Kjell Hedgard Hugaas is a northern Norwegian larp designer, organizer, writer, and trained actor. He has been active within Nordic larp communities for about two decades and contributes to the ongoing discussions on larp theory on a regular basis, his particular field of interest being the transformative effects of larp. As such, he is one of the authors of the Butterfly Effect Manifesto.
Kjell Hedgard Hugaas | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 18, 1978 |
| Nationality | Norway |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Organization | |
He writes and designs on a freelance basis for a number of different larp studios and creators and creates chamber larps on his own. His design work tends to be quite political and often addresses societal issues. He theorized the ways in which ideas impact larpers through the process of memetic bleed and how the physicality of larping impact larpers through the process of procedural bleed. In addition he is the originator of the concept of bleed components and complexes, as well as the bleed complex identity bleed and the concept of the bleed perception threshold.
He has also done safety consultant work for an number of different studios and organizations.
He holds two MAs in Game Design, and in his daily life he works as a Project Manager at Region Gotland and a Project Assistant at Uppsala University. In addition he works with local, regional and national trade unions, and is a part-time legal consultant.
Articles on Larp
- Investigating types of bleed in larp - emotional, procedural and memetic by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- The Butterfly Effect Manifesto by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas and Sarah Lynne Bowman
- Transformative Role-Play: Design, Implementation, and Integration by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas and Sarah Lynne Bowman
- Speechcraft by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- Magic is Real: How Role-playing Can Transform Our Identities, Our Communities, and Our Lives by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas and Sarah Lynne Bowman
- Bleed and Identity: A Conceptual Model of Bleed and How Bleed-out from Role-Playing Games can Affect a Player’s Sense of Self by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- Liminal Intimacy: Role-Playing Games as Catalysts for Interpersonal Growth and Relating by Sarah Lynne Bowman , Josephine Baird , and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- A Conceptual Model of Bleed: Introducing The Bleed Perception Threshold, the Relational Matrix of Bleed, and Identity Bleed (In press) by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- Practicing Dying: How Role-playing Games Can Help Us Accept Death and Boost Our Quality of Life by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- Envisioning Role-playing Games as Vehicles for Galvanizing Conflict Transformation (In press) by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas and Sarah Lynne Bowman
- Playing Dead: How Role-Play Game Experiences Can Affect Players’ Death Attitude Profiles (DAP-R) by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- Role-playing Games for Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration: Theory and Practice” by Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Sarah Lynne Bowman, and Josephine Baird
Talks On Larp and Larp Related Topics
- “What to Consider When Designing a Transformative Role-Playing Game” - ROLE v Simpósio de RPG, Larp e Edução, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Brazil 2024.
- AI - The Larp Designer's Friend or Foe? - Solmukohta 2024.
- Learning from Bleed - Edu-Larp Conference, Tampere Finland, 2024.
- Play for Change? How to Design a Transformative Role-Playing Game - International Game Studies Campfire, Shanghai China, Mar. 2024.
- The Value of Gamification and the Potential of Serious Games - Playful by Design: Transformative Approaches to Game Design, Lisbon 2024.
- Philosophies of Psychological Safety in Analog Role-playing Game Discourses - DiGRA Italia 2023
- Imagination Is Free: How Tabletop RPGs Are Creating Uncensored Exploratory Play Spaces for Iranian Youth - GENeration Analog 2023
- Cultivating a Soulful and Sustainable Academic Journey - Kaunas University's 7th International PhD Summer School 2023
- Playing Dead: How Role-Play Game Experiences Can Influence Player's DAP-R - PoP GGC 2023
- Playing Dead: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Larping Again - KP 2023
- Employing Educational Live Action Role-playing Games to Train Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration - Nordic Digra 2023
- A Conceptual Model of Bleed: Introducing The Bleed Perception Threshold, the Relational Matrix of Bleed, and Identity Bleed - TPI Seminar 2022
- The Transformative Play Initiative: A Research and Education Report - Knutpunkt 2022
- Bleed and Identity - Uppsala University - PoP GGC 2022
- The Transformative Play Initiative: A Research and Education Report - Portal 2022
- Death and Dying in Games - Exploring Age Old Questions of Mortality through Role-playing Games - PCA 2022
- Agents Of Empowerment - Gamification for Sustainable Development Symposium 2021
- Liminal Intimacy: Role-playing Games as Catalysts for Interpersonal Growth and Relating - Future and Reality Of Gaming 2021
- The Transformative Play Initiative - KP 2021
- The Final Chapter - Practicing Dying Through Play - KP 2021
- The Transformative Play Initiative - Edu-Larp Conference 2021
- Roleplaying for transformation - Panel discussion - The KP Magic Book Online Conference 2021
- Designing for Transformative Impacts - Keynote Solmukohta 2020
- Nordic Larp - A tool for teaching History - TEMA 2019
- Fra rolle til karakter - Spillerom 2019
- Memetic Bleed - A tool for Societal and Political change - KP 2019
- A Trinity of Consciousness - KP 2018
- To Bleed or Not to Bleed - KP 2017
Games
Writer/Co-Designer
- The Forbidden History (2018 & 2020)
- Tale of The North Wind (2019)
- 1912 (2019)
- Beyond the Neural Horizon (2019)
- Vætter i Natten (2019)
- Sahara Expedition (2020)
- If I Could See Your Face Again (2021)
- Agents of Empowerment (2021-2023)
- Conflict Transformation Academy (2021-24)
- The Last Song (2022)
- 97 Poets of Revachol (2024)
Larpwright
- Norwegian Prine (2018)
- Hello In There (2019)
- [[0.[ZERO] K]] (2021)
- Summers End (2022)
- Take The Star Out Of The Window (2022)
Voice Acting / Other
- Demeter (2017)
- Requiem: Reichskinder (2019)
- Re:Boot (2021)
- If I Could See Your Face Again (2021)
- SoulShift (2022)