Quick! You have 10 seconds to write an original hook for a campaign that takes place in a desert land (Arabia, Egypt, etc).
The PCs are German soldiers stationed in North Africa. They are camped out near a local village, and have been bartering for supplies. One night the PCs awake in their tent to the camp being burned and animalistic howls in the night. They grab their MP40s but find no one living in the camp, only dismembered corpses and bloody messages in a language they don't understand.
They meet the only other survivor, the legendary armor operator Erwin Rommel. Now the party must ride their tank across the desert as an ancient evil kicks off the apocalypse, finding any survivors they can to form a Wehrmacht and destroy the source of the evil, whatever it may be.
It's half war-game, armor versus big creatures, and most of the roleplay comes from convincing locals and Allied soldiers to join up/not murder you.
>>46348429
you are there to remove kebab
>A GREAT DESERT EMPEROR HAS BEEN KIDNAPPING VIRGIN PRINCESSES FROM OTHER KINGDOMS TO BE USED AS INTERNATIONAL LEVERAGE AND A SHOW OF HIS ESPIONAGE CAPABILITY. A TREATY WITH MULTIPLE SIGNATURES HAS BEEN DECREED, "BRING BACK OUR DAUGHTERS, AND YOU MAY MARRY ONE AND HAVE A PLACE OF OUR KINGDOM"
ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO ANSWER THE CALL AND GO ACROSS THE BIG BAD DESERT AND BRAVE IT'S EXOTIC DANGERS AND MAGICAL TORMENTS TO DO THAT?! FAME, FORTUNE, CONFIRMED ROYAL LINEAGE?!
OPERATION DESERT STORM: GO.
"As it turns out, gods are real and they're really angry. What made us think that we could have two sun gods, three water gods or nine sy gods and just go with the flow? Now our home is their battlefield."
The kingdoms of the continent are in great peril!
Desert orcs practicing a heretical religion have been immigrating into many more civilized kingdoms, under the pretense of a dark cult slowing conquering their home countries. However, many of those orcs could very well be infiltrators of that same dark cult... and indeed, the capital of one nation has already suffered a massacre from orcish infiltrators!
The dark cult's propaganda has been ensnaring the hearts and minds of the orcs who have already been living in the civilized kingdoms, turning them into sleeper agents!
The union of the civilized kingdoms squabbles internally and can formulate no solution.
It is up to the party to march into the dunes and take matters into their own hands!
Some ancient god king has transferred his soul into a book on the creation of sphinx golems, once the various parts (detailed in the book) are combined, and magic incantation spoken, the Golem becomes possessed by the spirit.
>>46348429
Someone is stealing all the sand!
Investigate a subterranean race emerging and collecting all the sand.
>>46348479
>original
>>46348616
She has pretty eyes.
>>46348429
A loosely tied army of barbarian groups are descending from the North to attack the cities states!
Will you be able to unite the cities despite rampant opportunism on their part or will you have to subdue them first?
Is negotiation possible with some of the invaders or is it a battle to death?
"Someone" is smuggling in opium into the land and making people addicted to it. In return for more this 'someone' asks for favours. It's actually a spy, causing civil unrest and acquiring assets for an impending crusade.
>>46348676
Sounds like real life
The local government has sold any and all water management/distribution rights to a large biotech firm from the US.
The biotech firm plans to use the water supply to perform human testing for their experimental new pharmaceuticals to save money in R&D
One of the local pencil pushers for the company overhears the execs discussing the plan going forward, grows a conscience and seeks out dudes and dudettes bad enough to take on the man and save the town.
>>46348748
Anon, please. As if anything that dark and that unnerving could happen in real life.
>>46348429
The desert is littered with monolithic crystals. They're pretty dangerous, as they crystallize any living thing that touches them. In reality, they grow as soon as they come into contact with moisture, spreading/replacing it with more crystals.They're a part of everyday life, until a massive stormcloud gathers above the desert. For the first time in centuries, it looks like it'll rain. A lot. This would call for celebration, if it wasn't for the fact that the downpour would allow for the entire desert to be covered in a lethal crystal glaze.Please get where I'm going with this, I suck in writing.
>>46348748
>>46348785
I heard that the orcs unleashed Delayed Blast Fireballs upon another major city in the civilized lands.
Is it true?
>>46348429
The Grand Sultan's palace is said to contain 1000 rooms. It sprawls across miles of sand and has an active population of hundreds of staff, ministers, and craftsmen. Whole wings of the palace feel more like villages. With areas for staff to sleep and find enjoyment. Some staff were born in the palace and have never seen the world outside. After a great earthquake giant holes were torn under the palace and a teeming Army of rat folk and their monstrous kin have swarmed up into the complex. Are you bad enough dude to invade your own Palace and rescue the sultan?
