Why Is This Game Different?
This is the busy time of year for clergy and churches, which of course, I am (well the former, not the latter). Palm Sunday is days away, and that marks the start of Holy Week, the most sacred week of the year for Christians. In my tradition we will celebrate something called the Sacred Triduum, a church service that begins in the evening next Thursday, continues with a service Friday, and culminates with a long service Saturday night after sundown. Then of course, the next day is Easter Sunday itself, the day Christians celebrate the Resurrection. At the Great Vigil of Easter, Christians celebrate the Passover in their own way, hearing among other stories of salvation, the events of the Passover night and reinterpret them in a Christian context. In addition to our regular church celebrations, I'm excited this year to celebrate Passover in a whole different way: by supporting a brand-new, Jewish, Passover game: Ma Nishtana: Why Is This Night Different on Kickstarter.
I wanted to spend a little time in this edition of the newsletter to talk about why I'm excited about Ma Nishtana as a game, and what I enjoy so much about it. First, let me give a little background for my interaction with the game and it's designers. A year ago I started my Monday night twitch stream show "Holy Happy Hour, Batman!" and I wanted to find and highlight creators of games that intersected in some way with religion, theology and/or philosophy. I've been extremely fortunate to meet and interview incredible Jewish game designers, which there are a bunch in the indie ttrpg scene. One of the games I became most excited about was in a play-test version on itch, a GM'less storytelling game that takes the stories of the Passover and lets you play the characters and even re-contextualize them in different settings. The game uses the Passover Seder as its framework, integrating elements of ritual into the game. I reached out to Gabrielle Rabinowitz and Ben Bisogno, cousins who created the game, asking for an interview. Ben and Gabrielle asked to do a pre-interview, so we chatted just us, no audience, on Zoom. It was one of the best conversations I had had at that point about indie ttrpgs and game design, and it was not even for content. I knew I could talk to these folks forever about their game design theory, and we needed to do an episode of the show. Thankfully they were willing, and we had a lovely conversation for Holy Happy Hour Batman. It happens to be our second-most viewed episode on YouTube, only behind the interview with James D'Amato. Gabrielle and Ben were gracious to even return and record an actual play with my spouse Mel and I. Playing Ma Nishtana was inspiring, fun, and extremely memorable.
I wanted to share a little bit about the design elements in Ma Nishtana that I enjoy, and why I think it is a very notable ttrpg in a sea of amazing indie ttrpg releases happening. As I said above, Ma Nishtana is a GM'less storytelling game. It guides you through both rituals and scenes that build characters, world-build, create setting, and invite you into roleplaying characters in a natural, easy to follow way. The game guides you through the entire process in a way that I think would not only be easy for any experience level of games like this, but it takes it to a whole different level by going beyond ease into ritual. Everything about the game is one long ritual process. Elements of the actual Passover Seder meal are brought into game play. Even a brand new safety mechanic called "wait wait wait!" is introduced, specifically designed to capture the feeling of a family Seder. The game completely blends the narrative themes with the game design and play experience in a way that draws you in.
Perhaps it is a coincidence, but two indie games crowdfunding basically at the same time offer pre-existing characters that you can embody and develop into your own. This innovation is not unique to Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast. Ma Nishtana invites you to take the role of one of the characters of the Passover, like Moses, Miriam, or a more obscure character like Moses' adopted Egyptian mother. One of the coolest things about playing Ma Nishtana is taking a character you might already be familiar with, someone as iconic as Moses, and giving that characters your own spin while simultaneously entering into the themes of Moses' story in such a way as to be able to experience those themes for yourself.
And this is one of things I find most profound about Ma Nishtana. The game invites you to do the same thing as the actual Passover Seder, the same thing that I hope my own Christian Paschal services allow us to do, which is enter into the now of these religious moments, so that they are not just an event in the past but something real and tangible for us today in a transforming way. Theologically we call this anamnesis, an act of remembering that also unites us to that significant moment in the past. Once again referring to the Christian context, we believe this happens for us at our Great Vigil of Easter. In our Exultet, an ancient chant that we still use every year, we repeat these words:
This is the night, when you brought our fathers, the children
of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt, and led them through the
Red Sea on dry land.
This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered
from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness
of life.
This is the night, when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell,
and rose victorious from the grave.
How wonderful and beyond our knowing, O God, is your
mercy and loving-kindness to us, that to redeem a slave, you
gave a Son.
How holy is this night, when wickedness is put to flight, and
sin is washed away. It restores innocence to the fallen, and joy
to those who mourn. It casts out pride and hatred, and brings
peace and concord.
How blessed is this night, when earth and heaven are joined
and man is reconciled to God.
I have always been somewhat envious of the Jewish imagination, the ability to practice anamnesis using the story of scripture to make present, transforming realities today. Ma Nishtana invites you to experience the story of the Passover at whatever level you desire to enter into it, but I do think it offers the potential for that kind of transforming story experience, hearing the Divine speak through play.
Lastly I want to add that the way in which the designers of Ma Nishtana, Gabrielle and Ben, invite others to share their own family Passover experiences is beautiful. This game was created by family, and you can feel that in their game trailer and in the invitation to support the game on Kickstarter. As a non-Jewish person, at no point did I feel like this game was not for me. In their own words from the itch page for the game they write,
"Ma Nishtana encourages us to leave an open chair for all who come bearing an open heart. This is a story for all of us: Jews, non-Jews, and the Jew-“ish” alike. All are welcome around the table, especially those who are playing with family or friends or are far from home." What a beautiful invitation for a game!
I hope this edition of the newsletter highlighted design elements I think our powerful about Ma Nishtana and why I like it so much. I like the GM'less shared storytelling style of the game. I enjoy the pre-determined characters that you can embody and personalize for your own game experience. I enjoy the ritual elements, and the chapter format that guides you through without needing to know anything about playing a ttrpg. I enjoy the way the game is for any experience level of ttrpgs and larps. This game brings together the threads of current game design I'm most excited about, including a ritual action obviously very important to me: breaking objects! I think Gabrielle and Ben are brilliant writers and designers, and I look forward to their future game design work.
Remember, Ma Nishtana comes to Kickstarter at the start of Passover, which if you can't calculate the lunar cycle, means it launches April 15. I hope you'll consider checking it out.
Do you have thoughts about these game design elements? I would love to hear from you! Don't forget that we have an All Ports Open Network discord server and I would love to connect with you there. Also, if you enjoy reading this newsletter, at this time it is very small. Please consider letting others know about it so that we can grow! And as always, thanks for reading.