Monday, July 31, 2017

An entire race of Smaug is boring, so take some inspiration from myth!

D&D has traditionally segregated dragons into a variety of arbitrary categories and devised pseudo-naturalistic explanations for them. I have decided to just ignore all that in favor of treating dragons as dragons. Take the statistics in the MM and reskin the dragon however you need to. They don't need to be a natural species with a place in the ecology. Every dragon could be unique!

This is neat and all, but it loses impact after a while
Mythology is full of interesting tidbits about dragons, such as chaoskampf, draconite, the language of the birds, and so on and so forth. D&D dragons, sadly, trace their origins back to Smaug in The Hobbit and don't take advantage of the treasure trove of mythology.

"Chaoskampf" refers to a common mythological theme where heroes fight chaos, which is commonly personified as a dragon or serpent. "Draconite" is a magical gemstone found in the heads of dragons. A person who eats part of a dragon's heart may learn the language of the birds, as in the myth of Fafnir, which doesn't require you to constantly cast speak with animals.

In my campaign setting, I decided to make dragons into personifications of the magical underpinnings of the world. They might arise spontaneously, but from a narrative perspective it would be more interesting if they have some discernible reason for guarding a treasure or bedeviling a kingdom beyond base urges. For example, a dragon guarding a treasure used to be a man who was cursed into that form, a dragon is punishing the king until he admits to some wrongdoing, etc.

Useful game books include AEG's Dragons, Legends & Lairs: Draconic Lore, Slayer's Guide to Dragons, The Book of Dragons, and Relics & Rituals: Excalibur.

Here is a list of miscellaneous and game-related links to get some ideas about imagining dragons:
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)