WotC_Rodney on Ari M. and Al Qadim

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

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.

Thank-you for mentioning this.


I hear Paiso put out a good 3.5 version of the Sha'ir as well.

 

[Merova]

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).

Yeah, in combat they were useless after the first round. However, I found them to be woefully overpowered in their ability to bust out endless buff spells for the other party members. And in a situation where an ambush could be set up, they could make a GM cry. It was an amazingly bad mechanical design. However, the concept was wonderful.

I absolutely adore Al-Qadim. I want to play my hakima again.

 

[Ranger REG]

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.

Many of us have gone through that phase.

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.

Technically, Al-Qadim IS Arabian Adventure, not a setting.

Zakhara: Land of Fate is a setting that needs Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures book for rules not found in the D&D core rulebooks.

 

[Steely Dan]

Yak-Men are sweet.

Oh, and dude, Yak-Men is not the preferred nomenclature, Yikaria, please.

 

[Brian888]

Al-Qadim gaveth, and Al-Qadim tooketh away. The core mechanics for the Sha'ir kind of sucked, but at the same time "The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook" gave us the Ghul Lord, which is still perhaps the most fun character I've ever played.

 

[Fifth Element]

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.

I had the opposite problem. I got in on the ground floor - I bought the Arabian Adventures the second it hit the shelves, read it over and over...and was never able to find the time or people to actually run a campaign. I did a couple of one-shot adventures, but never the whole campaign that I always wanted to.

I hope WotC are reading this thread. 4E Al-Qadim would be an absolute win.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Al-Qadim gaveth, and Al-Qadim tooketh away. The core mechanics for the Sha'ir kind of sucked, but at the same time "The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook" gave us the Ghul Lord, which is still perhaps the most fun character I've ever played.

Never let a ghul lord recreate vampiric touch via a manipulation. You may as well cross the streams.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Don't be silly. Mystara died in the spellplague!

Mystara is the Known World, Mystra is the Forgotten Realms deity.

 

[Mouseferatu]

IIRC, Ari *is* an Al-Qadim fan, so maybe he'd write it too.

In fact, I would kill every single one of you to make this happen.

(Nothing personal.)

 

[A'koss]

In fact, I would kill every single one of you to make this happen.

(Nothing personal.)

Wow. All seven Al-Qadim fans in the same place... what're the odds...