WotC_Rodney on Ari M. and Al Qadim

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

First off, let me say Amen for all the Al-Quadim love.

Second, here's the thing, I totally sympathize with avoiding analogue settings, but I don't think Oriental Adventures, Al-Quadim, or Maztica, to a lesser extent, were analogue settings.

What they really were were ways for players and DMs to get into narrative styles that were based in those cultures but that couldn't be supported to well by generic DnD.

A setting that's just Egypt ruled by Mummies is an analogue setting, but a setting/set of rules that lets you run the Arabian Nights complete with kingdoms of talking animals, weird giant animal ecologies, and faiths that are more law than belief is a different beast entirely.

It's a fantasy analogue not a historical analogue.

And that's something I think 4E should get behind regardless of whether they use Al-Quadim to do it or not.

That said, I'm absolutely using it for Al-Quadim as soon as they do get behind it. 4E's cosmology is far more Al-Quadim friendly than anything else I've seen.

Yak-Men are sweet.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

AAAHHHHHH ! this is horrible !!!!

I might have to buy 4e after all..... ark ! bleargh !

Désolé, mon pit.

 

[humble minion]

Love Al-Qadim and everything to do with it. Magnificent setting, and I'd be absolutely rapt to see it return in some form in 4e. Hell, I was that inspired that I was about half-way through writing an Arabian Adventures supplement for a 3rd-party publisher when the company folded and left me stranded. It's a setting that had a bit of everything, and could fit any kind of game style or campaign.

But it has to be said that this really cheeses me off:

When WotC acquired the Star Wars license, I started reporting on the news surrounding the d20 game. Anti-WotC sentiment was running high, and the internet was aflame with people decrying the system. Despite the fact that I'd built up a little bit of street cred at the time, sadly the moment I chose to keep an open mind to the d20 Star Wars game was the day I because a traitor, a corporate stooge, and a gaming *** in the eyes of a lot of people from the forums I frequented.

I'm sure Rodney got a fair bit of pointless and personal abuse over d20SW - that's the nature of the internet sadly. But both the initial and revised versions of d20SW (I haven't got Saga, and can't comment on that) were utter, utter pants - embarrassingly non-functional game systems that thoroughly deserved any 'decrying' they copped. WotC and everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves for shoving such a blatantly lazy and untested game out the door.

(Though having ranted, I've reread what he actually wrote and it's possible he was talking about keeping an open mind before the game hit the shelves rather than kneejerk hating it simply because WotC was making it and it wasn't d6. Which is an entirely reasonable and common-sense attitude to take on his part. Ahem. Please ignore the frothing, d20SW-scarred loon in the corner...)

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Am I the only one who read the title as: "Ari M is Al Qaeda"?

Obviously, it was a long day at work ...

 

[Ranger REG]

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.

Meh. The original OA and the D&D boxed set are examples of settings wedded to a ruleset.

Not a bad thing. Look at Star Wars RPGs. Champions. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with named spells and cleric's choice of deities.

D&D is to Greyhawk as Al-Qadim is to Zakhara: Land of Fate. No more, no less. I'm sure there would be other Arabian-flavored settings, but Zakhara was the first choice to use the Al-Qadim rules.

 

[Gundark]

I want that adventure. If 4E brings back al-Qadim, then I'll take back what I said about hating the 4E fluff. I'll even write it on a cake and eat my words.

that made me laugh. If it happens I'll want pictures

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Meh. The original OA and the D&D boxed set are examples of settings wedded to a ruleset.

Not a bad thing. Look at Star Wars RPGs. Champions. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with named spells and cleric's choice of deities.

D&D is to Greyhawk as Al-Qadim is to Zakhara: Land of Fate. No more, no less. I'm sure there would be other Arabian-flavored settings, but Zakhara was the first choice to use the Al-Qadim rules.

Let me clarify. I don't have any problems with a setting and ruleset being wedded. I rather prefer it, than not. (Depends on the setting and ruleset, ultimately.) But I really, really disliked 2nd ed. D&D. And I really, really liked Al-Qadim--which was hard to understand fully without delving into a ruleset I didn't like. So I'd pick up the Al-Qadim odd book that I could afford, pour over the occasional Al-Qadim adventure in Dungeon--and regret what might have been. Plus, the disconnect kept me from getting Al-Qadim earlier, when I could have easily done so. So my original post is more of a personal regret statement, rather than a slam on setting/rulset weddings. Naturally, if Al-Qadim was published again, wedded to a ruleset that I will apparently like better, I'd be thrilled.

 

[catsclaw227]

If you like Arabian Adventure, then there's still a couple of days to get in on Wolfgang Baur's Arabian Night's Open Design Project.

http://open-design.livejournal.com/168690.html

It is six adventures for 3.5 that are set with an Arabian feel, ala Al'Qadim.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Totally, but drop the substandard mechanics, right?

No kidding. Never has there been a more poorly designed class. Combat? Have fun sitting on your hands for d6+1 round/level of the spell (at minimum).

I ran a 3.5 al-Quadim game, with the single elemental specialists as a sorcerer variant. The sha'ir we had to basically scrap and rework from the ground up. The Dragon magazine published version was embarrassingly bad.

I didnt mind it terribly being stuck in the forgotten realms. You need outside cultures, since humans and demihumans essentially had the same in the setting.

 

[howandwhy99]

I hope they bring back regenerating magic items like the classic Ankh & Pyramid. The pyramid draws in magic from the universe and the ankh(s) gives the bearer(s) access to the reservoir. From small-sized (pendants) to massive (Cheops).

Am I the only one who read the title as: "Ari M is Al Qaeda"?

Yep