I have an idea to combine the giant crustaceans and insects of Mysterious Island, with dinosaurs. I did not realize that Mysterious Island was based on a Jules Verne story. I have read some of his writings, but not all. I have a large backlog of them on my Kindle. That is the nice thing about stuff going out of copyright. Also the combination of creatures on Kong Island in the King Kong movies. (Note to self: Stat out Kong.)

I have a few ways I am thinking of handling this. Either one big island that has the giant insects and crustaceans and Pleistocene creatures and another area with dinosaurs, or two islands one with the dinosaurs and another close by with the rest.

Another might be an island with all giant insects, with the Thri-Keen at the top.

Definitely cavemen & Neanderthals with sabre-toothed tigers and mammoths would be cool.

An island could also be defined as an area with high mountains and no viable passes, or separated by a huge surrounding desert, center of the earth type scenarios, pocket dimensions, etc.

My idea it to design something that I would find fun and challenging to play.

I went through the Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, and Fiend Folio and collected a list of all the dinosaurs, giant animals, insects, etc. That is a long set of lists!

I am sure someone has done all or parts of these ideas. As I did not buy or play in most of the classic modules, I don’t know if TSR or other companies did something.

With the size of the dinosaurs, it would take a large land area to support viable sized groups of each. Random encounter tables would be quite long.

The thing with this is a party would have to use their brains and avoid trouble. Finding and allying themselves with primitive humans who know the best hiding spots and refuges and what parts of the island to avoid.

The challenge could be complicated by needing something the primitive humans prize or worship and are reluctant to part with it. If the party just takes it, they are all on their own. If they do things to gain the trust of the primitives, they might be able to borrow it or if a great enough service just keep it. All kinds of different ideas there.

Throw in some giants here and there and other humanoids and regular monsters to spice it up. Maybe the giants have always been there, but the humanoids and other monsters have washed up on shore, or they are after the same thing the party seeks.

Or the party could just be shipwrecked there in a storm, teleported there by a teleport trap in a dungeon and have to figure out how to get home. Is there another teleporter back? Can they figure out how to just travel home? Do they have a wizard with teleport?

I have too many ideas. I want to use them all, but always leave them wanting more. I know I have the more. I just want to use it all! Am I the only one fighting the temptation to use it all?