rules. It’s fun – I played it just last night with a bunch of friends. And it’s inspiring! I want to make lots of new games using his method of using my method (which was, of course, inspired by a lot of other people’s methods).

Thanks to Jason for making this game, and publishing it as a free download!

The Orc in the Well

This role-playing poem is playable in many forms – including two-player and forum variants.

There’s an orc sitting in a well. It can’t get out. The orc looks up at the sky. A bird flies past.

You, the players, will take turns telling this orc’s story, from different points of view. The game lasts 15 minutes. It covers approximately the same amount of time in the orc’s life.

When it’s your turn, you narrate something. You can do a short or long narration, whichever you like. You have to choose between narrating the EXTERNAL, the INTERNAL, or something from the PAST. External narration is about stuff that happens to or around the orc. Internal narration is about the creature’s thoughts and emotions. Narrating the past, you can narrate anything you like.

Note that none of these modes focus on what the orc does. It can be about what the orc has done in the past, or what’s being done to the orc, or how the orc reacts mentally… but action isn’t the main thing, really.

Players take turns, starting with the player to the left of whoever explains the rules. The first narration should be external.

After fifteen minutes the game is over. The last narration should be external, too.

Author: Matthijs Holter

Archipelago II

After a year or so of playtesting with friends, and having other people pick up the game and play it without my supervision, I’ve done some rewriting and redesign. Feedback on the previous version was very positive (i. e., people had a lot of fun playing it). From the new version of the game:

About the game

Archipelago is a story/role-playing game where each player controls a major character. Player take turns directing and playing out a part of their character’s story, leading them towards their selected point of destiny, while other players interact with and influence that story.

Who is this game for?

If you like the story-telling part of games, and enjoy the creative challenge and inspiration that comes from working with others, this game is for you. If you like tactical mechanics, resource management, or player-vs-player competition, there are other games that might work better for you.

The vibe I’m aiming for

I wrote this game trying to capture the feeling of Ursula K. LeGuin’s «Earthsea» books. I wanted a game of grand destinies, that at the same time had time to dwell on the details of plants, words, everyday lives. I wanted a game that was about great conflicts, but at the same time treated its characters’ stories with respect. I wanted not a steel framework, but a spider web of thin threads creating subtler stories.

This game works best if you play it slow. Sometimes, the best thing to do is wait a little and see how things unfold. Ged stayed with Ogion for years, learning about the old language, the names of flower petals and bugs. There’s time to let the characters evolve.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Take your time.

Changes from the previous version

• The wording of the ritual phrases has been changed; some phrases have been added; and the effect of some of them is different. Yes, that means you need to re-read them all if you’ve played the game before.

• Fate and resolution cards have been added. Fate cards make ownership more active, and get the map more into play. Resolution cards are more fun than just red vs black cards.

• There are a lot of little clarifications and expansions – on creating characters, creating destiny points, using the map, active ownership etc.

• I’ve included a section on group dynamics from Wikipedia, along with my comments relating to Archipelagoan design.

Download the new rules here!

Reviews of the book

So far we’ve seen two reviews of the Nørwegian Style book. Interestingly, one is in Finnish, the other in Danish. It seems that while the aim was to reach an English-speaking audience, we’ve primarily succeeded in getting attention from our neighbors. Or, perhaps, they’re the ones most eager to find out what we’ve been up to.

Since both reviewers write in their own language, I suggest you use Google Translate to find out what they’re saying. I did this with the Finnish review, with some entertaining results.

Alter Ego: Norjalaisittain!

Stemmen fra Ådalen: [Anmeldelse] Nørwegian Style

Handouts for the book (downloads)

As promised in the book: Here are all the handouts you need, for all the games, for download. They’re all in one PDF.

Downloads

The Nørwegian Style book is OUT!!!

They said it couldn’t be done! They said it was impossible! (Well, I did, at least). But out of the blue I got an e-mail saying that the Nørwegian Style book HAS BEEN FINISHED, and is available on Lulu! I’m speechless (though I can still type), and am ordering it RIGHT NOW. After I’ve publised this blog post.