I have created an original setting:
A huge floating island in the sky, covered in sand. In the middle is the fortress that houses the crystal keeping the Island afloat, surrounded by monster and a huge sandstorm. The problem is that most people don't know that the crystal is what is keeping the island up, only that is produces a tremendous amount of energy and they are determined to take advantage of it.
The fortress is still inhabited by various servants of the Architect: golems, undead, fanatics, dragons, etc
The pic is the Island cut in half.
>>46348791
Very interesting. Is there any way of disposing of those crystals?
>>46348429
Ever since the great comet struck the earth and released eternal darkness upon the land, humans struggle to survive. Some make pacts with things from beyond the stars to make plants grow and drive their sand ships, others fall to cannibalism
>>46348463
This is great. Would run.
>>46348676
Ok if you can as orcs trying to fight the dark cult.
Can you save the heart of your fellow greenskin and push them toward a better future?
Maybe you can find allies in the civilized kingdoms, but beware: they are wary of your kind, and they have their own ambitions.
>>46348712
When you're forced to cover up every other facet of your body, you learn how to make the few parts you're allowed to expose look fantastic.
>>46348850
Updated pic.
For anyone asking, you can't dig and try to come through the side of the fortress: the wind between the rocks and the Fortress are fast enough to tear you to shreds and send you flying.
Going from the top wouldn't work either as the fortress make this huge sand vortex that blows away pretty much anything that tries to go through.
The rest of the Island is safe, but from time big sandstorms come up and you better find shelter.
>>46348676
MFW when anon is describing ISIS and the the immigration in Europe.
>>46348429
A great streak of light was seen in the night sky above the burning sands of The Anvil. The following weeks saw the massive increase of mutant life, spirits, elementals, and mana in the area surrounding the Anvil of the Sun. However, this has the effect of draining life and mana around the unaffected area. Your party is tasked by the Sheikhs of the area to investigate
You find that the source is a giant orb of burning plasma imbedded in the center of the desert, claiming it is the Son of Sun
>>46348915
I'm sure that subtle analogy had escape all ofzeropeople in the thread.
>>46348429
It may not be original, but "Adventures along the not-silk road" is still great.
>>46348429
A bomb doesn't go off.
>>46348727
8TH OF AUGUST 1192 BEST DAY OF MY LIFE
REMOVE KEBAB
>>46348820
SHUT UP ANON, IT'S JUST A STORY, AHHH.
>>46348429
Done.
>>46348850
>>46348905
Maybe freezing them turns the crystals into ice, which can be chipped off? Maybe a legendary alchemist has a solution? Or it has atypical properties when not in contact with direct sunlight?
And it's not as if ritualistic sacrifice has ever hurt anyone...
>>46348429
As is well known, O Caliph, the king of the Ifrit built a City of Brass in the Empty Quarter, where no man dwelleth. But long and long ago that city was deserted, and no man wot of where it could be found. Yet now, O Light of the Faith, caravan drovers tell of gleaming spires, uncovered by a sandstorm, by the oasis of al-Wabar. Send thy sagest and they bravest there, to learn its secrets and uncover its treasures! For indeed they would be a wonder to men, and a source of great wisdom.
A temple dedicated to the snake goddess has gone dark. It's located upon an important oasis, and its water supply is vital to the cross-desert trade route. The players could be employed by a merchant on the trade route, or perhaps by the sultan ruling the area.
>>46348429
Ancient Tomb Lords have arisen and are trying to cause the collapse of the living lands by overproducing cheap affordable housing, thereby undermining the living lands' property tax funded governments!
Are you a bad enough party to defeat not just 100,000 skeletons, but to also demolish 100s of highrise mudbrick towers?
>>46348429
There is assassination plot against The Last Tree, protect it.
>>46348429
The sand is sentient.
>>46349541
Fuck off Mark Gatiss, that episode was stupid and so are you.
A crazed wizard attempts to crash the moon into the sun.
>>46348429
The caravan's finally in town! However, so are all the murderhobos from across the world who either worked as guards or decided to travel with them for safety. Crime has spiked in your fair city; can you determine which murderhobos are truly responsible?
>>46349566
Hey fuck you, man, I had ten seconds to make that episode's prompt. What would you have done?
>>46349491
>Are you a bad enough party to defeat not just 100,000 skeletons, but to also demolish 100s of highrise mudbrick towers?
