Desert themed domains?

[VikingLegion]

Hey guys,

I lurk a bit here and read the amazing ideas and creativity of other posters, but rarely post myself. I do have a question though: Can anyone supply a list of all the domains with a desert theme?

I'm working on a video game mod based in RL and I need a domain that fits this specific niche. I want it to scream Ancient Egypt - deserts, mummies, Pharoanic curses - the more cliche the better. It would appear that Har'Akir is right in this wheelhouse, but I don't know a whole lot about that domain other than it was the setting for one of those old SSI games. I just spent the last couple days reading the excellent "Illustrated History of the Core", and while that was a fascinating and informative read, it didn't really scratch my particular itch.

My Ravenloft knowledge comes primarily from the novels, with a smattering of D&D products - the black box, 1 or 2 modules, and a few of the VR Guides. The people who will be playing this mod know even less. Basically they understand the themes and general gist of RL, and are familiar with the major players (Strahd, Azalin, etc.), but outside of that I have a lot of leeway to freelance here. So if there are other domains that might work, I'd like to look into them. In fact, I could end up making some kind of amalgamation of several domains - pilfering each of them for names and/or themes I like. Even the location of this desert domain can be winged a bit, the players won't know any better.

Speaking of location, where is Har'Akir? I only read up to the Conjunction, as this project is going to be set in a pre-Upheaval timeline. Does Har'Akir exist at this time, or am I going to have to fudge that as well? I admittedly know very little of the various island clusters, my RL knowledge is almost exclusively limited to the core domains from the original boxed set. If I end up grafting Har'Akir (or my bastardized desert hybrid of several other domains) onto the Core, where would be the best place for it? I'm thinking of adding a small area just east of Arak, since that place is a wind-scoured, blasted wasteland - the geography of transitioning to a desert would be less jarring than say going from a temperate woodland or lush jungle.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

[Ryan Naylor]

Har'Akir is definitely the one you want.

It is an Island in the Mists. For info, look at any of the RL sourcebooks (it's one of the domains that pops up in every version) or the adventure Touch of Death.


Other desert domains:
Sebua (also Egpyty, but not as much)
Pharazia (sort of Arabic; in a cluster called the Amber Wastes with Sebua and Har'Akir)
G'Henna (more of a cold, dry waste than a true desert)
Al-Kathos (Arabian Nights, with little detail provided so far)

I think those are the main ones.

[Garudos Celestar]

G'Henna (more of a cold, dry waste than a true desert)

G'Henna is a true desert. Remember, not all deserts are hot: they just don't have water... or more specifically, precipitation. Even Antarctica is a desert; the wind blows the snow around, but very little precipitation actually falls. G'Henna's climate seems to be most akin to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia (which sits at around the same latitude as southern Alaska).

[alhoon]

Har'Akir is definitely the one you want.

It is an Island in the Mists. For info, look at any of the RL sourcebooks (it's one of the domains that pops up in every version) or the adventure Touch of Death.


Other desert domains:
Sebua (also Egpyty, but not as much)
Pharazia (sort of Arabic; in a cluster called the Amber Wastes with Sebua and Har'Akir)

WHile Har'Akir is a nice cliche ancient egypt domain, it has one MAJOR problem:
It has a single village of 300 people.

I would say the Amber wastes are what you need. You have a nice big desert, with a settlement that has the rights to call itself a settlement (Pharazia), and a few settlements dotting the whole desert, along with nomads, pyramids, ruins, oasis etc. Oh and one of those settlements is Har'Akir in the other side of the desert.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Or you could add a bunch of people to Har'Akir.

If you want to look waaaay outside the box, there are a couple of netbook desert domains with American Indian themes (Tsuu-y-Teke, in the Kargatane's Book of Shadows netbook and Yatehcaa, in the USS 2001 or 2002--not sure which--which you can download in the Library on this site) and one with a more Western (as in the movie genre) vibe in Seradan on the Bone Sands (in one of the Kargatane's BoS netbooks). That probably gets too far from your Egypt theme to be useful, but, uh, they are deserts. <_<

[alhoon]

When I used Har'akir in the GConjuction adventure, I turned it to a town with 1200-1300 people and added a few hamlets around it, bringing the domain to 2000-2500 people. I ruled that there was an underground water reservoir of about 6-7 square miles in the area. The reservoir was enough for wells that could support those people and the plants and animals needed.
IIRC I used the magical well, but with changes. I don't remember much.

