When i am running a campaign i like to be able to sometimes hand my players a spell scroll or a book of curses or something that will create more engagement. One way of doing this is to age paper. I usually start with a heavier paper type as standard paper tends to degrade a bit when wet but it can work . I then make up a strong jug of tea or even coffee although coffee tends to make the paper smell strongly so i prefer tea. I soak the paper in the tea solution, the amount of time and strength of the tea will determine the darkness of the finished product. I then dry the paper in the sun or near an air flow source and voila - aged paper. See below different outcomes that came from drying paper flat or on a rack, the rack created pools and wash marks giving the paper the appearance of having been waterlogged

While I am far from an artist, I do enjoy sitting occasionally and slapping some paint on a model or 3D print. Most notably a 3d printed scale model medieval town. This can be a great way of visualizing a scene or scenario albeit a bit time consuming. What sort of creating do you prefer?

While creating the long quest manual for the classroom here, I came up with the idea of a quest based on a teaching role. By setting the scene in an illustrious grand university, the party would be actively planning and implementing classes to teach students. however, the turn-based system of D&D would make this very hard to manage. So, I would start with a short foray into the individual teaching roles so that the players can quickly build their character roles and personalities then introduce a cataclysmic change in the university, be it a monster loose, students going rogue or even the discovery of a piece of research that shakes the university to its core. The Teachers then have to develop a plan to combat it together, using their strengths and possibly even introducing some of their students to assist. My original thought was the infiltration of the university by a cult who is corrupting and or destroying the historic knowledge, they can unleash all manner of antagonists then from within the circle of faculty. Let me know your thoughts?

A couple of years ago I DM'd a short campaign for some friends using a 3d printed medieval town that i spent almost a year creating. The premise of the campaign was a town that was beset with bad luck, disappearances, murders and strange apparitions. I started by setting the background / location and nearby landmarks. Then I created a spreadsheet of townspeople and of course the antagonists. I created props that could be handed to players, like weathered scrolls of useful spells, potion bottles and puzzle tubes with items inside. I made some mistakes and the players definitely threw some weird and wonderful choices at me and i had to think on my feet but overall the campaign was a success and a good time was had by all . I have attached a few of the documents, DM Screen, Pictures of the town and early Ai antagonist concepts i created for the campaign to give you an idea of the level of preparedness i usually do.

When creating an adventure, story or campaign, One method of drawing inspiration may be to picture a quest board and begin filling it out with possible quests or adventures for you players or readers. Think about how those quests may interlock or cross over each other and the different locations that they may happen in. now expand and begin creating a world based on those locations and the people within those locations. Use the quest board as a storyboard for the progression of your adventure.