The Knutepunkt is an annual role-playing game conference held annually in the Nordic countries since 1997. It has been a vital institution in establishing a Nordic role-playing identity, and in establishing the concept of "

Nordic larp Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, written in plural as Nordics, the northwestern European countries, including Scandinavia, Fennoscandia and the North Atlantic * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in ...

" as a unique approach. Though the conference started out strictly as a

Live action role-playing A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique feature ...

(''larp'' for short) event, it has since embraced role-playing games in a more general fashion. Today the conference still has an emphasis on larp, but programs devoted to traditional tabletop role-playing as well as newer arrivals such as freeform are common. A live action role-playing

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

movement, which pursues radical experimentation and the recognition of role-playing as a form of

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, has been connected to the Knutepunkt conferences. The scope of the Knutepunkt conference has expanded rather rapidly over the last few years with participants showing up from numerous non-Scandinavian countries. Since about 2003 Knutepunkt has seen participants from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, among others.

Name

''Knutepunkt'' is

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

for "meeting point" or "knot point" as it can be directly translated as, and locally the term is translated into

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

''Knutpunkt'',

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

''Knudepunkt'' and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

''Solmukohta''. The name of the convention refers to the point where two pieces of rope or string joins in a knot, and varies with the organizing country.

History

The organising country changes each year in this order:

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, Sweden,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. *Knutepunkt 1997

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

*Knutpunkt 1998 Stockholm, Sweden *Knudepunkt 1999

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

*Solmukohta 2000

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

*Knutepunkt 2001

*Knutpunkt 2002 Stockholm, Sweden
Knudepunkt 2003

(Feb. 2003)
Solmukohta 2004

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

(Feb. 2004)
Knutepunkt 2005

(Feb. 2005)
Knutpunkt 2006
Barnens Ö (Children's Island), Sweden (Apr. 2006)
Knudepunkt 2007

Helsinge Helsinge is the municipal seat of Gribskov Municipality in Region Hovedstaden on Zealand in Denmark. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 8,616.

. (Feb. 2007)
Solmukohta 2008

Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...

(Apr. 2008)
Knutepunkt 2009
Haraldvangen,

(16-19 Apr. 2009)
Knutpunkt 2010
Katrineholm, Sweden (Apr. 2010)
Knudepunkt 2011

Helsinge Helsinge is the municipal seat of Gribskov Municipality in Region Hovedstaden on Zealand in Denmark. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 8,616.

. (Feb. 2011)
Solmukohta 2012

(Apr. 2012)
Knutepunkt 2013
Haraldvangen,

(Apr. 2013)
Knutpunkt 2014

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömseb ...

, Sweden (3-6 Apr 2014)
Knudepunkt 2015Knudepunkt village
( Midtfyns gymnasium, Ringe fri- og efterskole, Nordagerskolen, Midtfyns fritidscenter),

(12-15 Feb. 2015)
Solmukohta 2016

(9-14 Mar. 2016)
Knutepunkt 2017

(23-26 Feb. 2017)
Knutpunkt 2018
Lund, Sweden (15-18 Mar. 2018)
Knudepunkt 2019

Vejen Vejen with a population of 10,009 (1 January 2022) is the main town in Vejen Municipality, Denmark. Geography The town is situated in the Danish region of Region of Southern Denmark, Syddanmark and is a railway town at the railway between the ci ...

(8-11 Feb. 2019)
Solmukohta 2020

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

(2–5 Apr. 2020)
Knutepunkt 2021

(7-20 Oct. 2021)

Publications

Since 2001 the Knutepunkt conferences have been accompanied by books on larp theory, with the exception of the 2002 conference in Stockholm. *Anette Alfsvåg, Ingrid Storrø, Erlend Eidsem Hansen (eds.): ''The Book''. Knudepunkt 2001. no ISBN *Morten Gade, Line Thorup & Mikkel Sander (eds.): ''As Larp Grows Up''. Knudepunkt 2003. . https://web.archive.org/web/20060718051716/http://www.laivforum.dk/kp03_book/ *Markus Montola & Jaakko Stenros (eds.): ''Beyond Role and Play''. Solmukohta 2004. . https://web.archive.org/web/20060615144314/http://www.ropecon.fi/brap/ *Petter Bøckman & Ragnhild Hutchison (eds.): ''Dissecting Larp''. Knutepunkt 2005. (print) (online) http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/kp05/ *Thorbiörn Fritzon & Tobias Wrigstad (eds.) : ''Role, Play, Art''. Knutpunkt 2006. . http://jeepen.org/kpbook/ *Jesper Donnis, Morten Gade & Line Thorup (eds.): ''Lifelike''. Knudepunkt 2007. . https://web.archive.org/web/20070314102705/http://www.liveforum.dk/kp07book/ *Jaakko Stenros & Markus Montola (eds.): ''Playground Worlds''. Solmukohta 2008. (print) (pdf) https://web.archive.org/web/20091221130755/http://www.ropecon.fi/pw/ *Matthijs Holter, Eirik Fatland & Even Tømte (eds.): ''Larp, the Universe and Everything''. Knutepunkt 2009. http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/ * Larsson, Elge (ed.): ''Playing Reality''. Knutpunkt 2010 , Interacting Arts. (print) (pdf) https://web.archive.org/web/20110818143459/http://interactingarts.org/pdf/Playing%20Reality%20(2010).pdf * Thomas Duus Henriksen, Christian Bierlich, Kasper Friis Hansen & Valdemar Kølle (eds.): ''Think Larp - Academic Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051237/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/think_larp_web.pdf * Claus Raasted (ed.): ''Talk Larp - Provocative Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051302/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/talk_larp_web.pdf * Lars Andresen, Charles Bo Nielsen, Luisa Carbonelli, Jesper Heebøll-Christensen, Marie Oscilowski (eds.): ''Do Larp - Documentary Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20110812230824/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/do_larp_web.pdf * Juhana Pettersson (ed.): ''States of Play: Nordic Larp Around the World''. Published by Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura in conjunction with the Solmukohta 2012 conference. / (PDF) http://www.nordicrpg.fi/julkaisut/states-of-play/ * Eleanor Saitta, Marie Holm-Andersen and Jon Back (ed.): “The Foundation Stone of Nordic Larp.” Published by Knutpunkt in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference (Print)/ (PDF) http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/8/80/2014_The_Foundation_Stone_of_Nordic_Larp.pdf * Jon Back (ed.): “Knutpunkt 2014: Sharpening the Cutting Edge.” Published by Knutpunkt in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference (Print) / (PDF) http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/e/e8/2014_The_Cutting_Edge_of_Nordic_Larp.pdf * Charles Bo Nielsen and Claus Raasted (ed.): “The Knudepunkt 2015 Companion Book.” Published by Rollespilsakademiet, Copenhagen, Denmark in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2015 conference http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/2/27/Kp2015companionbook.pdf * Charles Bo Nielsen and Claus Raasted (ed.): “The Nordic Larp Yearbook 2014.” Published by Rollespilsakademiet, Copenhagen, Denmark in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2015 conference {{ISBN, 978-87-92507-23-5 http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/6/6d/Nordiclarpyearbook2014.pdf

Video documentation

In 2011 the Knutepunkt conference was documented i
a number of videos now published on the Knudepunkt 2011 Vimeo Channel

External links

Knutepunkt at the Nordic Larp Wiki
Gaming conventions Live-action role-playing games