Something I'm working on for my campaign setting: Historical figures have tombs. Some of them are intact, some have been looted (but something else has moved in), some are fabled and require exploring to find. Each one a playable dungeon you can drip feed lore through.
Something that can be fun is when the PCs have to find the tomb of Blankity Blank, and they find out there are several locations that claim to be the final resting place of the luminaries in question.
Yes! Or a twist, where they explore a tomb to realize it's not for who they thought it was.
Love that. Ideally, it should put the PCs at risk of releasing something horrible by mistake. "Bluthar the Benevolent? No, his tomb is on the other side of the valley. That was the tomb of Bluthar the Bloodtongue, Vampire Barbarian and Ancient Khan of the Dread Horde."
What inhabits the tomb? Could be anything. Sacred guardians. Maybe bandits are using it as a hideout, maybe a monster is using it as a lair. Frescoes, statues, murals, tapestries throughout tell the story of that figure and their impact on the setting.
Break some of them. Resist the urge to tell the story completely. Leave gaps and unanswered questions, let the players make their own interpretations.
My favorite piece of advice for GMs is still "Shut the fuck up.". Because it genuinely is the best thing to learn. Sometimes, you just need to not tell them the answer.
This is in Morrowind! Dungeons called “Xyz Ancestral Tomb” with some ghosts, skellies and loot/relics/offerings
Yep! And those tombs are often tied to families who are still active in the world.