Hi everyone. We just finished an adventure and the party was transported from the inside of a sick game (similar to the Royal Game of Ur) to a new desert area, The Whispering Wastes. The wind is always blowing across this vast wasteland, making the eerie sensation of whispering voices.
I do not have many ideas on what is happening here. I thought about a merchant group who brings goods from faraway lands across the Whispering Wastes, similar to the Silk Road in Asia/Middle East. Maybe the merchants are hooded figures, who are reptilian in appearance under the hood. (My world is 90% human so that would be unusual). I also thought about some sort of strange tower that requires magical items to be consumed to power it, keeping one of the outposts alive. Escorting a caravan would be a little lame, but possible.
I have three mid-level PCs at my table ATM so they are tough enough to face a real challenge. Any ideas?
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Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Do you have an overall story-arc what you want to happen in the campaign? At what level should the campaign end? That would help narrow down the potential options.
The party needs to find sort of settlement to find out where they are. Before they find one, they actually find a monster lair. The monster attacks and the party finds a clue that links to some ancient treasure/knowledge/cult/whatever. Suddenly they have something to do before or after they find the settlement. Maybe that's where your idea of a strange tower comes in.
OR, maybe the party finds the settlement, but it's completely deserted. There's not a single creature to be seen, living or dead. As they are investigating the village, they hear a rupture/portal opening/caravan approaching and <evil creatures> emerge that's caused the desertion and the <evil creatures> are planning on using the village for their own needs. The party just happened to be there at the wrong time.
Just ran a desert one-shot last night, prepped for a few weeks. Running a one-shot is very different than running a desert campaign. But based on the limited info you provided, I might suggest making the merchant travelers some sort of desert werecreature, e.g., jackalweres, weretigers, etc. They present themselves in human form, gain the party's trust, but gradually (over a few days of travel) begin stealing from the PCs, and eventually it's revealed that the merchants are werecreatures.
General ideas for deserts:
Leaning into things like mirages, make use of illusions like major image. Using principles of evolution, I would give some desert monsters the adaptive ability to have spell-like abilities to cast illusion spells like major image
Include undead (borrowing from Egyptian history)
Make casters specialists in illusion, necromancy or evocation
Include elementals: earth (sand), fire, air
Last, aasimar, djini, effreeti, fire giants are all commonly associated with the desert and offer rich lore for a desert campaign. Given the hot, harsh environment, I suppose demons are also a good fit thematically for deserts.
As for random encounters in the desert, here are a few ideas that I used in my one-shot (which are PC level dependent, of course):
Dust mephits - started the encounter with a survival check to avoid being blinded by sand in the strong winds (PCs got a bonus if they were wearing a face scarf)
Sandworms: burrow, ambush, poison tail, grapple then swallow whole
Desert necromancer with undead minions (zombies for lower levels, mummies for higher levels)
Evil sphinx with anibus (using an earth elemental template) minions - I used the MCDM Gypsosphinx as inspiration. The lore/backgound of the evil sphinx could be developed and be treated as a faction leader/villain, who robs merchant travelers, etc.
Other ideas I considered: huge carnivorous plant/cactus/vine with similar mechanics to a sandworm (exception stationary): ambush, needle volley, multiattack with tendrils, poison stinger, and grapple and swallow whole [b/c carnivorous :)]
I never plan to far in advance. The idea of a huge desert wasteland has been knocking around my head for years and the idea of a merchant group seemed fitting. I am just now fully adding it to my world although I placed one of these merchants in another city in an adventure a while back. It was even on a map of the region I drew a while back but the interior was blank!
I am only planning on the next adventure, which would be 1-2 sessions. If we love the location, I will build off the ideas that worked or were interesting. If we hate it, the party will leave the region in a convenient manner.
Sorry that is vague but I agree with multiple others that there is no reason to write a 40 hour campaign if your party hates session 1 and/or the group falls apart because of real life commitments/problems. Would be happy to entertain more ideas.
~Velstitzen
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Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
You're in a desert, so first things first you need to arrange a network of caravanserai. These outposts serve as the vital practical, economic, and social nervous system of the desert. Then you've got the whispers. That's the big deal here! Why is it called the "whispering" wastes? There must be legends and rumors about how it got that name. Maybe the whispers are the voices of people who became lost in the desert and died, and all that's left of them are their last words lingering on the wind. Maybe if you hear a whisper and fulfill its last request or deliver its final message, that spirit will be at rest. And maybe some of dead aren't quite dust yet, so there may be Revenants wandering the dunes that the party will have to deal with. This would be a great reason to have the reptilian people! Since they're so rare that most people have never heard of them, that's because they are an ancient sect of clerics who wander the desert seeking out the sources of the whispers and trying to put those uneasy dead to rest by transcribing their whispers and fulfilling their last requests. So they stay secret so that strangers don't interfere, but they also work to disseminate rumors that the desert is haunted by evil to discourage other people from wandering out there and getting lost too! And of course you'll have to play up the inherent environmental dangers of the desert by making the players carefully track their water resources, and calling for Constitution saves due to heat, and thirst, etc. If you can't reach the next caravanserai in time, you may become another whisperer!
