If I Were a Lich, Man
{{Short description|2023 comedic tabletop role-playing games}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox game
|name=If I Were a Lich, Man|designer=Lucian Kahn
|illustrator=Ezra Rose|publisher=Hit Point Press
|date=2023
|genre=Tabletop role-playing game, comedy
|players=
|image=If I Were a Lich, Man cover.jpg
}}
If I Were a Lich, Man is a boxed set of three comedic, Jewish tabletop role-playing games about creative resistance against authoritarianism. The games were written by Lucian Kahn and illustrated by Ezra Rose. The box contains three games: "If I Were a Lich, Man," "Same Bat Time, Same Bat Mitzvah," and "Grandma's Drinking Song."{{Cite web |last=Writer |first=Alex Meehan Former Senior Staff |date=2023-02-23 |title=What We Do in the Shadows and Russian Doll inspired this trio of comedic Jewish RPGs |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/if-i-were-a-lich-man/news/if-i-were-a-lich-man |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Dicebreaker |language=en}} It was published by Hit Point Press in 2023 after the publisher's kickstarter campaign raised $84,590 in two weeks.{{Cite web |title=Pre-order If I Were a Lich, Man: 3 Jewish Games by Lucian Kahn on BackerKit |url=https://if-i-were-a-lich-man.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=BackerKit |language=en}} It won an ENNIE Award and an Indie Game Developer Network award.
Games
"If I Were a Lich, Man" is an anti-fascist four-player game about a family meeting of Jewish liches arguing about how to defend themselves against killer paladins. It uses dreidels instead of dice. "Same Bat Time, Same Bat Mitzvah" is a LARP for 7 to 13 players. It is about a Bat Mitzvah party where the attendees are turning into vampires. "Grandma's Drinking Song" is another four-player game. The players write a drinking song together while performing short scenes based on Kahn's ancestors' true stories about working as bootleggers during Prohibition in New York City.{{Cite web |last=Eanet |first=Lindsay |date=2023-05-12 |title=With goblins, spellcasters and holiday heroes, board game makers are imagining new Jewish worlds |url=https://www.jta.org/2023/05/12/culture/with-goblins-spellcasters-and-delis-board-game-makers-are-imagining-new-jewish-worlds |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}
Themes
File:If I Were a Lich, Man interior.jpgThe games reappropriate antisemitic tropes to rethink fantasy monsters and criminals as "figures of resistance."{{Cite web |last=Eanet |first=Lindsay |date=2023-05-12 |title=With goblins, spellcasters and holiday heroes, board game makers are imagining new Jewish worlds |url=https://www.jta.org/2023/05/12/culture/with-goblins-spellcasters-and-delis-board-game-makers-are-imagining-new-jewish-worlds |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}} Kahn explained the thinking behind this in an interview with Lindsay Eanet for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
“There’s a long tradition of looking at the monster and seeing that the reason why these are monsters is because the people who have oppressive power have decided that these are going to be the enemies of the ‘good’ oppressive powers...But if you don’t agree with their ideology, if you’re seeing yourself as being a member of a marginalized community and being in opposition to these oppressive powers, then you can look at the qualities assigned to these monsters and some of them are qualities that are good.”{{Cite web |last=Eanet |first=Lindsay |date=2023-05-12 |title=With goblins, spellcasters and holiday heroes, board game makers are imagining new Jewish worlds |url=https://www.jta.org/2023/05/12/culture/with-goblins-spellcasters-and-delis-board-game-makers-are-imagining-new-jewish-worlds |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}The instruction manual contains a foreword and afterword about Jewish culture by Filipino Jewish writer James Mendez Hodes. Hodes worked as lead designer on Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, which also deals with themes of systemic oppression.{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Chase |date=2021-02-25 |title=Avatar: The Last Airbender RPG first details: five playable eras, keeping Balance and how bending will work |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/avatar-the-last-airbender-rpg/feature/avatar-korra-rpg-magpie-pbta-interview |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=Dicebreaker |language=en}}
Reception
If I Were a Lich, Man won the 2024 Silver ENNIE Award for Best Family Game / Product.{{Cite web |last=Jovanée |first=Alice |date=2024-08-03 |title=Where to buy the best TTRPGs from Gen Con 2024 |url=https://www.polygon.com/24208883/best-rpg-games-tabletop-ennie-awards-gen-con-2024-buy-pre-order |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2024 Nominees – ENNIE Awards |url=https://ennie-awards.com/2024-nominees/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |language=en-US}} The dreidels were nominated for the 2023 Origins Awards for Best Dice-Related Product. The prototype for the title game "If I Were a Lich, Man" won the Indie Game Developer Network award for "Most Innovative" in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Previous Award Winners |url=https://www.igdnonline.com/previous-award-winners |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Indie Game Developer Network |language=en-US}} The prototype for "Same Bat Time, Same Bat Mitzvah" was a finalist in the 200 Word RPG Challenge in 2018.{{Cite web |title=Same Bat Time, Same Bat Mitzvah |url=https://200wordrpg.github.io/2018/rpg/finalist/2018/05/23/SameBatTimeSameBatMitzvah.html |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=200wordrpg.github.io}}
Fantastic Games wrote that If I Were a Lich, Man "invites players into a dialogue with the past, challenges the status quo, and does so with wit, humor, and unapologetic boldness […] in the intersection of gaming and cultural commentary".{{Cite web |title=If I Were A Lich, Man: Box Set |url=https://www.fantasticgames.com/product/if-i-were-a-lich-man-box-set/25683 |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=Fantastic Games |language=en}}