Arabian Adventures for DF

[Phantasm]

I should also note that it's Islamic thought that each of their Prophets - all the way back to Adam - practiced and taught "pure Islam", which likely included the dietary restrictions.

Of course, whether any Prophet in the Quran before Noah (and yes, they count Noah as a Prophet) ate meat at all is debatable. I'm not up on my Quran, so I'm not sure if the "no meat" restriction in place before the Judeo-Christian Flood is in there.

(I should note that Islam counts most of the 'Big Names' in the Old Testament and Jesus as Prophets; Mohammad is just counted as the "final and most important Prophet").

[Tinman]

Ultimately, it really doesn't matter what Islam might say about the setting.
b-dog CAN do whatever he wants in the setting. Stories from the middle east ranging from the Arabian Nights to Sinbad have both the good & bad guys using magic. It's OK with me & I have no problem with the suspention of disbelief.

[Phil Masters]

Indeed - though it does seem that most of the time in the Arabian Nights, actually studying magic is the domain of skeevy foreigners and the like. But you had medieval Muslim scholars turning out books of magical scholarship. And there was definitely a whole tradition, running from Solomon to the medieval period at least, of using the Name of God and Koranic texts and the like to constrain djinn, creative protective amulets, and so on. And even the Koran seems to approve of dream-based divination.

So I think that a Dungeon Fantasy-meets-Arabian Nights game can very safely feature spell-casters without even compromising the historical feel too badly. Though "studies Godless sorcery" might justify a small negative rep or even a Social Stigma, for the style of it.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by b-dog

I would assume that if Jesus/Isa was attended to by the three wisemen (wizards) that some sort of magic was ok.

There is no evidence in the Bible, nor in the portions of the Qur'an that I have read, that indicate the wise men were users of magic. Magi referred more to Zoroastrians (a religious group that focused on astrology - hence following the star - but despised sorcery) than to magic users, even though the two words share a root.

Originally Posted by b-dog

Plus Soloman/Suleman built the first temple in Israel and he was said to have magical powers. That is where the Seal of Soloman comes from.

Solomon was stated to be incredibly wise - indeed, the wisest human - but while he dabbled in apostasy there's no indication that he went the route of actually using magic. The Seal of Solomon appears to be more closely associated with divine powers than arcane ones.

Regardless, it's your setup. In a world with magic as common as it is in DF, and with arcane power and unholy power being rather distinct, I don't think there's any real issue with allowing for mages who practice real-world religions that are typically opposed to magic - there will typically be some modifications (note much of the Abrahamic understanding of magic has it being an unholy power associated more with Satan than some neutral, untapped resource like mana) to the religions, and/or mages may find themselves marginalized, but unlikely outlawed.

[b-dog]

The last encounter is the oasis before the Nile. The desert has been oppressive and the water rations have likely been mostly used. In the distance lies an oasis, a hole in the power of the desert. Here water is plentiful and palm trees surround a pool of water fed by a spring. There is a rocky outcropping beside the oasis which protects the oasis from the howling and firey desert winds. As the PCs approach the oasis they notice a path leading to the pool. If the PCs get close to the pool a huge marid ( water jinn) rises from the pool and bellows threats to leave the oasis or be slain. The marid is ST40 IQ 18 DX18 HT14 HP80. He can cast any water magic known or produce a water jet for 5d damage.

The marid however is being controlled by a jinnologist (like a demonologist but specializing in jinn instead of demons) He has the ability to control the marid through a seal of soloman. The jinnologist is part of a group of bandits that have settled in the oasis and robbing those attempting to find water. There is 250 point assassins for each PC. They each have skill 20 with Stealth and back stab. There is one leader assassin of 300 pts. The jinnologist is his evil assistant. There is a cave by the rocky outcropping and within the cave are a large amount of gold and silver that has been robbed over the time. There is at least one magic item per PC and also many supplies. There are quite a few Islamic holy items too. The jinnologist has a seal of soloman that he uses to control the marid. If the PCs gain this they can control the marid but the marid is bound to the oasis and cannot leave it. It the PCs break the seal the marid will grant one small wish such as healing the entire party.

[b-dog]

While the PCs either argue with or fight the marid, the assassins try to get behind the PCs and back stab them with poisoned daggers. HT-5 or take 4d additional damage. After the stab, the assassins use their scimitars and use bucklers as shields. The leader waits to find a the strongest PC and attacks him from behind. The jinnologist controls the marid to attack the PCs.

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Isa is one of the greatest prophets in Islam. Muslims believe in what happened in the Old and New Testaments. I would assume that if Jesus/Isa was attended to by the three wisemen (wizards) that some sort of magic was ok.

Plus Soloman/Suleman built the first temple in Israel and he was said to have magical powers. That is where the Seal of Soloman comes from.

Well, the Wisemen were not "Wizards" in the sense that they threw fireballs or lightning bolt, or trafficked with spirits. They were simply the priests of the Zorasterian religion, which heavily influenced Christian and Islamic thought. They did apparently practice some form of astrology/primitive astronomy, as almost all religious castes appear to have done.

But if we ascribe them supernatural powers, then those powers come from a Godly source: they are "clerics" more than "Wizards" or "sorcerors".

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Tinman

Jesus was born in the years BC & his death is year 0 AD.

Jesus was born, based on the reign of Herod (at his birth) and Tiberius (when he began preaching, "about 30 years of age"), sometime a few years BC, and died in the late 20s or 30s AD. There also was no 0 AD: the year immediately preceding 1 AD is 1 BC.

By traditional reckoning, Jesus was born in the year 1 BC, but this would put him born well into the reign of Herod's successors.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Tinman

But the rules of Islam were not in effect yet.
To put it another way: Jews keep Kosher. The laws for Kosher food were given after the exodus from Egypt. Therefore the first Jew Abraham did not keep (could not) kosher. Would that mean that a Jew after the law was given could eat non-Kosher?

Lifesaving takes precedence over kosher in most circumstances. I doubt that means that getting a healing spell from the devil is acceptable, but if mana is neutral as in Yrth that might be different.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by seycyrus

Your criteria for SoD seem to be a bit ridiculous. Does your PC take the old drunk who knows some rumours and torture him for information? Do you go through the introduction to every module and scan it for inconsistencies?

Lots of groups who play GURPS Dungeon Fantasy cheerfully and openly go for the murder-hobo style. Torture is perfectly legit.