One Rule Book to Rule Them All

The Rule Book: The Building Blocks of Games is finally out today! This is a book about the five types of rules that make up the games that we play. If you are excited by games and rules, this is a book for you!

I’m quite proud of this book. Working with my long-time partner in crime Markus Montola is always a joy, and since this is our sixth (yes, really) book together, we really have our process down. The Rule Book is probably the purest Stenros & Montola joint thus far, so if you have an opinion of our usual tone and style, this is pretty much more of that same feel. We have been working on this particular book since 2018, so this is our longest joint project. Over the years we kept writing this on weekends, in the evenings, and on stolen days as a sort of a special project. Otherwise Markus was busy being a co-founder and lead designer in a game startup and I was working on other research projects and running a master’s programme in game studies.

Originally, we were planning on writing a book that would be a combination of our doctoral theses and would serve as an accessible foundation stone to constructionist ludology, our approach to game studies — and then would also look at game rules. Slowly the focus shifted. While we are still very much devoted to constructionist ludology, that part in the book kept getting shorter and shorter. We realized that we are not so interested in writing the same stuff a second time (all of this is already laid out in our dissertations), and that the audience for a theoretical piece is smaller than for a more accessible account of game rules. The theoretical grounding is still there, but hopefully it does not stop people from getting to the fun bits.

Because yeah, this is a fun book! At least if you think endless examples of games and game rules from all kinds of domains, (e.g. football, cockfighting, ski jumping, Magic: The Gathering, bouldering, Halo 2, bouldering, Scrabble, Dakar Rally, wheelchair Tennis, go, Horizon Zero Dawn, Inside Hamlet, Monopoly, etc.) presented with academic dryness is fun. I feel that one of our strengths is that we really are trying to say something about games in general, and not just about digital games, board games, or sports. By looking at the plurality of games, it is possible to see the similarities – and the differences.

But don’t just take my word for it. Eric Zimmerman, one of our blurbists had this to say about the book: “Going way beyond abstract philosophical arguments, The Rule Book connects the fundamental element of rules to contemporary debates around gambling, disability, gender, harassment, the ethics of EULAs, and so much more. A Game Studies must read.”

Also, we realized that it has been a while since we were published by an actual respected publisher. I have to say that working with The MIP Press was super smooth. In the past my books have been published by big international and domestic publishers, but more commonly by small museum presses and by tiny role-play association. When you do small press, you get to decide every detail, but you also need to do all the work and it has that odor of vanity press. With a big publisher there are numerous restriction and hoops to jump through, but then there is also support and, hopefully, a well-oiled machine to take care of the non-writing parts. Perhaps most importantly there is prestige. People take books from bigger publishers more seriously. I’m also happy to report that we had a really good experience with the wonderful team at The MIT Press, and I would totally love to work with them again. In fact, this has probably been the smoothest book process I’ve been a part of.

Finally, I am very happy that the book is out not only as a physical book and a kindle, but that it is release under a Creative Commons lisence and that it will also be available as an open access book from The MIT Press Direct to Open. People who can afford it should totally buy it, but everyone will have access to it anyway.

Pride and Prejudice: A Beginner’s Journey

In my ongoing project to engage with classics, I have been gathering momentum. I finally feel strong enough to approach the dark heart of hetero culture, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I read (well, listened to) this book for the first time a little while back, and it was a particularly strange experience. Pride and Prejudice casts a long shadow. Its influence on popular culture has been huge. I knew this, of course, but was not prepared to realize just how central this book is. It is odd to encounter for the first time a thing that has been copied over and over and over again. The book was simultaneously very familiar and completely new. Suddenly, I understood what so many romance novels were aiming for, but seldom achieved.

I quite liked the book. The language is wonderful and the fantasies of ethical, rich, and handsome men – and the power to change these men – are enticing and well crafted. Yet, while the book is a romance, it is also about romances. The narrator is critical – for a good reason! And the book is funny. (Mr. Collins is obviously the best character in the book.) Yet there were also surprises, such as the scene where Miss Bennett goes head-to-head with Lady Catherine de Bourgh; this scene felt like Game of Thrones. It is also obvious that for the tradition of (especially British) romcoms to have outrageous side characters, Pride and Prejudice is a key work.

