Death slithers across the Dunes. Nightmares of desert horrors trouble the dreams of the innocent while raiders grow ever bolder beyond the walls of the great city-state of Tyr. Bandits and merchants chase rumors of a temple hidden in the desert, an ancient shrine to the primordial Ul-Artha said to safeguard a fragment of the artifact known as the Crown of Dust. Can the heroes recover a caravan lost in the wastes, repel the threat of vicious raiders, and win the relic form the perilous temple? Now that Tyr is free of Kalak the Sorcerer-King, opportunity abounds in the city and the surrounding wastes. But some see Kalak's fall as the beginning of Tyr's end, and the unpatrolled deserts nearby are rife with danger. Outlaws openly defy the city's Revolutionary Council and threaten outlying holdings. If Tyr is to thrive, heroes must arise to tame the lawlessness and evil that threatens the free city.

The Raiders’ Hideout is a series of underground chambers (or perhaps the interior of a pyramid) that serves as a base of operations for a band of gnoll desert raiders. The PCs have come to exact a measure of justice for recent brutal caravan raids. They’ve tracked the gnolls to their lair, where they intend to end the threat to desert trade once and for all. Pgs. 30-35

Summoned from across the multiverse, a small group of heroes must enter an ancient pyramid and prevent the Elder God Nyarlathotep's return to power. A Lovecraft-themed oneshot.

Tired and sore, you struggle over the burning sands toward the long-forgotten city. Will you reach the place in time to save yourselves from the evil efreeti? The sun beats down, making your wounds stiff and worsening the constant thirst that plagues anyone who travels these waterless wastes. But there is hope - are those the ruins over there? In the midst of broken columns and bits of rubble stands a huge statue. This is the place! You've found it at last. Gratefully, you sink onto the sand. But there is no time to lose. You must hurry. So with a quavering voice you say the magic words. And then you wait... A hush falls over the ruins, making the back of your neck prickle. Then, out of the east, a wind rises, gentle at first but quickly growing stronger and wilder, until it tears at your clothes and nearly lifts you off your feet. The once clear sky is choked with white and grey clouds that clash and boil. As the clouds blacken day turns to night. Lightning flashes followed by a menacing growl of thunder. You are beginning to wonder if you should seek shelter, when all of a sudden there is a blinding crash and a bolt of lightning reduces the statue to dust. For a moment, silence. The, out of the statue's remains, soars a blue flame. Its roar deafens you as higher and higher it climbs, until it seems about to reach the clouds. Just when you think it can grow no larger, its shape begins to change. The edges billow and soften, their roar lessens, and before your eyes materializes a gigantic blue man. This adventure can be played alone or as the second part of the Desert of Desolation series. For characters level 6-8. TSR 9053

Captured! While trekking across a trackless wasteland, your stalwart band has fallen into the clutches of a nefarious gang of desert raiders. Imprisoned in a subterranean chamber, you are bereft of all of your equipment and magic items, save for a few tattered loincloths. But as chance would have it, an opportunity to escape the cell presents itself. To escape, you must head deeper into an ancient sealed tomb, armed with nothing but your wits and anything you can find along the way. Getting to the surface is just one of many challenges, as you still need to recover your precious equipment, and flee the Lost Oasis, which is surrounded by an inhospitable sea of solid glass!

Once, the Tribe of Altair roamed the sands, free as the great eagle on the wind. Now, caged by an evil mage, these desert riders yearn for their lost freedom. But fate takes a hand as a noble djinn seeks to fulfill an ancient wish... In this unusual three-part scenario, players first take the roles of the men of the tribe, who stage a revolt after being enslaved in the Pit of the Laughing Efreeti and then try to battle their way to freedom. In the second part, the PCs are the women of the tribe, who must escape the evil flame mage's harem and use all their wits to win free of a strange city. Finally, the children of the tribe have to slip away from an evil temple before they can be sacrificed, which calls for them to embark on a magic carpet ride that promises to be the adventure of their lifetimes. TSR 9584

An oasis exploration and lava-filled obsidian dungeon crawl for 4-5 players of 5th to 6th level. Battle elemental evils, save captured sandworms, claim unique elemental magic items. A malevolent and ancient elemental lies imprisoned within a lava-filled obsidian cavern. Explore the hidden passages before his shackles break and havoc is unleashed upon the nearby oasis! 10 pages of oasis exploration and lava-filled dungeon peril! Statblocks for the life-cycle of desert sandworms, plus three unique elemental magic items like "Summer's Bane" - an armlet of compacted ice that grants the wielder a magical bow, and the "Embershard" - a dagger made from the jawbone of a red dragon that imbues the wielder with elemental magics. Run the adventure your way - drop the PCs off at the dungeon entrance and explore the perlious cavern, or let them cavort in the oasis before uncovering the lingering threat. We hope you enjoy the desert oasis and obsidian-carved dungeon crawl from the Heart of Arcana.

