Mythic Arabia/Persia for D&D 3.5?

[Darkness]

Yes, the Barber, Corsair, Holy Slayer, and Mamluk. Very cool, thankyou for reminding me!

*sigh* I weep for the fact that Al-Quadim has yet to be licensed.

Come to think of it, there also was a 3.5 treatment of the Sha'ir (as a base class), in Dragon #315.

 

[Cyronax]

I agree. Its an unfortunate development. Al-Qadim preceeded Al-Qaida by many years, but in this knee-jerk enviroment, I doubt it would be well-recieved. WOTC would HAVE to rename it.

Al-Qadim was one of the most elegant and thoughtful products that TSR ever put out. Dragon Magazine #315 has a nice 3.3 Edition conversion for the Sha'ir class which is one of the most creative and orginal wizard/sorceror variants TSR/WOTC has put out.

Products like this that highlight middle-eastern culture, rather than focus on extreemism are very much needed.

Well WoTC or anyone shouldn't give in (though I doubt Al-Qadim will be on the docket for years to come).

Al-Qadim is a great setting. I think there is room for it, especially if produced as an FR product. Don't make Al-Qadim the 'big title.' Call it 'Forgotten Realms: Fun in the Sand' in big font and 'A Return to Al-Qadim' in smaller font. Slap on a disclaimer that the book doesn't support international terrorism....kind of like how Palladium slaps 'we do not support the occult' on their books. Problem solved....but then again, Al-Qadim is slightly redundant to Calimshan and the like for FR purposes.

Be strong like Peter Jackson! He didn't give into dumb media created controversy and change the name of Two Towers to 'Towers: Of Which There Might Be Two.' He stayed true to the author and answered all the questions about the 'insensitivity of the title' with a straight face and ready logic.

C.I.D.

 

[Apok]

Come to think of it, there also was a 3.5 treatment of the Sha'ir (as a base class), in Dragon #315.

Hmm... after reading through it, I find it to be lacking.

It's a faithful conversion, no doubts, but it looks like they turned it into a modified Sorcerer with a pretty big disadvantage but no noticeable gains. In fact I think they nerfed all the advantages the 2nd edition Sha'ir had over their wizardly counterparts.

Sure, you can request as many spells as you want whenever you want (provided you can make the Diplomacy check), but you still can't cast beyond your daily alotment. Nor can you cast spells of a level you normally couldn't.

 

[Olive]

What I want (and I've been saying this for years now) is an Arabian Adventures book.

Make it like Oriental adventures. Make it a toolkit, with a default setting (say Al-Quadim), but provide options for those who want to make it a more realistic or whatever setting.

WotC should do it. Or failing that Green Ronin. Decent HC book. It would be great.

As for the Al-Qaida thing, I wouldn't worry. 1st up, as has been pointed out many tiems before, middle america has moved on (notice how much BoVD controversy there was?), and if you did it my way yhe book wouldn't even be called Al-Qadim, but we'd get Al-Qadim content!

 

[Ranger REG]

Al-Qadim (the Ancient) sounds way too much like Al-Qaida (the Base) for middle America. I could only imagine some boy bringing home his shiny new Al-Qadim 3rd Edition Campaign Setting and hearing:

Son: "look what I got!"
Mom: "What! I let you get into this D&D thing because you insisted that it wasn't devil worship, but instead it's supporting them terrorists!"
*Mom takes book, burns it, and writes angry e-mails and organizes protests/boycotts*

You're kidding me, right? We cannot have this product on the market because of the ignorance of "middle America"? Middle America cannot be that STOOPID!!!

Fine! Don't use the word "Al-Qadim" on the front cover. Sighs.

 

[Darkness]

You're kidding me, right? We cannot have this product on the market because of the ignorance of "middle America"? Middle America cannot be that STOOPID!!!

Fine! Don't use the word "Al-Qadim" on the front cover. Sighs.

Vocal minority. It doesn't take many "stoopid" people to cause trouble; it only takes a few zealots.

 

[Krieg]

Vocal minority. It doesn't take many "stoopid" people to cause trouble; it only takes a few zealots.

Let 'em rant. It will just help sales.

 

[MonsterMash]

Got to say my favourite sourcebooks are actually GURPS ones as they tend to be better researched and written (and have bibliographies).

I'd love to see Al-Qadim bought back too.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I could not be more in agreement with the desireability of an Arabian Adventures style book.

Meso-American Adventures would be neat as well.

I was sort of hoping they'd stick more culturally themed things in the Complete series but no luck at all.

 

[der_kluge]

Maybe everyone here could get together and recreate it as a fan product?

Well, all of you guys, anyway. I've got way too much on my plate as it is.

So, go on. Get cracking!