Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 BOZ Mar 11, 2005 15:47:45	what sort of creatures would you expect to find in the deserts (or any arid, dry land) of the world of greyhawk? i'm looking especially for things as yet unconverted to 3E.
#2 mortellan Mar 12, 2005 4:15:38	I am fairly sure most of the desert monsters of Oerth have been covered. Maybe not the Firenewt. I am sure you have heard about the upcoming Sandstorm desert supplement. If its anything like Frostburn it should be packed with desert goodness! :D what sort of creatures would you expect to find in the deserts (or any arid, dry land) of the world of greyhawk? i'm looking especially for things as yet unconverted to 3E.
#3 i-m_batman_dup Mar 12, 2005 7:41:55	...the Firenewt. "Firenewt?" In the desert? The firenewt is in Monsters of Faerun, but it's terrain type is Warm Mountains. (The giant strider is in there too.)
#4 mortellan Mar 13, 2005 2:55:13	Monsters of Faerun, heh. The 83' GH Guide has Firenewts in the encounter charts for the Sea of dust near the Hellfurnaces.
#5 darva Mar 13, 2005 21:58:43	This link might be of interest to you Far Corners of the World: Sand & Sun: Monsters of the Desert
#6 Greyson Mar 13, 2005 22:28:58	I also recommend investing in Rary the Traitor. It is Greyhawk specific and details denizens of the Bright Desert. I think it is a great resource for your what you seem to looking for, BOZ. From WGR3 Rary the Traitor, TSR 9386, 1992: Desert Centaur (HD 5; THAC0 14; AC 5) Manscorpion (HD 8; THAC0 13; AC 1) Monarch Scorpion (HD8+8; THAC0 13; AC 2) Plus, it comes with a pretty cool map of the Bright Desert. Anyway, I hope this helps.
#7 BOZ Mar 14, 2005 12:24:48	thanks Greyson. i'm told that the desert centaur was featured in a recent Greyhawk-related feature in Dungeon magazine. but the manscorpion at least should still be available.
#8 cwslyclgh Mar 14, 2005 12:53:59	The manscorpion, under the name of "stinger" was redone in Monsters of Faerun.
#9 Mortepierre Mar 14, 2005 14:40:03	Due to the cover of Sandstorm, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new version of it in that book... On a side note, I wouldn't mind finding some stats for the riding lizard Gord and his companions used when they left the Forgotten City (in Sea of Death)
#10 cwslyclgh Mar 14, 2005 14:45:48	Due to the cover of Sandstorm, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new version of it in that book... I would be... that thing on the cover looks like a scorpion with a weird head, not like a humaniod scorpion centaur thing... plus there is nothing of the sort in the sandstorm art gallery, although there is a scorpion thing with a weird head in the art gallery...
#11 i-m_batman_dup Mar 14, 2005 17:14:48	Monsters of Faerun, heh. The 83' GH Guide has Firenewts in the encounter charts for the Sea of dust near the Hellfurnaces. I guess to a Faerunian, those are Warm Mountains. ;) Desert Centaur (HD 5; THAC0 14; AC 5) Manscorpion (HD 8; THAC0 13; AC 1) Monarch Scorpion (HD8+8; THAC0 13; AC 2) I too was going to suggest the Manscorpion until I saw the Stinger in MoF. I believe the Stinger was used in at least one Living Greyhawk scenario (The Future's Bright) in the Bright Desert. The Stinger only has 4 HD though (why? ) so an up-scaled "previous edition version" might be handy to have.
#12 cwslyclgh Mar 14, 2005 18:58:36	many creatures had thier HD changed between editions :::shrug:::
#13 cwslyclgh Mar 14, 2005 19:01:16	for a more powerful manscorpion you can do what I do in my GH game and use the Scorpionfolk from MM2 (based upon the Sandmasker from the creature collection by Sword and Sorcerery). I use them instead of stingers because I want my manscorpions a bit more powerful, and to have some magical abilities.
#14 zombiegleemax Mar 20, 2005 11:43:44	I would like to mention the Vampire cactus from the First edition sourcebook Greyhawk Adventures. While it is not a powerful monster I thought you might find it interesting.
#15 BOZ Mar 21, 2005 12:26:59	thanks, i had the vampire cactus in mind.
#16 gv_dammerung Mar 21, 2005 14:47:18	This past weekend I got the latest in the "environmental series" from Wotc. Don't look for help there. Following on the heels of the fantastic Frostburn (which was a generally fine product and had good use of Greyhawk material for a "default" product), I was really looking forward to Sandstorm. Well, Sandstorm blows. It is nowhere near as good as Frostburn. Use of GH material is almost nonexistent. The PrCs use the new "expanded" format, which means there are fewer PrCs and those there are have lots of fluffy, useless filler; the PrCs in Sandstorm generally suck in any case. Not all monsters are illustrated. None of the deity entries are illustrated. The basic concept is even flawed. Where Frostburn covered cold climates, Sandstorm covers its own sandy invention - The Waste. What a perfect description of this product.
#17 mortellan Mar 22, 2005 0:40:06	Yeah, I got sandstorm today. It's pretty much like GVD says. Pity, I expected more from a Bruce Cordell work. I guess he wasn't the primary author of the three listed.
#18 BOZ Mar 22, 2005 9:05:33	hmm. too bad.
#19 omote Mar 22, 2005 11:39:04	I picked up SANDSTORM the other day. While I agree that it is not anywhere naer as good as FROSTBURN, SANDSTORM does have some good stuff in it. I think one of the big problems is that SANDSTORM is not as aesthetically pleasing as it could have been. There are lots of pages with nothing but text. However, I do think that there is good infomration contained in there, especially the first 30 or so pages. The descriptions of the varosu types of "waste" enviroments is good. I think that these pages are especially valid for GH (Bright Desert, and the Seas of Dust). For the Sea of Dust region I really think the "magical waste enviroments" presented in SANDSTORM are pertinent. OVerall the PrCs don't interest me, and the dieties are not very well done, and the equipment section seems lacking. Not much GH content there. The magic section can be mined for some cool spells and useful magic items, and even a few monsters for desert encounters. Overall SANDSTORM is not the best it could have been, but it's not a complete waste (IMO) that GVD and others have said. I say at worst, check it out for yourself. ......................................Omote FPQ