Hey everyone. I'm in the process of creating a desert-themed campaign that will heavily feature the exploration of a vast desert in search of a long lost ancient civilization. This will likely take the form of a hex-crawl.
Although it will mostly be arid, I would still like a variety of environments for the players to explore. I've already got a decent list of different biomes/environments that could potentially feature, but I was hoping that I could get some ideas for more fantastic/magical desert-type environments from all of you!
The word "Desert" is defined as : arid land with usually sparse vegetation, especiallysuch land having a very warm climate, and receiving less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of sporadic rainfall annually.
Obviously there are lots of other definitions.
That covers a lot of ground. :-) Most of the American South West. You can seek inspiration from Death Valley, The Badlands of New Mexico and the Painted Desert (also in New Mexico I think.) are good examples. Salt flats, high elevations with sharp cliffs... Death Valley has an area called "The Devil's Golf Course" that is hard to describe, but is very rough terrain. Canyons filled with slippery marble in bright colors...
To bring home the Fantasy part, imagine rocks floating in the air, covered with sand. some tiny, others big enough to be inhabited by monsters that fly. Great home for a Blue or Brass Dragon. You'll have Elemental critters of all persuasions and types, like Djinns. Down below is your typical Desert of the Arrakis type, with Purple Worms down below the sand, blending in with the bright hews of the Painted Desert. At night have bright flickering lights in the sky like the Aurora Borealis.
Thanks for the response, I hadn't thought of the painted desert, and the Devil's Golf Corse looks pretty gnarly too!
I also like the idea that the chunks of ruin of the lost civilization could be floating amongst the rocks, having a Djinn making it home would be a great addition!
Maybe have an area with snow-coloured sand in tall dunes with frequent storms (no rain, just lightning and thunder), and only undead creatures (including animals) make their homes there.
You could also go more like Joshua Tree National Park in the U.S. and have more vegetation and scrub.
An oasis at the roots of a massive sentient tree, only alive because of the water in the oasis.
Inhospitable salt flats spanning miles around a salty lake.
Huge rock formations where flying monsters roost.
A canyon that has been worn smooth by the wind descending deep into the earth, riddled with tunnels where unknown things lurk.
Also, don't forget that the arctic is a desert! It could even (since it's a magical world) have both arctic and much warmer elements.
I've got a Wild-West themed desert world, and could offer a few things. My world's basically a whole ocean of super fine sand, which is basically impossible to traverse and contains vibration-sensitive creatures like giant mole-dragons, swarms of worms that suck the moisture out of everything they come near, and more. You probably shouldn't make your whole setting untraversable like that unless you've got some high-tech mode of transport(like magic trains in my world), but it'd be interesting if you had "lakes" of something similar in the setting. Additionally, nothing says fantasy desert like gigantic skeletons, potentially with magical properties. Also, perhaps you might want to have a sentient species native to that desert setting. In my setting, I use orcs(who also happen to ride dragons and control lightning), but you could use something like thri-kreen, or maybe something unexpected like... I dunno, elves or something.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Having those kinds of 'sand lakes' sounds very interesting indeed, plus mole-dragons is an awesome concept! There will definitely be some sentient species around, though likely few and far between.
Deserts are also not solely comprised of barren waste land. There can be major rivers flowing through the desert (e.g., Nile River, Colorado River, Salt River). There can be lakes and wetlands scattered throughout the desert. Rivers could have forests bordering them. Mountains located in the desert could be covered with forests as well.
You can incorporate fantasy creatures into these various smaller habitats in a variety of ways. A large lake could be home to several dragon turtles. Dryads could inhabit a spring fed wetland.
Campaign working on involves pigfolk who kite surf across the desert. Think jawas but big and greasy, very crude and crass people. Proud to be scavengers and all around mercenary. very much like jawas meet pirates?
Sand Sirens. Beautiful voices that help lure you to a phantom oasis where monsters feed. Similar to when you’re hallucinating from thirst but does not require it.
Hey everyone. I'm in the process of creating a desert-themed campaign that will heavily feature the exploration of a vast desert in search of a long lost ancient civilization. This will likely take the form of a hex-crawl.
