Distance of Touch is a magazine about Nordic larp published in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2022 conference in Linköping, Sweden. It’s articles seek to capture the moment in Nordic larp culture, with the emergence of online larp and different kinds of new larps such as Seaside Prison and The Future Is Straight. It ranges beyond the Nordics in its examination of Hungarian proto-larp, Chinese larp and Brazilian antifascist larp. One of the themes of the magazine is community, with articles about the experiences of women of color and trans people in larp. The magazine is capped with a section on various design concepts that have recently bubbled up in Nordic larp. Contents: Editorial – Juhana Pettersson Interview: Mastering Chaos – Juhana Pettersson Six Larp Novels (And a Collection of Short Stories) – Jukka Särkijärvi Q&A – Juhana Pettersson Feature: Not All Black And White – Anna Erlandsson Feature: Glamour – Erik Winther Paisley Photo Essay: Heteronormativity in Pictures – Juhana Pettersson Interview: Designing a Dystopia of Straightness – Juhana Pettersson Everybody’s Mom And Dad – Tor Kjetil Edland, Karete Jacobsen Meland & Anna Emilie Groth Larp Against Fascism – Luiz Prado and Leandro Godoy Beyond Cracking Eggs – Jamie MacDonald Column: Larp As a Player, Larp as a Character – Alessandro Giovannucci Feature: The Online Larp Road Trip – Ylva Otting The Many Nuances of Fake Sex – Juhana Pettersson Exploring Larp Landscapes – Alexiou Alexandros Pandemic Larp Improvisation – Evan Torner How To Play – Mike Pohjola Feature: The Chinese Hotpot of Larp – Xiong Shuo, Wen Ruoyu & Mátyás Hartyándi Feature: Tribes And Kingdoms – Bálint Márk Túri & Mátyás Hartyándi Leading With Larp Magic – Moa Rönnåsen Wielding the Magic of Anticipation – Olivia Fischer How to Management a Larp Project? – Sandy Bailly Uncomfortable Metalinguistics – Thomaz Barbeiro & Leandro Godoy Column: “Never Give Up, Never Surrender” – Inge-Mette Petersen The Lion, the Witch and the Workshop – Olivia Fischer Interview: Looking At the Sea – Juhana Pettersson Photo Essay: Healing – Wanja Neite Unfinished Stories For an Unruly Audience – Alessandro Giovannucci Classic Comedies And Why We’ll Never Larp Them – Jamie MacDonald Possible, Impossible Larp Critique – Kaisa Kangas Optional Playtime – Juhana Pettersson Play-Enabling Oppression – Juhana Pettersson & Maria Pettersso Fuck the Hand – Juhana Pettersson Redundant, Fault-Tolerant Relationship Maps – Jason Morningstar Play On Lies – Julia Greip Combat Tokens – Garett Kopczynski Participatory Ritual Vocalization – Juhana Pettersson Symbolic Names – Juhana Pettersson Credits: Editor in chief: Juhana Pettersson Graphic design: Anne Serup Grove Distance of Touch has been created with the support of Taiteen edistämiskeskus, Journalistisen kulttuurin edistämissäätiö and Suomen Kulttuurirahasto. 151 pages, Full color and fully illustrated, Softcover

Where do you find beauty in larp? How to create larp in the intersection of politics and emergent play? How to design for player desires and make larp while avoiding burnout? Engines of Desire is a collection of 31 articles and essays about larp by Juhana Pettersson. Many of the texts have been published before and there are nine new articles as well as a foreword by the play researcher Jaakko Stenros. The cover seen above as well as the book’s graphic design is by Anne Serup Grove. The book’s essays span twenty years of Nordic Larp. The perspective is that of a larp designer, a player, a member of the Nordic community of play. The book is an exploration into the ideas and dynamics of larp during a time of intense artistic development in the community. “I’ve been making larp for over twenty years now. I wanted to put everything I know about it into one book,” Pettersson says. Juhana Pettersson (born in 1980) is a Finnish larp designer, novelist and game writer. Larps he has created or worked on include Luminescence, Halat hisar, End of the Line, Parliament of Shadows and Enlightenment in Blood. 460p

