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. It is the work that I have been doing creating writings that you can use as references for you African inspired TTRPG or African Fantasy world building. The majority of these will be for paid subscribers yet the first one in each series will be open to anyone to view. The first two series will be ongoing. They are listed below

The Wisdom of Beasts: African Animals for Fantasy and Worldbuilding and The Iron Archive: African Weapons for Fantasy, Tabletop Games, and Black Speculative Worlds

Both will be ongoing without a set limit. In the first series for animals I have already covered 20 animals and in the weapon series I have already covered 33 weapons. These are not simple post that just describe one thing.

In the series The Wisdom of Beasts: African Animals for Fantasy and Worldbuilding each animal post will contain the following: an introduction, description of the natural history and habitat, African cultural associations and lore, what fantasy writers usually get wrong, how to bring the animal into fantasy world, TTRPG adventure hooks and encounter, fantasy variants and a designer notebook at the end of the post so that you really get how to integrate said animal.

In the series The Iron Archive: African Weapons for Fantasy, Tabletop Games, and Black Speculative Worlds each weapon will be spread out over 4 different post so that you really can get the fullness of the weapon. The first post of the weapon (History and Culture) will contain the following: origins, physical description, cultural meaning and oral traditions. The second post of the weapon (TTRP Conversion) will contain the following: DnD 5e stats, class uses, adventure hooks. The third post of the weapon (Black Fantasy Toolkit) will contain the following: Magical versions, worldbuilding ideas, new organizations, monsters or character archetypes. The fourth post of the weapon will be a weapon index containing the following: image references, museum holding, dimensions, variants and a bibliography.

I have two other series that I will be posting also. One is Beyond the Enchanted Forest: African Landscapes as Blueprints for Fantasy Worlds and Building Wonder: African Architecture for Fantasy Worldbuilders and TTRPG Designers. Both will be just as full as the posts on weapons and animals. They are limited series though and the titles are as follows.

Beyond the Enchanted Forest: African Landscapes as Blueprints for Fantasy Worlds

- Stone, Salt, and Bone: Building African Druids Beyond the Woodland Archetype

- The Pink Feywild and the Blackened Shadow: African Spirit Realms Beyond European Fairy Tales

-Temples Carved from the Earth: Lalibela, Sacred Landscapes, and African Clerical Traditions

-The Oath Beneath the Volcano: African Paladins and Sacred Trials

-Beneath the Sea and Between Worlds: African Coastal Mysticism and Oceanic Fantasy

-The Geography of Wonder: Building Entire African Fantasy Worlds from Real Landscapes

Building Wonder: African Architecture for Fantasy Worldbuilders and TTRPG Designers

-Earth That Endures: The Architecture of Mud, Adobe, and Rammed Earth

-Circles of Community: Round Houses and Village Design

-The Courtyard Kingdom: Compound Architecture and Extended Families

-Painted Walls and Living Stories

-Towers of Grain: Architecture of Survival

-Doors That Speak: Carving, Symbolism, and Storytelling

-The City as Cosmos: Sacred Geometry in African Settlement Design

-Architecture That Breathes: Climate Engineering Before Air Conditioning

-Timber, Earth, and Sky: The Engineering of the Sahel

-Great Cities of Africa and How to Fantasy-Fy Them

There are also some stand alone post that most likely will be on the free tier and available to everyone. I have been working on these a minute over the years. I am finally getting to the point where I can share all of this with y’all. I hope you enjoy and find use in them.