Oh! The link, you need the link! Here: The Nørwegian Style book!

A different book, with some Norwegians in it.

The Knutepunkt book is being published online, bit by bit! Here’s the official announcement:

——————————————-

It’s official. The 2009 Knutepunkt book is called “Larp, the Universe and Everything”, and is currently at the printer’s. All KP participants will get their copy at the event.

But for those who can’t wait, or would like to read up before Knutepunkt, we’ll be publishing the book in PDF format – a few articles at the time – in the days leading up to KP and AWIN. The first articles are online:

Katri Lassila, Fun for Everybody:
http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/FunForEverybody/

Eirik Fatland, Excavating AmerikA:
http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/ExcavatingAmerikA/

Markus Montola, Jaakko Stenros & Annika Waern, Philosophies and strategies of pervasive larp design:
http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/PhilosophiesAndStrategiesOfPervasiv…

Oh, and there’s also an introduction:
http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/Introduction/

Once all is published, said and done – the book’s permanent home will be here:
http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/

(Oh, if you’re interested in discussing the book, you can do it over here.)

Goodbye, dear book.

This post marks the end of my work on the Nørwegian Style book.

I’ve spent more than a year working on it. The past six months have been filled with anger and frustration. The files have been with someone else for that time, and it seems that they won’t ever be finished, nor will I be allowed to finish them myself.

I feel that I can’t promise that the book will ever be done, and there’s nothing I can do about it except start all over. I’m not willing to do that now. So to preserve my own sanity, and to be able to move on to other work, I’m letting go of this project.

Goodbye, dear book. I hope they’ll finish you some day” If I see you, I’ll buy you.

The 2009 R.I.S.K. competition

Yesterday 11 candidates submitted their entries for R.I.S.K., a yearly Norwegian game design competition where entrants design a game in one week.

This year, the theme seems to be news and the media, covered by more than a third of the games: “Dagsrevyen” (The Daily News), “Hund bet mann” (Dog Bites Man), “Reality” and “Vi har visst mistet kontakten med studio” (We Seem to Have Lost Contact With the Studio). Some Norwegian game designers are journalists, and others (like myself) talk a lot about What’s Wrong With Today’s Media. Still, though – 4 of 11 games?

There’s also a strong undercurrent of meta-fiction, if you can call it that. “Jon Quixote”, a parody of Don Quixote involving a D&D fan and constant reality twists; “Paradigme”, where players contribute and discuss rules to determine the laws of nature in the fiction; and “Hamartia”, where players are authors controlling Greek heroes from literature.

Interesting stuff, most of it. People seem to be going for the idea and the vibe this year, more than actually playtesting and finishing their games, so there’s a general feel of half-baked conceptual stuff. On the other hand, organizer Michael Sollien is encouraging participants to use the coming week to hone their games and make them shine. Not sure if people will actually do that, since it doesn’t influence the competition results, but we’ll see. This year’s HolmCon will see some hours of R.I.S.K. gaming, though; it’s always fun trying out some of these games, and experience from previous years shows that the competition winners aren’t necessarily the games you remember a year or two later.

(If you can read Norwegian, or just want to look at the PDFs, they’re here.)

What’s that light at the end of the tunnel…?

Is it daylight? Is it a steam train heading our way? Is it a moonbeam reflecting off Gustav Vigelands bottom?

It’s kind of all three, actually.

For more than a year, we’ve been working on the Norwegian Style book. Work, as with all projects of this sort, has gone in leaps and bounds – starts and stops – frustrations and exultations. However, we’re getting really really very near the end. I’ve said this in Norwegian fora for some months now; the fact that I’m saying it out in the open here on the Nørwegian Style blog means that I actually believe it this time.

You should see the book! But you can’t yet. We’re artists. In the words of David Byrne: You can’t see it – ’till it’s finished!

I’m guessing that by february, you should be able to buy it on Lulu.