Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TalRave 04-06-07, 07:10 PM	Recently the main party I DM for, which consists of a 10th level paladin and a 7th level Half-Silver Dragon Sorcerer, have been sent off to an eastern lands that is vastly desert, with mountains more inland. I've come up with several hooks and ideas, encounters, and whatnot, but I figure I could always use some help, so I'm asking you all for any ideas. Monsters, groups, encounters, twists... anything. Basically they'll be starting off crossing the ocean, and I want something to happen somewhere there... Then, the desert, and the slightly arabian styled town... and finally something near the mountains, planning on using my gargantuan blue as an end encounter. So, any ideas would be great, I've always had a little trouble planning effectively for them being a duo, the challenges are either too easy of numbingly hard. Thanks!
Taranos 04-06-07, 07:27 PM	One of the main desert areas in FF online had ancient, sand-sunken city ruins. I always thought it was cool to have remnants of a desert race buried beneath the dunes, inhabited by a monstrous race that invaded it centuries ago and drove the original people out from the desert. It could even be a place where a race you'd never expect to come from there used to live. Maybe it happened so long ago that after escaping, they made their new home in a radically different location and adapted their culture to live there. in your scenario, you could easily have them fall down some quicksands into the ruins and have to make their way out of it, going past ancient traps and the invading race's members trying to stop them. just some ideas, hope it helps and good luck :)
Board_Rider 04-06-07, 07:29 PM	Take a look at Sandstorm for ideas or head over to the Darksun forums...may help a little. Good luck.
TalRave 04-06-07, 07:33 PM	One of the main desert areas in FF online had ancient, sand-sunken city ruins. I always thought it was cool to have remnants of a desert race buried beneath the dunes, inhabited by a monstrous race that invaded it centuries ago and drove the original people out from the desert. It could even be a place where a race you'd never expect to come from there used to live. Maybe it happened so long ago that after escaping, they made their new home in a radically different location and adapted their culture to live there. in your scenario, you could easily have them fall down some quicksands into the ruins and have to make their way out of it, going past ancient traps and the invading race's members trying to stop them. just some ideas, hope it helps and good luck :) Love the quicksand/trapped idea. Up until now they'd been doing missions for a Knightly Order and rested in the safety of having them for backup in dire situations... The most outright danger has been a war against a Vampire's army. I like the notion of putting them in a struggle to survive scenario, where they can't just 'head back to town' like usual. (not saying I've been making it easy, we've had 3 char deaths so far. lol) Take a look at Sandstorm for ideas or head over to the Darksun forums...may help a little. Good luck. Oooh, Darksun... Hadn't thought of that. :D Been paging through Sandstorm though.
Stormonu 04-06-07, 08:01 PM	As the characters trek across the night-covered sands of the desert, a chill wind rises over the dunes. From the swirling sands a skeletal form dressed in glittering, gold-laquered pharaoh's garb. His form is translucent, and he floats an inch or so off the wind-blown dunes. He raises a hand in an ancient form of greeting. "Fear not. I am but the spectre of the pharaoh Amun-Re, once ruler this vast realm before it became a wasteland. Hear my tale and I will offer you treasures beyond your imagining. Ignore my plea, and I will ensure your doom in this cursed wasteland." If the two agree, Amun-Re continues his tale. He sweeps his arms wide, the sandy dunes changing to a settled farmland where ancient loincloth-dressed commoners toil under an ancient sun as his pharaoh's crook passes over the barren land. Surely it is an illusion, for it shimmers and wavers slightly, like the heat rising from the sands during the day. "This was the land I ruled centuries ago. I was a god in a land that worked for my glory. My people had all that they wanted, all that they desired." Amun-Re speaks, as the people bow about him in reverence. Flesh seems to settle on Amun-Re's bones and he pulls the symbols of his office back toward his chest. A stone throne shimmers into being behind him as the open fields disappear from herioglyph-decorated walls that rise out of the ground. Without glancing back, he seats himself in the throne, his face as emotionless as the grinning skull that faced you moments ago. "But I was not satisfied merely to rule, merely to own all that I gazed upon. My greed was my undoing, for I desired even what my people needed to sustain their own lives." As he speaks, servants bear into