Welcome to Zakhara

The Al-Qadim rulebook opens the door to a new campaign that weaves threads of Arabian legend with the fantasy of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition game. This book includes everything you need to begin: new character classes, new proficiencies and equipment, new rules for adventure, new wizard spells, and a wondrous new power—the power to bend Fate to one’s own desires. You’ll also find an introduction to Zakhara, the Land of Fate, a new setting specially created for the AL-QADIM™ campaign. Three distinct visions of Arabia have helped give shape to these rules. The first is the historical Arabian Empire, a force which boiled out of the desert and swept through Asia and Africa, eventually encompassing an empire from the Atlantic to India. This historic Araby was the home of great warriors, explorers, and traders, as well as great knowledge and civilization.
The second Araby, more important to these rules, is that of legend—the world of genies and ghuls, mad barbers and magicians, and young women gifted with true sight. The AL-QADIM campaign builds upon these legends, creating a living realm filled with human as well as inhuman creatures.
The third Araby comes from our own culture and its Hollywood movies—films that are occasionally humorous and quite often inaccurate. In the movies, strong-jawed heroes brandish curved swords, battling behemoths that move in stop-animation, winning, at last, the love of some beauteous maiden whose sheer veil scarcely conceals her face. These films offer a third lens through which we can view the world of the Arabian Nights. They are entertaining rather than educational, but this is the Arabian fantasy world that most of us know first, through Saturday TV matinees.
All three of these visions have left their mark upon the AL-QADIM campaign, creating a world that is strictly fantasy. Like Scheherazade’s tales, these Arabian adventures are yours to create, one legend at a time.
Your magic carpet awaits. Let your magical journey begin, and may Fate be with you, for we have no Fate but the Fate which we are given.
Lukaas Hendrix.