“ A rich southern landowner once imported hundreds of thousands of spiders and distributed them along his long, tree-lined road. After a couple of days, when the spiders had make an incredible number of webs amongst the rows of trees, he spread fine gold and silver dust on them to create a spectacular shimmering view. (true story) It was for his daughter's wedding day.”
“ What if you send the players in a dungeon that was already raided? Maybe you could have traps that are already set off, or the corpses of monsters etc.”
“ King dresses as a commoner occasionaly and makes his way through the town. It is an unknown occurance so nobody expects it. This time he is mistaken for a thief and jailed. Not wanted to reveal himself, and always curious for the experience, he allows himself to be arrested. PCs also get arrested for something, probably guilty but pay a fine. How they act towards the 'king' could greatly change how their first meeting will be as the players always meet the king at some point.”