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Cacao desert

Environments Designed by Nandino • Art by Nandino

At a glance

Tier
2
Type
Exploration
Difficulty
14
Impulses
Crave suger Erode everything No escaping the dust

Environment overview

A vast light-brown coloured desert of cacao powder. Winds taste bitter as it carries particles of old chocolate made structures that have eroded over time.

Potential adversaries

Orcish bandits Traveling merchant Giant Scorpion Acid Burrower

Features

Passives

passive
  • Cooking: All sweat, no sweet

    -When a PC want to search for blooms it cost 3 Hope.
    -In the barren cacao desert every sweet gathered bloom changes to a bitter (d8) ingredient because of the cacao powder.
    -Because of the food scarcity the total meal rating points are (equally) divided amongst all PC's.

    Questions
    • How does this change the perspective on food with a sweet taste?
  • I don't like cacao sand

    Environmental effect: This cacao desert is the area in the Plover Caves with the most exogenic forces. Environmental move (d4):
    1. Beasts: The desert is populated by individual groups of adversaries that help the desert erode all live to survive. Encounter table (d4):
    1= Swarm of rats (d4) gnaw on the bones of a giant creature
    2= Red ooze (d4) + Battle Box symbiosis trap causes the PC's to see a oasis
    3= Giant scorpions (d4) surround the party
    4= A Minor Fire Elemental is fighting a Acid Burrower

    2. An orcish scout group finds the party. They ask what your business is in Elmore and want to check you for sweet ingredients.

    3. You find a wandering trader that sells you anything for a sweet ingredient.

    4. The party stumbles upon a old dwarven ruin with treasure inside of it

    Questions
    • How have these beasts evolved in this desert environment?
    • What business do the Orcs have in the desert? What would be the goal of their clan?
    • What could the wandering trader know that would help the party understand this environment?
    • What purpose could this structure have had during the Great era of the Dwarfs?

Actions

action
  • Cacao storm ahead!
    Fear 1

    A large cacao storm is on its way to the party. PC's need to search for shelter to wait for the storm to pass. Dynamic Countdown (8) For every action roll inside the cacao storm PC's mark a stress. [Ask for an action roll to see if they can scout it ahead and gain a head start]

    Questions
    • Where could you find a good enough place to take shelter?
    • What does the bitter taste of the cacao remind you of?

Reactions

reaction
  • Smell travels far...

    When the PC's cook a meal, they need to think about the plan to cover up the smell of their dish. The PC's will make a group roll (15 to beat), the narrations a the solution can give advantage or disadvantage.

    Questions
    • Which ingredients would give of a strong smell?
    • What or who could pick up the meal's scent distributed by the winds?

About this environment

The Cacao Desert is a dry and bitter area of the Plover Caves where its inhabitants have only one thing on their minds: tasting and gathering sweet flavours. During the Dwarven era, this environment used to be subtropical. The dwarves discovered that adding cacao to their concrete mixture caused their buildings to recrystallize whenever they got wet. After it stopped raining for mysterious reasons, the buildings started to erode due to heavy winds. The dwarves abandoned their home, and their structures broke down bit by bit. Thousands of years of heavy wind erosion have turned the once-robust dwarven structures into ruins surrounded by bitter, light brown cacao sand.

-What wondrous structures can still be found in the area?
-What will happen if the rain returns?

Personal note:
I run this environment as a large open area in the Plover Caves. Each one of my environments is based on one of the deadly sins, in this case: lust (for sugar and sweet ingredients). I run nomadic Orcish clans as the main group that inhabits this area. All names of NPCs or locations are chocolate/sugar puns (Ruins of Bain-Marie, Orc chief Mihl-Kha, wandering traders Jerry & Ben).

Cacao desert

Tier 2 Exploration

A vast light-brown coloured desert of cacao powder. Winds taste bitter as it carries particles of old chocolate made structures that have eroded over time.

Impulses: Crave suger, Erode everything, No escaping the dust

Difficulty: 14

Potential Adversaries: Orcish bandits, Traveling merchant, Giant Scorpion, Acid Burrower

Features

Cooking: All sweat, no sweet - Passive: -When a PC want to search for blooms it cost 3 Hope. -In the barren cacao desert every sweet gathered bloom changes to a bitter (d8) ingredient because of the cacao powder. -Because of the food scarcity the total meal rating points are (equally) divided amongst all PC's.
  1. How does this change the perspective on food with a sweet taste?
I don't like cacao sand - Passive: Environmental effect: This cacao desert is the area in the Plover Caves with the most exogenic forces. Environmental move (d4): 1. Beasts: The desert is populated by individual groups of adversaries that help the desert erode all live to survive. Encounter table (d4): 1= Swarm of rats (d4) gnaw on the bones of a giant creature 2= Red ooze (d4) + Battle Box symbiosis trap causes the PC's to see a oasis 3= Giant scorpions (d4) surround the party 4= A Minor Fire Elemental is fighting a Acid Burrower 2. An orcish scout group finds the party. They ask what your business is in Elmore and want to check you for sweet ingredients. 3. You find a wandering trader that sells you anything for a sweet ingredient. 4. The party stumbles upon a old dwarven ruin with treasure inside of it
  1. How have these beasts evolved in this desert environment?
  2. What business do the Orcs have in the desert? What would be the goal of their clan?
  3. What could the wandering trader know that would help the party understand this environment?
  4. What purpose could this structure have had during the Great era of the Dwarfs?
Cacao storm ahead! - Action: A large cacao storm is on its way to the party. PC's need to search for shelter to wait for the storm to pass. Dynamic Countdown (8) For every action roll inside the cacao storm PC's mark a stress. [Ask for an action roll to see if they can scout it ahead and gain a head start]
  1. Where could you find a good enough place to take shelter?
  2. What does the bitter taste of the cacao remind you of?
Smell travels far... - Reaction: When the PC's cook a meal, they need to think about the plan to cover up the smell of their dish. The PC's will make a group roll (15 to beat), the narrations a the solution can give advantage or disadvantage.
  1. Which ingredients would give of a strong smell?
  2. What or who could pick up the meal's scent distributed by the winds?

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