The annual Solmukohta roleplaying conference is the epicenter of the Nordic Larp design movement. The conference rotates between Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and every year there’s a book collecting articles pushing the envelope of what roleplaying and larp can be. 200 pages + a DVD Full color Edited by Juhana Pettersson Graphic design by Tommi Kovala Articles: High on Hell by Elin Nilsen Why do we go to games where the emotional content is overwhelmingly negative? Valve: the Grand Adventure by Antti Kanner & Katri Lassila Valve is a Helsinki-based city game where dream is the only reality. The Joy of Kidnapping by Juhana Pettersson It’s hard to find venues for experiencing the joy of kidnapping in modern society. The Golden Rule of Larp by Simo Järvelä Larp ethics are still in their infancy. A Moment of Weakness by Yaraslau Kot Sometimes the opinion of one person is enough to get a game cancelled. Dublin2: the EU’s Asylum Policy in Miniature by JP Kaljonen & Johanna Raekallio Dublin2 brought the reality of EU’s asylum policies into the center of Helsinki. Weddings and Anti-Condom Activists by Trine Lise Lindahl There’s larp in Palestine. Larp and Aesthetic Responsibility by Tova Gerge Some lessons from the discussion concerning the game Just a Little Lovin’ in Swedish media. Folk Fantasy by Mike Pohjola The larp Kirjokansi escapes the shadow of Tolkien. Reliving Sarmatia by Michal Mochocki Using the toolbox of Nordic Larp to create and reinforce national identity. Valokaari by J. Tuomas Harviainen Who decides if a larp is a success? The organizers, or in the case of the game Valokaari, the players? Kiirastuli OY by Vili Nissinen Sometimes Hell is other people in your office. Playing “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Ari-Pekka Lappi The book is a game, as we always suspected. The Labyrinth of Possibilities by Gabriel Widing How to make a game of living in reality. We Created a Monster, Part I by Johanna MacDonald The origins and further permutations of the Walkabout project. We Created a Monster, Part II by Aarni Korpela A two-person project, Walkabout’s creators offer different perspectives on the games. Songs and Larp by Alexey Fedoseev & Daria Kurguzova As we all know, singing is the most important part of any debrief session. Pathos by Lorenzo Trenti Documentation from an Italian alternate reality game. Shadowrun by Thomas B. Sometimes larps are inspired by Nerf guns. Give Me Your Hands, I Will Be Your Eyes by Aaron Vanek The experimental game Steeds, and how it worked in practice. Mistakes I’ve Made by Claus Raasted Claus has made many mistakes. The Rogue Wave by Andrea Castellani How to see larp as a topical wave instead of a narrative. It’s About Time by Eleanor Saitta Time and how it was constructed in the larp Just a Little Lovin’. Letting the Stories Go by Emma Wieslander More conceptual tools for larp design from the designer who brought you Ars Amandi. Tears and Defeat by Nathan Hook You can’t win against faeries or superficial Swedes. What is Good Playing? by Niina Niskanen There’s been a lot of talk about what’s a good larp design, but less about what’s a good player. The Evaluation of Elusiveness by Aleksandra Mochocka A report from the Polish Golden Axes roleplaying competition. ¡Lucha Libre! by Jenni Sahramaa This larp has it all: Luchadores, freedom fighters and the best special moves of any game, ever. Tahtotila by Suvi Korhonen & Tuukka Virtaperko A report on the Finnish larp campaign Tahtotila, about an insane asylum detaching from reality. Your Character is Not Your Own by Gustav Nilsson Communal character creation works better than solitary endeavors. The Blessing of Lineage by Lauri Lukka Why play “single-generation” games when you can play a dynasty? Beyond the Game Master by Emily Care Boss, Ivan Vaghi & Jason Morningstar An enquiry into American game masterless roleplaying games. We Hold These Rules to Be Self-Evident by Lizzie Stark D&D is the American Dream.