Before Into the Motherlands, before Bastion, before Orun, there was Ki Khanga. Kind of.
The Game: Ki Khanga: Sword & Soul Roleplaying Game
The Publisher: MVmedia LLC
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one
Ki Khanga was Kickstarted way back in 2016. I remember vaguely think that they sent a lot of updates, but who knows, that was a lifetime ago. In any case, the game was billed as "sword and soul" fantasy, Africa-inspired epic fantasy RPG. It's written by Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade, both novelists, I think, and the goal behind the RPG is great. The execution isn't awful, and if that sounds like damning with faint praise, well, fair enough.
Having now read through the book, it reads like someone's first attempt at an RPG if they got their hands on about $13,000 to make it. The layout is plain black text on plain white pages, there's very little artwork (but what there is of it is good, I have to say, and the cover is dope). The game system is a lot like blackjack - you draw cards based on what trait you're using and total them and try not to bust out. The setting reads like a Legends of the Five Rings approach to Africa, that is, you're playing in not-really-Africa, which is fine.
But the writing doesn't really hook me. Some of it is the visuals of it; it looks like a very old-school RPG like Bushido or something and my brain just slides off the page. Some of it is that apart from the non-European inspirations, it's just a fantasy game, and we have so many of those (as opposed to Orun, which not only makes an African inspired RPG but marries the mechanics to the themes, etc.). And then there's little niggles like the fact that there's no character sheet, and one of the examples uses a character called "Princess Fine Mama Jama." Like, is that the intended tone for the game?
Ultimately I'm glad I backed it because more games like it need to exist, I just wish I wanted to play it. But let's make a character, sheetless, it seems.
Characters are built with 120 points of Ase. Is there any reasons they have to have a title? Could they just be "points?" I'm just picking nits, here.
Well, I love point-buy systems almost as much as I love lifepaths, so that's cool. I do need some kind of concept, though. I shall turn to the setting chapter and pick a land of origin to kickstart my heart brain.
OK, now this is weird. The various nations each get little write-ups in the setting chapter, including major towns, languages, religion, exports, and so on. One of them is called Matamba, and the exports are listed as gold and slaves. But then the overview text tells us that Matamba is ruled by women, the men of the country take care of the kiddos and teach the girls to fight, but abusing men is strictly taboo. Women from other countries go here to be safe. So...slaves are an export?
Not having a PDF also kinda sucks, because there's a lot of terminology before you even get into the place names, and there's no index.
OK, well, let's say my dude is from Kenja (it's the only place you can see lions, not at all like Norwaj). Kenja is mostly savanna, and includes market towns but no real cities. It's getting invaded from neighboring countries a lot. Let's assume my character grew up moving around a lot, maybe from a family of hunters following the herds. Heck, I'll say that his family is known as the Walking Lions, since they live in close proximity to lion prides and never get attacked (I mean, not never, but less often than you'd think).
Seven basic abilities: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, Intellect, Wisdom, Presence. They run 1-12, 4-5 is average, and buying scores costs 2 of my Ase per rank.
Well, as a hunter, I think I'd want Endurance high. Probably Dexterity and/or Agility, but I need to figure out the difference. Ah, OK, same as Chill: Agility is full-body control and Dexterity is more precision and hand-eye coordination. Putting all 7 of these to 5 would cost...70 of my 120. Is that viable? Let's do this, I'll put Strength, Agility, and Endurance at 5. I'll put Intellect and Presence at 4, and I'll put Wisdom and Dexterity at 7. That means I've spent 74.
Now we do a bunch of derived traits, which I can raise directly with Ase, but I don't know if it's cost-effective. First up is Fighting. I take the average of Agility and Wisdom, and the average of Dexterity and Intellect, and compare them on a chart. Agility (5) + Wisdom (7)/2 is 6, and Dexterity (7) + Intellect (4) is 5.5, round up to 6. 6 is considered Gifted, and on the chart, two Gifteds make a 6. Moving on!
Using similar charts, we find that Health is 7, Will is 8, Wealth is 4 (meaning I have 20 Equipment Points).
Skills! These cost 1 Ase per rank, and I have 46 remaining. Let's see. I want:
Animal Empathy
Balance
Climb
Handle Animal
Hide
Jump
Knowledge: Nature
Listen
Move Silently
Spot
Survival
11 Skills, meaning even taking 3 in each would eat most of my remaining points. Let's put 2 into each (leaving me 24 points), and then maybe I'll come back if I have extra points.
Talents! These are just bonuses to certain actions, and they're cheap! I'll take:
Animal Affinity
Improved Initiative (hey, think someone was familiar with D&D and no other games?)
Stealthy
Track
20 points remaining, and we're into Effects. These are special powers, apparently. Hmm. I actually would like a "doesn't get attacked by predators" kind of thing, but not enough to fiddle with a complicated system. Let's see. Ooh, I could summon a lion. Kinda like that idea. Do I have the points? I do! I need at least 8 to summon a lion, so I'll dump 8 here and I have 12 remaining. (Incidentally, I think I can actually summon any animal up to my limit in size, and there's no system for taking a limitation, so we'll just say that his family can summon lions and probably can also summon other animals, but choose not to. Maybe they promised a lion spirit they wouldn't.)
With my 12 remaining points, I'll bump my Skills up to 3 and then take one more point in Survival.
Now I need finishing touches, including name, description, Motivation, and Complication. Looking at a list of Kenyan names, I find Gatimu, which means "a spear," if the list is to be believed. We'll say that my character was born immediately following a raid from one of the aforementioned neighboring countries. His parents were separated in the chaos, and his mother gave birth holding onto a spear for support that had stuck in a tree. Gatimu still has the spear.
Gatimu is sinewy, lean, and fast. He runs on the balls of his feet, and bares his teeth before he strikes. He's quite capable of throwing a spear, but actually prefers shorter weapons so he can get in close. He has a scar on his right shoulder where a zebra (or something; I assume there are zebras) kicked him on his first hunt.
Motivation! It would be tempting to make Gatimu interested in protecting his home from invaders, but like, he was a baby when that happened and I think it's more interesting to say that his family kept moving after that and managed to stay away from that kind of conflict. No, I think Gatimu wants to truly gain the power of the Pride and become a lion in truth. He's not sure entirely what that might mean, however.
His Complication is Responsibility. He's now the eldest child in his family and his parents rely on him to lead hunts. They also feel like he should be given them grandkids sometime soon...
And that's it! I like the character; I might play someone like him if I ever get to play Atlantis.
Name: Gatimu
Motivation: Apotheosis
Complication: Responsibility
Abilities: Strength 5, Endurance 5, Agility 5, Dexterity 7, Intellect 4, Wisdom 7, Presence 4
Traits: Fighting 6, Health 7, Will 8, Wealth 4
Skills: Animal Empathy 3, Balance 3, Climb 3, Handle Animal 3, Hide 3, Jump 3, Knowledge: Nature 3, Listen 3, Move Silently 3, Spot 3, Survival 4
Talents: Animal Affinity, Improved Initiative, Stealthy, Track
Effects: Summon Animal 8