Would defect to the Tomb Lords immediately t b h
One of the PC's drinks the emperor. Shenanigans ensue.
>>46349512
Fuck Fury Road
>>46348463
I've been mulling something similar. I'm gonna just... drop this here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psylli
>Ancient Mysterious Snake loving peoples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia
>Libyan Goddess of Child Eating, who is half snek.
Also, demonblood makes a good source of POL's.
In anceint Ankheria the dead lie waiting for a signal that will never come. Before she could finalize the Grand Awakening the ruler of the cult of darkened water was slain and Ankheria died with her in the backlash, home to squatters and camels now.
So now in the depths of old Ankheria three hundred thousand mummified skeletal troops wait to be activated with the right incantation. The First Sons, hoping this vast army can win them their civil war against an upstart peasant rebellion have sent a crack team to uncover the the book of the dead and bring the ancient army to heel under new command. It'd probably be pretty bad if anyone actually got that army going. Maybe 3-6 heroes should step in.
Players are Crusaders in middle east to buy camels for their Crusading army as beasts of burden. Shenanigans happen!
>>46348429
THE SAND! IT'S EVERYWHERE! OH GOD EVEN IN MY EYES! WHAT IS THIS?! IT'S REACHING PLACES IT SHOULDN'T! IT'S LIKE IT'S CRAWLING! IS IT ALIVE?! OH GOD GET THE WATER! THIS ISN'T WATER! IT'S MORE SAND! IT'S INSIDE ME! IT'S EVERYWHERE!!!I tried.
>>46349491
Would it not be easier to revamp the tax structure than to kill the tomb lords and demolish the buildings?
When digging the pyramids they find runes of older pyramids
>>46350343
there's a smaller pyramid inside
Basically the plot to Rock the Kasbah.Shit, you said original.
>>46350206
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Hassan
Done.
>>46350389
>Rock the Kasbah Movie
>Not Rock the Casbah Song
>Not smuggling and distributing illegal music in the form of MK-ULTRA cassette tapes to cause a coup in line with your CIA masters
>Not Electric Camel Drums
>Not Jet Fighters Flying between Minirets
>Not Cadillacs
are we posting "hooks" or "plot summaries"?
while on a routine mission as scouts / caravan guides / whatever, your party sees a train of camels in the distance, heading along no known route.
when you draw near you find that the figures on the camels are all fresh corpses with no obvious cause of death and the camels are mindlessly following some remembered trail. clothing is odd and pouches contain strange goods never seen before.
>>46348429
The water gods have been long forgotten, but the desert people have thrived. Over the years, many of the oasises have dried up, and the populace of the deserts have declined. Who will bring back the water to the desert like the ancient water god myths?
Not sure if this is technically a hook, but...
The party arrives in a town situated in the desert, near to an oasis. The town has typically been able to cope with the high temperates but recently the heat has started to skyrocket, increasing past 30 degrees Celsius in the day all the way to 55 degrees Celsius, with no signs of stopping. The town witchdoctor/shaman/priest suggests the party investigate the nearby pyramids, as the number of mummies and undead coming from there has increased markedly to match the temperature increase and waves of negative energy have been detected.The nearby pyramid is home to a dry lich who has expanded his aura of drought and is channeling his magic into driving the nearby townsfolk away. His five canopic jars - his phylacteries - have been polymorphed into five beautiful women with fake memories who act as healers and nurses in the town. In order for the lich to be destroyed forever, the players must make a tough decision.
>>46348429
The mirages of unnatural oasis of the desert are actually fey groves, survivors of the same cataclysm which created the desert in the first place. Their defenders are desert elves to outsiders, and wild elves when at home.
You have to stop the citizens immigrating to a land of green hills and white wenches.
>>46348429
A plague is killing camels left and right, overland trade routes are becoming ridden with sand squalls, and the few bastions of civilization are crumbling away from the inability to trade for necessities.
Go.
>>46348756
I can dig this setting. Kind of like a "Paint The Town Red" but with more silk and sand.
An eccentric trading port has decided to build then breach a massive irrigation canal to create a moat in self defense, but discovers the desert is well below sea level, attracting a powerful alliance of interested merchant houses, princes, and scholars eager to wash away the desert with an inland sea steadily growing by the minute.
The nomads however become erratic. There are holdouts who refuse to take money and settle elsewhere, but not all speak of patria and heritage. Some claim the water will vivify dessicated and buried horrors, and warn of the men who wade into the false sea, and of things worse than men who wade back out.
