Asians Represent!

Tadhana Joy, a Filipino American TTRPG writer, fiction author, poet, and Actual Play performer, joins Asians Represent to talk about Barkadan: City of Noise and Plenty, a survival horror and high fantasy tabletop RPG inspired by the culture of the Philippines and the Filipino-American experience.

Instead of creating a direct fantasy interpretation of Filipino folklore and mythology, Tadhana built Barkadan from her own family's real history. Their family's stories and experiences became the city's gods, demons, and antagonists. We dig into why she made that choice, how co-creator Jesse's Legacy and Saga system uses a mechanic called "swing" to build shared narratives, and how reputation and community mechanics tie every player's story together.

Connect with Tadhana at: TadhanaJoy.com

Learn more about Barkadan: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jessetwilliam/barkadan-a-filipino-inspired-ttrpg-setting

Daniel and Drew are fresh off Quon Con - an impromptu week-longer gathering of gamer friends in Toronto that stood in for the usual Asians Represent gathering around Breakout Con! This episode is one giant battle report covering the entire week, which included a group hobby day painting Warhammer/building gunpla/knitting, a visit to the Aga Khan Museum's Game On! exhibition, and the main event...a massive 8,000 point 2v2 game of Warhammer 40K that Daniel spent a full year painting his army to field!

📢 Two episodes will be dropping this week: this one, and an interview later in the week with the designer of Barkadan, a survival horror TTRPG setting currently on Kickstarter.

No Dice, No Problem is the hobby spin-off of the Asians Represent podcast (hosted on the same feed!) where Daniel and Drew hold themselves accountable to their tabletop gaming hobbies while catching up on nerdy news and community mail!

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Website | aznsrepresent.com 

Bluesky | @aznsrepresent 

YouTube | ⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@aznsrepresent⁠⁠⁠

Follow Daniel @danielhkwan and Drew @DrewQuon on Bluesky

//CONTACT 

If you have questions about this episode’s themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠aznsrepresent.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

//MUSIC

Honey Bee by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠

Daniel and Drew are back and there's a lot to catch up on! Daniel opens up about losing his grandfather this month. From there, the boys look ahead to July and the upcoming Asians Represent episode on BattleTech's Capellan Confederation and why it's a fascinating (and challenging) subject.

In Battle Report, Daniel recaps a packed month of hobbying - Anime North, lunch with Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood, and a lot of model kits and TCG events! Drew, meanwhile, has been diving into Riftbound and navigating the new 11th Edition of Warhammer 40K. He also shared a story about a particularly...fragrant night at Miniature Market.

For mail time, the guys tackled a deceptively deep question - how do you keep a gaming group going? Daniel breaks down five skills: consistency, candor, initiative, mutual effort, and making people feel seen. Drew shared some hard lessons from friendships that faded, and why short-term conflict is always better than long-term rot.

*We are working on conducting a follow up interview with Dr. LeCluyse on race and monstrosity in D&D, so drop any questions you have about the topic in the #show-discussions channel in our Discord server!

//SPONSOR 

//FOLLOW 

Website | aznsrepresent.com 

Bluesky | @aznsrepresent 

YouTube | ⁠⁠youtube.com/@aznsrepresent⁠⁠

Follow Daniel @danielhkwan and Drew @DrewQuon on Bluesky

//CONTACT 

If you have questions about this episode’s themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠aznsrepresent.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

//MUSIC

Honey Bee by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠

Daniel and Drew are reunited after a month apart! On this episode of NDNP, Drew talked about his first year of grad school while Daniel returns from a nearly four-week trip through Malta, Lisbon, and London! The guys also celebrated their 6-year gamerversary as friends!

For Battle Report, Drew recapped his co-op progress through the Halo series (in narrative order) while Daniel shared his experience playing the solo TTRPG "Spine" by the sea in Malta and his latest Pokémon TCG pre-release efforts!

Recap of Asians Represent Episode 111 — an interview with Dr. Chris LeCluyse on race and monstrosity in D&D

Daniel's bucket list visit to Warhammer World

A report on Malta's tabletop gaming scene and Daniel's favourite (and not so favourite) hobby shops in London

Drew's upcoming visit to Toronto (surprise!)

*We are working on conducting a follow up interview with Dr. LeCluyse on race and monstrosity in D&D, so drop any questions you have about the topic in the #show-discussions channel in our Discord server!

