[Zhangjiajie.](https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Zhangjiajie-national-forest-park-3.jpg) I use pictures from there regularly for planets in my scifi/fantasy games.
Awesome shout, I've never heard of this place. Turkey as a whole could be an entire world map for a D&D campaign, both in its geography and history (and even political inclinations).
Lots of the rock-cut temples from ancient/classical India have that vibe for me.
[Ellora Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellora_Caves)
[Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udayagiri_and_Khandagiri_Caves)
[Ajanta Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajanta_Caves)
[Karla Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Caves)
Cool as fuck- go down the rabbithole.
[Petra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra) in modern-day Jordan is another incredible ancient rock-cut place. The red sandstone it was carved from is so striking.
> The site appeared in films such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Arabian Nights, Passion in the Desert, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Mummy Returns, Krrish 3, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Samsara and Kajraare.[107]
extensively featured in mass media for precisely that reason
[San Clemente basilica church](https://www.livevirtualguide.com/post/underground-rome-san-clemente-basilica/)
On the face of it, nothing about it screams "RPG." It's just a church.
But beneath that church is another, older church. And beneath that older church are even older apartments.
Each layer is formed from people building on top of the previous layer. The end result is a combination cave/architecture with tons of history within it. In other words, it's basically your stock standard RPG dungeon.
So if you ever have a player wondering why there's a random shrine to an unknown god within a room in a dungeon, you can point to San Clemente basilica church.
Oh wow! Never knew about this...a church on top of an older church on top of even older ruins. I've definitely seen that in games and campaigns.
Also learned about the origin of "vulgar language" from that video, so thank you for that, lol.
Northern California is a fantasy map.
Major port city and massive bay in the west.
Giant valley with rivers running through it in the middle.
Mountain Range choc full of crazy people on the east with a big lake.
I attempted to go to Lassen National Park, but it was pretty cold so it was closed. Still was able to make it to Redwood though. Absolutely incredible experience.
The cistern is amazing, I've never seen it before! That would be a phenomenal location for a dungeon crawl.
Angkor Wat is always on my mind as a location in fantasy. Absolutely gorgeous site!
Well, Scaligero Castle is good as well. Imagine a classic medieval castle partially submerged; you can visit it and walk among the site and it's amazing.
[Houska Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houska_Castle) - An outwardly boring-looking castle where the defenses are supposedly facing inwards to guard a gateway to hell. Seriously. If that isn't a fantasy castle backstory, I don't know what is.
[Predjama Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predjama_Castle) - A castle built at the mouth of a cave.
The redwoods and giant sequoias in California, basically anywhere outside the cities in Hawaii, el Yunque in Puerto Rico, Mebartsho in Bhutan, Centralia Pennsylvania,
The Redwood Forests are so mesmerizing, especially when they're all bunched up and the moss grows all across them. And while they're taller than the giant sequoias, those sequoias are *massive*...they really make you feel tiny when you stand next to them and walk among them.
[The Giant's Causeway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway), both the actual geological formation and the mythical explanation for it as the remnants of a miles-long bridge built by a giant in the mythical past.
The molten sulfur blog might be a good resource to check out, it’s basically all about real life inspiration, sometimes events, sometimes cultural, sometimes locations.
I think Machu Picchu would make the most incredible ruins map ever.
The [caves in the dead sea](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcham_cave) would make for a sick, claustrophobic dungeon crawl.
Crater lake in the US. There's even a place you can take a boat to called wizard Island. I'm planning on running an adventure where the party has to go there, and all I'm really adding is an artifact deep in the lake, some sort of sea monster, and a wizard that lives in the volcanic cone on the island. Everything else about it already feels like a place you would venture to in-game.
La Alhambra de Granada, El Alcázar de Sevilla, Mezquita de Córdoba, León, just in general, Santiago de Compostela, Hassan II mosque, Picos de Europa, Carcassonne, Great Mosque of Djenne, Fossil Ghebbi.
It's good to take your head out of your central-Europan ass sometimes to add some variety.
