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Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures (2e)

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We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

Magic carpets, ghoulish vixens, genies rising from the sand in a whirlwind of smoke and fire - such wonders, spun into tales by fabled Scheherasade, enchanted a king for a thousand and one nights.

The Al-Qadim campaign will enchant role-players for a thousand and one more

You are about to discover an exotic realm inspired by the tales of Sinbad, Ali Baba, and other classics from the Arabian Nights. The first in a series of products, this volume features everything DM's and players need to launch the Al-Qadim campaign.

Product History

Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures (1992), by Jeff Grubb with Andria Hayday, was the 150-page rulebook that introduced the setting of Al-Qadim. It was released in April 1992.

Origins. Following the release of AD&D 2e (1989), TSR started creating new campaign settings en masse — something that would continue throughout the 2e days and may have contributed to the ultimate death of the company. The first three of these settings were Spelljammer (1989), Ravenloft: Realm of Terror (1990), and Dark Sun (1991). Al-Qadim was the fourth; it was a new Arabian Nights-influenced setting created in late 1990 and early 1991 by designer Jeff Grubb and editor Andria Hayday.

Al-Qadim somewhat naturally was a rival of Dark Sun, another desert-focused setting. However, where Dark Sun was being played up as the replacement for Forgotten Realms, Grubb and Hayday instead played down Al-Qadim, saying that it was just a "cultural book". Grubb would later say that this was to the line's benefit, because they "were able to hide [the setting's] potential from the suits".

About the Cover. The first cover for Al-Qadim showed a woman opening a bottle and releasing a genie. It was deemed too cheesecake and instead appeared in the Women of Fantasy Calendar (1993?). The final cover for Al-Qadim, with the horse, was a replacement — and ironically what the designers had originally wanted!

About the Name. At the time, product names at TSR were tricky because Marketing wanted self-explanatory names while Legal wanted unique, trademarkable names. "Burning Sands" was an early choice for the setting's name, but the team instead settled on "Al-Qadim", which was Arabic for "The Ancient" — though one Arabic speaker said it meant stale, as in "The cheese is old."

Al-Qadim is set on the continent of Zakhara, which was meant to reflect the word "sahara". Combined with Abeir-Toril, it also made the Forgotten Realms go from A to Z.

Introducing the Al-Qadim Line. With its basis in Arabian myth and legends, Zakhara was quite different from the average D&D game world. Though demi-humans were allowed, humans were dominant. Religion also took on a different tone, with priests worshiping entire pantheon, and the concept of Fate underlying the setting. The result was more cosmopolitan and more Middle-eastern than classic D&D adventures.

Al-Qadim was also a very carefully organized line. Grubb and Hayday specifically designed it as a limited-edition line, meant to run just two or three years. As it happened, the line ran two years, got extended for a third, and then management asked for a fourth year schedule, but canceled it before it came to fruition (as part of some widespread line cancellations around 1993).

The careful design of the Al-Qadim line is very obvious in the first year's releases, which also included: a monster book, MC13: "Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix" (1992); a setting box, Al-Qadim: Land of Fate (1992); and the first adventure, ALQ1: "Golden Voyages" (1992).

Expanding Oriental Adventures. As a "cultural book" Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures was following in the footsteps of AD&D's classic cultural book, Oriental Adventures (1985). In fact, it was explicitly designed as a follow-up and companion piece to Oriental Adventures. That fact is obvious in the "Arabian Adventures" subtitle of the book as well its contents.

Much like Oriental Adventures, Al-Qadim includes character classes, skills, equipment, and special rules appropriate for the setting. The "classes" are particularly interesting: Al-Qadim stayed with the 2e trend of using "kits" but made them requirements, effectively turning them into subclasses. Some of those kits were also very expansive — especially the sha'ir wizards kit, which got a whole chapter devoted to their genie-related magic abilities.

The setting material in Al-Qadim, written by Andria Hayday, was originally planned to go at the end of the book, exactly like in Oriental Adventures, but it was so good that it got pushed up to the start instead.

Graphic Design Tropes. Al-Qadim was one of TSR's two earliest settings that placed a heavy emphasis on graphic design — the other being rival Dark Sun. Al-Qadim included beautiful endpapers, gold-foil borders (printed with a fifth ink), and full-color plates. Graphic Designer Stephanie Tabat was instrumental in much of this work. In addition, the entire Al-Qadim line used the same artist for its black-and-white interior artwork: Karl Waller.

Mapping Tropes. Much like the western Forgotten Realms, Al-Qadim was designed with a huge mega-map that could be broken up into individual maps for boxed adventures. Several parts of the map were published, but the entire mega-map was never revealed.