>>46348429
"Arabian Noir", obscene tales of decadence and corruption that take place in the hookah dens and bustling markets of a desert metropolis.
>>46350838
Underrated
Every few years the four winds blow sand from all corners of the desert to converge on one, random point forming a massive and unstable sand dune the size of a mountain glittering with veins and flecks of gold dust and other fine, profitable minerals.
The five moving cities of the desert - tent cities that go up and come down at the whim of its masters - roam and clash with one another in search of this convergence point to be the first to claim and exploit its resources.
The party discovers the convergence point early, a ruined, massive spire only the tip of which is visible above the sand, only to be forced inside and trapped by the coming deadly sandstorm blowing in from all directions.
They're not alone, and bear witness to the secret behind the convergence.
>>46348429
The pharaoh has suddenly passed, but bandits have taken all the natron! Someone has to get it back, now!
The sand is being replaced with smooth slate, creeping slowly in on settlements
>>46348828
That scale seems a bit off. 1000 seems a rather low number for hundreds of people and village sized wings. 10,000 would work better.
The Sultan's daughter is a shapeshifted dragon mind-controlling him into believing he has a daughter.
He never had a daughter. Everyone knows and is terrified but can't do anything about it.
You are tasked with resolving this threat; but is it really a threat? What is the dragon hoping to accomplish? Investigate.
>>46351526
I just marry his daughter.
>>46348429
The mummy is a mommy.
The sun has fully set for the first time ever.
Hijinks ensue.
>>46348429
A desert civilization that has known nothing but dunes and the occasional oasis for the duration of it's existence suddenly finds itself seeing rain and wellsprings popping up left and right- while the sudden surge of water is seen as an initial welcomed turn of events, it begs a bigger question- where the fuck is all this water coming from?
The players embark on a journey to figure it out!
Yeah that's all I got stream of consciousness is a bitch
>>46352029
The Mummy Mommy want to know what became of her children, and has beseeched the party to travel to the four corners of the desert, collecting tales and stories of her children and her children's children and her children's children's children to bring back to her. For every bit of information the party brings back, the Mummy Mommy will give them something from the huge trove of treasure she was entombed with. Should they managed to track down a living descendant and convince them to meet the ancient Queen, the reward will be great indeed.
>>46352029
> You find a mummy in a secret chamber, surrounded by skeleton warriors.> They don't raise up.
The Devil's Dozen were hanged years ago. But even frontier justice couldn't keep the bad men down. Now they're worse than ever, the lust for gold replaced with a lust for blood, and someone's gotta put 'em in the ground for good.
>>46348429
ITT: An OP who can't make up his own story hooks
>>46348429
The sand is alive.
>>46352262
>where the fuck is all this water coming from?
Maybe even "Why isn't it stopping?"
>>46349217
why did I laugh
>>46351149
Shit, this one sounds fucking cool. I'm surprised nobody else noticed it. Good job Anon
>>46351237
>noir in the desert
>the PCs are stereotypical noir PIs trying to figure out why it's always dark and rainy in the desert
>>46348429
Somebody stole my pyramid.
And my camel.
The two are probably not related, but I will offer hand of a princess for anyone who will recover them. And find a single princess from mildly impoverished kingdom I suppose.
>>46348429
>IT'S FUCKING HOT AND YOUR CHARACTERS WANT OUT OF THIS SHITHOLE
Only took me 3 seconds. Time enough left over for a fap'n'nap.
>>46351237
>"Arabian Noir"
Wouldn't that really be something like Casablanca or diplomatic espionage in colonial Tangiers?
>>46354044
I was thinking pre-colonial. Intrigue on the silk road.
The desert is constantly shifting, uncovering ruins thought lost for hundreds of years and burying capital cities in a matter of months. You and your party travel to recently uncovered ruins, trying to decipher ancient wall-carvings and dealing with the magics unlocked by them.
>>46354088
"The souk that never sleeps. My name is Ahmed ibn Fadlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Rāshid ibn Hammad, private market inspector."
>>46348429
an ancient evil has awoken (in the desert)
>>46348429
Allahu Akbar.
>>46351392
And you have a time limit before he rots away?
A local cult has discovere an ancient ritual for bringing rain to the land. The local ruler hires players to stop the cult from performing the ritual so he can keep his monopoly on drinkable water.
>>46348429
Anubis is pissed off. Go find out why before he melts all the sand into glass.
>>46348429
>Its like Dune, but with more Dune and less everything else
It's 1974 and the earth has begun reclaiming her children one by one. Corpses, new or old, are being swallowed up by the sand, leaving behind only narrow pits that seem to go on forever. Even the pyramids, tombs for the ancient pharaohs and many a treasure hunter, have fallen into huge sinkholes. You and your party must find what is lurking beneath the crust.
