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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 6114893" data-attributes="member: 23935">Deserts are not a few thousand square miles of void covered in sand.  There are other things in them -- inhabitants both inimical and friendly, structures both maintained and ruined, and items both hazardous and valuable.  In fact, it is hard to imagine how, if the desert were to be considered empty by the DM, that any amount of table time could be consumed whilst traveling it.  The only way table time would be occupied is if encounters with the above occur.  In many ways a wilderness is merely a city with a longer travel time between locations and the desert adds a water shortage problem.No, you've been provided with an encounter that can potentially contain information relevant to the PC goals, local issues (like maybe a siege around the city ahead or the sandstorm that is due to strike in the next 6 hours), and/or represent resources the PCs can take advantage of.  If you want to push on without discovering how to turn the encounter to your benefit, go right ahead.The nomads are much more likely to be encountered in the desert -- not at the gates of the city.  The PCs are strangers to the area, don't know where thy are, don't know the local situation, and don't know where the city is in relation to themselves.  As a player, I'd have questions I'd want answered -- notably "which way do we go?" but also "What can we expect to find?", "What should we be wary of?", "What should we be watching for?", and "What can you tell us of our goal?"  Some of those questions can be answered by the expenditure of resources like spells, but asking questions of the inhabitants you come across works just as well and in many cases, better.Um, no.  The siege could be an offering of another adventure unrelated to your current one should the group wish to pursue it, it could tie into a different PC goal, it could tie into an aspect of play desired by one or more players at the table, it could be informing the players of a larger scale conflict (foreshadowing or world reveal), it could be local colour, or any number of other good DMing techniques.The fact many groups could skip the desert with relative ease does not mean your group won't find useful resources, intelligence, or aid traversing it.  Those are the possibilities gained by going the scenic route.  The desert is only as irrelevant as the table makes it.  Automatically ignoring non-hostile encounters will go a long way to making it irrelevant though.</blockquote>

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