CHAPTER THREE: Deserts

allows you to add strange and wondrous variations on the basic terrain. The advanced traits
reflect magical and planar energies that can
serve to separate one desert from the rest.

Desert Sands
This trait allows you to substitute exotic materials for the typical desert sand. A wasteland
that develops on the site of a massive battle
might become an expansive field of powdered
bone. The desert around a mountain chain that
is riddled with portals to the plane of fire might
have shards of obsidian in place of sand. Other
deserts could consist of powdered gems, fine
dust that acts much like a watery ocean, or
grains crafted from various metals. Each trait
given under this header describes an alternate
desert material and the effect it has on the environment and characters who travel through it.

Ash

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In this type of desert, a mixture of finely powdered ash and thick chunks of debris replace
the sand. Formed in the aftermath of a fiery
cataclysm, volcanic eruption, or some other
great inferno, this desert presents a daunting

challenge to explorers. Fine particles of ash stir

at the slightest breeze, tainting the air with tiny
cinders and dust that can choke a traveler.
Within the ash desert, ruins of any civilizations
that occupied the land before they met their
fiery demise poke through the gray and black
landscape. While most of the buildings are little more than charred ruins, the basements and
passages beneath them may still hold treasures.
In many areas, these shelters have long since
been filled with ash and dust. Undead creatures, perhaps the spectral remains of those
who took shelter and starved to death in the disasters aftermath, jealously guard their riches.
The few open bodies of water that remain in the
area are hopelessly choked with ash, debris,
and other pollutants, rendering them unfit for
drinking. Fires may still burn in some areas,
especially if the disaster occurred in the recent
past.
The different levels of this trait represent the
increased danger of suffocation due to airborne
ash and debris. In addition, you can use the
rules for fiery hazards from Chapter 10s
description of wastelands for regions that are
still engulfed in flames.