Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer for tabletop role-playing games and board games. Chan and Sen-Foong Lim created Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (2021).[1][2][3][4] Chan has written for over twenty tabletop games, including the official Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (2021),[5] Dune: Adventures in the Imperium,[6] and the third edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill (2022).[7]

Banana Chan
Banana Chan (2019)
Banana Chan (2019)
Occupationgame designer
Genretabletop role-playing games, board games

Chan is the owner and co-founder of the tabletop publishing company Read/Write Memory, formerly known as Game and a Curry.[8]

Works

edit

Roleplaying games and supplements

edit

Banana Chan has written for many titles in tabletop games, both as a lead designer and as a hired freelancer.

  • Writer and Designer: The Imposters (2018)[9]
  • Writer: The North Sea Epilogues (2018)[10]
  • Narrative Designer: Sea of Legends (2020)[11]
  • Writer: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (2021)[5]
  • Writer: Dune: Adventures in the Imperium (2021)[12]
  • Writer, Co-Designer and Co-Creator: Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (2021)[2]
  • Writer and Co-Designer: Questlings: RPG (2021)[13]
  • Writer, Co-Designer and Co-Creator: Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous (2022)[14]
  • Writer, Co-Designer and Co-Creator: An Exquisite Crime (2022)[15]
  • Writer: Pathfinder 2E Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall (2022)[16][17]
  • Writer: Pathfinder 2E Dark Archive (2022)[18]
  • Writer, Co-Designer and Creator: Deimos Academy (2024)[19]
  • Writer, Co-Designer and Co-Creator: The Revenant Society: The Endless Loop Beneath the City (2024)[20]
  • Writer and Designer: Forgery (2024)[21]
  • Writer and Designer: The Darkness at the Brink of Ohio (forthcoming)[22][23]

Kids on Bikes

edit

Chan worked on multiple products in the Kids on Bikes series.

  • Module Writer: Dads on Mowers (2018)[24]
  • Co-author: Grannies on Scooters (2020)[25]
  • Module Writer: Doggos on Skateboards (2020)[26]
  • Module Writer: Anacondas on Airliners (2020)[27]

Board games

edit
  • Short Story Writer: Terror Below (2019)[28]
  • Lead Haunt Writer, Scooby-Doo: Betrayal at Mystery Mansion (2020)[7]
  • Writer: Warp’s Edge (2020)[29]
  • Writer: Atheneum; Mystic Library (2020)
  • Character Writer: Critical Care (2021) [30][31]
  • Haunt Writer: Betrayal at House on the Hill 3rd Edition (2022)[7]
  • Co-Designer: Mr. Lovenstein Presents: No Context (2023)[32]
  • Co-Designer: Chucky (2024), the officially licensed board game for Child's Play[33]

Awards and nominations

edit

Awards

In 2016, Chan won Best Pervasive Game in the Golden Cobra Challenge for her live action roleplaying game They’re Onto Me.[34] In 2022, Chan won the title of Designer of the Year from Dicebreaker's Tabletop Awards.[35] The same year, she won three ENnies Awards: Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (Silver Ennie for "Best Setting"), Questlings: RPG (Silver Ennie for "Best Family Game / Product"), and Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Core Rulebook (Gold Ennie for "Best Writing").[36]

Nominations and Honorable Mentions

In 2015, Chan was given an Honorable Mention in the Golden Cobra Challenge for her live action roleplaying game The Other Place.[37] In 2022, Chan and Sen-Foong Lim, along with the Game and a Curry and Wet Ink Games teams, were nominated for ENnies in three categories for Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall: Best Setting (which they won), Best Production Value and Product of the Year.[13] The same year, Chan and Game and a Curry were also nominated for Best Family Game/Product for their game Questlings: RPG in collaboration with Letiman Games and Tim Devine.[13] In addition to the ENnies, Jiangshi was nominated for the 2022 Indie Game Developer Network's Indie Groundbreaker Awards for "Most Innovative."[38]

References

edit
  1. ^ "This Board Game Uses Vampires To Fight Anti-Asian Racism". HuffPost. 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  2. ^ a b Wieland, Rob. "Save The World And Your Family Restaurant With This New RPG". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  3. ^ "Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall is an RPG about cooking and vampires". Dicebreaker. 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  4. ^ "Indie RPGs show roleplaying can - and should - be far more than Dungeons & Dragons". Dicebreaker. 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  5. ^ a b "Dungeons & Dragons returns to an iconic setting with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft". Dicebreaker. 2021-02-23. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  6. ^ Wieland, Rob. "Now Is A Great Time To Get Into Dune: Adventures In The Imperium". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  7. ^ a b c "Betrayal at House on the Hill: 3rd Edition". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  8. ^ "Home - Game and a Curry, LLC". 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  9. ^ "The Imposters - Ginger Goat | DriveThruRPG.com". www.drivethrurpg.com. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  10. ^ "The North Sea Epilogues RPG + GM Screen". Garphill Games. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  11. ^ "Sea of Legends". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  12. ^ "Dune Roleplaying Game". Modiphius Entertainment. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  13. ^ a b c "2022 Nominations – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  14. ^ "Jiangshi co-creator's next game is a LARPG anthology inspired by Get Out and Hannibal". Dicebreaker. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  15. ^ "Exquisite Crime equal parts paranormal whodunnit RPG and goofy group doodling". Dicebreaker. 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  16. ^ "Pathfinder Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  17. ^ "paizo.com - Pathfinder Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall". paizo.com. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  18. ^ "paizo.com - Pathfinder Dark Archive". paizo.com. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  19. ^ "Deimos Academy is a Stephen King inspired horror RPG played in a colouring-in book". Dicebreaker. 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  20. ^ "Jiangshi designers' next roleplaying game is like a horror version of Russian Doll". Dicebreaker. 2022-01-23. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  21. ^ "Drawing a picture of the tabletop space with Forgery". Rascal News. 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  22. ^ Meehan, Alex (2024-05-13). "Five Nights at Freddy's inspired this horror RPG about an eldritch radio show that comes with its own soundtrack". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  23. ^ "You are The Darkness at the Brink of Ohio". Rascal News. 2024-05-21. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  24. ^ "Kids on Bikes: Deluxe Edition". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  25. ^ "Kids on Bikes Free Content Friday July, 2020 - Grannies on Scooters". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  26. ^ "Kids on Bikes Free Content Friday August, 2020 - Doggos on Skateboards". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  27. ^ "Kids on Bikes Free Content Friday August, 2020 - Anacondas on Airliners". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  28. ^ "Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid and Clank! publisher holding its first online convention, Renegade Con Virtual, next month". Dicebreaker. 2020-05-15. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  29. ^ "Warp's Edge". Renegade Game Studios. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  30. ^ "Critical Care simulates the hospital ICU in a new board game". 23 September 2021.
  31. ^ "Team".
  32. ^ "Review of Mr Lovenstein Presents: No Context, a new party game about making connections". Tabletop Bellhop. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  33. ^ Hamman, Cody (2023-10-02). "Chucky board game coming from Trick or Treat Studios". JoBlo. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  34. ^ "Golden Cobra Challenge". www.goldencobra.org. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  35. ^ "Tabletop Awards 2022". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  36. ^ "2022 Results – ENNIE Awards". 2022-08-14. Archived from the original on 2022-08-14. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  37. ^ "Golden Cobra Challenge". www.goldencobra.org. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  38. ^ "Indie Groundbreakers Awards". Indie Game Developer Network. Retrieved 2023-03-28.