We've all been there. DM or player, it doesn't really matter; after half a dozen dungeon crawls and miscellaneous quests for stolen heirlooms, you start feeling like you've been here before and done that already. Alas, roleplaying is now in your blood. How do you jump start your game so it doesn't feel like any one of your past five campaigns?

If you have the time and energy for it, you can write an epic quality setting with epic villains and supporting characters and epic locations that stir the blood and get readers stamping their feet and chanting war songs. While you're at it, you might as well go ahead and write the novels for that and make some money doing it.

Assuming you don't have the time or energy to build that kind of story driven epic fantasy, there are still several things you can do to spice up your plot and setting.
...