I’ve had desert exploration on my mind recently, both as a result of my current campaign and a recent editing project, which has inspired a collection of random desert encounters. These encounter setups are organized around multiple possible throughlines (a topic I talked about not long ago), and are a follow-up to a selection of nautical encounter setups.
These encounter ideas work for characters traveling through desert, badlands, scrubland, or other remote locales. They can be used as random encounters, as the setup for a series of encounters you build out from these initial ideas, or as an initial-encounter hook for an even larger adventure.
(As an aside, the title of this piece is taken from the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem “Ozymandias,” which ties to the recent editing project mentioned above — the new book from Mike “Sly Flourish” Shea. You can find a teaser here.)
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| Art from the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Setting |
The Empty Village
While crossing uninhabited badlands in pursuit of a villain they’ve promised to capture alive, the characters come across a ruined village abandoned decades before. The site might now mark the territory of a clan of basilisks who petrified the villain, and who the characters must defeat so they can claim the villain’s statue form, then restore it. Alternatively, the site might be subject to a terrible curse that destroyed its original inhabitants and the villain alike — and which has trapped the spirits of some of the lost into scattered gemstones from which they might be returned to life.
Shelter from the Storm
An advancing sandstorm sees the characters forced to quickly seek shelter in a series of caverns accessed through a crumbling stone bluff. But as they explore the cave complex, they realize that they aren’t the only ones seeking shelter there. The other group might be a party of desert raiders who use the caves as a secret hiding place to lie low after attacks on trade caravans, and who are willing to kill to keep its location a secret. Or they might be spectral undead spawned from long-dead travelers who tried to wait out a storm centuries past and were killed when rising dunes sealed them inside — and who the characters can convince to stand down in exchange for finding, then properly interring their remains.
Unusual Oasis
Characters traveling through the desert spot an oasis appearing on no known maps, with humanoid figures seen on the outskirts, beckoning frantically. The inhabitants of the oasis might be a noble’s hunting party who became lost during a storm, and who promise a rich reward if the characters return them to their home city. The oasis might be the headquarters of a gang of brigands, who manage to keep the site a secret by drawing in, robbing, then killing every traveller who passes by. Or the site might be unknown because it marks the lair of an elder water elemental recently spawned from an ancient underground aquifer — and who has taken a local nomadic tribe hostage, forcing them to worship the elemental as a god.
Mirage Arcana
A dry lakebed is well known as a site for mirages, but characters exploring the area discover that some of those mirages are magical illusions concealing a crumbling fortress. The site might be home to a friendly master illusionist who loves their solitude, and who is happy to hire adventurers to run errands for them. Or the fortress might be intentionally concealed by teams of spellcasters working for a powerful warlord, who plans to use the hidden site as a staging ground for attacks against nearby settlements.
Lost Merchant
While traveling a well-established trade route through the desert, the characters catch up to a lone merchant pulling a handcart, who claims to have become separated from a larger caravan that came under bandit attack. The merchant might secretly be a merchant lord, desperate for an escort to the nearest settlement and willing to reward the characters with treasure and adventure hooks. They might be a good rakshasa in disguise, looking for selfless heroes to undertake a dangerous mission. Or the merchant might be possessed by the spirit of an ancient sorcerer entombed nearby as a penance for their evil deeds, and who hopes to convince the characters to break the seal on the sorcerer’s tomb and restore them to power.
Carnival of Shadows
While enjoying a seasonal carnival in a scrubland town, the characters are caught in the middle of a skirmish between members of two rival bandit gangs violating the carnival truce. It might be the case that one of the gangs is attempting to assimilate the other, threatening to plunge the whole settlement into violence unless the characters intervene. It could be that a wandering assassin is set to fulfil a contract on a powerful figure in the town, and set off the gang violence as a distraction. Or the violence might be the result of a fell magical relic recently brought into town by an unknowing treasure hunter, its spreading magic turning folk violent and threatening to turn the carnival into a bloodbath.