Although it will mostly be arid, I would still like a variety of environments for the players to explore. I've already got a decent list of different biomes/environments that could potentially feature, but I was hoping that I could get some ideas for more fantastic/magical desert-type environments from all of you!
Thanks!
The word "Desert" is defined as : arid land with usually sparse vegetation, especially such land having a very warm climate, and receiving less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of sporadic rainfall annually.
Obviously there are lots of other definitions.
That covers a lot of ground. :-) Most of the American South West. You can seek inspiration from Death Valley, The Badlands of New Mexico and the Painted Desert (also in New Mexico I think.) are good examples. Salt flats, high elevations with sharp cliffs... Death Valley has an area called "The Devil's Golf Course" that is hard to describe, but is very rough terrain. Canyons filled with slippery marble in bright colors...
To bring home the Fantasy part, imagine rocks floating in the air, covered with sand. some tiny, others big enough to be inhabited by monsters that fly. Great home for a Blue or Brass Dragon. You'll have Elemental critters of all persuasions and types, like Djinns. Down below is your typical Desert of the Arrakis type, with Purple Worms down below the sand, blending in with the bright hews of the Painted Desert. At night have bright flickering lights in the sky like the Aurora Borealis.
<Insert clever signature here>
Thanks for the response, I hadn't thought of the painted desert, and the Devil's Golf Corse looks pretty gnarly too!
I also like the idea that the chunks of ruin of the lost civilization could be floating amongst the rocks, having a Djinn making it home would be a great addition!
Maybe have an area with snow-coloured sand in tall dunes with frequent storms (no rain, just lightning and thunder), and only undead creatures (including animals) make their homes there.
You could also go more like Joshua Tree National Park in the U.S. and have more vegetation and scrub.
An oasis at the roots of a massive sentient tree, only alive because of the water in the oasis.
Inhospitable salt flats spanning miles around a salty lake.
Huge rock formations where flying monsters roost.
A canyon that has been worn smooth by the wind descending deep into the earth, riddled with tunnels where unknown things lurk.
Also, don't forget that the arctic is a desert! It could even (since it's a magical world) have both arctic and much warmer elements.
I am in the midst of a desert campaign and the next arc takes place on a quicksand ocean
I've got a Wild-West themed desert world, and could offer a few things. My world's basically a whole ocean of super fine sand, which is basically impossible to traverse and contains vibration-sensitive creatures like giant mole-dragons, swarms of worms that suck the moisture out of everything they come near, and more. You probably shouldn't make your whole setting untraversable like that unless you've got some high-tech mode of transport(like magic trains in my world), but it'd be interesting if you had "lakes" of something similar in the setting. Additionally, nothing says fantasy desert like gigantic skeletons, potentially with magical properties. Also, perhaps you might want to have a sentient species native to that desert setting. In my setting, I use orcs(who also happen to ride dragons and control lightning), but you could use something like thri-kreen, or maybe something unexpected like... I dunno, elves or something.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Having those kinds of 'sand lakes' sounds very interesting indeed, plus mole-dragons is an awesome concept! There will definitely be some sentient species around, though likely few and far between.
Deserts are also not solely comprised of barren waste land. There can be major rivers flowing through the desert (e.g., Nile River, Colorado River, Salt River). There can be lakes and wetlands scattered throughout the desert. Rivers could have forests bordering them. Mountains located in the desert could be covered with forests as well.
You can incorporate fantasy creatures into these various smaller habitats in a variety of ways. A large lake could be home to several dragon turtles. Dryads could inhabit a spring fed wetland.
Campaign working on involves pigfolk who kite surf across the desert. Think jawas but big and greasy, very crude and crass people. Proud to be scavengers and all around mercenary. very much like jawas meet pirates?
There's quite allot of variation in deserts in the real world.
In fantasy you can really dial all of these up to 11 and have ludicrous sized rock spires, giant plants and many massive chasms.
You can also have pretty crazy things like:
Sand Sirens. Beautiful voices that help lure you to a phantom oasis where monsters feed. Similar to when you’re hallucinating from thirst but does not require it.
As for creatures, carnivorous plants, awakened tumbleweed, giant antlions (digging pit traps), giant sand squids, spore balloons, undead husks, "glass" insects...