Master of the Desert Nomads
Encyclopedia
Master of the Desert Nomads is a Dungeons & Dragons
adventure module designed by David Cook
for use with the Expert D&D set
.
This is the first part of a two-part adventure, with Temple of Death
being the second part.
Tribes of nomad raiders from the Great Waste have begun sacking town, prompting the governor of the Republic to send out a call for help to fight these nomads. When the party joins the reserves to meet the main army at a recently-liberated village, they discover signs of the nomads and camp there for several days.
At the beginning of the mission, the player characters must use stealth to find out more about the Master of these nomads, and report back to those who hired the party.
, with art by Tim Truman, and was published by TSR in 1983 as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder. This module was the first in the "Desert Nomads" series.
No. 71. Swan felt that "Not only does Master of the Desert Nomads provide welcome relief from the tedious dungeon exploration all too common in TSR D&D modules, it's a genuine epic in every sense of the word." He complemented the encounters, saying they are "not only exciting in themselves, they also provide alert players clues and insights about the Master and his evil secrets," and that "the DM will have no problem keeping track of the action". He calls the ending "somewhat of a cheat," because the characters never encounter the Master in this adventure, and felt that "the entire module is really just a prologue" to Temple of Death
and "it isn't very satisfying just played by itself". He concluded by saying that, "Taken together, the Desert Nomad series is one of the most imaginative and exciting adventures produced by TSR in quite a while."
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
adventure module designed by David Cook
David Cook (game designer)
David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years.-Early life:...
for use with the Expert D&D set
Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set
The Expert Set is an expansion boxed set for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was first published in 1981 as an expansion to the Basic Set.-1981 printing:The D&D Basic Set saw a major revision in 1981 by Tom Moldvay...
.
This is the first part of a two-part adventure, with Temple of Death
Temple of Death
Temple of Death is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module designed by David Cook for use with the D&D Expert Set.-Plot summary:In Master of the Desert Nomads, the nomad tribes of Sind Desert have rallied together under the leadership of the enigmatic figure known as the Master, and it is the mission...
being the second part.
Plot summary
In this scenario, the adventurers follow a river and cross the desert to find an evil abbey. The adventure details a number of wilderness encounters.Tribes of nomad raiders from the Great Waste have begun sacking town, prompting the governor of the Republic to send out a call for help to fight these nomads. When the party joins the reserves to meet the main army at a recently-liberated village, they discover signs of the nomads and camp there for several days.
At the beginning of the mission, the player characters must use stealth to find out more about the Master of these nomads, and report back to those who hired the party.
Publication history
X4 Master of the Desert Nomads was written by David CookDavid Cook (game designer)
David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years.-Early life:...
, with art by Tim Truman, and was published by TSR in 1983 as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder. This module was the first in the "Desert Nomads" series.
Reception
Rick Swan reviewed the adventure in The Space GamerThe Space Gamer
The Space Gamer was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 70s through the mid-80s...
No. 71. Swan felt that "Not only does Master of the Desert Nomads provide welcome relief from the tedious dungeon exploration all too common in TSR D&D modules, it's a genuine epic in every sense of the word." He complemented the encounters, saying they are "not only exciting in themselves, they also provide alert players clues and insights about the Master and his evil secrets," and that "the DM will have no problem keeping track of the action". He calls the ending "somewhat of a cheat," because the characters never encounter the Master in this adventure, and felt that "the entire module is really just a prologue" to Temple of Death
Temple of Death
Temple of Death is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module designed by David Cook for use with the D&D Expert Set.-Plot summary:In Master of the Desert Nomads, the nomad tribes of Sind Desert have rallied together under the leadership of the enigmatic figure known as the Master, and it is the mission...
and "it isn't very satisfying just played by itself". He concluded by saying that, "Taken together, the Desert Nomad series is one of the most imaginative and exciting adventures produced by TSR in quite a while."