[Jimsolo]

I think the most common 'aftermarket modification' DMs make to Ravenloft domains is to make them bigger, either in geography or population. (Lord knows I do.) I don't think adding extra people to Har'Akir is going to do any major harm. And the Amber Wastes are nice too, of course.

[Ryan Naylor]

G'Henna (more of a cold, dry waste than a true desert)

G'Henna is a true desert. Remember, not all deserts are hot: they just don't have water... or more specifically, precipitation. Even Antarctica is a desert; the wind blows the snow around, but very little precipitation actually falls. G'Henna's climate seems to be most akin to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia (which sits at around the same latitude as southern Alaska).

I am well aware of that. I apologise for the phrasing, which is incorrect unless you believe that a pseudo-Egypt with sand dunes and mummies is a true desert (which is actually what I was trying to say, since that's what VikingLegion wanted).

[ewancummins]

G'Henna is a proper desert if it has low enough precipitation.
Does it?

I always imagined G'Henna as more of a dustbowl area, semi-desert appearing in what was once fertile farmlands because of not just drought but overworking the land.
It could be a true desert such as we have in large parts of the West, though.
Either way, it appears to be a rather dry, cold, and dusty land.

Arak might be a desert if the rainfall is low enough. Or is it bare because the blasted earth just won't support life? Is it a cursed dead land, or a living desert?

Kalidnay is, IIRC, pretty much all desert, like large chunks of Athas.

[ewancummins]

Hey guys,

I lurk a bit here and read the amazing ideas and creativity of other posters, but rarely post myself. I do have a question though: Can anyone supply a list of all the domains with a desert theme?

I'm working on a video game mod based in RL and I need a domain that fits this specific niche. I want it to scream Ancient Egypt - deserts, mummies, Pharoanic curses - the more cliche the better. It would appear that Har'Akir is right in this wheelhouse, but I don't know a whole lot about that domain other than it was the setting for one of those old SSI games. I just spent the last couple days reading the excellent "Illustrated History of the Core", and while that was a fascinating and informative read, it didn't really scratch my particular itch.

My Ravenloft knowledge comes primarily from the novels, with a smattering of D&D products - the black box, 1 or 2 modules, and a few of the VR Guides. The people who will be playing this mod know even less. Basically they understand the themes and general gist of RL, and are familiar with the major players (Strahd, Azalin, etc.), but outside of that I have a lot of leeway to freelance here. So if there are other domains that might work, I'd like to look into them. In fact, I could end up making some kind of amalgamation of several domains - pilfering each of them for names and/or themes I like. Even the location of this desert domain can be winged a bit, the players won't know any better.

Speaking of location, where is Har'Akir? I only read up to the Conjunction, as this project is going to be set in a pre-Upheaval timeline. Does Har'Akir exist at this time, or am I going to have to fudge that as well? I admittedly know very little of the various island clusters, my RL knowledge is almost exclusively limited to the core domains from the original boxed set. If I end up grafting Har'Akir (or my bastardized desert hybrid of several other domains) onto the Core, where would be the best place for it? I'm thinking of adding a small area just east of Arak, since that place is a wind-scoured, blasted wasteland - the geography of transitioning to a desert would be less jarring than say going from a temperate woodland or lush jungle.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

If there are mountains and the right combo of rainfall patterns/wind currents to make a rain shadow, you can have a desert (along with semi arid lands) pretty close to forests and lush meadowlands.
Look at Oregon and Washington.

I'd consider adding a desert lands east of Nova Vaasa.

The Balinoks might cause a rainshadow if wet winds come mostly off the Sea of Sorrows.

The Black Box seems to hint that the lands to the east are drier, anyway.

Are you using the Nocturnal Sea?

You could also have a coastal desert like the Atacama.

How Earthlike is the geography and climate of your version of Ravenloft (I'm assuming you don't make it an actual planet, but I could be wrong)?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Since your RL knowledge is pretty "Old School" you might not know what we mean when we say "Clusters". After the Grand Conjunctions, several of the former Island of Terror domains floating alone in the Mists (such as Har'Akir) linked up into groups of 2-3 domains called clusters. Like a mini-core, they are connected permanently, but still float (now together) in the Mists. Har'Akir joined Sebua (from Darklords) and Pharazia (from Islands of Terror) to form The Amber Wastes.

