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#1 Tyranthraxus Jun 12, 2015 0:19:56

Hi,   I was looking through my old 2e FR product the other night and started to have a good read through: " Empires of  the Sands'   So far its been an enjoyable read but my immediate thought was just how much can I harvest for a game set in FR 5th and AL.   Empires of the Sands was FR3, the 3rd in the FR Accessory series and covers the nations of Amn, Tethyr and Calimshan (all nations that share the Desert vibe in both the physical sense and cultural sense).   As the Realms have more or less been reset to the 3e standard and the event that seperates the 2e from 3e was the Time of Troubles it actually stands to reason that a lot of the information in this product is usuable (bar of course the personalities who if not demihuman would be long dead).    * It does however mean you can harvest surnames and first names from these personalities   Im just going to run through a few sample ideas I have when I read through each 'country' entry   Amn: Materialistic, Commerce based society where Merchants most likely award themselves noble titles . Amn is unusual that the true mark that you have made it is your wealth. It does not care if you are an athlete or powerful mage etc, just as long as you have money   * Amn is mostly Human centric. It could make for a interesting character concept if a character is a demihuman.. perhaps they were forced out of Amn because of some issues with humans * People dress in a lot of colors, and wear gaudy jewelery * Waukeen would be VERY popular here being the God associated with Wealth and Civilisation.  * The Golden Rule: "He who has the Gold makes the rules"   Groups of Note:   The Shadow Thieves: VERY large Thief 'Association in Amn Cowled Wizards: Shadowy group of Wizards in Amn that operate outside of the normal cultural norms     Tethyr:  Not really a nation per se, its a collection of smaller cities and areas that often war against each other for personal and family reasons. Like Amn is predominantly human, although with certainly more Demihumans than Amn.   * Royal Family was deposed and butchered. Perhaps some escaped? * Landowners/ownership really dictates status in Tethyr. This again could filter back into the Noble background with a character coming from a Noble family that owns a fair bit of land but is really destitute.   (The Tethyr section of this accessory was sadly the least detailed I found)   Calimshan: More focused on it's Desert than the other two 'countries' above, Calimshan is very Arabic when you read the section and is ruled by a Pasha. Again its a Human centric location.   * Wealth is also a big thing here, but more of what Wealth can do for you as opposed to just beng Wealthy. If you use wealth to give yourself more free time thats even better. * Slavery is a big thing here. Characters could be a runaway slave, or perhaps has family that were sold into slavery to pay the characters debts.  * Magic users are held in high esteeem * Charity is unknown. So many slums and squalid areas. * Average Calishite has a big ego. Very patriotic.