WyzardWhately said:
Or maybe they should take a bunch of the 'good bits' that come from other settings, and put them all in the same sphere. I'm seeing all this support for Al-Quadim, Maztica, Karameikos, Kara-Tur, etc. Most of these things seem to be mythologized versions of real-world ancient cultures. You take all of these, remove them from FR or wherever, and stick them on a single world. I think that'd be pretty nifty, although it'd need rules for extensive travel and so forth to make it work in a way that *I* like. You know, put out some good hooks for long-term sea voyages or trading caravans, that kind of thing. Make each "region" a compelling enough space that you could run entire campaigns without ever leaving the home area, or really interacting with the others, if you wanted to.
I suppose you'd really have to publish them as separate books for this to work well (otherwise people would feel uneasy about using only 1/6th or whatever of the book they bought, and there wouldn't be enough room for detail) but overall I think it'd be pretty sweet.
But I don't think that gives the individual settings their due. Al Qadim isn't just a region, it's a world. If there's a Europe Analogue or Asia analogue or America analogue attached to it, those Analogues should be structured in such a way that they reinforce, rather than detreact from, the setting and theme of Al Qadim.
As an example: Take Maztica (I've got no experience with it, but I hear it's pretty bland). In Maztica, you've got the European guys crossing the ocean, finding the Native American guys, and conflict ensues, just like in real life.
In reality, Columbus crosses the ocean to find India and instead finds the Caribbean. But in fantasy, he should actually find India, or to be more specific, the exotic land of riches that he though India was like. Or he could find monsters, or sail of the edge of the world, or discover the lost land of Hy Brasil.
In reality, Cortez conquered the Aztecs through force of arms, and by pretending that he was the god Quetzalcoatl. But In fantasy, what if Quetzalcoatl really did come back? What if he came as a proud and greedy god, casting thunder about while demanding tribute. What if he's found the Aztec people lacking in faith and purity, and has created a new race of creatures to supplant them and worship him in their stead?
A europe attached to Al Qadim should be rooted in what the Arabians believed about Europe, not in what Europe actually was or what Europe believed about itself. The Far-off Orient of a Medieval European world should be very different that a setting inspired by the myths of Asian cultures.
