Stone, Salt, and Bone
Building African Druids Beyond the Woodland Archetype
ALife Allah-Black Speculative Laboratory
This Substack is a Black speculative laboratory where history, myth, spirituality, & tabletop storytelling come together to forge new worlds. Drawing from Black history, African diasporic spiritual traditions, poetry, and decades of tabletop role-playing
Latest episodes
Woven Memory, Stitched Futures
African Textile Traditions, Black Quilting, and the Fabric of Speculative Worlds
Beyond the Enchanted Forest
Reimagining Fantasy Geography Through African Landscapes
The Scent of Memory
African Perfume Traditions, Black Diasporic Fragrance, and Worldbuilding Through Aroma
Trumbash / Trombash Research Appendix
Visual Reference Gallery
Part Three: The Black Fantasy Toolkit for the Trumbash
By T.K.
Part Two: Bringing the Trumbash into DnD 5e and Other TTRPGs
DnD 5e Statistics
The Trumbash Throwing Knife: From Central African Battlefields to Black Fantasy Worlds
Part One: History, Culture, and Context
The Black Speculative Laboratory Field Guide Series
I’ve been working behind the scenes on some material that eventually will find itself into a book.
Beyond the King’s Son
Using Matrilineal Monarchies in Fantasy Worldbuilding
The Sacred Double
Twins in Africa, the African Diaspora, and Black Fantasy
The Black Game Master as Cultural Architect
Holding the Room
The Point of Authority
Spears in African Myth, Memory, and Worldbuilding
Dice Against the Darkness:
The Importance of Continuing to Play Tabletop Roleplaying Games in the Midst of Approaching Fascism
Seeing Myself in Magic
Ursula K. Le Guin, Earthsea, and the Black Imagination
Spire and Its Real-World Mirrors
Comparing the TTRPG Spire the City Must Fall with real life "arcologies."
The Other Denizens of Spire
What about the Humans, Gnolls and Gutterkin?
The True Villain of Spire: The City Must Fall
The City Itself
Why I Love Spire: The City Must Fall
A Black Perspective
Shadows Over Athas
A Black Perspective on the Dark Sun Setting