Or maybe the whispers are the genies of the desert talking to one another. And if the party (or even just one member) is just the right kind of crazy, they may be able to catch glimpses of colorful light at the edge of their vision right at sunset, or sunrise, and maybe these lights are the genies guiding them toward shelter. But why would genies help people? Well, maybe a red dragon has built a new lair in the genies' domain, and the genies tried to reason with it, but it won't leave. And sure, the genies could go to war directly against the red dragon, by why risk their own lives when they can just risk yours? So maybe one night as the party finds a rocky outcropping under which to get a rest, they dream of the genie's abode. Of course it's a bright colorful gaudy place like if Salvador Dali decorated a mid-century modern movie set for "1001 Arabian Nights". And the genies offer the party a deal. If they find and kill the red dragon, the genies will grant them a wish. (One wish, for the party, not one for each person!) Or maybe if the party was lost, the genies will offer them safe passage home. Anyway, from there it's a simple seek & destroy mission with the punchline being a red dragon and it's hoard. but of course some of the hoard was stolen from the genies and the genies will want those pieces back, but the party will get to keep the rest, which will still be plenty . . . if they survive, that is.
Either way, spend some time reading up on the Berber people and the various ancient cultures of the deserts. It really is a fascinating rabbit hole.
There are some great ideas here already. I'd embrace the desert theme.
Start at the top - who's your main protagonist? Is it an imprisoned Genie who once ruled a vast kingdom?
Perhaps his grand advisor has arisen as a Mummy Lord and seeks to free him?
What are his minions - Jacklewere? Sphinx? Wights? Mummies? Ghosts? Sandmen (minor clay golems)?
What's the end location - a sunken pyramid? A pyramid in another plane?
The mysterious merchants are disguised Jacklewere, searching for relics of the past and bringing any oddities to their masters in a search to find the lost key? shattered scarab? mummy jar?
The party could be asked by the merchants to hunt down a group of desert raiders who turn out to be a form of resistance against the rise of this dark organisation. The party can join these raiders or discover the truth about the merchants themselves.
An adventure pathway of sorts could be a search for these broken pieces of the scarab that was mistakenly taken as treasure by a group of adventures and has now ended up in various locations. This might mean searching out the aid of a Sphinx to gain clues of the locations of the pieces. It might mean sneaking into the grand palace of a Caliph during a celebration to steal piece. It might mean bargaining with a Bronze dragon to rid her of a pesky infestation of Wights, Rock Trolls, Dust Mephits, Bullettes, or even a Sand Worm (Purple Worm) that keeps destroying sections of her caverns. Another adventure idea is recovering a piece as the first prize in Stone Giant Tournament where the party need to take it in turns competing in games of strength, endurance, wit and chance.
There are plenty of great ideas shared in the posts above too. Good luck and let us know how you go
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Hi everyone. We just finished an adventure and the party was transported from the inside of a sick game (similar to the Royal Game of Ur) to a new desert area, The Whispering Wastes. The wind is always blowing across this vast wasteland, making the eerie sensation of whispering voices.
I do not have many ideas on what is happening here. I thought about a merchant group who brings goods from faraway lands across the Whispering Wastes, similar to the Silk Road in Asia/Middle East. Maybe the merchants are hooded figures, who are reptilian in appearance under the hood. (My world is 90% human so that would be unusual). I also thought about some sort of strange tower that requires magical items to be consumed to power it, keeping one of the outposts alive. Escorting a caravan would be a little lame, but possible.
I have three mid-level PCs at my table ATM so they are tough enough to face a real challenge. Any ideas?
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Do you have an overall story-arc what you want to happen in the campaign? At what level should the campaign end? That would help narrow down the potential options.
Tomb of a god, pyramid dungeon
Just ran a desert one-shot last night, prepped for a few weeks. Running a one-shot is very different than running a desert campaign. But based on the limited info you provided, I might suggest making the merchant travelers some sort of desert werecreature, e.g., jackalweres, weretigers, etc. They present themselves in human form, gain the party's trust, but gradually (over a few days of travel) begin stealing from the PCs, and eventually it's revealed that the merchants are werecreatures.
General ideas for deserts:
Last, aasimar, djini, effreeti, fire giants are all commonly associated with the desert and offer rich lore for a desert campaign. Given the hot, harsh environment, I suppose demons are also a good fit thematically for deserts.
As for random encounters in the desert, here are a few ideas that I used in my one-shot (which are PC level dependent, of course):
Other ideas I considered: huge carnivorous plant/cactus/vine with similar mechanics to a sandworm (exception stationary): ambush, needle volley, multiattack with tendrils, poison stinger, and grapple and swallow whole [b/c carnivorous :)]
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s, took a 40 year hiatus, re-started with 3.5 and 5e in 2023
Thanks guys. Those are good ideas.
