. . . long strange trip . . .

I recently went on a business trip and rediscovered something I have been quietly aware of since the first days of playing rpg's, that odd little experiences and details can be translated into gaming easily.

For instance, while returning to my hotel room to drop off my jacket I spotted a single stray glove laying in the hallway with the fingers toward my room door.

Translation: random dungeon dressing, or a clue to something more?

How did it get there, how long has it been there, why only one glove? Is it a warning or just happenstance? What happened to the owner?

In reality it was just the housekeeper having dropped a glove from her cart while trundling down the hall from room to room. As inspiration for something in a game it could be almost anything.

Another instance which I lack a picture for, there was a toddler's shoe laying at the side of the road. The myriad things that image can lend itself to are enormous.

Gary was brilliant for putting the random dungeon dressing tables into the 1e DMG. Think of the fun you can have sitting back and letting the players speculate their way into plot lines right from how their imaginations perceive the meaning of a random bit of clutter.

Let's have a little contest. Email me your ideas for the shoe and how the glove relates to it. I'll pick the winner from all entries received before March 1st 2013, and as long as you have a PayPal account or are near enough to Frederick, Maryland, I will pay you back for 1 item up to $25 value that you purchase from my zazzle store.

My email is o s r baron at g mail dot com (no spaces).

The zazzle store link is on the upper right of the blog page.

The winner will have their entry posted on the blog in early March.