I have to say, it’s amazing that people still like this old game enough to play and translate it!
Since I first published it 16 years ago, it has been translated into Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian, Korean, and Italian. I wrote a brief history of the game some nine years ago.
And now we have a Polish translation! Coordinated by Łukasz Kokurewicz, and soon to be posted at Skybluekey, it can also be downloaded right here right now.
Thanks so much, Dariusz, Jakub, Witold, Marcin and Łukasz!!!
“Start your timer, play atmospheric Viking music and sit down on your chair. Grab your QUILL and RUNESTONES, and close your eyes. Breathe. Relax. Allow full immersion and whisper to yourself “I am Egil, I am Egil”. Whenever you are ready, open your eyes.
You are EGIL!”
EGIL was originally written for Rollespill.infos R.I.S.K.-competition, and has been made available in English for Nørwegian Style’s readers by the creators:
Karl Otto Kristoffersen – karlokri (att) hotmail.com
Christopher Rakkestad – chrismentzen.3d (att) gmail.com
This is a game for 2-5 players about subjective perception.
I’ve never tested it, so if you do, let me know!
Idea
You’ve all been reborn. Your new bodies perceive things differently than your old ones, in subtle or obvious ways. You all have to be re-trained in sensing and understanding the world.
Preparation: Make Perception Cards
Give each player a bunch of blank cards or pieces of paper.
Everyone: For each of the other players, you need to make 2 perception cards – in secret. These cards show how that person’s new body experiences the world, and you’ll use them to describe how they experience the world and the situations they’re in.
Things influencing our perceptions can be, for instance: Biological sex, sharpness/dullness of senses, brain chemistry, age, stage of life, whether or not you have kids, past training, past trauma etc. Try to make cards that are different from that person’s current perceptive makeup.
Example:
Sally is an 80-year old woman. She has lived a sheltered life on a farm and loves animals. You decide that her new body is that of a younger male, and come up with these perception cards:
Overestimates Romantic Interest. (Research consistently shows that men believe women are more sexually interested in them than women actually are).
Sees Other Men As Challengers. (Many men are brought up to see others as potential enemies, rivals or threats).
Play
Together, think of a situation where all the characters are present. Then take turns describing something another character perceives, based on the cards you made for them. Thereafter, that character’s player describes their reaction.
Example:
You all decide that this will be a camping trip, and you’re pitching your tents. On your turn , you describe something Sally’s new body perceives.
You use “Sees Other Men As Challengers”, and describe how one of the other guys on the trip, while setting up his tent, keeps eye contact a little too long. You tell Sally that this feels like a direct challenge, a slight act of aggression. Sally says she stares back and uses a little extra force when setting up the tent pole.
The next turn, you use “Overestimates Romantic Interest”. One of the women in the group just made a joke. You tell Sally that the woman is smiling flirtatiously while telling the joke… there’s a spark there, right? Sally says she laughs out loud at the joke, then winks at the woman.
Play for as long as you enjoy it.
A ritual to build a secret room in our mind’s eye.
For five, including you.
You, having read this, will lead the ritual. It is your responsibility to be the guide. Read this text a couple of times before you begin.
You need a candle. Perhaps some incense and music.
We always build secret rooms when we play roleplaying games. The intent of this ritual is to become more aware of how we conjure such illusions. How can we simultaneously experience something which doesn’t exist?
You are all seated around a table. You explain:
Together, we will envision a room. It’s a secret room inside ourselves. But we can all see it. We see the room with our eyes closed. We listen to each other, without interrupting the other participants.
If you happen to interrupt someone, it’s ok. We will pause briefly, before continuing. (You may have to remind the participants of this rule as you go).
The other rule is listening to what others add, being willing to let the inner vision change as we speak.
Everyone can describe anything in the room, but each player has a special domain (point at participants, or distribute notes with the words on): SOUNDS, SMELLS, COLORS, TOUCH.
Now close your eyes. We will rehearse listening to each other by counting downwards from ten to zero. Someone says “ten”, someone else says “nine”, someone says “eight”. If anyone speaks at the same time, we’ll start over. When we have counted from ten to zero without interruptions, we begin. Then we’ll be in the Secret Room. You answer my questions, and add your own details about the room.
(You light the candle).
(You count down from ten to zero).
Examples of things you can say and questions you can ask. Remember to pause.
(It’s good to wait awhile before saying anything. It’s good if one of the others start on their own accord).
