Podcast #47: Storytelling games, fave themes, and more (guests: Sen-Foong Lim, Banana Chan)

It's 1920s America. You run a Chinese restaurant by day and deal with jiangshi (vampires) by night in Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, the new tabletop RPG from veteran RPG writer/designer Banana Chan (Sea of Legends, Dune RPG) and board game designer Sen-Foong Lim (Belfort, Junk Art, Dungeons & Dragons: Rock Paper Wizard). Banana and Sen join us to discuss what people really mean when they want to play a board game with storytelling elements, what unique themes we like seeing in board games, and how board games can show cultural appreciation rather than appropriation.

This week's topics:

  1. Christina (host): What are your inspirations for some of the settings in your RPGs or board games? (5:45)
  2. Banana Chan (guest): What are some of your favorite themes used in board games that are different from what you've seen in the past? (20:08)
  3. Shoe (producer): Story-based/RPG-style board games -- do you like them? What are some that you like or don't like? (33:28)
  4. Sen-Foong Lim (guest): Culture appreciation vs. appropriation. What’s the difference? What are some examples from gaming or other facets of culture of these phenomena? How can game designers make sure they’re showing appreciation rather than appropriating from another culture? (58:03)

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Correction 1: We incorrectly credited the artwork in Succulent to Beth Sobel. The illustrator is Anna Daviscourt.

Correction 2: During the podcast, we listed a few titles as being published by Plaid Hat Games, having forgotten that it has transferred the rights to some of these in its split from former parent company Asmodee. Dead of Winter is now under Fantasy Flight Games while Mice and Mystics and Aftermath now fall under the Z-Man Games label. Abomination and Forgotten Waters remain with Plaid Hat. Our apologies! (We've just been associating these games with Plaid Hat for so long now....) To learn more, check out the press release or see Plaid Hat's current line-up.

Here's a full list of games discussed on the show:

Intro

Christina's topic: What are inspirations for the settings in your games?

Banana's topic: Favorite game themes that you don't see as often

Shoe's topic: Story-based/RPG-style board games

Sen's topic: Cultural appreciate vs. appropriation

Final thoughts