It’s great to create scenarios where the players can create havoc and drama, but it’s difficult to engineer sometimes. But it’s easy to engineer dramatic events the heroes merely witness or are involved in only tangentially.

1. The heroes witness a chase involving a thief and the city guards.
2. The heroes witness a magical duel between two wizards.
3. The heroes witness a tremendous battle in the sky between a dragon and griffon-mounted knights.
4. The heroes witness a tremendous battle in the sky between griffon- and pegasus-mounted knights.
5. From the safety of cliff, the heroes witness a ship wreck in a storm on the rocks.
6. The heroes witness a ship at sea get attacked and wrecked by a sea monster.
7. From concealment atop a hill, the heroes witness two armies clash.
8. From concealment atop a hill, the heroes witness a company of adventurers get slaughtered by a horde of hobgoblins.
9. From a distance, the heroes witness orcs raid and set fire to a town.
10. From a distance, the heroes witness orcs and hobgoblins battling each other.
11. The heroes witness a wizard set fire to a ship in the harbor.
12. The heroes witness a lich shrink and steal a city.
13. The heroes witness a basilisk on the move, turning other creatures to stone with its gaze.

Look for ways to involve the characters emotionally by getting them invested in the town, ship, or factions involved in the drama. That way, the events aren’t merely a spectacle but a disaster.

Some of these could also be opportunities for adventure or side quest. Did a knight fall to her doom from her flying mount, prompting the heroes to try to save her life (or loot her corpse)? Can they get at the shipwreck to salvage its cargo? Can they save the town or at least alert the authorities?