Any dream can become an LD, not just the "strange" dreams or ones that consist of obviously fake situations, like seeing an elephant in a restaurant. Your best bet is to develop a mindset that allows you to pay attention to what's around you, and to ask yourself whether you could be dreaming - in other words, awareness and maybe a bit of reasoning. For instance, you could say "I'm not dreaming", but then ask yourself "and what are the reasons for this?" A possible answer is "well, I can read that digital clock properly, and the numbers aren't changing around".

Reality checks are mostly done after you become lucid in a dream, and are usually done to confirm that you actually are asleep. Without any previous awareness, RCs will just be like anything else in the dream - part of the plot, done randomly and without you noticing yourself doing them, or being conscious of them.

Hope that helped!