AND WHO ARE YOU? is a conversation-based role-playing game for critical conversations around Christianity and the ways in which it influences politics and community. Throughout the 2.5-hour game, players are asked to challenge themselves to inhabit a character with a perspective very different from their own, and in the shoes of this character, determine things like laws, leadership structures, and social values. The participants will work together to navigate conflicts of worldview and balance individual preferences with collective needs while building the foundations of a small community.
AND WHO ARE YOU? has undergone significant playtesting and adjustment throughout the span of its development, transforming from a simple prototype to a rigorously tested and effective format for workshops, education, and discussion. Throughout prototyping, mechanics were introduced to encourage passionate discourse, rewarding players for defending positions they may not personally agree with rather than defaulting to consensus. Characters are designed with conflicting values, personal stakes, and individual strengths and weaknesses, producing situations where no position is without cost and offering a sliding scale of complexity to remain accessible for participants who may not be experienced with role-playing games.
Development focuses on accessibility and streamlined gameplay. The result is a game which can be downloaded, printed, and played from a simple PDF, with instructions for both facilitators and players in groups of 4 to 12.
At its core, AND WHO ARE YOU? examines how systems of belief can easily become intertwined with secular politics. These belief systems are shown to shape political and social structures that extend beyond individual participants, which can reinforce exclusion within systems that present themselves as fully democratic. AND WHO ARE YOU? offers a chance to reimagine how communities are built and governed. Given the opportunity to construct something new, players must confront the values they carry with them—often revealing how quickly familiar pitfalls of hierarchy, exclusion, and belief can be reproduced.
AND WHO ARE YOU? will continue to expand in scope and quality through player input and critical development and redevelopment. Immediate plans for future updates include expansion of Act 1, and lower-threshold play opportunities for game facilitators.
And Who Are You? is a game about the sociology of religion in politics, how it can sometimes function as a tool of political control, and how it impacts both people and systems in large and small ways. However, the game system behind this has the potential to be applied to any number of topics and points of interest. In case you have an idea of how to utilize this game format for another purpose, please don't hesitate to reach out!
If you have any questions, ideas, proposals, or offers, feel free to reach out anytime by replying to this email or via info@fromnowhere.site
