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Al-Qadim

AD&D Campaign Companion • SSI & Cyberlore 1994

An AD&D adventure across Zakhara

Restore your family’s honor. Break the Genie’s Curse.

Your graduation as a Corsair should begin a life of honor. Instead, a false accusation casts your family from Zaratan and draws you into a voyage across haunted reefs, elemental islands, palace dungeons, and the outer planes.

Cluebook-aligned maps Persistent campaign checklist Authentic decoded sprites
A young Corsair sails from Zaratan beneath a gathering genie-shaped storm
Zaratan behind. The cursed voyage ahead.
31decoded game worlds
26official cluebook charts
19campaign chapters
2original source books

Your mission

A Corsair’s oath carries farther than a sword

The campaign begins at Master Sinbar’s testing grounds, then opens into a connected journey through Zakhara. Recover your family’s standing, expose the Vizier’s conspiracy, bargain with the four Genie Lords, and confront the power behind Muliban’s curse.

Play style Real-time combat, exploration, and environmental puzzles Guide style Source-backed directions with optional spoilers kept inside the walkthrough

Field desks

Choose what you need right now

The road ahead

Four movements across Zakhara

The walkthrough keeps individual objectives collapsible so you can control how much of the route you reveal.

Player field manual

Fight like a Corsair

You begin as a second-level seafaring warrior: lightly equipped, quick on your feet, and already skilled with the scimitar. Survival is less about a hidden stat sheet and more about facing, timing, spacing, and choosing the right ranged tool.

2nd levelHuman Corsair No armorMovement first Right handMagic scimitar Left handSling or shard
A sun-weathered Corsair holding his curved scimitar and a glowing Moonstone shard
Fast feet, a clear facing, and one decisive swing.

The combat rhythm

Read the circles. Set your facing. Commit.

Combat is real time. The three action circles appear in dangerous areas and show which sword swings are currently available.

01

Face the threat

Your scimitar strikes in the direction you face. Press Alt to lock that direction in a corridor; unlock when surrounded.

02

Choose the swing

Click for the quick attack. Hold the action button longer and release when the second or third circle lights orange.

03

Respect recovery

Every blow has a brief readying pause. Land a clean hit, make space, then begin the next attack before closing again.

04

Switch the left hand

Ready either the seeking sling or one magic shard. Fire with Space in the direction your Corsair last faced.

Scimitar discipline

Three swings, three areas of control

Zubakon can teach the later swings once experience makes you eligible. The labels below describe their coverage; the manual does not give them separate fantasy-ability names.

Moonstone arsenal

Eight spells anyone of the old bloodline can fire

Each glowing fragment carries its own remaining charges. One shot spends one charge; when a shard is empty, it breaks apart.

Equip One shard or the sling Aim Face the intended direction Fire Press Space

Hu’rakan’s field notes

Win the exchange, not the spectacle

  • Charge before contact.Do not wait until you are beside a creature to ready the swing.
  • Hit and withdraw.Against powerful foes, secure one blow and back away before the return strike.
  • Keep moving.Slower creatures can be dodged; your moving feet make you harder to hit.
  • Use the pause.Opening the menu pauses combat, giving you time to drink a healing potion before the health bar empties.
The Corsair fighting at close range with the action circles visible above the play area
Read the interface. The action circles sit above the play area; your health bar remains visible during the exchange.

Walkthrough

A comprehensive, chapter-by-chapter checklist for Zubin's trial. Track completed goals and request guidance from the Genie's Counsel when you are blocked.

Overall Guide Progress: 0/0 Tasks Checked (0%)

🎰 Guess the Number Gambling Helper

At the Sand Point table in Capital City, you can gamble up to 500 gold. Use this binary-search helper to calculate the mathematically optimal guesses and win consistently.

Enter parameters above and calculate.
Chessboard

♟️ Island of Senat Diplomatic Gauntlet

The Genie Lords negotiation sequence is complex and requires traveling across the chessboard grid to complete quests in the correct order.

Diplomacy Step-by-Step Flowchart

  1. Talk to the Djinn Lords (East) → they tell you to seek the Marid Lord.
  2. Talk to the Marid Lord (North) → he requests you free his Storyteller.
  3. Talk to the Dao Lord (West) → he requires the Pale Blue Jewel of Fire to release her.
  4. Return to the Djinn Lords → accept their terms, then say you will sail to the end of the world for Ardonat Isle. They grant the Jewel for your courage.
  5. Trade the Jewel to the Dao Lord → retrieve the Storyteller and escort her to the Marid Lord.
  6. Return her voice → the Marid Lord rewards you with the Efreet Potion.
  7. Drink the potion → cross the South chessboard path to the Efreet Lord.

Quick Coordinates Reference

North Path (Marid Lord)
Down 5 → East 3 → Up 1
East Path (Djinn Lords)
West 5 → Up 3 → East 1
West Path (Dao Lord)
East 5 → Down 3 → West 1
South Path (Efreet Lord)
North 5 → East 3 → South 1
Decoded from the original 1994 game data

The Genie Engine Atlas

Explore all 31 world libraries as reconstructed in-game scenes, including terrain, placed scenery, optional roofs, and actor-location metadata. Pair each render with decoded engine labels and the official cluebook's inhabitants, landmarks, and chart when available.

31game worlds
16×16original tiles
—engine actor labels
Read-onlysource extraction
WORLDS/TOWN.LIB

Zaratan

Move across the map to inspect tile coordinates. Wheel/pinch to zoom · drag to pan

What is reconstructed: terrain geometry, original indexed-colour art, cached scenery placement, optional roof/foreground layers, actor frames, raw labels, and initial spawn coordinates are decoded from each shipped WORLDS/*.LIB. Numbered cluebook places are registered as game hints and every printed chart number is keyboard-focusable and hoverable. When an actor spawn contradicts a named cluebook location, the cluebook placement is shown once as the source of truth. The game also hides the roof over the player's current room.

Bestiary, Quest Items & Shops

Reference databases detailing Zakhara's hostile creatures, quest-critical artifacts, and city shop inventories.

🛒 Capital City Merchants

👹 Zakhara Bestiary

🔑 Quest Artifact Registry

Genie's Counsel

A dedicated consulting panel to converse with the magical genie assistant. Ask for advice on riddles, passwords, or puzzle solutions.

Genie Counsel

Seek Mystical Wisdom

Converse directly with the guide genie. The context updates automatically based on walkthrough chapters.

🔮 Chat Terminal

Offline mode available; queries are proxied via LLM.

Ask the Genie anything about Al-Qadim's maps, items, or quests.