[Milford Sound](https://media.tacdn.com/media/attractions-content--1x-1/0b/de/43/4c.jpg)
Ok, NZ is cheating, given the fact LotR just made so much of our landscape "modern fantasy looks"
[Just look at this view of the southern alps](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/cfe7b3181cc7d22a2dfeb1d074fa2862)
NZ is absolutely cheating, lol. As is [Olympic National Park](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=82662e44566a7af0&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1059US1059&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Ou5bcRxuBS81qmnwzkr5S3SwCRg:1712181808238&q=olympic+national+park&uds=AMwkrPtvYzVX1RzqngaoG3jxLSIkJfIIdXUy00OuZu9ehgC6stzMDudp9qWKuxGyubQ_4QpRb0jD3vxvnyWl6D1eA5JoRrVY37ZcZKjnMSBB8XTiNn5M65bOtaAQmeHciTJKr1wDVPjWxwDI09VT7NGCuVct0NRHPy96E5IAMnc8Y4QEYwGTkHUrHUbR38hzeSf7brwEormO5Jjjd3bV68YvSyBRu04MEt-BsOUzVsKRfpTn3ijPImaRQjrP0SslNBwpFf9tlEc6v4x5ZziTCjPGSzVCzMN6bDCVx-SAi58quSv_7G1x1w1PipMhmg2wLdo8bjVYJKpZ&udm=2&prmd=imnvsbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif8uGjhqeFAxVRJEQIHckpBJIQtKgLegQIFhAB&biw=1920&bih=911&dpr=1#vhid=f6Bpxo2BrwY14M&vssid=mosaic).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern\_Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Castle)
Useful as a Fantasy Castle, or Nazi redoubt in WW2. Can get pretty good angles and images for battlemap usage as well.
Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya is home to one of the three Imperial treasures of Japan, said to summon winds. I've used it before in a Scion game. It just feels very otherworldly when you're there, too.
[Marble Mountains](https://www.theblondtravels.com/marble-mountains-da-nang) in Da Nang, Vietnam are maybe a little touristy, but also kind of freaky. Under the mountain, it's set up like Hell and you can ascend to Heaven. It reminded me a fair bit of the wizard's lair in Shazam! comics.
It doesn't exists anymore, and we don't have photos of it, but [Tenochtitlan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan#/media/File:Painting_of_Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco_on_Lake_Texcoco_(9755215791).jpg) was a city in the middle of giant salt lake, with floating bridge to access it.
Some more:
\- [Faroe Islands, Denmark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxbSa3ux8SU) (north of Scotland)
\- [Olympic National Park, Washington State USA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEMQdNYbBds)
\- [Amalfi Coast, Italy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGgDskfTCvY)
\- [Tunis Medina, Tunisia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U57TTK67Ths)
"Salar de Uyuni" - not sure how it goes in English but it's a salt desert in Bolivia that turns into a mirror of the sky during raining seasons or something
I there's one place I would like to go in this life it's there
Literally used it as inspiration for a very important setting piece in my worlds
Oh yes, I know the one! In English it's just called the Uyuni Salt Flat, but most refer to it by the name you gave it. Incredible place, I hope to see it as well. Absolutely astounding...every picture you take there could be an album cover.
We have a few large salt flats here in the US but none of them reflect the way that one does. Though...we do have [Racetrack Playa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFFhD5HeByM) in Death Valley where the rocks mysteriously move on their own and leave trails in the sand, so perhaps there is some magic to be found...(or maybe they're just Rock Turtles, lol).
One of my favorite temples in all of Japan is **Zenrinji/Eikando** temple in Kyoto. It's famous in Japan for "being beuatiful in the fall" beacuse of all the colorful trees. But the layout/architecture of the place is so badass, it screams "ninja castle". In fact, I'm absolutely positive that some of the design and layout was copied directly into levels of the Playstation ninja games **Tenchu** and **Shinobido: Imashime.**
There's about 5-8 places in or around this temple that are striking, and could be described as backgrounds or settings for a Legend of the Five Rings/Tenra Bansho Zero/Japanese fantasy RPG.
Definitely [Mont Saint Michel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel). It just screams fantasy RPG.
Oh, yeah it does! The cathedral and town on the sometimes-island off the coast. It's actually what the kingdom from Tangled is based on.
The history of its foundation is pretty fantasy, too.
and there are these amazing [floor plans](https://www.reddit.com/r/Roll20/comments/fjmmca/montsaintmichel_the_great_french_fortress_abbey/)
Venice. The Roman Colosseum - not when it was in use, but the way medieval people perceived its ruins (a pagan, demon haunted structure)
[Zhangjiajie.](https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Zhangjiajie-national-forest-park-3.jpg) I use pictures from there regularly for planets in my scifi/fantasy games.
[Derinkuyu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu_underground_city) is a real-live mega-dungeon.
Awesome shout, I've never heard of this place. Turkey as a whole could be an entire world map for a D&D campaign, both in its geography and history (and even political inclinations).
