A dangerous book of maps...

To give a world a feeling of otherworldliness, it is best to replace some standard, everyday objects by imaginitive replacements. I thought I'd turn to musical instruments as music often defines (or embodies) a culture.

This is just a first idea, feel free to post some more, because I will...

She has everything: stunningly good looks, sharp brains and oodles of power: she's going to be a Queen. The only drawback is that she doesn't want to be a Queen.

A disembodied hand enthralled by an evil wizard to fetch books for him.

A mysterious quarry. Feel free to suggest explanations - it's just an eerie thought that struck me that I intend to play with.

Archaeologists have long wondered about the origins of 'cup and ring-marked stones', the mysterious rocks found on deserted tracts of moorland bearing markings resembling small shallow pits with concentric rings and dating to the Bronze-age.

Carmo keeps a shop in the backstreets of Erezi. It's not often visited, Carmo makes people feel...uneasy. Even the veterans of the Erezi underworld are uncomfortable being alone with Carmo. But they need to buy their traps from somewhere...

Two sly-looking men turn up in town accompanied by a third man who says very little and who they don't allow to be seen much.

An impressive citadel in the Askharnn mountains. Their prohibitive laws on travel during the Winter months can be a problem for pilgrims and wanderers.

The characters are stranded on an island, where a wizard, corrupted by the powers of the first Blue Book, has been killed by his own magical experiments. They will discover the awful truth that lurks in his subterranean workshop, and a seed of evil will be sown...

I'm trying to think of alternatives for game-openings, to replace the standard 'meet up in a tavern' or 'adventuring group applying for a job' techniques. I know these can be easy ways to get people playing, but I'm certain there are more interesting ways...

A (fairly sketchy) outline of a one-off adventure I ran based around the (time-honoured/hackneyed) Tunguska Event of 1908. As such it is quite specific (hopefully not hackneyed) and will probably best serve as a specimen for dissection to get those parts you can use in your own adventures. But then this is an Ideas Guild after all...

An icky sideline plot to a forest adventure.

This looks like an elaborately fashioned wooden egg-cup, but it is a powerful magical tool, used mainly by witches to conjure up spirits and familiars.

The Despotic Queen of Shiant has decreed that a competition will take place in the month of Oconerry. She will have built a labyrinth through which the contenders must pass in order to win the ultimate prize: her hand in marriage.

Dragons, being huge and meaty, are the ideal habitat for countless unpleasant parasites.

The grisly anthropomorphisation of a rockfall...

The mystery of fyre is one which has much occupyed my studies and the studies of men before me. ... I have concluded that fyre is the product of Fyre Antes.

Professor J Klewlise, "On the nature and origin of fyre" (1542)

The addition of “irrelevant” details adds local colour to a campaign world, giving the impression that the DM has thought very deeply about the history of even the smallest architectural feature.

When wizards go mad, what curious ruins do they leave behind?