Al-Qadim Campaign: Arabian Adventures

by Jeff Grub and Andria Hayday

Magic carpets, ghoulish vixens, genies rising from the sand in a whirlwind of smoke and fire - such wonders, spun into tales by the fabled Scheherazade, enchanted a king for a thousand and one nights.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560763582
• ISBN13: 9781560763581
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: TSR
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.4" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Am I ranting about this book? You bet!

This campaign sourcebook is an expansion of the AD & D (2nd edition) system that contains information on running a campaign set in the Zakhara region of the Forgotten Realms, which is strongly based on medieval Arabia. This wonderful book contains chapters on the following subject: life in Zakhara, including desert survival and bargaining; character creation, including new kits and new proficiencies; and magic in Zakhara, including a new class (the genie summoning Sha'ir), new specialists and new spells.This book is absolutely wonderful. It contains enough information to run a campaign in Zakhara, but it is also general enough that you could use it to set up an Arabian Nights campaign of your own design. Indeed, its wealth of information contains quite a few gems that can be used in any campaign. Am I ranting about this book? You bet! This is a great book, a wonderful resource for AD & D players.

A-Qadim Arabian Adventures

I found this book quite interesting. The first chapter, which deals with the cultures found in the campaign setting this book is designed for use with (Zakhara, the Land of Fate, an area south of the famous Forgotten Realms campaign setting) is actually quite extensive. True, it's not too detailed when it comes to prominent people and cities, but it makes up for that by explaining Zakharan culture and beliefs to a more than reasonable extent. Chapters Two and Three deal with character creation - I found the resources there (including a list of Arabian names and a collection of appropriate character kits or sub-classes) quite useful. I was disappointed at the low number of new character proficiencies found in Chapter Four, but I suppose there are so many non-weapon proficiencies in the AD & D core rules that they don't need to many more to adapt them to Arabian Nights-style adventures. Chapter Five provides useful information about the problems with adventuring in Zakhara - the effect of heat on metal armor, for example. Fate (and the Evil Eye, which causes Fate to turn against its unfortunate target) is also described here. A list of equipment commonly found in Zakhara is available in the next chapter. I found this reasonably useful, but despite comments to the effect that flying carpets and other fantastic items were sold on the open market in Zakhara, prices for such magical items are not listed. Chapter 7 expands upon the kit description for the sha'ir, a new type of wizard who sends his gen (a minor genie who serves as a familiar to the sha'ir) out for spells rather than memorizing such things each day. The sha'ir looks like a wonderful kit, and I look forward to introducing such wizards to my campaign. Chapter 8 introduces new spells found exclusively in Zakhara, and Appendix A lists those spells and some of the spells from the core rules by province rather than school. (While core AD & D classifies spells by schools such as Alteration, Divination, etc., the Arabian Adventures expansion classifies them by provice - Wind, Flame, Sea, Sand, and Universal.) Both are very interesting and useful indeed. The book closes with a Glossary of various terms used in Zakhara, which will certainly prove helpful.All in all, this book is an excellent addition to any Dungeon Master's library. It has its flaws, sure, but it's a shame that Arabian Adventures is no longer in print.