Arabian Adventures: Voyages of Sinbad

As mentioned last post, I am interested in doing a Middle East world. As part of that, I am reading 1001 Arabian Nights. My copy includes the Voyages of Sinbad (apparently not part of the historical text but a later addition). It bears resemblance to the Odyssey, in that the protagonist travels amongst strange lands and is beset by wondrous obstacles. I find that the text is a great example of old school D&D. How so?

The story is told in flashbacks, so Sinbad survived to tell the tales of his seven voyages. Throughout the stories, however, many of his companions die. Old school D&D has higher potential for death and likely lots of PCs, henchmen, and hirelings die throughout a campaign. Only those who survive and are left at the end will have gained levels and can tell the tale, making themselves out as heroes. But they were not fated from the beginning to do so (in that sense, Sinbad differs from Odysseus). Modern RPGs weight the game in favor of the players to help safeguard continuity of characters and allow for lengthier character arcs. Old school D&D leaves everyone to the mercy of the dice in a hostile and uncaring world, allowing survivors alone to make up their tales.

I want to summarize each of Sinbad's voyages in this or another post. However, the end of the fourth voyage occasions my writing now.

Sinbad was stranded in a rich foreign kingdom where he often attended the royal court. The King much enjoyed his company and coerced him to marry a local rich lady and stay in his country. Sinbad played along but desired to escape back to his own land (Baghdad). One of the locals, whom Sinbad had befriended, lost his wife to sickness. He lamented the loss and sinbad tried to cheer him up. That is when Sinbad discovered that in this country, when one spouse dies, the other is buried alive with the corpse (which is dressed in the richest clothes and jewels). And Sinbad had married a local. She soon fell sick and died. The whole court followed Sinbad into the mountains where a large rock covered a pit that went deep into the rock. They lowered the open coffin with his dead wife and then lowered him in another open coffin with seven loaves of bread and a jug of water. He found himself in a vast cave with lots of decomposing bodies. He survived as he could with his limited supplies and, just as he was in danger of starving, another couple was lowered into the pit. Sinbad clubbed the woman to death with a bone and stole her provisions. He kept at this for several iterations (apparently there was a plague in town) before finally discovering a hole to the oceanside deep in the cave. Some unknown creature used the tunnel to enter the cave and feed on the corpses. He managed to flag down a ship and made off with the valuables from inside the cave.


Easy adventure idea with a dungeon, a means of escape, and a "boss" monster. Would fit well in Lebanon given the tall seaside mountains.

Arabian Adventures

I watched the new live-action Aladdin movie and it inspired me with visions of a Middle Eastern/Indian/Turkmenistan setting for ACKS.

Fenereux is still on my mind and I want to continue developing the setting. However, I wanted another setting that was more established (historically, both in game and in the real world) to help me grasp the realm mechanics. The issue I have had with ACKS has always been my attempt to use it for the colonization campaign for Trokair (and subsequently Fenereux) while the rules seem to want to describe kingdoms and realms that have been in existence for some time (for the initial worldbuilding section).

By modeling a new setting where realms have risen and fallen over the centuries, rather than trying to establish colonies and realms whole cloth in a "new world", I can see how the rules work in situ.

I also want to learn more about the Middle East, particularly Lebanon and the Levant, for my own purposes to understand current geopolitics and better understand my children's heritage on their mother's side.

Finally, I think having a Mediterranean-style geography helps to open the world up a bit. Fenereux was really meant to restrict travel to overland to help contain the setting. By setting up the realms around the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea, I can flex my "create just enough at a time" DM muscles by touching on more realms (Fenereux has such a light touch that non-Birmver realms are just broad concepts because the players are specifically not meant to travel from one realm to another except in very controlled ways).

The realm I will concentrate on is based heavily on the ancient Nabatean kingdom. They created the ruins at Petra and Mada'in al-Saleh (also known as Hegra). Hegra is really awesome. They carved tombs into the side of giant boulders. And I mean GIANT boulders. Some of these things could easily house medium, multi-level dungeons (Qasr al-Farid or Qasr al-Bint). Others could have smaller dungeons or connect to an underground megadungeon. Of course, you also have the Aladdin-inspired Cave of Wonders.

One of the main ideas that is stuck in my head are the Twin Princes. They are literally twins who adventure around the realms seeking fame, fortune, and glory for their realm (still ruled by their father). They are able to act as friends and foes to the PCs depending on whether the party is in their way or working to further their aims.

I am not sure how I want to handle religion. I feel like I want to avoid having a very strong Islam vibe as my historical inspiration is pre-Islam.