Of course, once I started on this track, I had to continue with the adaptations. Next, I watched the 1995 BBC television version of the book, which in my circle of friends seems to be very highly regarded (and also gets a shoutout in Barbie). The series, as a whole, is not very good. My daughter opted out after 24 minutes, but I made my way through all six hours of it. Once you get past the slow pace, poor lighting, and mediocre acting – basically the two first episodes — it is quite engaging as Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is just ridiculously good. Every scene he is in is electric, yet his performance is quite understated. Finally, his career makes sense. Also, the slowness turns into an advantage; there is enough room to revel in the emotions. The series captures the romanticism of the book, but none of its criticism of romantic escapades, since it lacks a narrator.

Nordic Larp Talks: Beautiful Boredom

The social distancing restrictions are finally being dismantled in the Nordic countries and after a long break the first face-to-face larp conference Knutepunkt took place two week ago in Norway. The event was preceded, as is traditional, by Nordic Larps Talks. NLT is a series of short, accessible presentations about larp and larp culture hosted by Johanna Koljonen. After an eight-year break, I had a talk at NLT on beautiful boredom in larps, basically arguing that “larp magic” is not just about emotions and epicness, but also about just being there in the fiction. This was my first “big” public talk after the pandemic. It was wonderful being in a room with people. As the audience was first cheering when Koljonen took the stage, I was almost moved to tears. I had missed this physical togetherness and social connection.

You can find all the talks online. My talk is here.

However, if you are the kind of person who prefers reading to watching videos, here is the text of the talk:

Downloading Finnish Game-Related Dissertations

A significant number of Finnish game-related dissertations are available online as free open-access downloads. Many of the universities have public counters that follow how many times a work has been downloaded. I have been following the success of my own dissertation for years, comparing myself to others. It is a fun exercise since this is one metric that is not valued in any way, and thus is probably not gamed that much. In this post I go through the download figures of Finnish game-related dissertations from the last two decades.

Obviously, as a metric number of downloads is flawed. It is unfair to compare works that have been available for different lengths of time, the works have significant differences in how large print runs they have had, game-related works in different fields have very different potential audiences, the works in Finnish have a much smaller potential audience than the works in English, and obviously dissertations may be available in other places as well. Furthermore, no one knows if anyone has read the files they have downloaded — or if someone has downloaded them many times. Even so, I don’t think this is significantly less flawed than the more official, and thus more political, metrics used by universities. 

Human Monstrosity and Odysseus

Odysseus, a three-day space opera larp, was played in Finland three times in the past few weeks. It was an original work building on fan favourite space operas such as Battlestar: Galactiga, Star Trek, and Expanse, but ultimately it transcended its beginnings as a derivative work and became what science fiction is at its best, a timely mediation of our contemporary world. Odysseus was a remarkable success in Finnish, Nordic, and international larp.

In this blog post I attempt to outline what Odysseus is, how it was created, and what does it contribute to the larger larp discourse. I shall offer some notes on its production, character writing, and runtime management. However, my main concern is in attempting to say something about its meaning and interpretation. On the way, expect some digressions into my personal experience with the larp.

Book: Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences

Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences was published last week at the annual Nordic conference on larps, Knudepunkt. The book is over 400 pages long and features texts written by 60 authors from ten countries. It is edited by Johanna Koljonen, Anne Serup Grove, Aina D. Skjønsfjell, Elin Nilsen, and myself.

Usually at this point I blog about behind the scenes stuff, and hype up the book. Although all books are big, demanding projects, this one still stands out. It still feels a little unreal that this book actually exists. Larp Design was made insanely fast. The project started, for me, when Johanna called me in late August. The Knudepunkt 2019 crew were discussing whether to do a book this year since no one in the organization was super passionate about it. Indeed, the book tradition has been going on for close to two decades and I have been deeply invested in it, but it was also clear that reassessing the book project was in order. Johanna had a plan to do a very different kind of book – one clearly focused on a specific topic: design. She pitched her idea to me over the phone. I knew as I paced around the hotel room in Lisbon that I wanted to be part of this book, but also that her plan was very ambitious. She put together a wonderful team, and obviously the KP crew also fell in love with her vision. Even so, the time table was quite demanding.

