WotC_Rodney on Ari M. and Al Qadim

[Fifth Element]

I was thinking of running a 3.5 Al-Qadim campaign when my current one ended....but all this talk of genie-pact sha'irs has turned it into a 4E game I think. I'd love to design that pact.

 

[JohnSnow]

Modules help with establishing feel often quite more than setting books themselves. However there is a matter of crunch that each setting requires that would be unwieldy for modules. Especially since quite a lot of crunch relates to races and classes.

Here's a general idea.

Make some adventures and cities evoking that Al-Qadim (or "Arabian") feel, and then combine all the needed crunch in an Arabian Adventures book. Similarly, they could release a new Oriental Adventures book, containing the classes and crunch necessary to support far east adventures.

Likewise, they could cover courtly intrigue with a release focused on that. In other words, make those "setting" books as portable to other settings as possible. Then your "Arabian Adventures" would be useful for DMs running home campaigns, DMs interested in an arabic-flavored setting based on the PoL conceits, DMs wanting to set a Forgotten Realms campaign in Amn, DMs who want to evoke an arabic feel in Eberron AND DMs who want to bring back Al-Qadim. It's the best of all worlds. And it keeps the "toolkit" as useful for all gamers as possible.

In my opinion, the ideal name for the crunch book would be something like Desert Adventures - 1001 Arabian Nights.

 

[Shadowsmith]

I love Al-Qadim. Always have and always will. The best use of kits ever!

 

[Spinachcat]

D6 Star Wars does kick righteous Jedi butt over D20 SW! Any flak Rodney got for siding with Pokemon Inc was well deserved. Finally in 2007 they come out with the Saga edition where you can almost have as much freedom as the 1987 D6 game.

As for Al-Qadim...

I would like to each of the previous settings come out in 4e in a single book or two. You don't need 20 books for a setting. Al-Qadim could be a truly awesome one book setting with online DDI support and nothing more.

Al-Qadim was awesome and I ran two fun campaigns in that world. The Complete Book of Sha'irs is an excellent gaming text even if you just use it to cull ideas. One of 2e's most intriguing books - even though the mechanics were a tad odd.

 

[TerraDave]

I think an elemental/genie/sha-ir warlock is so good we will probably see it, maybe more then once.

Here's a general idea.

Make some adventures and cities evoking that Al-Qadim (or "Arabian") feel, and then combine all the needed crunch in an Arabian Adventures book. Similarly, they could release a new Oriental Adventures book, containing the classes and crunch necessary to support far east adventures.

Likewise, they could cover courtly intrigue with a release focused on that. In other words, make those "setting" books as portable to other settings as possible. Then your "Arabian Adventures" would be useful for DMs running home campaigns, DMs interested in an arabic-flavored setting based on the PoL conceits, DMs wanting to set a Forgotten Realms campaign in Amn, DMs who want to evoke an arabic feel in Eberron AND DMs who want to bring back Al-Qadim. It's the best of all worlds. And it keeps the "toolkit" as useful for all gamers as possible.

In my opinion, the ideal name for the crunch book would be something like Desert Adventures - 1001 Arabian Nights.

This is such a good idea...we probably won't.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Al-Qadim, for me, is the poster child of great setting wedded to a ruleset that I wouldn't touch (2nd ed. AD&D) for various reasons, some of them even rational. It didn't help any that I got in late, didn't have the money at the time to pay the double cover price the used box sets were often commanding, and didn't have time to run it anyway. Still Al-Qadim is the only setting I really regret not getting into on the ground floor--ever. A 4E Al-Qadim would be enough to make me jump on 4E early and hard.

 

[Flynn]

This is such a good idea...we probably won't.

If you write it, they will buy...

Hoping Some Third Party Publisher Runs With That Idea,
Flynn

 

[Klaus]

Appending to FourthBear's prayer:

Also let Oriental Adventures come back, and be generic and not related to Rokugan, Kara Tur, or any established setting. I like Rokugan and all, but not as a default, and I know next to nothing about Kara Tur.

Hmm, here is an interesting question. Pretty much ALL of the D&D multiverses seem to have some villain stolen away to Ravenloft. Was there ever one from Al Qadim?

Not Al Qadim, but there was an arabic-style Island of Terror ruled by Diamabel, pretty angel by day, hideous demon by night. His domain got rolled up with Ankhtepot's and that chick without a heart to form the Amber Wastes.

 

[Scribble]

I would like to each of the previous settings come out in 4e in a single book or two. You don't need 20 books for a setting. Al-Qadim could be a truly awesome one book setting with online DDI support and nothing more.

The only problem is that if you do that, all the hardcore fans of said setting start ranting about how WOTC ignores the greatest setting ever...

 

[Nymrohd]

I remember distinctly that several WotC officials have said that the Dragon and Dungeon issues that gave crunch for the abandoned settings were the most popular and that they were taking that into account. They'd be remiss not to tap into that to improve the subscriber population of DDI.