In another post on these boards, a user mentioned carving a monster's lair out of Styrofoam using a set of foam cutting tolls. My players were coming up on Glacier Season, and Christopher West's rendering of the multi-tiered, jagged glacial lair of Acessiwal completely inspired me. I immediately purchased one of the tools and hit the Home Depot for a couple packs of foam sheets.
The session was an amazing success, with the players able to envision the effect of all of the various alcoves, shelves and spires. Afterwards, I stored the fairly large setting in my basement, doing no good to anyone (other than getting me to stare with pride, like my child just stuck out the other team's best hitter, every time I go downstairs to grab the vacuum). So I set up some minis, snapped some photos, and posted them in the hopes that someone else might be inspired to have more fun with the game.
Check them out if you get a chance:
http://www.rachelconstantine.com/glacier.html
I love this stuff. Nice job with the dragon lair, you didn't even have to paint it and it looks great. Be careful, if you're anything like me you'll find this hobby extremely addictive. Very time consuming!
Thanks folks. And I see what you mean about becoming over ambitious. I'd really like to build Christopher West's Red Dragon's Lair (Map of Mystery, Dungeon #102). It's huge, the stone is black, and the floor is lava. If I'm smart, I'll stay away. But if I had a few weeks on my hands...