Expanding the Realms. Al-Qadim was officially placed in the Forgotten Realms as the new continent of Zakhara, following the original subcontinent of Faerûn and the lands of Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms (1988) and the Maztica Campaign Set (1991). As such, it was another huge expansion for the Forgotten Realms.

Al-Qadim was actuallynotthe first Arabic-like setting in the Realms. Ed Greenwood had originally placed such lands at the edges of his world, and then when the world got bigger, he added more Arabic lands, so there were a lot of them — most notably Anauroch and Calimshan.

Grubb came up with a great reason for the scattered Arabic peoples, saying that Fate had banished them to the edges of the world because they couldn't get along. He's also reputed to have linked some elements from the Bedine culture from FR13: "Anauroch" (1991) into Al-Qadim. Conversely, he'd didn't really link Calimshan from FR3: "Empires of the Sands" (1988). In fact, when Calimshan was revisited in Empires of the Shining Sea (1998), it became less Arabic and more influenced by the Ottoman Empire — apparently because the Realms had one too many Arabic-influenced setting by that point.

About the Creators. It takes a village to create a new setting. As noted, Andria Hayday oversaw the line and also wrote the setting chapter, while Jeff Grubb wrote the main text of Al-Qadim, Jeff Easley painted two covers, Karl Waller drew the internal black-and-white illustrations, and Stephanie Talbot did the graphic design of the project. Jon Pickens is the uncredited hero who provided Grubb with three boxes full of reference and research material for the project — which is the sort of thing that Pickens did frequently at TSR.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

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Customer avatar
Corey C April 26, 2023 10:36 pm UTC
Print on demand please!
Customer avatar
Pieter-Jan D February 27, 2023 10:56 am UTC
Why no POD? <br />
I can see people wanting to collect all the popular 2e settings: greyhawk, birthright, dark sun, spelljammer and planescape ..<br />
But no Al Qadim?
Customer avatar
Stefan B January 26, 2023 12:05 am UTC
I'll jump on this bandwagon, Print on demand?
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Jamie B December 15, 2022 4:09 am UTC
This was such a cool setting. POD, please.
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Robert M September 24, 2022 10:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Print on Demand please!
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Craig D June 07, 2022 10:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
To hell with it. Is this really going to be the closest anyone gets to a role-playing version of 'Magi The Labyrinth Of Magic', or do we have to wait another 30 years ? (Any negativity will be seen as "Yeah, you wait another thirty years, buster !)
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Adam J August 11, 2021 5:31 am UTC
POD please
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Jozsef T June 19, 2021 5:36 am UTC
pod pls
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Reid H April 12, 2021 11:47 pm UTC
Print on Demand, please!
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Stacie W March 12, 2021 3:37 am UTC
It's so weird how WotC decides what to put on PoD and what they don't. There are 4 Al-Qadim supplements on PoD but not the main campaign setting book. I don't get it.
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Corey C March 10, 2021 9:48 pm UTC
Print on demand version please.
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Joseph S March 07, 2021 2:55 am UTC
POD please
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Nathan F November 30, 2020 10:16 pm UTC
Print on Demand please!
Always felt it should have been a hardback. Would be nice to have that option as well.
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Nathan F November 30, 2020 9:59 pm UTC
POD please!!
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Michael A November 29, 2020 11:52 am UTC
this needs a POD option.
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Michael M July 26, 2020 8:11 am UTC
PURCHASER
How come everything The Represent Podcast has targeted gets two disclaimers but everything else has just one? I am also a brown player and what you are doing is wrong.
AD&D was one of the few things that PoC could do and be just another person at the table having fun back then. It is funny that you wont listen to your fan base but you listen to people who do not even play AD&D who pirate copies of the books to "deep read" and never mention any of the good in these books. Like in OA they leave out the Asian consultants and play testers they dont mention the bibliography they dont mention anything that is positive about any of these books. But they spend 2 hours talking about how stats are racist, 4 talking about how universal game mechanics that affect every race are racist and 1 hour and 30 min talking about how saying rice is a staple of Kara-Tur diet is racist..
AD&D was the perfect choice for them it is old and no young "progressive" person would ever bother to read...See more
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Robert R November 30, 2020 11:59 pm UTC
I can’t agree with you more. After all it’s fiction. Political correctness is just another way to ruin our freedom of speech. Especially even stranger when it’s fiction. I mentioned that already… Fiction. We just want to have fun and play in a fictional world thats crazy and/or biased and/or rude and/or whatever our imagination can dream up without someone calling us haters. There’s an RPG by Modiphius called Infinity where nearly all the white nations and people are gone and the universe is populated by everybody else and ruled by friendly Muslims! Nobody’s complaining about that. Including me. Because it’s fiction! If you don’t like it don’t play it!
I honestly can’t believe publishers are posting those warnings and apologies. It just blows my mind. And by the way I’m not a hater but let me wake you up and tell you this is fiction! Don’t ruin our fiction! FICTION!!
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Ryo T April 07, 2021 9:32 am UTC
PURCHASER
Never heard of the podcast mentioned but its name alone sets sirens off in my mind.

