Balogun Ojetade's Blog
April 30, 2019
A New Way to Play Ki Khanga!
KI KHANGA: THE SWORD AND SOUL ROLE PLAYING GAME puts you in the role of a character of your liking in a world of mystery and magic; of villainy and victory; of sword… and soul.
Will you delve for lost artifacts in the ruins of ancient temples? Strap on beaded armor and an nkisi necklace to battle undead legions as they storm your city upon the backs of skeletal camels, or defend your village from a swarm of ravenous impundulu? Whether you’re making your way through the magical forests of Wandatu or fighting to survive in the palm oil-lit back alleys of Sati-Baa, you and your team will need all your wits, combat skill, and magic to make it through. But most of all, you’ll need each other.
This rulebook is the essential centerpiece of Ki Khanga: The Sword and Soul Role Playing Game, with rules for character creation, magic, arms, armor, divination and much more – everything you need to play Ki Khanga as either a player or Griot!
The next great adventure in fantasy roleplaying takes off here, and Ki Khanga: The Sword and Soul Role Playing Game is your ticket to a lifetime of adventure!
The Ki Khanga Core Rulebook includes:
All player and Game Master rules in a single volume.
The ability to create characters the way YOU want them to be, without restrictions of class or species.
Multiple maps and detailed overviews of the 16 countries and multiple cultures that comprise the world of Ki Khanga including their gods, major factions and threats, and more.
Complete rules for combat.
African weapons, armor, and items – magical, spiritual and technological – from hand cannons and divine armor to enchanted swords and biological implants.
Rules for magic, deadly traps, bizarre diseases and poisons, and everything else you need to craft exciting adventures.
And now, with Ki Khanga powered by OpenQuest, fans of the original version of Ki Khanga: the Sword and Soul Role Playing Game have a new way to play!
Ki Khanga: The Sword and Soul Role Playing Game features cinematic game mechanics based on the acclaimed OpenQuest D100 system and is compatible with other D100 systems.
Available NOW in paperback and e-book formats!
December 14, 2018
The First Steamfunkateers Adventure Is Now Available!
The Haunting of the House of Crum, the first adventure for the Steamfunkateers Steamfunk Role Playing Game, beyond the adventure in the core manual, is available NOW!
Players send their characters into a terrifying haunted house that once belonged to the creator of the potato chip, George Crum (nee George Speck).
Will they make it out alive, or with their sanity intact? YOU decide.Choose your team, gird up your loins and prepare to be terrified… and to have a great time!
December 13, 2018
Steamfunkateers, the Steamfunk Role Playing Game, is now available!
Mad scientists, Vampires, Air Pirates, daring Adventurers, power-hungry dictators… and YOU all populate the world of Steamfunkateers: The Steamfunk Role Playing Game .
Steamfunkateers is a world of mechanical marvels, the supernatural and the Brushed – people that possess extraordinary abilities. YOU are one of the Brushed and, as Harriet Tubman says, “You either brushed by the hand of God… or by the hand of that other one.” YOU decide which one.
Steamfunkateers: The Steamfunk RPG is a fun, complete, stand-alone role-playing game in which you play a character that goes on exciting adventures, solves deep mysteries, battles evil (or good) and develops amazing abilities. Character creation can be done as quickly as a few minutes, or expand to take up an evening; adventure design is simple and designed to deliver an evening of fun, or years of it. The choice is yours.
All you will need to play are some friends, some dice, and this book!
Available NOW in paperback and e-book formats.
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May 12, 2018
A Brand New Funk: Biofunk comes to Afrofuturism!
Next came Dieselfunk – fiction, film and fashion that combine the style and mood of Dieselpunk – Steampunk’s grittier sibling – with African and African-American inspiration. It is a name I came up with in 2012, playing off of Steamfunk.
Dieselfunk tells the exciting untold stories of people of African descent during the Jazz Age.
Think the Harlem Renaissance meets Science Fiction; think Chalky White (from Boardwalk Empire) doing battle with robots run amok in his territory; think Mob bosses, Nazis, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Tulsa Race Riots and jazz… that is Dieselfunk.
Then came Rococoa – the Age of Spring Technology and Clockwork.
Think Science Fiction and Fantasy meet Three Finger’d Jack, the pirate, Black Caesar and the Haitian Revolution. Think an afroretroistic Black Count, Nat Turner, and Stono Rebellion… that is Rococoa.
Now comes Biofunk.
Biofunk was born from Biopunk (a portmanteau of “biotechnology” or “biology” and “punk”) – a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than information technology.
Biopunk is concerned with synthetic biology, bio-hackers, biotech mega-corporations, and oppressive government agencies that manipulate human DNA. Most often keeping with the dark atmosphere of cyberpunk, biopunk generally examines the dark side of genetic engineering and represents the low side of biotechnology.
What is Biofunk?
