The Twilight Brigade campaign has a lot of full-adventure Astral Quests for the fun of getting into genre, but there should be some that work like the roleplaying Places are supposed to: win the challenge, get to the Citadel. Here are some quick Astral Quests for flavor.
As described in the Grimoire, this is a drinking contest. Your opponent has a Body equal to the Rating of the Quest, and the drink has a Power equal to the Rating of the Quest. First one under the table loses. Treat alcohol as a poison. (Addiction: 2m, Tolerance: 3, Strength: 50, Speed: 1d6 minutes, Vector: Ingestion, Duration: 1d6/2 hours. Effects: Charisma -1, Quickness -2, Intelligence -2, Willpower -1 [Resist all with Body(10-(proof/20))], clumsiness, unrestrained behavior, block-all(proof/25), tranq(proof/20) Crash Effects: Quickness -1, Body -2, Intelligence -1, nausea, headaches, irritability. See Shadowtech for drug rules.)
The characters are stuck in a television show or movie, and must make use of movie logic to deal with the situation. This could be anything from a situation comedy to a soap opera; NPC mages may come back from astral quests looking disturbed about having visited the Place of Cheesy Porno Films, but I wouldn’t recommend it for PC groups unless you are very sure of the players.
Anything from Jeopardy to Wheel of Fortune to Go ’Borg! This is a case where a lot of the skill is with the player rather than the character, so be careful about the roleplaying aspect— you might pick trivia questions in a player’s area of expertise to represent a character’s different expertise.
PC’s must choose if they are Wrestlers or support crew. For each Wrestler, there will be a Wrestler NPC to fight. For each non-Wrestler, there will be someone sneaking around trying to cause trouble and rig the fight. Wrestlers must pick a funky name and costume.
Like the place of video, but use cartoon logic.
The PC(s) become characters in a classic video game and have to achieve some basic perspective. The image of a physical adept battling ghosts while trying to collect every glowing orb in a maze should have most people entertained...
The PC(s) have apparently been summoned by a bunch of elementals and/or nature spirits and are given orders, just like they do for other spirits.
This is just a quick combat with some extra special effects for horror value. The characters are all in 1970's garb. Barry is in huge bell-bottoms, a loud paisley shirt with huge cuffs and collar, and has a goatee and a big perm and little round sunglasses. Fieran also has a big Afro and gold chains, almost as many as Lightfoot in his leisure suit. Dan has a crewcut and is dressed in army-surplus fashion: long olive-drab coat, pants, and combat boots; Dreme is a flower child with long straight hair down to her waist, a daisy painted on one cheek, a heavily embroidered denim vest over her peasant shirt, a long skirt, and sandals. Cats has shaggy blond hair and sideburns and is in a red turtleneck and blue bell-bottoms.
The opposition are all a bunch of corporate types with expensive kung fu weapons; they're in suits with wide ties and lapels and neatly trimmed sideburns... combat takes place in a nightclub with lots of red vinyl and disco balls.
Re-read Neverwhere while listening to Mr. Time by the Alan Parsons Project, then look at books about the hidden worlds under London and New York City. Go for a heavy mystic-gaslight level world, with plenty of symbolism and references to surrealist art. (Dalí, Jean Arp, Max Ernst, André Masson, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Pierre Roy, Paul Delvaux, Joan Miró, and throw in Escher for the fun of it.)
Gotta throw in a clock tower with lots of huge gears for an action sequence. Mirrors that “reflect” the image seen from the other side of the room, so you see your own back. Seascapes are good— especially with the occasional rock or mountain (with or without a castle on it) hovering above the scenery. Bowler hats are a must; men with bowler hats will stand with their backs turned until people approach quite closely. Giant eggs filling birdcages.