This is the real shame and insidious nature of a lot of the pretend 'progressivism' / wokeness of today. WotC will never touch Al Qadim nowadays because of the potential, albeit inadvertent, to cause 'offence'; an issue which a number of 'podcasts' and media outlets will jump on to cause controversy and win points (false outrage is popular).

But what does this mean? It means that those professing to espouse 'representation' and 'diversity' have the effect of reducing the levels of representation and diversity in D&D! Gone are the unique race-specific traits, gone are the 'savage orcs', gone are the settings like Al Qadim. They force WotC's hands by making them so fearful of a potential backlash that they stifle any creativity.

At this point even if they were to create a new D&D race, if any parallels could be draw with real life examples, even if unintentional, this would have...See more
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Kyle S May 20, 2021 12:23 am UTC
I have never once heard anyone call for the banning or burning of these books. Not once. You guys, however, are in the comments of every single one of these books, screeching like the sky is falling, over a non-intrusive disclaimer pointing out to children that there might be some racially insensitive XXX in this 30+ year old book.

Nobody care cares about this but you. You are the ones acting like babies. You are the ones pretending to be victims of some persecution that isn't happening. Your complaining about this XXX on a storefront explicitly setup to reprint these old book. If even 1% of the nonsense your saying were true, they just wouldn't be selling the books anymore. simple as that. No hassle, no fedora neckbeards crying about "politics" or whatever.

Fucken. Babies.
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Michael M May 20, 2021 6:11 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Ok for one people are demanding its removal google it. No one has cussed at you, no one insulted anyone. But here you come.
You are one of the huge issues if you don't like something someone says you will try to insult them, silence them then act like you are the moral high ground.
Just google it, that is all you had to do. People feel now since WotC has admitted is is hateful they should not profit from it and it should not be sold on moral ground kind of like how people felt it was evil in the 80s and should not be sold on moral grounds. If it was just a disclaimer I would care less but it isn't. That disclaimer has let people feel they have the right to attack people for enjoying it, it has given ammo to the people who want it gone. And it has empowered people like you who feel only your voice counts. You are on a box connected to the world's knowledge USE IT before you righteously attack people over something you know nothing about.
Could you imagine the ammo the christians would of had...See more
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Michael M May 20, 2021 6:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
And here since you never heard it once let me give you your first taste, If you use the magic box you are insulting people on you can find more. There is a huge twitter movment to have it removed. What you would really like is for the people who are defending this book and others is to STFU so those who are demanding it removed can get it done. Because I bet you would not say one word to anyone who wanted it banned like you have to those who dont want it removed.
https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-dragons-oriental-adventures-sale-wizards-of-the-coast/
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Michael M May 20, 2021 6:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Also I hate how when a brown person shares their experience and it don't agree with what you feel it should be, you will set those brown voices straight and tell them to shut up stop being"Fucken. Babies". . If I said I am a brown player and I think this book needs to be removed, would you come in hot and insult me like you just did for sharing how inclusive this hobby has been for me for so many years? Who do you think you are to try to dictate to me my OWN experience?
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Michael M May 20, 2021 6:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
If we stopped defending it in the 70s and 80s when people wanted it removed because it was Satanic, you would not have a hobby to get so irate over now and demand those who are still defending to shut up.. Like I said I KNOW you would not tell any of the people who want it removed to shut up, it is a non-issue to you, it did not even register enough to even google if there were people trying to crusade for its removal..
Here a 2nd taste of no one wanting it gone. Now tell them to shut up and stop being babies..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZxwG-J6Yg
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Michael M May 20, 2021 6:51 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I think the biggest issue is a lot of you did not live through the first moral outrage..
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Kyle S May 25, 2021 7:26 pm UTC
Well, I stand corrected. I mean, now that I'm facing the overwhelming evidence of; a podcast I've never heard of, a YouTube video with less than 4,000 views, "some people on twitter," and my personal favorite "google it," I guess I was wrong. The whole world IS out to destroy Dungeons and Dragons or whatever it is you're scared of. And you certainly don't seem unhinged with your five replies ten minutes apart from each other.

I don't particularly care if they're still selling this book or not. And you're right, if a Chinese person had said, "I'm Chinese, and I don't like the way my people are represented in this book," I wouldn't have cared. But also, if a Chinese person had said, "I'm Chinese, and I'm fine with the way my people are represented in this book," I wouldn't have cared about that either.

