Are only real places allowed to play? I've found many, many great idea-inspiring images created by talented digital and traditional medium artists online.
And another -- the great blue hole of Belize. Of course the local sea elves either venerate the place or are afraid of it because of what lurks at the bottom.
Being the GM I am, I'd go with the latter.
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Ruins?
Have you ever seen the city of Petra?
The ruins of skara brae?
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Thanks to Daigle. For bringing back the good ole' days, even if it's just for one thread.
This a view of Niyargongo Crater. People actually camp within a few yards of it.
This is actually a waterfall (I can't remember where) that catches the setting sun's light and creates the illusion of lava falling into the void below.
And just for grins, here are a couple pieces of digital art I found floating around on the net.
This is actually a waterfall (I can't remember where) that catches the setting sun's light and creates the illusion of lava falling into the void below.
Yosemite. They used to dump a crap ton of coals and burning stuff over a cliff, but for obvious reasons that got shut down. This natural waterfall is positioned in such a way that every year when the sun strikes it at the right time, it glows orange like that, and looks like lava, so they named it after the Fire Falls thing they did before.
If you can believe the internet. ;D (I do, in this case, and would love to see it for myself.)
Makes me think of runoff from a dwarven forge...
Yosemite... Makes me think of runoff from a dwarven forge...
Thanks for the info!
Looks like this thread may be slowing down a bit, so feel free to accuse me of kicking the deceased equine because I'm going to keep posting photos of interesting places, mostly because they spur my creativity and I hope that they'll do the same for others.
For instance:
This photo is from a place called Ladakh. It's a remote, predominantly Vajrayana Buddhist region of India, also home to a minority of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, located in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is closely culturally linked with Tibet, and is characterized by mountains, valleys, sparse landscape, and icy lakes. Imagine a group of adventurers trekking along when they find numerous shrines along their way, the trail littered with stones carved with strange runes.
Added a couple new pics from Fly Geyser to the Fantasy Landscapes album. Pretty cool spot to run into a steam elemental, or the like....
This entire region. I love it more for the history, lore, and culture than any awesome looking landscape, though the region certainly has that in spades. There is so much stuff you can do in the way of creepy forests, dangerous cliffs, creepy abandoned villages, and much, much more.
Also, Stephen King writes there.
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My dad linked me to this and I thought 'that would be a great adventure!'
That was one of the major inspirations for large swathes of Half-Life 2. Insane when you take in the full scale of what was done to the place without the benefit of alien water-stealin' technology.
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As an alternative to the Fire Falls, there's also the Blood Falls.
I would also love to visit Nan Madol, an ancient city built in the water off a Micronesian island.
Ok...Blood Falls just found a place in my dark little heart...
These are pretty groovy. Old Greek Orthodox monasteries in hard to reach places.
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How bout here!
Ooh, I've got a monastery visit lined up for later in one of my campaigns. Something like that might fit the bill...though I'll have to put it much higher on the cliff face.
You mean like these?
And here are just a bucketload of random nature shots, many of which are quite adventure-inspiring!
You mean like these?
And here are just a bucketload of random nature shots, many of which are quite adventure-inspiring!
Bit too...rustic, but I don't expect a whole lot of high fantasy feel from real life locations. The other picture, but jutting from a cliffside impossibly high up sounds about right. The monastery will be devoted to an aerial goddess, so it delivers the right kind of feel.
Nothing like a foggy cemetary or two to explore.
Nothing like a foggy cemetary or two to explore.
Louisiana in general.
This is why my campaign setting is medieval post colonial North America. There's so much cool stuff that hasn't been touched on much in D&D.
I set an adventure (homebrew, involving yakmen) here.
What an amazing thread. Back in the day, there was a /tg/ thread dedicated to astonishing fantasy art landscapes, I saved a few of the files.
I set an adventure (homebrew, involving yakmen) here.
That's got more of the feel I was wanting. Just have to replace the architecture with something more gothic and I've got myself an adventure site.
What is a /tg/ thread?
I have scads of fantasy landscapes, creatures, and structures on my desktop Pictures folder. Some are really, really cool. I'd post more of them, but I thought this was mostly for inspiring real world sites.
The traditional games area on 4chan. On occasion they have some amazing pics there, usually it's just people complaining and sharing pron.
Were?
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And more...
The cenote of the Yucatan pennisula
The Fairy Chimneys of Cappadocia
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
And more...
The Fairy Chimneys of CappadociaGary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Perhaps it was the previous few posts mentions of pron polluting my brain, but some of those "chimneys" did not look like chimneys... o-o;
Perhaps it was the previous few posts mentions of pron polluting my brain, but some of those "chimneys" did not look like chimneys... o-o;
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." -- S. Freud
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
dotted. This thread is fantastic.
Check out this little gem. It's a cozy little rural cottage. A fixer upper to be sure, but just think of how peaceful the surroundings are!
And why not some more...
Before, you say your dungeon is a maze...
The Labyrinth-Palace of Knossos
Before you say your tomb complex is elaborate...
The Valley of the Kings
Before you say the palace you are visiting is opulent...
Schonbrunn Palace of Vienna
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Damn good work here, fellow Gary. What is it about us that makes us so awesome when it comes to roleplaying stuff?
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Damn good work here, fellow Gary. What is it about us that makes us so awesome when it comes to roleplaying stuff?
We were shepherded to gaming greatness by Gary-prime.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
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Not as impressive as some other places in this thread, but I unwittingly used Borthwick Castle as a set piece in one campaign I ran, just to end up actually staying there when my wife and I went to Scotland on vacation. The first night we were there, we were the only guests, and so had the entire castle to ourselves. The staff didn't want to tell us about all the ghost stories there, fearing we'd run off. But my wife would take on the hordes of the Abyss to spend a night in a castle.
Oh wow, that looks like it must be the same castle that inspired the one in the old 2E campaign and catacomb guide (among a few others)! I did a little searching and found the following floorplan for Borthwick Castle here.
Does that floorplan match what you recall?
Castles?
Ashford Castle of Cong, Ireland -- beautiful castle, now a hotel alas.
Prague Castle of Prague,Czech Republic -- One of the largest and oldest castles in the world.
Hohenwerfen Castle at Salzburg,Austria -- truly a keep on the borderlands.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games