From: ag@ax.apc.org
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: AL-QADIM vs. Forgotten Realms
Date: 15 Dec 92 09:34:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:ax:51300006:000:5578
Nf-From: ax.UUCP!ag    Dec 15 01:34:00 1992


Hi all fellow gamers,

   I posted this topic on ADND-L, but as there are gamers here that don't
read it, I'll repeat (bear with me, please).

   This is a LONG rambling... (and consider all below IMHO!)

   There has been much discussion around Campaigns that have differences from
"normal" fantasy AD&D campaigns like the Dark Sun world. I have an opinion
that different things from the norm are very necessary and I am on the whole
favorable to these new settings, if they are played with the right "feel".

   The AL-QADIM setting is one of those very different settings, and if you
read the published material you will find new Lands, new Magic, new People,
new Character Classes, new Races, new Religions, new Gods, etc. The Arabian
flavor of the campaign is surely very well delineated and if you like "Simbad"
or "1001 Nights" type of stories you will like it very much. This setting has
had a very good and promising start. Having said that let me explain that,
IMHO, TSR designers are making a BIG mistake in the AL-QADIM campaign :

   They are trying to insert the setting into the Forgotten Realms world.
("Zakhara, The Land of Fate" was inserted into the Forfotten Realms in a
part where the FR Atlas left a blank area called "New Lands", SW of Kara-Tur
and S of the Yehimal Mountains).

   You will say "So, what's new ? They have already done that with Kara-Tur
and Maztica...". Yes, they have, but that settings were not SO different.

   Almost all new things CAN be "glued" into an ongoing FR campaign much
in the same manner that the "Kara-Tur" material, or the "Maztica" material,
have been. Different Gods from the normal ones known in Faerun aren't so rare
(they have Egyptian-like Gods in The Old Empires - Mulhorand, etc.), different
magic can be explained in any number of ways, even the before-insertion
"unknown" status of so big a land on the continent can be explained by
its remoteness and the isolationism of its people.

   But something that CANNOT be explained is the differences of ALL the demi-
human races (including Elves and Dwarves). In Al-Qadim the demi-humans ALL
have exactly the same customs, culture, religion (INCLUDING GODS) and behavior
that the humans have. They do not have ANY racial prejudice against each other
(e.g. Elves and Dwarves do not hate Orcs, Gnomes do not hate Goblins, etc.)
and in fact they don't FEEL that they are different except in the purely
physical way.

   The elves, for example, don't know who is Corellon Larethian, don't have
all the "elvish" customs, don't know about Evermeet (The Eternal Elven Home,
the island in the sea from where the elves probably came at first to Faerun
and to where all elves can go back). The dwarves don't know about Moradin,
don't know the legends about their race's creation by the Soul-Forger and
about the past history of the other Dwarven Nations, etc. All the wealthy
material as presented in the "Monster Mythology" Compendium, about the demi-
human Gods, their Myths and Religions are not applicable to AL-QADIM, as
the archetypal "spirit" of these demi-humans is lost. 

   All other FR material (e.g. "Dwarves Deep", "Savage Frontier", etc.)
always presented the great Wars against the goblinoid masses who swept
the land from time to time, and that devastated whole Elven and Dwarven
Nations as the reasons why there are so few dwarves left and why the
Elven Nations decided to start their migration back to Evermeet.

   This "Faerun History", then, does not fit with AL-QADIM material on 
demi-humans (unless the DM does not give importance to the Races' and
Nations' background).

   In "The Land of Fate" Boxed set they present cities that have up to 20%
of their population of non-human races. Not only elves and dwarves, but
orcs, kobolds, ogres, goblins, hill giants, and even lizard men and gnolls,
are normal citizens (if they recognize the authority of the Grand Caliphate,
and the religious nature of Fate, the Loregiver). All that precludes some
races total mingling with the human population is that they are not cross-
fertile with humans (except elves and orcs). There are tribes in the desert
that are mainly of elves or other races, and they can fight or have their
own religious or political disagreements with others, but nothing based on
racial hatred. Non-humans' traditions, faiths, occupations, and attitudes
differ little from those of humans. Almost all of Zakhara's peoples are united
by beliefs, language and customs, be they humans or non-humans (that does not
preclude internal strife).

   To one that reads that material it seems that all the setting was planned
to stand by itself (note also the label "AL-QADIM" in the material, and not
"FORGOTTEN REALMS" or "GREYHAWK") and not to be inserted in another world,
least of all Toril that has already the desert of Anauroch and Calimshan as
arabian-style lands.

   The conclusion is that AL-QADIM principal author Jeff Grubb (one of the
best designers TSR has, IMO) was probably forced to do the insertion because
of marketing reasons.

   All in all, my advice for you is to play AL-QADIM, but do not mix things
with the already existing settings. 

   What do you all think about all my rambling ? ALL opinions (and flames :-))
are welcomed !

   Until swords part,

   Aguinaldo Rangel.  Email : ag@ax.ibase.br


   PS.: A fellow gamer here on rec.dnd said that the Gods of AL-QADIM are FR
specific. That is not true. AL-QADIM Gods (as much pretty everything else) is
NOT FR specifc. E.g. they have Hajama (God of Courage), Kor (God of Wisdom),
Najm (God of adventures), etc.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd