Understockholm
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Understockholm is a setting made for the larp, with the same name, that was run in Stockholm in September 2012, inspired by the universe glimpsed in Neil Gaimans novel Neverwhere.
The larp was organized by Sofia Stenler, Annica Strand and Annika Lykta, with Elin Gustafsson and Jan Åke Steenberg acting as advisors.
The larp ran for one day and centered around "The Floating Market", taken from the source material. The day was divided into four sections (almost act-like), each with a different theme. There were two pre-larp meetups with workshops in Stockholm, and there were additional workshops on site before gamestart.
There were no pre-written characters, the players were encouraged to create characters and groups that fit within the universe of Understockholm, that were then approved by the organizers. The universe and lore was also co-created with participant and the Knutpunkt conference, two years earlier. Making the project one with a heavy ingredient of Co-creation.
Summary
The world of Understockholm is one of magic and of lost things, of people who fell between the cracks and a broken mirror to the world of Överstockholm ("Stockholm Above"). The players created the market themselves, each group setting up a space and bringing something to trade, be it a lucky charm, a nice hat, a dream or a bowl of hot soup. In play each group had one mission appointed by the organizers and a strict no violence policy called The market truce. Aside from these restrictions the players were free to explore the market, interact and create their own stories. The organizers played supporting roles as Spirits of the market. They were present as helping hands, performed rituals when a group succeeded with their mission and gave out punishment when the market truce had been broken.
No characters or plotlines from the original novel were used, except the concept of the Floating Market.
Collaboration
In a collaboration between Understockholm, Mobile life's researchproject Codename:Heroes and Stockholms Stadsbibliotek a group that were not players visited the larp in a bus as part of their experience that day. http://www.understockholm.se/?page_id=477