Desert of Desolation

Intermediate #I3-5

by Tracy Hickman

A Campaign Adventure for Character Levels 5-10:

Deep blue mists of the night swirl over the sands of Raurin, the incomparable Desert of Dust.

As the cool night air drains the heat from the sand, you & your friends huddle around your campfire, glancing nervously at the giant pyramid in the distance.

Gradually, the winds change direction, bearing a thin streak of white mist toward you from the pyramid.

It swirls & takes shape as a faceless man dressed in ancient robes & an ornate head-piece; moonlight shining through his ghostly body & robes, he lifts his arms toward the pyramid & speaks.

It was magic that conveyed you all to Bralizar, & an ancient map that guided you through the pass in The Dustwall.

But it was, after all, the tales that finally brought you to this place - tales of endless wealth, of spirit-guarded pyramids, of crystalline obelisks, of gemstones with mysterious properties.

Now, as the haunted voice of the spectre before you begins his tale, you wonder if the treasure & the quest are worth the price...perhaps your very lives.

Are you really the heroes of the prophecies, those who will overcome the foretold tests, & those for whom the treasure awaits?

It is time to search your hearts before you venture further into the Desert of Desolation.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Gaming, Dungeons and Dragons

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1987

About the author

NYT Best-selling fantasy authors Tracy Hickman, with his wife Laura, began their journey across the 'Sea of Possibilities' as the creators of 'Dragonlance' and their voyage continues into new areas with the 'Drakis' trilogy, 'Wayne of Gotham', a Batman novel for DC Comics and his 'Dragon's Bard' collector's series . Tracy has over fifty books currently in print in most languages around the world. A record of both Tracy and Laura's DNA currently orbits on the international space station and he is the writer and editor of the first science-fiction movie actually filmed in space. Follow us on Facebook or, of course, right here!

Reviews

[Baal Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book nearly destroyed my D&D campaign.

OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but first some background. I bought this module back in college or within a few years thereof, when I was buying just about every D&D module I could get my hands on. Not that I managed to run or play in more than a small fraction. I found this one fascinating with its blend of 1001 Nights and Egyptian mythology, along with lots of complicated dungeons and difficult puzzles. Plus it had an ancient language that was a cipher (fairly simple, but at least more than just a simple substitution cipher). I also loved the idea of trekking through a desert region, fighting not just various monsters, but the elements in the form of sandstorms, and having to monitor levels heat and thirst. All of these were elements that I would have loved as a player, and I would have been all over the idea of decoding the language myself, and figuring out the nearly 100 hints and prophecies scattered throughout. One of my miscalculations as a Dungeon Master was the fact that my players do not have the same interests as I do. Secondly, I didn't realize just how long it would take us to get through this giant - nearly two and half years, which was for all intents and purposes supposed to be a side quest from my main story-line.
Like every DM I've ever known, I modified things, and I tend to modify a lot. For example, the module as written has a woman who has been chosen by the gods (signified by a mark on her hand which is also part of a map/message to further the long running quest) to be the future wife of a prince who plays a major role in the story, reflecting a typical sexist trope of the the woman with no personal autonomy being forced into a marriage with a young nobleman, happily accepting her fate. I decided to change her so that she resented the gods for forcing her into this, and she wanted no part of it. The players ran with that and allowed her to come with them instead of turning her over to the prince as they were supposed to do. This turned out to be one of the better modification I made.
By the end of this module, a lot of my players were frustrated and ready for it to end, so I ended up rushing the last session. This is not directly the fault of the module. It has a lot of creativity, lots of cool dungeons, and lots of cool ideas, interspersed with some goofy and cheesy bits. It is very much a first edition AD&D product, including the flaws. Part of why I went with this module was because I had been feeling a bit of impostor syndrome thinking that a professionally written module would be better than what I was doing. After all was said and done, and I had a lengthy discussion with one of my players, and learned that they in general prefer when I write my own material. That is a good lesson to learn.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imaginitive, evocative, well-written, and challenging... but still ultimately a railroad. I think it would have fit better as a campaign region, with its towns and tribes and ruins, but far less of telling players what to do and where to go.

I love deserts and desert adventures and feel that there's a dearth of good ones out there, which is why this one strikes as even more of a missed opportunity. Ah, well.

[William Olenick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best campaigns of the TSR modules. It is set in a desert landscape with temples, prymids, and traps galore.
Great fun for those wishing to date it secrets.