Well, the city of the gods is in the Valley of the Ancients, which is the desert, or part of the desert, south of Blackmoor.

or is it? Perhpas they simply lie in the same direction or some of the VoA must be crossed on the journey?

Da4 definetly puts CoG in the desert, but this is the one DA product Dave had no input into other than the broad concept (crashed space ship). Sandy Deserts are not an ideal place for high tech.

Rob Kuntz, on the other hand, who ventured there in the mid seventies, tells us the City of the Gods is in or very near to the plains of Hak!

"“Besides, to cross the plains again would be madness.'" Robilar had given in to that line of logic. The plainsmen they had encountered while crossing the barren area before the city had been tenacious in their pursuit and always strong in numbers. And it had been tricky for a day or two while eluding them. No doubt these would be watching for their return. Robilar did think it odd that their pursuers had not followed them to the city's outer precincts. Surely their scouts must have seen them finally approach the city and prepare to enter it."

Heh. Sorry Rafe ;) Oh but, when its safe to, let us know!

Nono, please go on - it's just a warning for the players.

I already shared most of the plot with Havard, so he, as our principal BM loremaster, wouldn't have to limit himself.

The only thing the tag signals is that my players should stay the hell out until we have passed the respective chapter in our campaign. :)

A few things.

City of the Gods is DA3. DA4 Duchy of Ten is the one where Dave was not consulted much.

Looking at the maps, the Valley of the Ancients is close to the Plains of Hak. In fact it divides the Eastern Hak from the High Hak.

Finally, Robilar most likely arrived from the Great Kingdom (ie Greyhawk) so he would have entered the Valley of the Ancients from the South after crossing the Eastern Hak.

The advantage of having the CotG in the desert is that so much it could quickly have been covered by sand, only scattered metal "towers" and other structures emerging from the sand.

Havard

Well, the trouble would be explaining the more or less free travel from the south into Blackmoor, as the plainsmen would be a constant threat, requiring imperial outposts, armed travel and so forth. Could be that way I suppose.