Museoconin monipuolinen puheohjelma

Sunnuntaina marraskuun 4. päivä on Suomen pelimusoessa Astuit Ansaan! –roolipelinäyttelyn tapahtumapäivä. Se on nimetty roolipelikulttuurin kohtaamisten perinteitä noudattaen Museoconiksi (FB-tapahtumasivu). Tapahtumassa on mahdollisuus osallistua näyttelykierroksille, pelata pöytäroolipelejä ja digitaalisia roolipelejä, sekä osallistua puheohjelmaan. Jukka Särkijärvi kuratoi pelipuolen, minä olen vastuussa puheohjelmasta. Tavoitteenani oli luoda kattaus joka olisi sen verran houkutteleva, että se houkuttelisi paikalle yhden päivän coniin vierailijoita myös Tampereen ulkopuolelta.

Puheohjelman käynnistää 11:30 pelisuunnittelija ja –tutkija Markus Montolan luento ”Hyvän kohtauksen ABC pelinjohtajalle”. Tämä ohjelmanumero on uusinta keväisestä Alfaconista. Alfacon on pieni, syrjäisempi ja tuntemattomampi roolipelitapahtuma, mutta hyvin kiinnostava. Kyselin tapahtumassa olleilta, että minkä numeron he haluaisivat leviävän laajemmalle tai katsoisivat uudelleen. Montolan käytännöllinen katsaus pöytäroolipelin kohtauksen anatomiaan nostettiin useimmin esille. Ohjelmanumerossa itseeni vetoaa se, että se on analyyttinen ja pohjautuu vuosikymmenien kokemukseen, mutta se on myös käytönnöllinen, tarjoten heti kikkoja ja toimintatapoja, joita voi kokeilla omissa peleissään.

It’s a Trap!

The first large temporary exhibition at the Finnish Museum of Games opened its doors to the public today. The exhibition is called It’s a Trap! – Role-Playing in Finland (Fin. Astuit ansaan! – Roolipelaaminen Suomessa). The book Seikkailuja ja sankareita on the history and current state of the Finnish tabletop role-playing scene was also published yesterday at the gala opening of the exhibition. I have been involved in both projects, and it feels unreal that what started out two years ago as a mapping of titles and a collection of donations from role-players has evolved into this.

The exhibition collects together almost all Finnish role-playing game products that have been published. There are almost 300 articles. In addition there are designer’s notes, materials from play, role-playing related magazines, player profiles, old documentaries made by the public broadcasting company, profiles of prominent figures in the hobby, works inspired by role-playing games, and more. The exhibition is awesome, but I may be a bit biased. However, regardless of biases, this is the first time tabletop role-playing games been displayed like this in a museum in Finland — and in the world.

Two New Books Out: The Magic of Participation & Minun pelihistoriani

In the past month, I have published two new books. College of Wizardry: The Magic of Participation in Harry Potter Larps is a documentary book about the origins of the international wizard school larps in Poland, edited together with Markus Montola. It features articles, essays, and in-game material written by players and scholars, explaining things such as what it was like to pretend to be a student at the Czocha College of Witchcraft and Wizardry, how to teach spell-casting, and what is the relation between larping and fan fiction. Minun pelihistoriani is a book about 26 personal game and play histories of Finns born in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, edited together with Annakaisa Kultima. It is based on two exhibitions staged at the Finnish Museum of Games we curated, the first one a year ago and the second taking place right now. By concentrating of personal stories, the book questions hegemonic game histories that are usually written from the point of technology, games, or designers. This book explored what it feels like to play – and what it means. The book is in Finnish.