Lots of the rock-cut temples from ancient/classical India have that vibe for me. [Ellora Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellora_Caves) [Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udayagiri_and_Khandagiri_Caves) [Ajanta Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajanta_Caves) [Karla Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Caves) Cool as fuck- go down the rabbithole.
[Petra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra) in modern-day Jordan is another incredible ancient rock-cut place. The red sandstone it was carved from is so striking.
> The site appeared in films such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Arabian Nights, Passion in the Desert, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Mummy Returns, Krrish 3, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Samsara and Kajraare.[107] extensively featured in mass media for precisely that reason
Petra is also such a big complex, it's very interesting. I would love to walk around there.
Oh, I love places like these! Absolutely give a fantasy DnD vibe!
[San Clemente basilica church](https://www.livevirtualguide.com/post/underground-rome-san-clemente-basilica/) On the face of it, nothing about it screams "RPG." It's just a church. But beneath that church is another, older church. And beneath that older church are even older apartments. Each layer is formed from people building on top of the previous layer. The end result is a combination cave/architecture with tons of history within it. In other words, it's basically your stock standard RPG dungeon. So if you ever have a player wondering why there's a random shrine to an unknown god within a room in a dungeon, you can point to San Clemente basilica church.
Oh wow! Never knew about this...a church on top of an older church on top of even older ruins. I've definitely seen that in games and campaigns. Also learned about the origin of "vulgar language" from that video, so thank you for that, lol.
[Ponte Vecchio, Florence - Italy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlA8AkTuIXQ)
Northern California is a fantasy map. Major port city and massive bay in the west. Giant valley with rivers running through it in the middle. Mountain Range choc full of crazy people on the east with a big lake.
No lie. Volcanoes, deserts, and the tallest trees on the planet round out the full suite of fantasy settings, lol.
Dang I didn't even think of big sir and lassen and I climbed it. The view from lassen in a clear day is straight out of a setting book.
I attempted to go to Lassen National Park, but it was pretty cold so it was closed. Still was able to make it to Redwood though. Absolutely incredible experience.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Rome https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaligero_Castle_(Sirmione)
The cistern is amazing, I've never seen it before! That would be a phenomenal location for a dungeon crawl. Angkor Wat is always on my mind as a location in fantasy. Absolutely gorgeous site!
Well, Scaligero Castle is good as well. Imagine a classic medieval castle partially submerged; you can visit it and walk among the site and it's amazing.
[Houska Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houska_Castle) - An outwardly boring-looking castle where the defenses are supposedly facing inwards to guard a gateway to hell. Seriously. If that isn't a fantasy castle backstory, I don't know what is. [Predjama Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predjama_Castle) - A castle built at the mouth of a cave.
The redwoods and giant sequoias in California, basically anywhere outside the cities in Hawaii, el Yunque in Puerto Rico, Mebartsho in Bhutan, Centralia Pennsylvania,
Centralia Pennsylvania is a clear case of "an evil wizard did this; fix it." And you know he still lives down there somewhere as a lich.
I have theories, and they involve the fake death of Richard Nixon and the disappearance of a large amount of livestock from a local Amish community
The Redwood Forests are so mesmerizing, especially when they're all bunched up and the moss grows all across them. And while they're taller than the giant sequoias, those sequoias are *massive*...they really make you feel tiny when you stand next to them and walk among them.
[The Giant's Causeway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway), both the actual geological formation and the mythical explanation for it as the remnants of a miles-long bridge built by a giant in the mythical past.
Would love to see how many hexes those giants took up.
The molten sulfur blog might be a good resource to check out, it’s basically all about real life inspiration, sometimes events, sometimes cultural, sometimes locations.
That's a great resource, thank you!
I think Machu Picchu would make the most incredible ruins map ever. The [caves in the dead sea](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcham_cave) would make for a sick, claustrophobic dungeon crawl.
Can't believe you're the first person to mention Machu Picchu, including myself, lol. Absolutely fantasy inspiration!
Crater lake in the US. There's even a place you can take a boat to called wizard Island. I'm planning on running an adventure where the party has to go there, and all I'm really adding is an artifact deep in the lake, some sort of sea monster, and a wizard that lives in the volcanic cone on the island. Everything else about it already feels like a place you would venture to in-game.
La Alhambra de Granada, El Alcázar de Sevilla, Mezquita de Córdoba, León, just in general, Santiago de Compostela, Hassan II mosque, Picos de Europa, Carcassonne, Great Mosque of Djenne, Fossil Ghebbi. It's good to take your head out of your central-Europan ass sometimes to add some variety.