A short Dungeon in the Desert for 3rd Level Characters. There is a secret in the desert that must not be discovered, and a gang of tomb-robbers are going to find it. Chase them through the dungeon and stop them. Of course, they almost found the secret. It couldn't be too much work for you to find it now... Unshifted Sands is a short adventure built around a tomb in the desert, designed to be played in 4-5 hours. VTT Maps Included.

Legend tells of a long-dead empire of sphinxes, ruled over for millennia by a great queen named Ankharet. She fell into darkness and her empire was shattered, as her subjects rebelled and cast her down. Unable to kill her, it is said that they bound her with great magic and buried her in a tomb, to wait for the foretold heroes who would be able to slay her and end her evil forever. Their empire in ashes, the sphinxes scattered to roam the world in bitter freedom, save a single great androsphinx. On the edge of the mysterious Barren Hills, between the mountains and the Great Desert, there is a gigantic statue of a crowned gynosphinx, ancient beyond reckoning. At its feet, a great androsphinx known as Khubsheth the Prophet has dispensed counsel and prophecy to all who come to him for longer than mortal records can tell. The heroes have come to visit Khubsheth, whether for counsel, prophecy or out of curiosity, but as soon as he lays eyes on them, he attacks! Upon his defeat, he tells them that they are the heroes foretold by the legend of Ankharet. Ankharet ruled over a long-dead empire of sphinxes, but she fell into darkness. Her subjects rebelled and cast her down, but were unable to kill her. It is said that they bound her with great magic and buried her in a tomb, to wait for the foretold heroes who would be able to slay her and end her evil forever. Kubsheth the Prophet tells the heroes that they must enter the tomb of the long-dead sphinx queen, kill her, and destroy her cursed crown, an artifact of tremendously evil power. As his blood seeps into the sands, a doorway opens at the base of the statue, leading down into darkness…

When the Purple Planet began its slow decline, factions arose to vie for the final resources of the dying world. In the days of the Last Wars, the Ascendant Masters used their knowledge of cybernetics and genetic engineering to create increasingly powerful and grotesque biological weapons. One such weapon was Sotark the Destroyer of the long lost House Memniscene. Damaged and placed in a cryogenic regeneration capsule, Sotark has slept away the ages while the House above him eroded away under the weirdling sun. Over time, the capsule has failed, but still Sotark sleeps on, diminished, but not destroyed.

To arms! To arms! The battle lines are drawn as desert men and inhuman tribes wait poised to strike on the fertile and rich lands of the east. The call has gone out through the civilized lands. The armies have been raised to match the invading foes from the west. Nobles and peasants have joined swords to greet the foes. But Fate or Chance has decreed another role for a small few. No glorious banners will wave on their march. No squadrons of knights will charge at their word. Instead, they will fight the war with stealth, secrecy, and cunning. The risks they will take are great, but the fates of both armies lie with them. It begins one night for your party far from the fighting. Suddenly you are entrusted with the most dangerous mission of the war. Can you cross the Sind Desert, occupied now by enemy armies, to find the Great Pass? Can you find the one known only as The Master? What will you do if you find him? So begins your adventure in The Master of the Desert Nomads, the first module of a two-part adventure that can be concluded in the exciting Temple of Death or played entirely on its own. Can your party do what must be done? TSR 9068

You have been sent to watch over the destruction of an ancient artifact by your liege, but arrive to find the temple sacked and the item missing. You and the other abassadors must take the famed Pick of Zander across the Kamula Wastelands. There you must track down the agents of evil and, if possible, destroy the artifact...time to earn your hero status!

The PCs find themselves besieged by marauding elves in a wilderness trading outpost. Can they organize a defense of Outpost Three against the elves and their sinister allies—and figure out why the elves attack night after night? Pgs. 32-50

Introductory adventure for Dark Sun, included in the original box set. PCs start on a slave caravan but are freed when it is attacked. With limited equipment and water, they must cross the desert to an oasis then save a druid. As with many Dark Sun adventures, uses a flip book providing 24 maps and illustrations for players. Combines combat encounters with survival encounters, where the treasure may just be food or enough water for another day.

