D&D 5E Desert adventure help

[aco175]

I was thinking this, but see it was part of the setting to start with. Perhaps raiders/pirates sail up and attack.

I was thinking of some colorful NPCs, but mostly come up with stereotypes from movies and such. I would think that caravans have a lot of followers and commoners. Some of the old movies had a train of porters for just the main 10 movie stars.

 

[MarkB]

I was thinking this, but see it was part of the setting to start with. Perhaps raiders/pirates sail up and attack.
View attachment 128584
I was thinking of some colorful NPCs, but mostly come up with stereotypes from movies and such. I would think that caravans have a lot of followers and commoners. Some of the old movies had a train of porters for just the main 10 movie stars.

A few years ago I put together bits of a setting based entirely upon the idea of sand-ships plying the deserts, which I nicknamed Pirates of the Arabian.

One concept I had in that setting was the Rainbow Oases, a desert trail intersecting several oases, each named for the colour of either their water or surroundings. I only heavily detailed the Indigo Oasis, named because its waters would sometimes take on that colour.

The ranchers who lived near the oasis knew the meaning of the colour - they farmed the native giant scarab beetles, harvesting the intense indigo dye that could be extracted from their carapace. The oasis only took on that colour when a beetle was unfortunate enough to die and decay within its waters, and they knew to avoid the waters at such times, as the decaying corpse would poison them.

That's probably too literal a form of "local colour" - but it might serve as a flavourful location.

 

[Schmoe]

Oh, this! Seconded, thirded, and slightly fourthed for good measure. Fantastic setting, Djelibeybi ('Child of Djel').

Is that really Jelly baby? Wow. Gotta love it

 

[Marc Radle]

I was thinking this, but see it was part of the setting to start with. Perhaps raiders/pirates sail up and attack.
View attachment 128584
I was thinking of some colorful NPCs, but mostly come up with stereotypes from movies and such. I would think that caravans have a lot of followers and commoners. Some of the old movies had a train of porters for just the main 10 movie stars.

Yep, that's a sand ship from Southlands

 

[Perun]

Is that really Jelly baby? Wow. Gotta love it

There's this ancient river, Djel, that flows through the desert, and whose annual flood cycles are the cause of a strip of fertile land along it. Naturally, the land thus blessed is called 'the Child if Djel', or in the native language of the area, Djelibeybi

 

[Marc Radle]

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[Helldritch]

I am surprised that no one refered to : Desert of Desolation. At the Oasis, you have a good murder/stop the assassination's attempt and the secret lair of cultists. You could inspire yourself from this classic.