Random findings

To flesh out locations, I like to give random findings to the characters that aren't just a pile of gold and gems but maybe still worth something.  Maybe one of them has magic properties or has enormous sentimental value?

* Small figurine of a cat
* Beautifully crafted wooden horse
* Pot with an old, rotted away plant
* Pouch full of silver coins of an unknown origin
* Sewing kit with various buttons and thread
* 3 old torches that still have the smell of fuel
* Carving of a tree
* Tiny knife on a thin, gold chain
* Old matted red hat
* Dirty map of some indiscernable place
* Silver horseshoes
* Nails (rusted or new) and boards
* Religious icon of unknown origin
* Sharp bronze spear tip
* Gold tiara
* Heavy figurine of a beautiful dragon
* Ring that always gives off a soft glow

Brainstorming

When I'm trying to come up with ideas, I just send myself images that come to mind via text message. They tend to spawn some cool things when I sit down with them later to flesh out ...

Deep blue lake. Hidden forest. World fold. Grey giants. Red Light in a hole in the wall. Creature that tells riddles. Cursed gold. Giant snake harmless and talking. Bold horse riders. Ancient children whose eyes glow. Distant land transport. Foiled attack on something. Betrayl foreshadowed. Drain grate war. Cold attack dogs. Frozen lake. Brutal curse. Blindness. Foster child. Hawk assistance.

Colors

Many of my adventures are more exploratory and political rather than problem solving and stabbing, I've gotten a lot more interested in the details and nuances of things. Descriptions, colors, tastes, and so forth.

As such, lame as it may be, I sort of enjoyed this: tavern chatter.

Update: Another post on reading in-game text.

Bulldozer

My characters were walking around a town that I hadn't planned out well enough. I tried to keep the action moving but I was basically pulling things out of nowhere as the action progressed. The characters felt directionless and vague and because I didn't expect any of this, neither did I.

So I came up with the bulldozer.

He is slow moving, destructive, and scary. He looms in the background when the characters dally too much and helps keep things going. He's been in quite a few shows but the best example I can remember is the sexy evil girl Andrea Parker from The Pretender who was always chasing the hero, but always just missed him. Her job wasn't to catch or hurt the hero, it was merely to push the story forward: she's a bulldozer.

I'm not sure what the bulldozer will actually be in my game but a few ideas came up:

• In the town everyone's visiting, a scary group of Dwarves who are guarding a caravan might do the trick. The dwarves are growing in power in the north west so their newfound power is turning into a gruff adversarial nature.
• I'm also considering a magic user who is pursuing them either because they have something he wants or he thinks they have something he wants.
• Maybe the characters worked for someone in Quartz who had a lot more ties than anyone thought. Those ties make even former employees dangerous.