HIRCH!
Lotsa a lifefroms in a desert-all adapted around conserving/ getting mositure/ food/ expending their own energy.
For real world deserts, try camel spiders--they are nocturnal(generally)-tho a starship's shade is awfully tempting..
They eat, they make little spiders, they attack in droves when food is plentiful-if the players drop, but worse, they know no fear. I have personally witnessed a grown man with a gun bail out of a 20' high tower to escape a dozen of these human-hand sized devils during a sandstorm in Kuwait (hey, they wanted out of the storm too, and lookee there, a GI with a meal all to himself-they really wanted to share, really...
)
Camel spiders venom will dissolve flesh to a paste that can be "drunk" thru their probiscus. It has an initial sting, like a fly bite, but they will sup on napping men in the shade, and have eaten off half a face by daylight.
nasty devils.
Rodents abound in shape form & fashion.
Wherever the players dump their refuse, they will gather, and after the rodents (mice/ rats) come the camel spiders..
Above them (looking for rats/mice) are your small fast 3' wingspan falcons/ hawks..
in the sand itself, beetles of various descriptions, the lowly ant,
and dear heavens how can we forget out good friend the grey fly that has a 21 day lifespan, but comes in droves?
Let us not dear hirch, forget, the reptiles..tortoises, lizards, and serpents.
the Saudi peninsula is home to 11 species of vipers alone..in various degrees of lethality.
How's that for a start.
Now if this desert is possessing an unusual atmosphere, or none at all, some adjustments will have to be made...
flora: every desert has some sort of plant matter, that stores water.
Cacti are neat, and come with thorns!, hardy grasses that bloom with rainy season/ winter will also be present for shade to burrowing critters.
lotsa a terran examples to modify from!
