Teens

You are an Israelite about to leave Egypt during the Exodus story. Roll three d6 to determine your Character’s Type, Descriptor, and Job. Note the results on an Israelite Character Sheet.

Type

1. Agile
2. Brainy
3. Brawny
4. Creative
5. Charming
6. Sneaky

Descriptor

1. Rookie
2. Veteran
3. Incompetent
4. Unruly
5. Level-Headed
6. Quirky

Job in Egypt

1. Shepherd
2. Farmer
3. Fisher
4. Builder
5. Entertainer
6. Cook

Now, give your Character a name, and decide if and how they know any other Characters.

An Item from the Neighbors

When the Israelites left, they took along items from their Egyptian neighbors. Roll a d6 to determine what special item you have:

1. Bag with 10 Gold Coins
2. Festive Garment
3. A Sheep
4. Oil Lantern
5. Handheld Silver Chime
6. Small Sack of Flour

If your Abilities get all the way to 6 Israel / 0 Mitzrayim, your actions have become too obvious. Pharaoh finds out what you’re up to, hardens his heart, and you cannot leave.

If your Abilities get all the way to a 6 Mitzrayim / 0 Israel, the pressures keeping you in place win out. You lose heart and need more of a sign from G*d before you are ready to leave Egypt.

You can always find new Characters to take on this adventure, but if anyone reaches a level 6 on one of these two Abilities, this round of the game will be over.

You can intentionally move your Ability levels without rolling by giving your character a moment of reflection in the roleplaying. These should be specific to your Character and their story.

• To add 1 in Mitzrayim (-1 to Yisrael) – Talk about what you’ll miss from Egypt if you leave, aspects of your life pulling you to stay where you are.
• To add 1 to Yisrael (-1 to Mitzrayim) – Talk about a hope you have for your life when you’re free, and the reasons you want to go.

The Storyteller will determine if you have earned the level adjustment.

A note on why Ability levels work the way they do…

You may have noticed that when you succeed on one of your Ability Rolls, it makes it harder to succeed on that roll the next time. That is on purpose. The decision to stay in Egypt or leave to freedom might seem obvious to us, but the Israelites had never known any other life. Sometimes the closer you get to something new, the more the familiar calls you back. And the more stuck you feel in what you know, the more it drives you to break out of that narrow place. When you are pulled too far in one direction, you may need to remind yourself of other parts of your life, or you may need to rely on others to accomplish the things you can’t.

What follows is the story of this adventure in three forms: a synopsis for a general sense of the story set up; an outline version for Storytellers who want loose parameters and feel comfortable improvising their own details; and a much more detailed game description for Storytellers who would prefer having more concrete tools and ideas to go on. 2 Many of these details come from traditional Jewish texts, commentary, and folklore. Nevertheless, feel free to deviate from the written details to follow your Player’s choices and the results of the die rolls. Your version of the story becomes one of the many versions of our collective story.

If you are a Player in this adventure, you probably want to stop reading now. ** Spoilers ahead ** Spoilers ahead ** Spoilers ahead **

As the Storyteller, you essentially have three jobs:

1. Presenting – You are the voice of the story’s world. You offer the circumstances, the characters your Players meet, and the details of the world. You narrate what happens between Character actions and describe the impacts of those actions.
2. Empowering – You give weight and meaning to the choices the characters make. To the extent that you can, allow your Players to create outcomes and shape the world. Encourage them to inhabit their Characters and play them fully in the narrative.
3. Refereeing – For a story to feel satisfying, the rules of the world have to be consistent. For this adventure, those rules come from game structure, but they also come from you. You are responsible for maintaining a world where the cause and effect makes sense.

Other guidance:

• Consequences – Allowing Players to affect the world, does not mean letting them do whatever they want. It means letting their actions and their Ability Rolls have the appropriate consequences, both positive and negative.
• Determining Ability Checks – To help you determine whether something should be a Mitzrayim Roll or Yisrael Roll, consider whether they are using skills that reinforce what their life has been (Mitzrayim) or help them grow into what’s next (Yisrael).
• Judging Ability Level Shifts – The most subjective thing you will need to do is determine whether someone succeeded on their Ability Level Shift. These moments ought to pertain to the Character and their specific story, either from the details they rolled to create the Character or from the way that they have played them so far.
• Playing the Other Characters – The details of the other non-player characters in this adventure have been kept intentionally sparse. Have fun making them your own. For example, Moses could be stuttering and stressed, authoritative and charismatic; a well put together leader or a total mess… whatever seems right to you.
• Description – When you are describing new settings and actions and introducing characters, be as vivid and descriptive as is enjoyable. But remember to keep it brief. Try to send the action and dialogue back to the Players quickly to keep everyone engaged.