My issue is, whenever a sizable number brown people DO take issue with the way they are depicted in popular culture, they are often met by a loud...See more
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Michael M June 01, 2021 1:02 am UTC
PURCHASER
"My issue is, whenever a sizable number brown people DO take issue with the way they are depicted in popular culture"
It is not brown people it is people like you white people 99% of the time I am the only brown person in any conversation about this crap, and the rest is white boys like you calling eachother racist over a game book.
So go F yourself you have insulted me over and over and I have not once done it to you.
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Amber D June 01, 2021 1:09 am UTC
PURCHASER
You are a crap person, you are trying to put people in their place, but all you have done is show how ignorant you are.
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Mark C June 01, 2021 1:15 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hey mate you are a real d==k. I am Mexican American and D&D has always been inclusive, people like you are the issue. You are the idiots making the community toxic over orcs and other made up stuff. Look at how you talk to people, you are the one that needs to get back in your hole. You cant even deal with PoC who disagree with your white perspective of race. I guarantee you, that you would not talk to my face like you have in this thread to others, you would be picking up your teeth.
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Michael M June 01, 2021 1:38 am UTC
PURCHASER
He is just a troll.
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Amber D June 01, 2021 1:47 am UTC
PURCHASER
I know he is a troll, but people like Kyle irritate me. He wants to act superior, but all he does is insult people. He says he has never seen anyone trying to get this book removed, you took time to show him then he acts like just because it is a few 1000 people it don't matter. People like him are why there is no real conversation about this, it is just two sides calling each-other names. I stand by what I said he is a crap human.
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Amber D June 01, 2021 1:53 am UTC
PURCHASER
You add nothing to the conversation other than name calling and venom. You have done nothing other than scream your own personal opinion which has jumped from one thing to another. Why are you so mad about a book you don't care about? Why do you care people are talking about books you don't care about?
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Kyle S June 03, 2021 11:32 pm UTC
1. You have no idea what race I am.
2. You have no way of proving what race you are.
3. You have done nothing BUT insult me without adding anything even approaching a coherent argument.
4. If you're going to have a bunch of sock puppet accounts brigade a forum argument, you should space them out more. When a post sits without a response for five days, then gets six rapid fire responses form three different people 5-10 minutes apart, all written with the same tone and mannerisms, it's a little suspect. You and the same two other accounts did the same thing to Eric S down there.

You have a very specific narrative you want pushed, that "sjw's" and "woke white people," are trying to steal your hobby from you or whatever. You're so invested in this narrative, that you lost your mind when I said no one cares about this. Then you proceeded to pat yourself on the back for saving the hobby from the satanic panic of the 70's and 80's.

Which... how did you...See more
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Mark C June 04, 2021 1:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
What are you going on about tool? I have notices checked so I get any response to this thread. No one has mentioned SJWs but you. You have added nothing to this conversation but insult and BS, you have gone on and on and on even though links and other sources have been provided to you. You are a troll and a tool. You have not even bought the book all of us have. You are the one that called people lies over their race you are the one who came in insulting people over a book you profess to not care about you have wasted weeks of your life complaining about a book you dont care about. I am pretty sure we run in the same circles on social media too Kyle S.
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Mark C June 04, 2021 1:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
What is your endgame in all this anyway? you like wasting your time on a book you say you dont care about? Since you want to act like you been insulted I will, you are a a joke, a troll. You are probably 10 years old, Kyle S and breaking TOS even being here. Also I am pretty sure you are a white.
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Mark C June 04, 2021 1:39 am UTC
PURCHASER
I dont think in English so people like you the next step will be making fun of my grammar.
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Michael M June 04, 2021 2:06 am UTC
PURCHASER
I just want to stop getting notices when you people argue...
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Michael M June 04, 2021 3:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
And as far as time stamps go you mean like you and Eric S responding to two, year old comments at around the same time on the same day? Unfortunaly I get notices every time someone responds to this, I told them to leave you alone because you are a troll. I wish I could turn off comments or notices. You accuse me of a lot, at least I just use what you have wrote to make my accusations. So far the only thing you have added to the conversation is "is not" that is the extent of your argument. I am not responding to you anymore because you are a waste of my time and add nothing. Now get the last word and then you can STFU.
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Customer avatar
Kyle S June 04, 2021 5:34 am UTC
ok
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Product Information
Platinum seller
Pages
158
Edition
1.0
ISBN
1-56076-358-2
Publisher Stock #
TSR 2126
File Size:
57.64 MB
Format
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File Last Updated:
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This title was added to our catalog on February 11, 2014.