I never plan to far in advance. The idea of a huge desert wasteland has been knocking around my head for years and the idea of a merchant group seemed fitting. I am just now fully adding it to my world although I placed one of these merchants in another city in an adventure a while back. It was even on a map of the region I drew a while back but the interior was blank!
I am only planning on the next adventure, which would be 1-2 sessions. If we love the location, I will build off the ideas that worked or were interesting. If we hate it, the party will leave the region in a convenient manner.
Sorry that is vague but I agree with multiple others that there is no reason to write a 40 hour campaign if your party hates session 1 and/or the group falls apart because of real life commitments/problems. Would be happy to entertain more ideas.
~Velstitzen
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
You're in a desert, so first things first you need to arrange a network of caravanserai. These outposts serve as the vital practical, economic, and social nervous system of the desert. Then you've got the whispers. That's the big deal here! Why is it called the "whispering" wastes? There must be legends and rumors about how it got that name. Maybe the whispers are the voices of people who became lost in the desert and died, and all that's left of them are their last words lingering on the wind. Maybe if you hear a whisper and fulfill its last request or deliver its final message, that spirit will be at rest. And maybe some of dead aren't quite dust yet, so there may be Revenants wandering the dunes that the party will have to deal with. This would be a great reason to have the reptilian people! Since they're so rare that most people have never heard of them, that's because they are an ancient sect of clerics who wander the desert seeking out the sources of the whispers and trying to put those uneasy dead to rest by transcribing their whispers and fulfilling their last requests. So they stay secret so that strangers don't interfere, but they also work to disseminate rumors that the desert is haunted by evil to discourage other people from wandering out there and getting lost too! And of course you'll have to play up the inherent environmental dangers of the desert by making the players carefully track their water resources, and calling for Constitution saves due to heat, and thirst, etc. If you can't reach the next caravanserai in time, you may become another whisperer!
Or maybe the whispers are the genies of the desert talking to one another. And if the party (or even just one member) is just the right kind of crazy, they may be able to catch glimpses of colorful light at the edge of their vision right at sunset, or sunrise, and maybe these lights are the genies guiding them toward shelter. But why would genies help people? Well, maybe a red dragon has built a new lair in the genies' domain, and the genies tried to reason with it, but it won't leave. And sure, the genies could go to war directly against the red dragon, by why risk their own lives when they can just risk yours? So maybe one night as the party finds a rocky outcropping under which to get a rest, they dream of the genie's abode. Of course it's a bright colorful gaudy place like if Salvador Dali decorated a mid-century modern movie set for "1001 Arabian Nights". And the genies offer the party a deal. If they find and kill the red dragon, the genies will grant them a wish. (One wish, for the party, not one for each person!) Or maybe if the party was lost, the genies will offer them safe passage home. Anyway, from there it's a simple seek & destroy mission with the punchline being a red dragon and it's hoard. but of course some of the hoard was stolen from the genies and the genies will want those pieces back, but the party will get to keep the rest, which will still be plenty . . . if they survive, that is.
Either way, spend some time reading up on the Berber people and the various ancient cultures of the deserts. It really is a fascinating rabbit hole.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
There are some great ideas here already. I'd embrace the desert theme.
Start at the top - who's your main protagonist? Is it an imprisoned Genie who once ruled a vast kingdom?
Perhaps his grand advisor has arisen as a Mummy Lord and seeks to free him?
What are his minions - Jacklewere? Sphinx? Wights? Mummies? Ghosts? Sandmen (minor clay golems)?
What's the end location - a sunken pyramid? A pyramid in another plane?
The mysterious merchants are disguised Jacklewere, searching for relics of the past and bringing any oddities to their masters in a search to find the lost key? shattered scarab? mummy jar?
The party could be asked by the merchants to hunt down a group of desert raiders who turn out to be a form of resistance against the rise of this dark organisation. The party can join these raiders or discover the truth about the merchants themselves.
An adventure pathway of sorts could be a search for these broken pieces of the scarab that was mistakenly taken as treasure by a group of adventures and has now ended up in various locations. This might mean searching out the aid of a Sphinx to gain clues of the locations of the pieces. It might mean sneaking into the grand palace of a Caliph during a celebration to steal piece. It might mean bargaining with a Bronze dragon to rid her of a pesky infestation of Wights, Rock Trolls, Dust Mephits, Bullettes, or even a Sand Worm (Purple Worm) that keeps destroying sections of her caverns. Another adventure idea is recovering a piece as the first prize in Stone Giant Tournament where the party need to take it in turns competing in games of strength, endurance, wit and chance.
There are plenty of great ideas shared in the posts above too. Good luck and let us know how you go