Real Life Places That Inspire You As A DM

[Scott Christian]

I know, for me, there have been quite a few.
In my youth, seeing the Nantahala national forest, Blue Ridge mountains and the woodlands of Florida certainly made me appreciate swamp travel and hiking in dense winding trails.
The Tetons sent imagination flying, and after that so did the Grand Canyon.
Yellowstone (my friend uses the map - it is an incredible D&D map - names and all!) for what it's like to be surrounded by wildlife and odd geographic formations.
There are more, but out of them all, Joshua Tree national park is my favorite. Something about hiking and bouldering through that setting just makes me think of adventurers exploring desert tombs.

As always, curious to hear what events or places spark your RP imagination. Thanks.

 

[Mirador7]

One of my favourites for an enchanted glade is a place called the Fairy Glenn, in North Wales, UK.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

One of my favourites for an enchanted glade is a place called the Fairy Glenn, in North Wales, UK.

I checked it out. That place is certified simultaneously regal, whimsical, and beautiful. I felt inspired.

 

[CydKnight]

You can get a lot of inspiration from many of the ancient places featured on the show Ancient Aliens. There are many pyramid civilizations, temples, etc. Many are in some obscure locations like underground tunnels/caverns, hard to reach mountainous areas, or even water sites. There are even a lot of ideas on treasure and artifacts to go along with these sites. A great resource for ideas in my humble opinion.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I went to the giant's causeway when it was ice covered years ago. I didnt take this pic but this pic is a pic of it during similar conditions. It basically looked like this. It was otherworldly.

Basalt collums, the sea, ice, and mist as far as you can see

 

[pogre]

Mesa Verde

 

[Ratskinner]

Honestly almost any ancient site can do it for me.

I'd like to say that natural ones do as well, but usually they just highlight to me how inadequate D&D is at dealing with natural terrain. (Since you specified as DM).

Perhaps even more importantly than the sites are oddball artifacts like the Dispilio Tablet. They always make me think about how much more went on that we don't know about.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I love threads like this. MGibster started one a few months ago.

Odd Places that Make Decent Locations in Game

I'm running a Vampire 5th edition chronicle set in modern day San Francisco. The Malkavian primogen is very religious and I was hoping I could find an abandoned church for him to live in. And I did! Sort of. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I came across the Church of 8 Wheels which is...

www.enworld.org

 

[Leatherhead]

Sequoia National Park, California.
Those trees are huge.

 

[StormbringerAUS]

Just about anywhere I go I see places I think I can use (away from modern civilisation at least) - I often take photos so I can remember the feel to inform my players. Plenty of wonderful images out there far better than I can manage as well. Since I do not have my laptop handy I can't share any now.