⚀Kit⚁Kendrick⚂@pandybird Our DM pre-prepares, so he has the correct pieces handy. Some days we turn up to the table already fully set. If we have to stop mid-battle, we take photos and help rebuild at the start of the next game. Our DM does a fair amount to shake things up - he even installed LED's in one of the taverns for lanterns! I don't find the setup any more bland than the pre-printed maps that come with the manuals.
@pandybird Also there's improv like this. He took a knife to some styrofoam and painted it to make ice floes for us. (The commentary is from me, using PicsArt) And that pirate ship came from a kid's Playmobile set, I think.