Jiangshi co-creator’s next game is a LARPG anthology inspired by Get Out and Hannibal
“If Jiangshi is PG-13, I’d say this is closer to an R-rating.”
Banana Chan - co-creator of Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall - is co-designing another horror roleplaying game called Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous.
The upcoming RPG is inspired by the likes of horror movies such as The Invitation, Coherence, Get Out, Triangle and We Are What We Are, as well as the Oscar nominated Phantom Thread and the television series starring Mads Mikklesen, Hannibal. According to Chan, Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is an anthology of “horror American freeform LARPs” - or live action roleplaying games - that are all set around either a dinner table, a dinner party or a similarly domestic setting that “folks can easily play without costuming or high intensity prework”.
A LARPG is similar to a roleplaying game, except that players are encouraged to further immerse themselves in the experience by dressing up, finding a suitable location and adding an element of physicality to their roleplaying. Chan stated that each game featured in Suburban Consumption is designed to last around 30 minutes to two hours and will focus on “some very mature themes”. “If Jiangshi is PG-13,” Chan noted, “I’d say that this is closer to an R-rating.”
Suburban Consumption will continue to dwell on the connection between food and horror found in Jiangshi, but will also contain storylines that include some darker and more mature themes such as cannibalism, murder, toxic family systems, toxic friendships and romantic relationships, sex and sensuality, lonliness and even the end of the world. Chan went on to describe the game as being “a collection of stuff that I wanted to do in other games, but is too creepy and intense for the mass market”. Players will be able to refer to content warnings for each of the games if they need to.
The anthology will contain a chapter each for solo games and two-player games, as well as scenarios designed for larger groups. Chan provided Dicebreaker with a collection of short films featuring clips from actual plays of some of the game’s scenarios, including one called A Housewife in Her Twenties and another called Love and Betrayal, which were directed and edited by Chan.
Besides Chan, who has also co-created another horror RPG called Deimos Academy, Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous was co-designed by Sadia Bies, who is also an art director for the game.
Pelgrane Press - the publisher studio for roleplaying games such as Trail of Cthulhu, The Yellow King and The Fall of Delta Green - is set to publish the upcoming game.
The Kickstarter campaign for Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous is yet to receive a confirmed launch date or pledge amounts.