key changes

i'm not sure if this is the right forum to be posting this question in......but.....i'm playing in a band that uses drop d tuning, i'm looking to spice up the chord progressions, i thot a key change would be cool. playin with a drop d tuning would i be correct in thinking that d minor and f# minor would utilise the power of the open d chord.are there are chords i could use to link the key change or would i be better using a riff?
also any ideas for unusual chords would be great in the key of d minor :) .
Any help would be great!!

Well you can go from the key of D to F#m, using the I bV7 VII movement. i.e. Dmaj7, G#m7, C#7 ~> F#m. If you happen to be in D minor instead of D major, play A7 before you go to D maj. In riff based music, where powerchords are used. You could just use the roots: D5, G#5, C#5, F#5. An unusual chord, but practical chord in D minor is F7#5. If you use the F7#5 (III+) chord, note this chord only (naturally) resolves to Bbmaj (VI). To keep it in the key of D minor, go to the Gm and then A7 next. Or just straight to A7. If your having a hard time finding a chord to play before F7#5, C(7) is an excellent choice.

Another chord movement regardless of key (Dm or Dmaj) is D, A, *[C#o7, A(m or maj),] Bm, F#m, C#7. Or a D chord can go straight to F# (maj or m), if the D chord is a dominant chord. This works because of the augmented sixth rule.

* alternative if it goes from D major to F# minor.

There are many ways to go from D to F#minor.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

thanks :) thats a great help. it might take me a while to get my head round it all tho!

Made a small typo, but corrected it. It's I bV7 VII, not I V7 VII. But yeah if you don't understand something I wrote just ask I'll try to clear it up a bit.