FR3: Empire of the Sands (1988) continue in the mode of FR2, with a Gazeteers style look at three big countries: Amn, Tethyr and Calimshan. I’m mostly familiar with Amn from the Baldur’s Gate II expansion Shadows of Amn and Calimshan from Throne of Bhaal. In that videogame, Calimshan felt like Ottoman Turkey, but here it is very much more inspired by Arabian Nights, making it sort of an anticipation of Al-Qadim (and maybe why it changes a bit by the time Throne of Bhaal came out). Amn is merchant kingdom that has Morocco vibes to me, though, again, I am not sure if that might be my videogame experience being projected backwards through time.

Tethyr is by far the most interesting of the three regions — a country where the royal leadership was recently deposed that has descended into a sort of controlled chaos with no central government. Instead, the country has been carved up by petty interests. Most of them don’t really want to be in charge, so there is a sense that most factions are waiting for someone to re-unify the country. There is a lot of adventurous opportunities here, especially since the lack of central government has increased the monster population. Best of all, it doesn’t feel like something from the real world, its just a neat little fantasy kingdom doing its own thing. Forgotten Realms generally needs more of that.

Jeff Easley on the cover and the interiors. The interiors are a little low energy, and they focus mostly on natural views rather than action scenes, which is kind of nice. I have a hard time with this cover because I feel like it is recycled somewhere else, but can’t figure out where. Al-Qadim seems likely, but when I looked, I didn’t see it. It bugs me.