Nordic Larp Wiki:Style Guide

Content

This wiki is for documentation, not for advertisement. Stick to writing about things that have happened and document them. When it comes to theories and techniques you should be able to reference a game, a Knutepunkt talk, article or other source and not just start articles when you get inspiration for a new idea. If you have a new idea, organize a game a write an article in a Knutebook. When describing larps, the entries should describe the them vividly and convey a general feeling of how it was to play the game.

The intended reader is a smart person who knows what role-playing and larping is, but is not necessarily familiar with the Nordic tradition. She may be a player, a game designer, an artist, a researcher, but the texts should be accessible also to people who have no background in any of these fields.

Terminology

When discussing games please use the original, whole names of the games (e.g. Krigslive V: I Kejserriget blev jeg født...). Also, include the names of the head organizers, place, time and a translation of the name. Please note the varying capitalization in e.g. Finnish, Swedish and English: Rikos kannattaa, Mellan himmel och hav and Samuli Torssonen’s Star Wreck Roleplaying Game are capitalized differently. After mentioning the full name once, shorthand may be used, e.g. Star Wreck.

Preferred forms: diegesis (plural: diegeses, adjective: diegetic), game master (not gamemaster), larp (no caps, used as a noun), role-play (with a hyphen), RPG (all caps), tabletop role-play (not pen’n’paper), ludus (adj: ludic), paidia (adj. paideic), Nordic larp or Nordic role-play tradition (when talking about tradition around Knu(t/te/de)punkts and Solmukohtas), Knutepunkts (if you absolutely need to talk about all of the events with one term), Knutepunkt 2009, Solmukohta 2008, Knudepunkt 2007 (and so on when talking about an event), Knutebooks (when talking about the annual tradition of books that started in 2001/2003, however, use correct name of a book when talking about a specific book).

Please avoid the following: arranger (when meaning an organiser), chronicle (when talking about a campaign), laiv, lajv, LARP, LRP, live (when meaning larp), narrator, dungeon master, referee (use game master), role play and roleplay (use role-play), Scandinavian (use Nordic).

Be careful when using: player, larper, participant, role (when meaning character), character.

Italicize names of games, books and movies. Do not italicize organizations or people.

Images

When including pictures, check that you have permission to publish them on the web. You mey need to check with the photographer, the models, and the game organizers - depending on the picture and where it was taken. It is a hassle, yes, but all of these people are in our community. Treat them with respect.

When including pictures, always include the name of the photographer. Just as important is to mark the photo as 'play' (taken during play), 'diegetic' (taken during play as part of the playing), 'workshop' (photo from workshop), 'portrait' (characters posing before of after the game), 'offgame', 'marketing' etc. Give context. Also, a kickass caption is to die for.

Language

Please use international US English.

When discussing games please use the original, whole names of the games (e.g. Krigslive V: I Kejserriget blev jeg født...). Also, include the names of the head organizers, place, time and a translation of the name. Please note the varying capitalization in e.g. Finnish, Swedish and English: Rikos kannattaa, Mellan himmel och hav and Samuli Torssonen’s Star Wreck Roleplaying Game are capitalized differently. After mentioning the full name once, shorthand may be used, e.g. Star Wreck.

Tools

Please use the available templates and note how they are used.