Also, we should note that the only full module set in any of these domains was Touch of Death, which used to be available for free from Wizards, but isn't anymore. You can still get it from the archive.org "Wayback Machine", though.

EDIT: If you're not a slave to canon, the "Eye of Anubis" campaign (hosted on our forums) featured and expanded the Amber Wastes heavily and could be a good source of info. We also host a Netbook of amazing maps from that campaign.

[Ryan Naylor]

Arak might be a desert if the rainfall is low enough. Or is it bare because the blasted earth just won't support life? Is it a cursed dead land, or a living desert?

Kalidnay is, IIRC, pretty much all desert, like large chunks of Athas.

Arak is a cursed dead land. It used to be fertile fields able to support large flocks of sheep etc, but the Scourge killed all that, and has stopped anything growing back.

Kalidnay is a good point though, and might work as an Egypt-analogue if you really squint.

[ewancummins]

Sure, I suppose so. I was only thinking of the desert.

If the OP really wants something Egyptian, I think he ought to consider adding a river like the Nile. Egypt has plenty of arid country, but the fertile riverlands are what allowed civilization to develop there.

Robert E Howard's Stygia makes a nice dark fantasy/horror Egypt, IMO.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Oh, and as for attaching Har'Akir to the core, there are a couple mistways that will do it:
The Jackal's Ruse: East-Central Nocturnal Sea to Western Har'Akir
1-way, moderate reliability.

The Road of a Thousand Secrets: Southern Hazlan to Southeastern Pharazia
Two-way, moderate reliability


If you don't want to use a Mistway, and just tack it on, I would just collapse the Road of 1000 secrets to a literal road. Putting "egypt" beyond the "exotic pseudo turkish" Hazlan has a sort of real-world charm to me.

[VikingLegion]

Wow, what a wealth of information - you guys are incredible.

I have a series of counterpoints to make, I'll try not to forget them all:

Firstly, in my haste to make the original post I worded the subject poorly. Basically I needed domains that parallel Ancient Egyptian cultural themes - pyramids and mummies and so on. In hindsight I would've left the word desert out completely

@ Ryan Naylor and Alhoon - I wasn't aware of the Amber Wastes, but that looks perfect. As you said, Har'Akir might be a bit too small and depopulated, but by incorporating Sebua and Pharazia to bulk it up a bit, that could work out nicely.

@ Gonzoron - So these Clusters (and I guess also the original Islands of Terror) cannot be physically entered in the same manner as say, walking from Barovia to Gundarak? Do I understand correctly that they are not true "islands" in the sense that one could navigate to them by boat, or fly by more exotic means (spell or griffon mount)? They are just smaller cores, locked away in a remote area of the demiplane, accessible only by the caprice of the mists? I already have a fair amount of teleportation involved in this scenario, I'd rather not introduce more. So I'm definitely leaning towards grafting it physically to the Core. I initially was just going to tack it on to the east of Arak, for the geographical reasons listed in the OP, but I really like your justification of making it east of Hazlan - going from a Turkish analogue to an Egypt analogue just feels.... right.

Alternately, in looking at Ryan's map on page 7 - the final completed map before GC changes - I'm thinking there's a nice space on the east side from southeastern Arak to northeastern Hazlan that could be utilized to fatten out the Core a bit. This addition would be a long and skinny domain, but maybe if I flip the Amber Wastes map from a west-to-east horizontal orientation into a north/south vertical one, I could plug it in there with a lot of fudging around. As mentioned previously, my players won't know the difference, so canon is largely unimportant here. In fact I'm probably going to shrink over-large Nova Vaasa by about a third, with Arak eating into its norther border and Hazlan into its southern.

@ Ewancummins - Thanks for the Kalidnay idea, but I purposely avoided this domain because my friends that will be playing this mod are Darksun familiar, and I don't want there to be cross-setting confusion. It's a good call though, as it certainly fits the geographic niche, and many of the NPC names have the right flavor. In fact, I might lift a few of those names and make slight variations to them (because I am lazy!), so thanks again for the suggestion.



On an only partially and abstractly related side note, if you had to classify G'Henna as a real world analogue, what would be the closest example? I've read a few small blurbs only on that domain and I just can't get a good cultural feel for it.