the now-formed throneroom of Amun-Re huge woven baskets laiden with gold, meat and the crops of the fields. Plainly dressed women and men, obviously commoners, are led into the throne room by golden chains around their necks. A small glimmer of a smile appears on the pharaoh's lips, then quickly fades away. "Worst of all, I desired to take it all with me to the lands beyond the living," I would build a monument fit for a god, and within, I would take my treasures with me to the afterworld. In but a flash, the stone bricks of the throne room collapse away, revealing the night once again. The fertile fields from earlier are gone; crops wither, livestock lies rotting on the ground and the common folk hide their boil-covered skin under bloody cloaks. "The pharoahs before me and the gods saw my greed, and pronounced a curse upon the land until I would heed the suffering of my people," Amun-Re announces, as he rises from the throne to stand one again. His royal garments fade to be replaced with the armor of war, and his royal crook transforms into a powerful bow, even as the throne behind him transforms into a chariot. As battle rages about him, Amun-Re draws up the bow, and with single shot, he drops a blood-stained commoner with a arrow through his heart. "I would not budge," Amun-Re states as his chariot wisks him across the face of the battlefield, "And my people rebeled against me." He drops the blow to pull a wicked, sickle-shaped blade from his belt, and with a single blow, lops the head from a rebel as he holds the locks of hair on the man's forehead. Still holding the head under his arm, Amun-Re turns back to you. The chariot once again reforms into a stone throne, but the returning walls of the throneroom are broken and smoking. And it is still night. Amun-Re sits in the throne, the horrified gaze of the beheaded man set upon the left armrest, facing toward you, Amun-Re's hand resting calmly atop it. "I crushed the rebellion, but my lands were forever shattered," he states, his face still emotionless. A young servant comes forth holding a silver platter with a carfee of wine upon it, and presumably pharaoh's golden cup. "With the rebellion crushed, I thought I had nothing to fear. Little did I know of the danger in my own house." He states, drawing up his cup. With a sly smirk at you, the servant pours wine into the cup. As the cup flows over with dark, red wine that looks like blood, the servant's cruel gaze fixes on you, then fades, leaving pharaoh with his bloody cup of wine. He sips it, and a moment later, his eyes grow wide. Then the flesh falls from his body, leaving the barren bones and glittering regalia behind. "I died at the hands of those within my own household. A servant poisoned me, and death did not come quickly." The scene before you shifts, the throne room melting away to become a procession in which Amun-Re's wrapped body is escorted to a grand pyramid that rises violently from the very sands ahead of you. The procession is laden with pack animals carrying near-overburdening amounts of gold, jewels and other objects toward the foot of the pyramid. "They sealed me in the wonder I had made for the life beyond, they sealed me in with the treasures I had craved in life." Amun-Re's voice rings, now tinged with sadness. "My land rotted, my people died and all that is left is the tomb," Amun-Re calls out as everything but the pyramid fades away. "And the curse of the gods lay upon me. For as long as the wealth of my people lay in the tomb I had created, my soul would be bound to this earth." The silent night sands whirl up once again, illuminating a ghostly outline seen only by the golden regalia of the pharaoh who has spoken. "I beg of you - loot my tomb, take and disperse my treasures so that my soul may rest in peace!" The pharaoh howls, as the wind whips a finally assault, casting the golden regalia to the ground as the last of Amun-Re's words are carried as echoes upon the wind. And in the far distance, you can make out rising from the sandy dunes a triangular shape that juts into the night sky... ----------------------- And that's how you introduce them to the Desert of Desolation series (I6-8).
Vurgyl 04-13-07, 10:02 PM	Never one for the obvious,I humbly submit that not all deserts are sand.How about salt flats?The PC's will have to deal with thirst which becomes more difficult the longer they're exposed.Salt mines could provide encounters with salt mephits,pitfalls,overhanging hazards,etc. The salt also affects armor and weapons made of metal(use your own discretion here,you know them both better than most) Perhaps a frozen tundra?The ship's deck becomes slick with ice as they approach the shore.Maybe 1d6 miles out,and then...run aground on Cryos Reef.Enter ice mephits.When a paladin falls down,it's noisy. Just some alternatives,enjoy.
smeagol_lied 04-14-07, 06:13 AM	I'm planning a desert adventure. Pick up sandstorm, that'll help you. Glass sea is a good desert, as are salt flats.