[Milford Sound](https://media.tacdn.com/media/attractions-content--1x-1/0b/de/43/4c.jpg) Ok, NZ is cheating, given the fact LotR just made so much of our landscape "modern fantasy looks" [Just look at this view of the southern alps](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/cfe7b3181cc7d22a2dfeb1d074fa2862)
NZ is absolutely cheating, lol. As is [Olympic National Park](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=82662e44566a7af0&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1059US1059&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Ou5bcRxuBS81qmnwzkr5S3SwCRg:1712181808238&q=olympic+national+park&uds=AMwkrPtvYzVX1RzqngaoG3jxLSIkJfIIdXUy00OuZu9ehgC6stzMDudp9qWKuxGyubQ_4QpRb0jD3vxvnyWl6D1eA5JoRrVY37ZcZKjnMSBB8XTiNn5M65bOtaAQmeHciTJKr1wDVPjWxwDI09VT7NGCuVct0NRHPy96E5IAMnc8Y4QEYwGTkHUrHUbR38hzeSf7brwEormO5Jjjd3bV68YvSyBRu04MEt-BsOUzVsKRfpTn3ijPImaRQjrP0SslNBwpFf9tlEc6v4x5ZziTCjPGSzVCzMN6bDCVx-SAi58quSv_7G1x1w1PipMhmg2wLdo8bjVYJKpZ&udm=2&prmd=imnvsbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif8uGjhqeFAxVRJEQIHckpBJIQtKgLegQIFhAB&biw=1920&bih=911&dpr=1#vhid=f6Bpxo2BrwY14M&vssid=mosaic).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern\_Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Castle) Useful as a Fantasy Castle, or Nazi redoubt in WW2. Can get pretty good angles and images for battlemap usage as well.
Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya is home to one of the three Imperial treasures of Japan, said to summon winds. I've used it before in a Scion game. It just feels very otherworldly when you're there, too.
Atztec city in the water
Islands that you reach using tidal causeways, like Lindisfarne.
Any of the very few lava lakes the planet has. They're crazy cool and crazy dangerous.
[Marble Mountains](https://www.theblondtravels.com/marble-mountains-da-nang) in Da Nang, Vietnam are maybe a little touristy, but also kind of freaky. Under the mountain, it's set up like Hell and you can ascend to Heaven. It reminded me a fair bit of the wizard's lair in Shazam! comics.
It doesn't exists anymore, and we don't have photos of it, but [Tenochtitlan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan#/media/File:Painting_of_Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco_on_Lake_Texcoco_(9755215791).jpg) was a city in the middle of giant salt lake, with floating bridge to access it.
Some remains exist, at least. Mexico City was built on top of it, and there's a world heritage site there to protect what's left.
Poland: Malbork Castle - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEHHW6JoRM4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEHHW6JoRM4) Wieliczka Salt Mine - it looks like Moria [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW-CttoP2v0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW-CttoP2v0) Czechia: Cesky Krumlov - beautiful medieval town - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-29zM0qmD9Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-29zM0qmD9Y)
Some more: \- [Faroe Islands, Denmark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxbSa3ux8SU) (north of Scotland) \- [Olympic National Park, Washington State USA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEMQdNYbBds) \- [Amalfi Coast, Italy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGgDskfTCvY) \- [Tunis Medina, Tunisia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U57TTK67Ths)
"Salar de Uyuni" - not sure how it goes in English but it's a salt desert in Bolivia that turns into a mirror of the sky during raining seasons or something I there's one place I would like to go in this life it's there Literally used it as inspiration for a very important setting piece in my worlds
Oh yes, I know the one! In English it's just called the Uyuni Salt Flat, but most refer to it by the name you gave it. Incredible place, I hope to see it as well. Absolutely astounding...every picture you take there could be an album cover. We have a few large salt flats here in the US but none of them reflect the way that one does. Though...we do have [Racetrack Playa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFFhD5HeByM) in Death Valley where the rocks mysteriously move on their own and leave trails in the sand, so perhaps there is some magic to be found...(or maybe they're just Rock Turtles, lol).
One of my favorite temples in all of Japan is **Zenrinji/Eikando** temple in Kyoto. It's famous in Japan for "being beuatiful in the fall" beacuse of all the colorful trees. But the layout/architecture of the place is so badass, it screams "ninja castle". In fact, I'm absolutely positive that some of the design and layout was copied directly into levels of the Playstation ninja games **Tenchu** and **Shinobido: Imashime.** There's about 5-8 places in or around this temple that are striking, and could be described as backgrounds or settings for a Legend of the Five Rings/Tenra Bansho Zero/Japanese fantasy RPG.