Banana Chan

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)
Occupation	game designer
Genre	tabletop 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

Roleplaying games and supplements

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

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

• 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

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

1. "This Board Game Uses Vampires To Fight Anti-Asian Racism". HuffPost. 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
2. 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. "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. "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. "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.