Biofunk, like Biopunk is a subgenre of science fiction, but it is closely related to Cyberfunk and its subgenre, Cybertrap, which focus on the speculative chronologically futuristic narratives that exist within the intersections of Black spaces and, in the case of Cybertrap, the aesthetics of classic trap music/culture, mixed with the tropes and world building of Cyberfunk.
Biofunk explores the triumphs and struggles of individuals or groups of African descent, long the products – or victims – of human experimentation and body modification.
Individuals are usually modified and enhanced by genetic manipulation and, central to Biofunk stories, is the belief that the next revolution will be in the field of biology; that the proper study of mankind is life; that physics and chemistry are only tools to probe living matter; and that computers are merely simulators and modelers for life.
The latest (first?) novel in the Biofunk subgenre is Initiate 16 . Here is a description:
“Initiate 16 lay paralyzed, face-down on a glass table. Scores of blood-stained, shiny metallic needles, attached to snake-like arms, jutted from her back, neck, arms, legs, and even the backs of her heels. Her whole back was peeled open, revealing her spine. The bright lights in the ceiling above her shone on the slick, pink sinew of her back and upon several links of bone that composed her spine. Upon each link was carved an ancient rune – ‘the Odu’, her teacher had called them.
She didn’t know what an Odu was but she knew it gave her power… and pain.
The nerve-blocking chemicals coursing through her blood, bones and sinew numbed the pain, but she didn’t like them inside her body. She didn’t particularly enjoy initiation either, but it was a step closer to godhood – and only a god would dare tread where she would soon have to.”
Afrofuturism meets “Into the Badlands” meets “28 Days Later” in this post-apocalyptic, Biofunk thriller.
Ikoko, a physically weak, abused and psychologically disturbed young woman is selected against her will to become the first physically-enhanced hunter of “mutes” – people infected with the horrific Midway Mutagen. If the procedures go well, Ikoko will be transformed into the first of many Ologun – human killing machines – through genetic engineering, but such a powerful creature must be controlled and she will be… via an invasive memory-implantation program.
But the plan goes awry when the products of a top-secret project gone wrong, break out of the facility where they are being held and flee into the nearby city of Atlagos.
In the ensuing panic, the scientist in charge of implanting Ikoko’s memories inserts a program of her own making and turns Ikoko into a modern-day African warrior – part Shaka Zulu, part Mino (“Dahomey Amazon”).
Ikoko must face monsters – of meat, metal and combinations of both – to save herself, those she’s tasked with protecting, and maybe even a world gone absolutely mad.
Pick up your copy of Initiate 16 NOW in e-book and paperback formats!
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May 6, 2018
Afrofuturism meets Post-Apocalypse with Initiate 16!
“Initiate 16 lay paralyzed, face-down on a glass table. Scores of blood-stained, shiny metallic needles, attached to snake-like arms, jutted from her back, neck, arms, legs, and even the backs of her heels. Her whole back was peeled open, revealing her spine. The bright lights in the ceiling above her shone on the slick, pink sinew of her back and upon several links of bone that composed her spine. Upon each link was carved an ancient rune – “the Odu,” her teacher had called them.
She didn’t know what an Odu was but she knew it gave her power… and pain.
The nerve-blocking chemicals coursing through her blood, bones and sinew numbed the pain, but she didn’t like them inside her body. She didn’t particularly enjoy initiation either, but it was a step closer to godhood – and only a god would dare tread where she would soon have to.”
Afrofuturism meets “Into the Badlands” meets “28 Days Later” in this post-apocalyptic, biopunk thriller.
It’s the year 2057. Ikoko, a physically weak, abused and psychologically disturbed young woman is selected against her will to become the first physically-enhanced hunter of “mutes” – people infected with the horrific Midway Mutagen. If the procedures go well, Ikoko will be transformed into the first of many Ologun – human killing machines – through genetic engineering. But such a powerful creature must be controlled and she will be… via an invasive memory-implantation program.
But the plan goes awry when the products of a top-secret project gone wrong, break out of the facility where they are being held and flee into the nearby city of Atlagos.
In the ensuing panic, the scientist in charge of implanting Ikoko’s memories inserts a program of her own making – one that teaches independence rather than obedience, and turns Ikoko into a modern-day African warrior – part Shaka Zulu, part Mino (“Dahomey Amazon”).
Ikoko must face monsters – of meat, metal and combinations of both – to save herself, those she’s tasked with protecting, and maybe even a world gone absolutely mad.
Initiate 16 is available NOW in e-book and paperback formats.
February 12, 2018
The Blacktasticon Kickstarter is LIVE!
The Blacktasticon Kickstarter is live! Support this Blacknificent gathering of the Black Fantastic today!
February 6, 2018
Afrofuturistic Comic Book, Jagunjagun Lewa, available NOW!
“The back story promises action and adventure…the artwork is phenomenal…and this comic actually had me laughing out loud. The action sequences are really well developed, where some comic fighting scenes can be hard to follow, this artist has done an amazing job in sequencing. Intelligent, comedic timing makes this book so much fun to read! I cannot wait for the next installment. Simply awesome!” —Jack Berberette, Founder of the DOTS RPG Project
“Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.”