//SPONSOR 

//FOLLOW 

Website | aznsrepresent.com 

Bluesky | @aznsrepresent 

YouTube | ⁠youtube.com/@aznsrepresent⁠

Follow Daniel @danielhkwan and Drew @DrewQuon on Bluesky

//CONTACT 

If you have questions about this episode’s themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠aznsrepresent.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

//MUSIC

Honey Bee by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Where do orcs really come from? In this episode of the Asians Represent! podcast, Daniel and Drew sit down with Dr. Christopher LeCluyse, a professor of literature, media, and writing at Westminster University to discuss his new book, Race & Monstrosity in Dungeons & Dragons.

Chris' work traces how depictions of “monstrous races” in the game are rooted in more than 2,000 years of history and how these influences continue to shape how race functions in the game. From ancient Greek descriptions of headless monsters to J.R.R. Tolkien's hierarchy of fantasy beings, this episode maps a clear picture of how real-world racial stereotypes became embedded in the DNA of fantasy gaming.

In this episode, we cover:

How Tolkien and Gygax "inherited", rather than invented, racial frameworks

The parallel between the drow "evil black matriarchy" trope and the concurrent rise of the "welfare queen" stereotypes in American politics

How race and power are manifested in early AD&D rules

How 5th edition D&D's revised rules represent real progress, and where that work is still incomplete

Alternative design approaches that deconstruct essentialism and gives players narrative agency over their ancestry

Check out Race & Monstrosity in Dungeons & Dragons when it comes out next month - https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/race-and-monstrosity-in-dungeons-dragons/. If your local book store doesn't have it, ask them to order it!

Euphoria by PAVALON

Daniel is heading to Europe! In this pre-vacation episode, Daniel and Drew catch up on everything gaming, food, and pop culture before Daniel goes radio silent for a few weeks.

Daniel shared details about his trip, from completing a pilgrimage to Warhammer World to visiting the spectacular Pena Palace in Lisbon!

In this episode:

Daniel's full Warhammer World trip plan — and why he's sprinting to the door when it opens

Street Fighter Miniatures Game deep dive

Video game adaptations - Fallout season 2, Arcane season 2, Devil May Cry, and Splinter Cell on Netflix

Patron Q&A - including a deep dive into British regional food

This is the last NDMP before Daniel's big trip. Follow along on the Asians Represent Bluesky (@AZNSRepresent) and YouTube channel for trip shorts!

//SPONSOR 

//FOLLOW 

Website | aznsrepresent.com 

Bluesky | @aznsrepresent 

YouTube | youtube.com/@aznsrepresent

Follow Daniel @danielhkwan and Drew @DrewQuon on Bluesky

//CONTACT 

If you have questions about this episode’s themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠aznsrepresent.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

//MUSIC

Honey Bee by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 42 of No Dice, No Problem is here! In this episode, Daniel and Drew catch up after a break, talk about burnout and rediscovering the joy of gaming (without making content), and dive into everything from tabletop gaming tournaments to grinding Overwatch.

Daniel shared his new game journaling system, recent experiences at Pokémon and Gundam card game events, and teased his new tabletop skirmish game STRIKE/POSE - a model kit game where posing your models actually matters! Drew pitched a wild game idea for a psychic extraction shooter TTRPG!

//SPONSOR 

//FOLLOW 

Website | aznsrepresent.com 

Twitter | @aznsrepresent 

Twitch | @aznsrep 

Follow Daniel @danielhkwan and Drew @DrewQuon on Bluesky

//CONTACT 

If you have questions about this episode’s themes, suggestions, or anything else related to Asians Represent, get in touch with us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠aznsrepresent.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

//MUSIC

Honey Bee by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this powerful episode of Asians Represent, Daniel sat down with Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee, CEO of the Chinese Canadian Museum, to explore the overlooked history of Chinese Canadians during the Second World War and how their service became a turning point in the fight for equal rights in Canada. Recorded during a visit to Vancouver last summer, this conversation dives into the museum’s permanent exhibition, A Soldier for All Seasons, and reflects on the legacy of Chinese Canadian veterans who volunteered to serve a country that denied them the right to vote.

In this second part of our exploration of the art, design, and lore behind Grand Cathay - one of the newest factions in Warhammer: The Old World - artist LJ Koh breaks down the visual storytelling, cultural influences, and creative process behind their iconic look.

In this new year's episode of the Asians Represent podcast, Daniel and Drew reflect on 2025, answer listener questions, and share their plans for the year ahead! They discussed lessons learned from the past year, behind the scenes production talk, and thoughts on community building and what listeners can expect next from Asians Represent!

*Daniel and Drew are VERY excited about episode 109.