Portal 4
This is the big news. The fourth PoRtaL convention was announced, and it will take place in a month – April 15 to 17. True, it is a bit later than usual – so far it has been organized late February or early March – but it is happening. In Budapest, like the second convention (I was involved with organizing first and third conventions in Zagreb).
The program for fourth convention will provide more focus on the educational and interdisciplinary content, and besides the presentations, discussions and panels, there will also be chamber larps, larp exhibit, and there’s a planned publication. There’s a CFP for it, and presenters can send their presentations in article form to be included as well.
The main website (with registrations) is available here. You can also check the Facebook page and event for further info.
As a refresher, PoRtaL is the biggest larp convention in this part of Europe. And only one, because apart from PoRtaL, there are really no larp-specific conventions around. However, there is some larp content on other conventions.
GobliCon (web / facebook) is a major Slovenian convention, focused on tabletop RPG but also with some larp content. I had fun there last year. Unfortunately, this year it’s in the same timeslot as PoRtaL.
Istrakon (April 8-10) and SFeraKon (May 13-15) are also close, and they are major Croatian conventions – mainly focused on SF and fantasy. They will also have some larp content. I plan to be on SFeraKon.
In Italy, there will be a gaming Play convention in Modena on April 1-3. I was there last year, talking about Izgon and the convention is huge. There will be tabletop, larp and freeform content during the convention. Most of it will be in Italian, but a sci-fi larp A Thousand Stars and No Home will also be available in English on Saturday evening, allowing you to play a refugee in a space opera setting.
One of the inspirations for PoRtaL was a major Nordic larp convention, which changes the name as it changes the four countries. It’s Knutepunkt in Norway, Knutpunkt in Sweden, last year it was Knudepunkt in Denmark… and this year it was Solmukohta in Finland. As they do every year, they released convention books for free in PDF form. If you like progressive content and theory, check them out here.
Schedule:
Friday
Pedagógia+ / Pedagogy+
16:00 – 16:30 Registration
16:30 – 16:35 (HUN) Opening of Pedagogy+ Workshop. Introduction by Gál Ferenc, headmaster of FM KASZK Bercsényi Miklós Food Industry Vocational School and Residence Hall
16:35 – 16:45 (HUN) Opening of Portal4+ Exhibition. Introduction by Gáspár Attila, consultant, META-INF Kft.
16:45 – 17:00 (HUN) Presentation: How Do You Turn an Educator into a Dungeon Master?
The secret learning method will be presented by Tamás Obreczán through the example of “KASZKádreakció” game, which involved more than 100 educators in March 2016.
17:00 – 17:15 Questions
17:15 – 17:30 (HUN) Presentation: The Knack of Studying the Effects of Experience-based and Playful Methods
The game- and study developing method will be presented by Edit Lippai, professional coordinator of the storyline project known as “Adventure Day of Domaszék”.
17:30 – 17:45 Questions
17:45 – 18:00 (HUN) Presentation: Gamification in school Evaluation – Gamificated Educational Framework
There are those who use gamification. Some even study it. Mónika Tóth belongs in the latter group and can provide data that has never before been published in Hungary, maybe even in the World!
18:00 – 18:15 Questions
18:15 – 18:30 Break
18:30 – 19:00 (HUN) Lumina Cornu – Succesful Sustainable Youth Club with Diverse Projects (Gábor ERDEI)
19:00 – 19:15: Questions
19:15 – 20:00 (HUN) Workshop: Adventure-making Workshop – You Won’t Leave Here Without a Script
The most enduring of participants will get to know the storyline-writing method’s basics, meaning that they receive personalized help to write role-playing and/or strategy game scripts that would help them process the curriculum and organise educator projects.
20:00 (HUN+ENG) Icebreaker – chatting with participants, getting to know each other
Saturday
9:00 registration open until 13:00 – late participants will find the instructions at the entrace
9:00 boffer fight and open place games continously to 17:00
9:30-10:00 PoRtaL 4+ exhibition opening ceremony, program descriptions and technical information
10:00-10:30 “Challenge of mortals” minigame
10:30-12:00 Larp and…
…and cosplay (Zsófia SIMON)
…and reenactment (Ádám BODORICS)
…and airsoft (Tibor PONGRÁCZ)
…and education (Tamás OBRECZÁN)
…and adult education (Elemér SZATMÁRI)
…and its depths
12:00-13:00 World cafe
13:00-14:30 Lunch break
14:30-14:55 Freshman Camp: How to socialize and make new friends? A Hungarian edularp experiment (Mátyás HARTYÁNDI)
14:55-15:20 Emotional investment and bleed – a case study from the Chronicles of Demgard 2016/1 larp (Sándor MESTERHÁZI)
15:20-15:35 Short break
15:35-16:00 The D-Day in the History of Hungarian Edularp
How Does Larp Come Together with Education? (Edit LIPPAI)
16:00-16:30 The Fog Larp Series (Georgi VLAYKOV)
16:00-16:45 (HUN/ENG) Úristen, egy gyerek! / OMG, a child! (Anna KINDE) Workshop, Max. number of participants: 20
16:30-17:00 Short break
17:00-18:00 Ars Amandi (Ivan ZALAC) Workshop
17:00-18:00 Játékos tanulás az erdei iskolában (Éva VAJTÁNÉ BOROS) Worskhop HUN
18:00-19:00 “Mortal Masquerade” experimental larp
19:00-19:30 Dinner break
19:30-21:30 CHAMBER LARP: Famiglia Bonifacio: The Evening Before (Miroslav WRANKA) Max. number of participants: 6
19:30-22:00 Discussion evening
Sunday
10.00 – 10.30 MediLARP? – prezentation and discussion (HUN)
10:30 – 12.00 How can LARP make a better world?– discussion and workshop (ENG)
12.00 – 13.00 PoRtaL 4+ conclusions – discussion + Organizing next PoRtaL Convention (ENG)
13:00 – 13:30 (ENG) How mundane should our world be? An example for world-building in Rivergard Larp (Csaba BÁLINT)
13.30 – 15.00 Lunch, Goodbyes