Hah, I play a rogue and use Sand in the Eyes almost every encounter (although I’m thinking about retraining). The DM called me out once because there wasn’t any sand around. So I’ve used “dirt,” “pebbles,” and other sorts of available debris. My favorite so far when there was nothing around, “I take out some salt from a small pouch and throw it in their eyes.”

They got a kick out of that.

One player in the game I DM has a list of flavor text for each power. It’s fun, although the other party members have not followed his lead.

http://newbiedm.com/2011/01/27/reader-contribution-the-recap-newsletter/

The newsletter I created for the campaign was a big hit, and it can helps with summarizing what has taken place so far and plant seeds for future quests.

I encourage the players to recap the game, although they shy away from this if I just sent out a teaser. Need to play around with that a bit more to see what helps the game the most.