We’re in the Secret Room. (breathe)
What sounds are there? (wait)
What does it smell like? (wait)
Is it light, or dark? (wait)
What objects are there? (wait)
(wait, don’t speak)
Can you see them? (wait)
Why is the room secret? (wait)
What has happened here in the past? (wait)
Are there still traces? (wait)
(breathe, don’t speak)
Something hangs on one of the walls, what is it? (wait)
What colors does it have? (wait)
Who is in the room? (wait)
Why is the room secret? (wait. You may start knocking slowly on the table while repeating the question)
Tips:
This just in: A Korean translation of Archipelago III by Sungil Kim!
I was recently asked what I would recommend as a game for an experienced GM and a group of first-time players. This was my suggestion:
Skim the Archipelago III PDF.
Unlike regular Archipelago, have a GM.
Use a setting or genre well-known to the players. (E.g. “space pirates”).
Spend half an hour brainstorming a relationship map, connecting elements like NPCs, places, organizations and «plots». Make sure everyone gets to add a suggestion to the map.
Make character sketches, keeping the setting in mind:
Let the cards provide inspiration and twists as usual. Everyone still gets to suggest resolution cards, and everyone still gets to draw one fate card per session.
Let players use the phrases you prefer. I suggest introducing these at first:
Invite the players to play NPCs and set scenes toward the end of the session, if they seem comfortable doing so.
Illustration: Nasa
Cover by David M. Wright
Do you like Archipelago III, improv techniques, freeform, card-based systems, German Expressionist movies of the 20s, the mythology of the Philippines, Russian sci-fi or just, y’know, the Nørwegian-gone-rogue tabletop game Itras By?
Then Itras By: The Menagerie may be the collection of supplements for you! 294 pages, 40 collaborators from 10 countries.
More info (and free samples) at the publisher’s site.
Sometimes you rent an entire fishing village on the west coast for a week, so 120 people can play-pretend they’re in occupied Norway during WW2.
Other times, you settle for a cabin in the woods for a one night game of 9 players. Which is what my organizers did this weekend.
A lot of Norwegians are into outdoorsy activities, which means there are a fair amount of cabins of varying standard reachable from population centers.
There was a 4 km hike to reach the cabin.
For the larp this weekend, we pretended we were in 1969. All the characters knew the eccentric trickster “Uncle” Waldorf, but not each other. Everyone thought they’d be meeting solo with him, but it turned out Waldorf wasn’t even present. But he had written individual letters to all of them. With specific instructions. The full title of the larp was Uncle Waldorf’s Testament, so you might be able to picture how it went. Genre? Sort of an odd, medley of noir, light crime fiction and the purely farcical.
The lost son, the shady business deal, the lover, the other lover…
This sharply focused, deceptively simple set-up helped provide a fun and intense play experience on par with longer big-budget events I’ve sometimes attended. Game time was Saturday at around 2 pm to Sunday morning. The cabin had no electricity or running water, and there was an outhouse. This used to be your standard Norwegian cabin setup in the era of the larp, today it’s almost a bit exotic. Character descriptions were kept brief, similar with the onsite rules-walkthrough (cut/brake, that’s about it. Some notes on play style and genre).
Play was fed and generated by the letters, giving certain instructions. The non-present Waldorf NPC was a successful con-man, and a bit of a dick. He wanted my character to write his wife and admit the Christian small-time publishing house he ran made most of their money from erotic literature and forgery, for instance. Why would the characters demean themselves like this? In the hope of securing a part of Waldorf’s significant riches (and in my character’s case: perhaps avoid having livelihood and marriage destroyed).
For me, the larp really hit home. Was an energizer, rather than draining me. Helped me enter that fizzy simulated-hypomania fugue state that lets me connect, free-associate, take charge, hang back all in a natural flow I get a bit high on. A kick, pure and simple!
And the night sky beyond the city lights… it was pure Disney. Two shooting stars, one with a big tail. The blood red crescent Moon before that. I’ve been to the great Norwegian outdoors since I was a child. But I forget. I always forget.
I think something like half the Norwegian larps I’ve attended have been in a cabin. Usually more people than this one (we were nine. It was a private event, rather than an open-invite). This wasn’t a black box, there were no meta-techniques. Just focused, tight play, good improv, a fairly basic “testament plot” that worked like a charm. And the secret ingredient in most Norwegian larps I’ve really enjoyed: continuous in-character play until we’re done.
The view from the cabin. 07 am Sunday 27th August 2017.
Nørwegian Style 