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Baveboi
2010-12-09, 07:30 AM
I'm DMing a game of D&D Forgotten Realms. The theme is Arabain Nights and it's supposed to happen in a desert where the everyday and everynight is so hot that can drive someone insane.
I already have all the big twists and plot hooks stabilished but I'd like more insight into the matter and who knows? I might find something interesting.

So, the basic idea is that the players are lost in the desert and find a ruin. They have no to little water, magical water doesn't sustain them as good and the weather is naturally augmented by magic so they can't protect against it effectively. But things will get worse:
A group of desert raiders attack a camping site on said ruin, but they are all defeated without much effort. The bandits, however, had strange magic at their disposal and when faced with a challenge they would simply kill themselves. The players are driven more than suspicious because of this, whatever happens after I'm keeping for meself.
But before anything else happen they hear screams coming from inside the exploration site. Down into the sand, a tunnel stretches infinitly down.

There's no telling what other bizarre thing could happen.
Will fire rain from the skies and cover the desert with a thin sheet of glass? Will they find nomads that walk on the planes? Genies? Liches?
Well, you tell me.

Any imput will be largely appreciated, thank you.

Grogmir
2010-12-09, 08:48 AM
Okay - interesting set up you've got there -

Its the bits you've left out that I would expand on. My questions will hopefully guide you along with your own thinking.

Why were the Bandits out in the middle of the Desert? Did they know the PCs were there - how can they survive in the desert?Are they protecting the Ruin? or driven to it? Have they been using it as base?

Once i have these questions that would make it easier for me to picture what is below.

Is it a sect of Druids that are involved in a ritual that is causing the unnatural weather? Is it something completely unlreated - but that uses the desert as cover / a hidden base?

Sorry i haven't given you fixed ideas - but with a few gaps its hard to say. But that would be thought process.

Crossblade
2010-12-09, 09:28 AM
The book Sandstorm could definitely add ideas to this.

RaveingRonin
2010-12-09, 10:36 AM
I'd recommend the book Heroes of Horrors. It has a few ideas on messing with players heads.

Another thought is be flexible. Try to learn what the characters and the players themselves fear. If one character is a alcoholic, make the beer he dreams of froth and boil into blood. If a player hates snakes, make one of the other characters cursed with a forked tongue, or have arrows made of snakes shoot out of the walls instead of arrows for a trap. All in all, if you want to screw with players, just be flexible. . . and willing to be cruel :smallbiggrin:

Myth
2010-12-09, 10:49 AM
When in doubt about a Forgotten Realms game:

1. Locate the region on the map (which desert is that?)
2. Read about it in the FRCS and PGTF.
3. Read about it some more in the other books (UE, SH, LEOF, MoF etc.)

There is one desert in the Forgotten Realms that has Phaerim buried beneath it. A race of abberation super-sorcerers that gave the Netherese trouble (and the Netherese did not kid around when it came to magic).

If you give me a specific point on the Faerun map I could help you further. I also support Sandstorm too. Dry Liches are fun. There is also a FR regional feat that adds 2 CL to spells with the [Fire] descriptor. Using that + Searing Spell + Elemental Savant (Fire) + Archmage you can make one mean blaster sorcerer.

grimbold
2010-12-09, 11:49 AM
be sure to play up the dying of thirst bit
that will make the game more tense

Baveboi
2010-12-09, 01:43 PM
Oooh lots of answers. :3
Let me try and help you guys out.


The desert is the (in)famous Calim Desert, where the Great Djen Calim fought against Memnon, and where their souls are imprisioned (what has always been the cause of the unatural weather). Those genies, however, are there for quite a time, thousand of years even. Why would it get worse now? Someone, or something, is stirring everything around the desert, even the sands itself. Whoever, or whatever it is, it has a strong control of death and the elements.


Special organizations and stuff about Calimshan and the Deser of Calim: The Twisted Rune, an organization of epic Liches and undead/aberrations, reside there. The Night Parade is another mysterious organization compost of non-humans (mostly outsiders and nightmares of the Far Realm). From before the time of Calim and Memnon, they are still unknown to most of the world's population and their secret agenda seems completely random.

The desert itself is extremely hot, dry and the sandstorms oftem bury everything on their path. Things like Medusas, Wild Fire Elementals and Genies are not uncommon in Calimshan, and EVERYONE has at least one magical iten made for leisure purposes (bottle of infinite water, wands that sparkles, rings of Mage Hands, etc).

Thieves and guilds of assassins are a common thing, actually they happen to rule 50% of the civilized Calimshan. The Pashas, Paksas, Xás and Viziers can't lift a finger without consulting them. The actual Pasha is a noble Half-Orc (another strange fact about Calimshan is that half-humans [genasis, half-orcs, half-elves] are threated as any civilian would, and if you have power enough you can be whatever you want). He's a LG Fighter 19 and has had his share of fighting.

However, there are rumors of war against Amn and Tethyr, their northren neighbours, and a strange alliance with Luskan and the Moonshae Pirates. But politics are for cities, and our heroes are lost in the sand.
Will they ever survive to find out what's happening around Calimshan?



Things that I'm making use of: Sandstorm, all FR books (gotta catch 'em all!) and UA, ToB, ToM, Manual of the Planes, Planar Handbook and Complete series, besides the core. I like to expand...
Nice idea about the book of horror by the way. Will take a look in there.





Sooo, what can your creatives mind give me with this bit more of information?
- Baveboi cast: Advanced Thank You


EDIT: It was hard to read. xD

Myth
2010-12-10, 05:25 AM
First and foremost: the Twisted Rune are the puppeteers behind the manupulators who whisper in the ears of advisors who advise kings. In other words, very rarely would you see Shangalar & Co. go out and do something themselves.

However here is a plot hook: a powerful sorcerer was a part of the high Calimshan nobility, and the Twisted Rune attempted to recruit him on several occasions via subtle and not so subtle means. The last thing they did was Soul Trap his beloved and frame him for the murder of an important merchant and his noble lover. Having to flee the town or else risk corrupt trial and execution (TR controls everything remember) he goes and hides in the desert.

There he searches for an ancient tomb that is full of riches and dark secrets that he can make use of to gain an edge over the TR.

Wish granted, he is now a Dry Lich Epic Sorcerer, who has access to the ricehs of the tomb (enough to fund Epic Spell research). He is now working on an Epic spell that will allow him to go toe to toe with Shangalar and friends. The side effects? What the PCs see. They can try and kill him, or aid him in destroying the Twisted Rune (depending on how Lawful Stupid they roleplay their goodly characters) or try to take the power of the tomb for themselves.

Arkeht
2010-12-10, 05:40 AM
This is just a suggestion, but you could just remove the spells that allow players to create water. Perhaps there is a long standing and lingering curse over the land not permitting such a spell to be used. Maybe the Gods have become disgusted with the realm that your PC's are in, and have decided to punish them so that something as pivotal as water to the region would be denied to them through the means of any magic. Or maybe its something else entirely.
This phenomenon could have always been present as in the case of the lingering curse. Or it could be a recent event which could fuel the adventure itself. It can add to the mystery of the setting and avoid the details of determining how effective magic water should be.

Baveboi
2010-12-10, 07:03 AM
Thank you Arkeht and Myth, and both of you made a good point. I will explore it to some dept, it's really interesting plot thickness.