>>46348429
The desert is flooding.
>>46348429
There have been an inordinate amount of attempted thefts in the market recently. many of the local men have had their hands removed, even though most of them claim they were innocent. They all seem to "happen" in the same area of the market, down by the potions dealer. In addition to these "thefts" from the market, you've heard some of your friends say that their valuables have turned up missing, as if someone had come in and taken them during the night, but no one was seen or heard entering their homes.
>>46348429
The sand is now bees. Are you a bad enough dude to stop the bee-mancer?
>>46348915
MFW you have no face and are still look stupid.
>>46348429
> There's this really, really big pyramid that's started leaking zombies out the front door. Go take care of it please.
Megadungeon campaign is go
>>46348676
>Desert orcs practicing a heretical religion have been immigrating into many more civilized kingdoms, under the pretense of a dark cult slowing conquering their home countries. However, many of those orcs could very well be infiltrators of that same dark cult... and indeed, the capital of one nation has already suffered a massacre from orcish infiltrators!
Wow anon, totally original post thereI assume at least two people will reply to this post calling me a cuck or asking me to go to some other website I don't hang out on, because original thoughts on /tg/ are so 2008.
Mummies stole the jewels.
Go get em' back.
>>46348429
>call for a new crusade is issued
>PCs are all crusaders going around removing kebab
>>46356510
>muslin
Obscure Desert mythology quest?
Come to think of it I've never seen Egyptian myth based stuff before beyond your obligatory mummies and Ra.
Let's get some Pharoah-appointed magicians teaming up with Jewish Theurges armed with the plagues and Hellenistic warriors to take back Kemet from the minions of Apophis
>>46348429
The party has set out on crusade, and found itself as the last group to arrive at the holiest city. As they enter Jerusalem, they find it in the midst of a battle, the walls breached, and the Crusaders fighting against the Arabs. The party is ushered into the holy Sepulchre, and are given holy Relics, to take to Antioch, away from the oncoming hordes.
As they flee the city, it is overtaken by a force unknown to the crusaders, and dreaded by the Arabs, a demonic host. They flee to Antioch, to find it also under siege. After a few sessions of fighting to save the city, the receive more relics, and escape the city, fleeing to Constantinople. Cue a few sessions of holding the walls of the city, alongside the fleeing Arabs, against the oncoming Demonic hordes.
The city falls, and the heroes flee, carrying yet more relics, and the crowns of the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem and Constantinople. They are led to Alexandria, a holdout against the Demonic hordes. They enter the city and are hailed as heroes, granted yet more relics. At this point they should be pretty blinged up, and leading a massive group of crusaders and Byzantines and so forth. They lead the defense of Alexandria, and manage to hold off the Demons long enough to flee with the Patriarch.
Cue a long soliloquy about them seeing the flames of Europe as they cross into the Red Sea, as Spain falls, Italy falls, and the hordes sweep in. Rome is lost, and a great beacon of light is cast down upon the seat of Peter, guiding the heroes along their path, to the south.
The party leads a crusade of refugees, the last of Christendom as far as they know, and depending on their choices, the last of the Islamic World too. They flee to the south, through the mountainous desert, to the last place, the last Bastion from which Europe may be retaken. Relics in tow, they head into the arid mountains, to the Kingdom of Prester John.
A wooden sarcophagus is wheeled into early Cairo and placed in the middle of the plaza by a tall, bald brute. He says nothing as he places it in the middle of the plaza. The coffin is simple and worn, with eyeholes carved into the head.
Within minutes, a crowd begins to gather around the unmoving man and his load. He scans the audience once, and apparently seeing a satisfying number, gently knocks on the cover of the coffin.
The sarcophagus creaks open and a tan, young man walks out. With a lisp, he begins
"This sarcophagus is my boon. Gifted unto me on the day of my maturation, it has a unique property. Whoever steps inside is immortal. They will not age for as long as they stay in the sarcophagus. I am 24 years and 4 months of age, but I have seen over 400 years of history. Now, it is my duty to give it to you. I will make a gift of this sarcophagus to one person in this town. It's your job to be that person."
>>46353848
Because it's fucking Atomic Robo, that's why.
It's even better in the full comic; he receives that call literally right after a friend of his dies. The mood whiplash is fantastic.
Sandstorm reveals an ancient city, ancient city seems to be in pristine condition even after being under the dynes for centuries / several millenia.
