words that are so alike they differ by only one letter from the previous one
 

gaol
gall
gell
hell
help

help
helpless
hapless
homeless
hawks

Sales techniques
 

hawks
sells
persuades
advertises
presents

Presents
Gifts
Goodies
Baddies
Enemies

aspects of "enemies"
 

enemies
attack
allies
people
die

die
grim reaper
don't fear the reaper
blue oyster cult
oysters
clams
crabs

crabs
blue
she
jimmy
dungeness
horseshoe

Animal legwear
 

horseshoes
jesses
shackles
booties
splints

Fire food
 

splints
splits
sticks
kindling
tinder

more word cousins differing by a single letter
 

tinder
tender
fender
bender
bander
banded
landed
sanded

sanded
wood
stiffy
pup tent
camping
mountains
rockys
baseball
football
hockey
ice

let me rephrase that:

things that all have some association with one another

right.
so, you should try to 'set the ball' for the next guy.

or, you could just have fun doing word association with yourself if you'd rather.

guh.

guh
go
git
got
goat

playground warfare
 

goat
goad
tease
taunt
haunt

effects of scary movies
 

haunt
scare
frighten
horrify
terrorize