I am very proud of both books. It is a little weird (and hectic) that both of these books ended up coming out within three weeks of each other. I would not recommend such a pace to anyone. At least I was able to get the first one out during the twilight of 2017 so that on my CV they have different year dates attached to them…

Orethisius Pewtermain Miclariotic, the professor of Magical Artefacts, at the Czocha College of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (Photo by Maciek Nitka)

The Magic of Participation took a very long to produce; work started on it right after the third College of Wizardry larp two and a half years ago. We thought it would be a fast book to produce, but there were so many unforeseen complications along the way that at times we contemplated just dropping the book. As time dragged on it also started to seem like the lateness of the book would make it outdated and irrelevant. However, in the end we pushed on. Now enough time has passed that the book has morphed from a documentation of three larps to the documentation of an origin story of a truly international movement of wizard school larps (and the trendy castle-based larping).

This is the fifth book we have done together with Markus. Which is quite insane. Soon we will have to do a Greatest Hits collection.

In some ways The Magic of Participation is a return to our roots; this is a para-academic book primarily written by larpers – some of whom also happen to be scholars. It is a little rougher than our two previous books, but we felt that too much hoity-toity polish would jeopardise the authenticity of the experiences. This is written for the larp community, not just for academics.

Sini holds out a cherished plush toy, the queen of the teddy-bears, she received as a gift in 1984. (Photo by Saana Säilynoja /Vapriikki.)

In the fall of 2016, as the Finnish Museum of Games was set to open, we knew that its focus was to be on game products. Annakaisa felt strongly that the museum should also feature the voices of player, and not just the usual gamer voices, but the voices of all kinds of players. She had been thinking about this since 2012 when she spearheaded the first exhibition of Finnish games that seeded the idea of a permanent museum for games. Annakaisa had the idea to run a special course for students at the university, where an exhibition of game and play experiences would be created, and the museum was more than happy to welcome such as exhibition. I am very happy that she invited me along for the ride.

We ran the course for the first time a little over a year ago for thirteen brave students. We were literally making it all up as the project progressed, which was exhilarating and stressful for us. Probably for the students as well, but at least that we could explain away with pedagogy: this was a window into actual project work, learning by doing and something they could put on their CVs. (The Finnish universities are constantly being told to work more with the surrounding working life.) The first exhibition opened a year ago.

During the past few months, we have run the course again for another thirteen students. Since we now had some idea of what we were doing, we decided to make the exhibition a little more complicated (adding sound) – and to produce a documentation of the two exhibitions in the form of a book. I am only now starting to realize what an exceptional book it is: It tells stories about gaming and playing that are instantly recognizable, yet rarely described. It tells unique stories striking in their emotional honesty, for example about what gaming means – and what the denial of gaming feels like. It celebrates that we all have our own play histories, and that they are all worthy, even if they do not fit the moulds celebrated in the media or in the academic world.

While both of these book feature analysis (especially The Magic of Participation), these tomes are primarily documentary. They show what is out there in the world by bringing together voices that describe experiences relating to play and games. Both books also feature numerous authors who have not been previously published, which is always exciting for an editor. I am truly grateful to and proud of all the authors who shared their stories in these books.

Both books are available as free pdfs. You can download The Magic of Participation from Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura, and Minun pelihistoriani from TamPub. Physical copies of The Magic of Participation can be bought from me and Markus, at least in Knutpunkt, Living Games, and Ropecon. Minun pelihistoriani is sold at the museum shop in Vapriikki, where the Finnish Museum of Games is located.

How Worldcon Banned a Larp

By Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola

On Thursday, Worldcon 75, one of the most prestigious conventions on scifi and fantasy, suddenly banned a freeform role-playing game scenario A Home for the Old from its program. The scenario was removed from the games track due to criticism on Twitter, based on the program description. The criticism related to the subject matter of the work, Alzheimer’s disease, which was perceived as being made fun of. 

This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a role-playing game, larp, or a freeform scenario has been banned in Finland. Although no-one denies the Worldcon’s right to curate its programme, the decision has been criticized by the Nordic role-playing community.

In this blog post we attempt to provide an account of what happened, strive to understand the cultural values in conflict, and tease out some ideas about how to do better in the future.