The Gods of the Martial Arts gain power, prestige and wealth from the number of followers they possess. The Asian martial gods are most powerful and prosperous, as the Asian martial arts have long been marketed to humanity and are quite popular, even in the post-apocalyptic, afrofuturistic world of Jagunjagun Lewa .
The African gods of the martial arts, on the other hand, are so unpopular that they risk falling into eternal sleep. To save themselves, they pick an unlikely champion who, with his brother, Papio, a man cursed to live out his life as a mandrill, sets out to build the reputation and popularity of the African martial arts by defeating the best martial artists in the world. The problem is, no one wants to fight him – and NOT because of his extraordinary fighting skills.
Jagunjagun Lewa is set in a world of spring and gear technology, a world where the sword and spear are still kings of all weapons. It is a future much like, while also unlike, our past.
JAGUNJAGUN LEWA (“Pretty Warrior”) is a wild ride that will have you turning the pages and clamoring for more!
Issue #1 of this hilarious and action-packed comic book/manga, written and created by Balogun Ojetade and illustrated by Chris Miller, is available NOW in e-book and paperback formats!
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December 26, 2017
Scorpion Wine: A Sword and Soul Novel, Set in Ki Khanga, is Available NOW!
Ki Khanga has always had its heroes.
Men and women of honor, who risk it all for life, love, freedom, or to beat back the evil that threatens to creep, crawl, or fly from the Cleave and consume the world.
Then there’s Qiq.
Skilled. Brilliant. Deadly.
For the right price.
Qiq is the bounty hunter called when no one else is bold enough, crazy enough, or greedy enough to do the job, but he doesn’t come cheap because he always gets the job done and done well.
Now someone has said, “To the Cleave with Qiq’s reputation,” double-crossed him and left him to die.
Big mistake.
A tale of redemption? Nope.
A coming of age quest? Hell no!
This is a tale of bloody, brutal (and sometimes snarky) revenge. Served cold.
With a tall cup of Scorpion Wine.
Available NOW in e-book and paperback.
December 23, 2017
The Bad Boys of Sword and Soul!
Omari Ket, the rogue and mercenary who squeezes out of scrapes he just can’t seem to avoid getting into, created by Milton Davis.
Qiq, the half-human/half-elemental bounty hunter – skilled and deadly… for the right price, who takes on the jobs no one else can… or will, created by Balogun Ojetade.
We are all drawn to anti-heroes – and in the cases of Omari Ket and Qiq, I use “hero” lightly – with a certain swagger and stride, with boldness and bravado.
They’re not villains – at least not entirely. But they’re definitely not heroes, either. Breaking the mold of traditional heroism and villainy, Omari Ket and Qiq instead embody the unique qualities of the antihero.
But why are we drawn to antiheroes?
It might be because their moral complexity more closely mirrors our own. They’re flawed. They’re still developing, learning, growing. And sometimes in the end, they trend toward heroism. We root for their redemption and wring our hands when they pay for their mistakes. They surprise us. They disappoint us. And they’re anything but predictable.
The antiheroes’ incompatibility with societal rules lays the foundation for compelling drama, it’s their unlikely virtue in the face of relatable circumstances that emotionally connects us to them.
Antiheroes liberate us. They reject societal constraints and expectations imposed upon us. Antiheroes give our grievances a voice. They make us feel like something right is being done, even if it is legally – and, by some standards, morally – wrong. Antiheroes do things we’re afraid to do. They are who they are and they do as they want… without apology.
And as we read the Blacktastic tales of Qiq and Ket – who will soon share adventures together in an upcoming anthology – we live vicariously through them… without apology.
You can find Omari Ket’s stories in Ki Khanga: The Anthology and in Skelos 2: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy.
Qiq makes his debut as the protagonist of the Ki Khanga novel, Scorpion Wine, coming January, 2018.
November 3, 2017
The ATLiens TOC!
Known as the Nerdiest City in America and as the Hub of Speculative Fiction, few cities offer as much as Atlanta by way of the weird, the fantastical, the scary and the out right off the chain.
Atlanta also happens to be one of the Blackest cities in the world, so the anthology ATLiens had to happen.
Featuring fantastic and funky tales set in Atlanta by the authors from the ATL State of Black Speculative Fiction Creators Collective, ATLiens features a heavy dose of Urban Fantasy, a healthy helping of horror, with a little techno-thriller sprinkled in. All Blacktastic stories; all Blacktastic representation of the ATL.
Here is the TOC:
Bomani and the Case of the Missing Monsters – Balogun Ojetade
Play the Wraith – Azziza Sphinx (Jessica Hosten)
Blerd and Confused – Alan Jones
Piggyback – Milton Davis
Not Your (Magical) Negro – Marcus Haynes
Of Home and Hearth – Kortney Watkins
My Dinner with Vlad – Kyoko M
Another Day in the A – Violette L. Meier
The Messiah Curse – Gerald L. Coleman
ATLiens releases very soon. Stay tuned!
