Publication:Oasis of the White Palm

[  Oasis of the White Palm]

System: Dungeons and Dragons 1e Levels: 5 – 13  Author: Tracy & Laura Hickman  Publisher: TSR  Publication Date: 1983  Format: Paperback  Page Count: 32

Product Blurb 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. This text is quoted from promotion material. Text and images are copyrighted by the original publisher.

Plot Summary

In Oasis of the White Palm, the PCs arrive at the Oasis of the White Palm, which is on the brink of turmoil. Shadalah, who is to be the bride of the sheikh's eldest son, has been kidnapped. The sheikh believes her to be held by his enemies somewhere in the oasis. The PCs must solve the mystery before they can progress further. Once the characters make the contacts they need at the oasis, they continue to the temple of Set and the crypt of Badr al-Mosak, and the adventure concludes in the city of Phoenix; there, the PCs must obtain the three Star Gems (the one from Amun-Re's tomb in the previous adventure and two more introduced here) and free the djinni if they plan to move on to the next module. The Oasis of the White Palm module contains wilderness maps, and also includes a number of smaller adventures.

Publication History

In 1977, Tracy Hickman (co-creator of the Dragonlance campaign setting) and Laura Hickman were married. Soon after, while living in Provo, Utah, they wrote the adventures Pharaoh and Ravenloft. The Hickmans decided to privately publish the first two adventures they had designed together, Rahasia and Pharaoh, which earned them a reputation on a local level. Pharaoh was published as part of the "Night Ventures" line of scenarios in 1980, by DayStar West Media Productions, as a sixty-eight-page book.:172 However, disaster struck when Tracy went into business with an associate who went bad, leaving the Hickmans to cover thirty-thousand dollars in bad checks. They were driven into bankruptcy, and Tracy Hickman decided to sell their modules to TSR, "literally so that I could buy shoes for my children". TSR decided not only to buy the modules, but hire Tracy as a game designer:

"They said it would be easier to publish my adventures if I was part of the company. So, we made the move from Utah to Wisconsin." In 1982, TSR published Pharaoh as a thirty-two-page booklet with two outer folders, for the first edition of AD&D.:101 It was designed for 6-8 player characters of levels 5-7, and formed the first of the three-part Desert of Desolation module series.:101

Oasis of the White Palm is the sequel to the Pharaoh module.:102 TSR published this adventure in 1983 as a thirty-two-page booklet with two outer folders, and the adventure was written by Tracy Hickman and Philip Meyers with cover art by Jim Holloway and interior illustrations by Keith Parkinson.:102 It was intended for 6 to 8 characters of levels 6-8. Lost Tomb of Martek is the third module in the series, and was designed by Tracy Hickman, for 7th-9th level characters.:102 Lost Tomb of Martek was published in 1983 as a 32-page booklet with two outer folders.:102

The compilation module Desert of Desolation was printed in 1987. The compilation features a cover by Keith Parkinson. :101 It is a revision of the I3, I4, and I5 AD&D game modules, with additional design and revision by Peter Rice and William John Wheeler. Wheeler attempted to expand on the originals, without altering their tone. The adventures in Desert of Desolation are designed for a 5th-10th level party and have been reworked to fit into the Forgotten Realms setting, and the material was made compatible with the Wilderness Survival Guide rules. In the revision, the designers added additional background material, as well as staging tips for the Dungeon Master. The details of various elements that had been open-ended elements were spelled out. Desert of Desolation includes a 128-page adventure booklet, a sixteen-page maps booklet, and a large A1 sheet of maps and handouts. The compilation module contains new maps, including an isometric map of the tomb of Amun-Re. The revision also introduces ancient inscriptions for the players to decipher.

At the time these modules were released, each D&D module was marked with an alphanumeric code indicating the series to which it belonged. The earlier modules have module codes I3, I4, and I5 respectively, and the combined module's code is I3–5

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