Asians Represent! is here to celebrate the brilliant Asian creators in the analogue gaming community while examining the challenges they face within the industry. They also regularly deconstruct the use of Asian cultural tropes in gaming by asking, “Is this cultural appreciation, or appropriation?”
Agatha Cheng burst into the RPG scene in early 2015 armed solely with the knowledge that gnomes are a fantasy race and apparently so are bards. She has since waded deep into the world of story games and LARPs, but still maintains the wide-eyed enthusiasm of that long ago first session. When not obsessively dissecting pop culture and media, she has a particular fondness for sad games, romance RPGs, and Chinese wuxia dramas. burst into the RPG scene in early 2015 armed solely with the knowledge that gnomes are a fantasy race and apparently so are bards. She has since waded deep into the world of story games and LARPs, but still maintains the wide-eyed enthusiasm of that long ago first session. When not obsessively dissecting pop culture and media, she has a particular fondness for sad games, romance RPGs, and Chinese wuxia dramas.
Daniel Kwan is one of the co-owners of Dundas West Games, an educational creative producer, and co-host of the Asians Represent! podcast on the One Shot Network. Daniel has co-authored Zany Zoo! and is currently working on Ross Rifles – a WWI dramatic action RPG powered by the apocalypse. In addition to his design work, Daniel is one of the co-founders of Level Up Gaming – a Toronto-based organization that provides adults with autism and other disabilities opportunities to develop their social skills through group gaming experiences. He also oversees the Royal Ontario Museum’s Dungeons & Dragons program, which uses tabletop roleplaying games to teach teens history, science, and social skills.
Episode 25: Kara-Tur the Eastern Realms (Part 4)
Daniel, Makenzie, Emma, Jacky, and Michelle continue their epic quest to read through the AD&D Kara-Tur campaign setting and provide their critical insight! This time, the Government of Shou Lung! “Asians Read…” is streamed live at twitch.tv/aznsrep! Shout out to Quest for their generous support of Dungeons & Da Asians! Head to www.adventure.game and use...
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Episode 23: Kara-Tur the Eastern Realms (Part 2)
Daniel, Makenzie, Emma, Jacky, and Michelle continue their epic quest to read through the AD&D Kara-Tur campaign setting and provide their critical insight! This time, the places of note in Shou Lung and “eastern monasteries”.
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Dungeons & Da Asians #9 – Is that you W’leed?
On their way to the Shimmering Badlands, homeland of the People of Bronze, our heroes travel to the town of Lie Yue to rest and learn about Dong Feng’s new powers. his episode is brought to you by Roll20 – your virtual tabletop for playing games online. Whether you need maps, character sheets, video &...
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Episode 22: Kara-Tur the Eastern Realms (Part 1)
Daniel, Makenzie, Emma, Jacky, and Michelle begin their epic quest to read through the AD&D Kara-Tur campaign setting and provide their critical insight!
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Episode 21: Reflecting on Oriental Adventures and Al-Qadim
Fresh off their Gold ENnie win for Best Podcast, Daniel, Steve, and Ammar shared their experiences reading Oriental Adventures and Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures on Twitch, solutions for the harmful legacies of these products, and how to move forward. You can watch Asians Read and Critical Read live at twitch.tv/aznsrep! Shout out to Quest for their generous support of Dungeons &...
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Episode 20: Designing games with Asian themes ft. Banana Chan
Daniel was joined by Banana Chan, Steve, and Discord community member Ting to talk about the processes behind designing TTRPGs that feature both Asian themes and mechanics inspired by Asian cultures!
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Dungeons & Da Asians (Bonus): Session 0 Redux
The Dungeons & Da Asians crew got together to convert their D&D characters to Quest – the new game that will be powering our adventure!
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Dungeons & Da Asians #8 – Into the Shadewood
Dungeons & Da Asians is back! Picking up where we left off before the quarantine, our heroes venture into the heart of the Shadewood to hunt the vicious Shadow Marquis!
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Episode 19: Sex, Relationships, & TTRPGs ft. Sharang Biswas & Clio Yun-su Davis
Game designers Sharang Biswas and Clio Yun-su Davis joined Daniel and Ammar for a discussion about the ways that RPGs can challenge how you think about roleplaying, sexuality, and human relationships!
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Episode 18: Ainu & Japanese National Identity ft. Marianne Ubalde
Daniel was joined by Marianne Ubalde, a scholar based in Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan for a discussion about the representation and participation of the Ainu people in Japanese media and depictions of Japan in games.
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