Rosenstrasse (game)

Last updated
Rosenstrasse
Cover of RPG Rosenstrasse.png
Designers Jessica Hammer, Moyra Turkington
Publication2022
Genres indie role-playing game, tabletop role-playing game, historical

Rosenstrasse is an historical indie role-playing game by Jessica Hammer and Moyra Turkington that explores the erosion of Jewish civil liberties in Nazi Germany, culminating in the Rosenstrasse protest, an uprising in which nearly 1,500 non-Jewish wives of Jewish men saved their husbands from deportation. Each player is responsible for playing two pre-generated characters from a set of four married couples, in order to examine the historical scenario from different perspectives. [1] [2] [3] [4] Rosenstrasse was nominated for the 2023 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming [5] [6] [7] and the 2022 ENNIE Award for Best Writing, [8] was an official selection at IndieCade 2017, [9] and was featured at XOXO (festival) in 2019. [10] The game has also been the subject of academic scholarship.

Contents

Inspiration

In an article for the Association for Jewish Studies, Hammer and Turkington explained that their goal in creating Rosenstrasse was:

to educate players about a lesser-known historical moment; to inspire them to resist oppression in their daily lives; and to help them start conversations about activism. [4]

Scholarship

In Designing Ourselves: Empathy, Bias, and Game Design, Dr. Karen Schrier discusses Rosenstrasse as a tool for honing ethical decision-making. [11] Anthropologist Nathan LaBlanc wrote an article about Rosenstrasse as an example of how roleplaying games can be used in the field of ethnography. [12]

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References

  1. ↑ Carter, Chase (2023-06-21). "Root creator Cole Wehrle, indigenous RPG Coyote & Crow among finalists for 2023 Diana Jones Award". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  2. ↑ "This Canadian-made Holocaust game spotlights German housewives who stood up to Hitler and saved their Jewish spouses". The Canadian Jewish News. 2024-09-30. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  3. ↑ Network, Historical Games (2022-02-02). "Gestapo (1976) and Rosenstrasse (2022): Challenges and lessons for Holocaust-themed TRPGs". Historical Games Network. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  4. 1 2 "Pedagogy--Rosenstrasse, Embodied Learning through Role Play". www.associationforjewishstudies.org. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  5. ↑ "The 2023 Award". The Diana Jones Award. 2023-06-20. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  6. ↑ "Gen Con News: 2023 Diana Jones Award Winner Announced". icv2.com. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  7. ↑ "DnD Radiant Citadel up for 'excellence in gaming' award". Wargamer. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  8. ↑ "2022 Nominees and Winners – ENNIE Awards" . Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  9. ↑ "Rosenstrasse by Moyra Turkington & Jessica Hammer – Unruly Designs" . Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  10. ↑ "2019 Schedule · XOXO". xoxofest.com. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  11. ↑ Schrier, Karen (June 2019). "Designing Ourselves: Empathy, Bias, and Game Design" (PDF). Center for Technology and Society. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  12. ↑ Leblanc, Nathan (November 2019). ""Resistance is Possible": The Ethnography of Roleplaying". Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings. 2019 (1): 585. doi:10.1111/1559-8918.2019.01311. ISSN   1559-890X.


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