Al-Qadim: Your input wanted!

[Mouseferatu]

While I share your perspective, I also understand the other side. Some FR players feel that having Kara-Tur, Al-Qadim, etc expand the scope of their campaign; and that having an official European analogue makes Zakhara all the more rich. I think there's a middle-ground: Present AQ as contained with minimal references to the rest of the Realms, maybe a page about how to use Zakhara in FR/Eberron, and that's it.

As I said, I have no objections to people who want to add Zakhara to FR. (Or Oerth, Eberron, Mystarra, or whatever.) And I don't mind advice being given to do so. But I object to the link being "official," for several reasons...

Not the least of which is, it's disturbingly ethno-centric. It's okay for us to have standard Western Euro-style settings stand alone, but all the "ethnic settings" (Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica) are only acceptable if they're connected to a "real" setting? I don't like the implications of that.

(And no, I'm not accusing any of the original creators of racism. Just saying it sometimes comes across questionably.)

Leaving aside, of course, the simple fact that Zakhara doesn't need any other setting to prop it up, any more than Krynn or Athas did.

 

[amethal]

Leaving aside, of course, the simple fact that Zakhara doesn't need any other setting to prop it up, any more than Krynn or Athas did.

Although I do like having these weird, funny looking foreigners, with their plate armour, oversized horses and bizarre religions turn up from time to time in my games.