You find yourself in the burning wastelands of Har'Akir - where nothing is as it seems. The desert is a powerful foe, but in Har'Akir an ancient evil is awakening and the desert will be the least of your worries. As withered hands cast off ancient shrouds, little can save you from their touch of death. TSR 9338

INTRODUCTION Some say the world is dying. Others say the desert is growing. In either case, merchants and princes always desire new ways to cross the Great Sand Sea. Today, someone has found a way to fly over it. Who will tempt fate and join the maiden voyage of the Desert Angel? No one knows what dangers or treasure have lain hidden in the heart of the desert for all these eons. If you survive, you will be the first. ONE-SHOT This adventure is intended as a one-shot, but it can easily be inserted into a campaign. Any time your players wish to travel to a distant city, you can simply say there is a large desert in their way, but luckily there is a new flying ship they can travel on. Good luck with that! DESIGN NOTES This adventure is intended for low-level characters (1-3). It is primarily geared for social encounters and combat. It runs 2 to 5 hours. Players ride a flying ship across the desert. Monsters attack. Passengers plot treachery. Mysterious locations appear. You can keep the tone serious or play up this ridiculous sequence of disasters for laughs.

Tyr has been freed, and the mighty army of Urik has been turned back. These are new and strange times, indeed. Now Urik has become home - at least for a while - and there are new markets to shop, new streets to explore, and, oh yes, preservers to meet. Preservers, the keepers of good magic, have sent a mysterious summons. They are ready to embark on a new and dangerous plot to thwart sorcerer-kings and bring new life to Athas. To associate with preservers is dangerous to say the least, but when the king's templars uncover the schemes, a death mark falls upon all involved Will a desperate journey across the wastelands, with the templars in hot pursuit, end in victory or chaos? The answers lie in the hearts of mighty heroes and the resources of Arcane Shadows. In this adventure, the PCs find themselves in Urik, perhaps as a result of the war between Tyr and Urik that took place in Road to Urik. There, they become involved in a ritual meant to help a nascent Avangion (a very powerful wizard/psion of a generally benign type) reach the next stage of its development, but the ritual is interrupted by Urik's templars. The Avangion-to-be is left in a cocoon, and the PCs are tasked with bringing it to a new location in the wilderness where the ritual can be completed. They need to get the cocoon to the ritual location before it's too late, while evading pursuit as well as dealing with any wilderness dangers on the way, plus the evil machinations of a raiding tribe seeking the wizard for their own dark purposes. The adventure is fairly rail-roaded with a series of set encounters between points A and B. Like other Dark Sun adventures, it comes with a set of handouts. Unlike the previous adventures in the series, Arcane Shadows is not tied to the Prism Pentad novel series, nor is it really tied to the previous adventures. You can easily play it as a stand-alone without affecting the earlier ones. TSR 2410

Wanderers emerge out of the desert in the dead of night, bending low against the driving sandstorm. They are adventurers, heroes whose tale has yet to begin. And they are in trouble. For he last three days, a raging sandstorm has harried you. Your faces and hands are rubbed raw by the driving sand. Worse, not once has the sun risen in that time: 3 days worth of unbroken night. Finally, something rises out of the yellow-black haze. A massive structure, outlined in moonlight. The heroes are TRAPPED in a cursed land, harried by sandstorms. They stumble apon a ruined city and a DARK TOMB that lies beneath. Can they find a way to escape this land? Or are they doomed to be drowned in the SORROW OF THE SAND LORD?

In the deep desert lies the dead city of Yumar, the source of countless bizarre rumors. Was it destroyed by a demonic metal sphere? Did it sink into a pit of acid? Were its people transformed into cursed beasts? Is it ruled by vicious thieves or mad nuns? In fact, the only thing stranger than what happened to Yumar a century ago is what will happen a few days from now... ADVENTURE TYPE: Medium Sandbox City / Ruin DESIGN NOTES: This adventure is intended for characters levels 5 to 8. It includes a ruined city, shrine, wizard tower, menagerie, several factions, and the surrounding wilderness. Each area contains various encounters and unique items. There are many opportunities for combat, but it is possible for players to explore most areas and complete many interactions without any combat at all, depending on their choices. INCLUDES: Story hooks, dialogue prompts, random encounters, factions, illustrations, stat blocks, original creatures and treasures, and overview maps. KEYWORDS: city, ruin, celestial, angel, dwarf, dwarves, miner, thief, thieves, cleric, nun, shrine, adamant, adamantine, lycanthropy, mind control, nightmare, mutation, mutant, wizard tower, menagerie, body horror

"Ambush at Boxcar Rocks" is a two hour adventure for character level 1-3 (3-6 players) but is easily adapted to challenge higher level PCs by adjusting the spawn rate and the spawn limit. It features one hand-drawn, color map. It can be run as a brutal oneshot gauntlet or a quick side quest to pad the players purses. Deep within the labyrinth of massive, glacier deposited rocks there is a natural cave once used for interring the dead. Now the bones of the pit within stir because of a foolish neophyte. A listless, blood thirsty horde tramples toward daylight and nothing will remain in their wake...