ccs
41st lv DM
Actually, yes, I have.
Back in the early 90s (so 2e) the players fought an ancient wyrm of crazy big perportions. (yes, that's the technical term for its size category)
They finally slew it via a Flesh to Stone effect.
It's petrified carcass was left lying where it fell. I marked its location on the map, make a note of what it is, & that was that. Play moved on to other campaigns, other game systems, & that group of players faded away - college, jobs, military, etc....
Fast forward to several years ago (and about 1k of game time).
Now we have dragon-blooded sorcerers & Dragonborn & things in the game. And one of that original group of players is back in the area & we're playing D&D again.
So I used this "landmark" on my map as a holy site for Dragon related characters/NPCs, Cult of the Dragon, etc.
He sees its location on the map week after week & despite it being vaguely referenced a few times in play never puts it together that that's the crazy big dragon he helped kill 20-some years ago.
Last summer the party came into direct conflict with the Dragon Cult and took the fight to them.
Trekking through the wastes the party comes to this rocky ridge line with one end that resembles a colossal dragons head with a shrine on top of it.
The players figure that the shrine is the goal. (kinda....)
This:
The little silver guys are 15mm WWII figures in scale with the fountain/shrine on top & by default the dragon skull & representing the PCs
The "dragon" skull is a stone crocodile head/cave from a Schleich jungle animal playset.
The fountain is a 15mm scale Barmaley /Children's Khorovod fountain piece of WWII terrain.
The "shrine" is supposed to be representing my LoTR Weathertop model. But I don't have a model of that small enough. So the my 15mm version of the Russian Barmaley /Children's Khorovod fountain had to sub. So this:
Is representing this:

It wasn't until the party had climbed to the temple & I sketched the rest of the vaguely dragon shaped ridge line that the player realizes what he's seeing.
Then they found the stairs leading down into the dragons head & the dungeon below.
The "dungeon" was inside the petrified remains of an ancient dragon.
It was inspired by this:
wich is a T-shirt from GenCon wich no longer fits
The party entered from the top, down through a passage in the dragons head, fought their way though Dragonborn cultists etc to the end, & then out the dragons petrified rear on ground lv.
They could've done it the other way around, but nobody thought to look for the secret entrance.
Back in the early 90s (so 2e) the players fought an ancient wyrm of crazy big perportions. (yes, that's the technical term for its size category)
They finally slew it via a Flesh to Stone effect.
It's petrified carcass was left lying where it fell. I marked its location on the map, make a note of what it is, & that was that. Play moved on to other campaigns, other game systems, & that group of players faded away - college, jobs, military, etc....
Fast forward to several years ago (and about 1k of game time).
Now we have dragon-blooded sorcerers & Dragonborn & things in the game. And one of that original group of players is back in the area & we're playing D&D again.
So I used this "landmark" on my map as a holy site for Dragon related characters/NPCs, Cult of the Dragon, etc.
He sees its location on the map week after week & despite it being vaguely referenced a few times in play never puts it together that that's the crazy big dragon he helped kill 20-some years ago.
Last summer the party came into direct conflict with the Dragon Cult and took the fight to them.
Trekking through the wastes the party comes to this rocky ridge line with one end that resembles a colossal dragons head with a shrine on top of it.
The players figure that the shrine is the goal. (kinda....)
This:
The little silver guys are 15mm WWII figures in scale with the fountain/shrine on top & by default the dragon skull & representing the PCs
The "dragon" skull is a stone crocodile head/cave from a Schleich jungle animal playset.
The fountain is a 15mm scale Barmaley /Children's Khorovod fountain piece of WWII terrain.
The "shrine" is supposed to be representing my LoTR Weathertop model. But I don't have a model of that small enough. So the my 15mm version of the Russian Barmaley /Children's Khorovod fountain had to sub. So this:
Is representing this:

It wasn't until the party had climbed to the temple & I sketched the rest of the vaguely dragon shaped ridge line that the player realizes what he's seeing.

Then they found the stairs leading down into the dragons head & the dungeon below.
The "dungeon" was inside the petrified remains of an ancient dragon.
It was inspired by this:
wich is a T-shirt from GenCon wich no longer fits
The party entered from the top, down through a passage in the dragons head, fought their way though Dragonborn cultists etc to the end, & then out the dragons petrified rear on ground lv.
They could've done it the other way around, but nobody thought to look for the secret entrance.