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[ninja137]

Hello all, first time posting on this particular board, and I have a slight problem. I recently decided I want to run a D&D(Pathfinder system) game for myself and a few friends, and I want to run it in a desert area. After trying to build the basics of the setting, I ran into a slight problem. I know little to nothing of desert cultures at all. So as a result of that, I ask you all to try and give me a hand with getting some good material to use, be it myths, cultures, names, or whatever anyone thinks might be helpful.


So far I have a little planned out, but not a terribly large amount. Basically I want the PCs to either start off as slaves captured by a band of gnolls, or end up being captured as a result of some event. At some point later in the campaign after a series of as of yet unplanned events happens I want to slowly reveal that there was a reason that gnolls had been capturing more and more slaves, likely for a reason along the line a large ritual requiring massive sacrifice or possibly a large mining project for a hidden artifact.


Thank you in advance for any help you might be able tp provide.

[chaoticag]

Desert cultures you say? Well, there would be tribes, turbans around the head to protect the face and head from the sun. Most travelling is done by night if possible, with astronomical help to get their bearings. As for people, the celebrities would be warrior poets, with poets counting as diplomats for the time (unless you want to look at a post islamic middle east, where poetry lost it's appeal due to thee Qur'an's influence). As for myths there are Djinns, whic is sort of a cross between previctorian elves, Trolls, and boogymen. Invisible creatures that shapeshift, like mother hook, who seeks children past sunset, garbed in a black robe and looks like a woman in a niqab, unless she catches you with her hand and feet hooks. Djinn don't necessarily have to be chaotic evil, but they're mostly chaotic, and can haunt forests. Ifrits are demonlings, mythologically sided with Satan (pronounced Shaitan) in his war against heaven, but are pretty similar to djinn. Always chaotic evil. Also, if you want to figure out what the clothing is like, anything that covers you from the sun is fine. During the crusades, knights brought back the fashion of silk robes instead of lavish clothes when they returned, to show humility, but again, anything goes.

[Heron TSG]

If you want hard materials to use, and you're open to basic D&D 3.5e material, Sandstorm is the book for you. You can't actually buy it anywhere except secondhand stores now, but if you PM me I can point you in a direction.

As for the game itself, I recommend using the sand itself as much as you can. The sand of a desert is everywhere; even inside, if you're not careful. I would heavily recommend using monsters such as a Dry Lich that have the ability to shapeshift into a cloud of sand, or possibly some of the sand-swimming races of the Sandstorm book. There are few mediums that are as good as a desert for ambushes. Sure, there isn't much cover in the open expanses, but when the ground itself can attack you, things get exciting.

PS: As for names, this name generator is the best in the business. If you don't like the preset generating options, the advanced section is fairly easy to learn and you can make names to whatever themes you like. (In this case, Arabic, Egyptian, etc.)

PPS: I can't give any D&D advice without Bookmage. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when you have to come up with literature for your players to find. Being a desert-based campaign, I imagine that you'll have plenty of magical tomes and cursed libraries, so I thought I'd mention it.

[chaoticag]

Also, if you want nicknames, abu X always works. Seems to be pretty common in the UAE. Also, if someone has a name Xy z, nickname him Xoood.

[RedKing]

Y'know...there are more deserts in the world than just the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula. 

Maybe look at some of the other desert cultures, if you want something beyond recycled fantasy Arabs.

Some examples:
Gobi (Mongols)
Kalahari (Bushmen)
Australian Outback (various Aboriginal tribes)
Great Basin (Pueblo, Navajo, Hopi, etc.)
Thar (Sindhi)


Typically you find that most desert peoples are nomadic pastoralists, which tends to discourage the formation of advanced civilization with permanent cities (which is why the Arab model gets emulated so much). But the Pueblo provide a good alternative, I think, as a settled agriculturalist civilization with permanent cities.

Couple of things to keep in mind about deserts themselves:
1. They're cold at night. DAMN cold. The temperature differential between day and night is one of the biggest environmental stresses in a desert, considering that you swing 60-90 degrees Fahrenheit between the high and low on a given day.
2. Sand gets *everywhere*. After three weeks in the Australian Outback, everything I owned was stained a dull red color from the red sand. Even clothes that I had never unpacked had red dust on them. Every time I touched my face, traces of red dust fell out of creases in my skin.
3. Which gets to the third point--the desert is hell on your skin. Intense alternating heat and cold, intense dryness, and constant blowing sand. And lots of constant squinting. After three weeks, I looked like I had aged ten years, and I was on about my eighth set of lips, after the previous seven had peeled off.

[Knight of Fools]

Which is probably why village elders in deserts are always portrayed as crinkled and squinty.


Another thing to remember are the small details: In a desert, there aren't many trees (Unless the ground is solid and fertile enough).  As a result, dung is usually used in place of firewood.  This is also significant when you think of various other aspects of desert life, such as the value of wooden trinkets, what tents and other temporary shelters are made from, and how easy it is for wood to be transported to the cities there.  Forests may be regarded suspiciously or as a source of magic, if there aren't too many around.

Water is something else that's very important: Oases, wells, rivers...  That's stuff that tribes will fight over, and digging a successful well is probably fairly notable.  Rain is not an option as a water source, unless you get extremely lucky.  Think about how this affects the cultures and attitude of the locals, too.

And have fun with it.  I think that's the most important thing.

[ninja137]

Y'know...there are more deserts in the world than just the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula. 

Maybe look at some of the other desert cultures, if you want something beyond recycled fantasy Arabs.

Some examples:
Gobi (Mongols)
Kalahari (Bushmen)
Australian Outback (various Aboriginal tribes)
Great Basin (Pueblo, Navajo, Hopi, etc.)
Thar (Sindhi)


Typically you find that most desert peoples are nomadic pastoralists, which tends to discourage the formation of advanced civilization with permanent cities (which is why the Arab model gets emulated so much). But the Pueblo provide a good alternative, I think, as a settled agriculturalist civilization with permanent cities.

Couple of things to keep in mind about deserts themselves:
1. They're cold at night. DAMN cold. The temperature differential between day and night is one of the biggest environmental stresses in a desert, considering that you swing 60-90 degrees Fahrenheit between the high and low on a given day.
2. Sand gets *everywhere*. After three weeks in the Australian Outback, everything I owned was stained a dull red color from the red sand. Even clothes that I had never unpacked had red dust on them. Every time I touched my face, traces of red dust fell out of creases in my skin.
3. Which gets to the third point--the desert is hell on your skin. Intense alternating heat and cold, intense dryness, and constant blowing sand. And lots of constant squinting. After three weeks, I looked like I had aged ten years, and I was on about my eighth set of lips, after the previous seven had peeled off.

I know less than nothing about those, and I have at least a little bit of knowledge about the arab type desert culture. Still not much, but its better than absolute nothing.

Also, thank you all for the help so far, that name generator is GREAT!