tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post8018974755510381723..comments2024-03-28T15:35:24.099+13:00Comments on Shouting Into The Void: Dragons - the other dark meatPeter Fitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17675284304482852740noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post-9674570549294575322011-02-16T03:43:27.988+13:002011-02-16T03:43:27.988+13:00Ah! Now there is a description. I like the thousan...Ah! Now there is a description. I like the thousands of mouse-sized offspring with tadpole intelligence element. That's what I wanted to read about.<br /><br />"Why bother until then?"<br /><br />Good question.<br /><br />My only answer is, "because then you have motivation, story hooks and a world that feels deeper."<br /><br />I'm not of the "to make it stronger give it more hit points or damage reduction" school of thought." I'm of the "if you learned even a little of the backstory surrounding dragons you'd steer clear of them." Of course, if you learn a lot of the backstory maybe you'd find out about a weakness...Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post-74085404473434258912011-02-15T18:02:09.154+13:002011-02-15T18:02:09.154+13:00I find no problem making dragons TOUGH. I just aw...I find no problem making dragons TOUGH. I just award them damage reduction (p.307 of PHv3.5 or p.291 of DMGv3.5). 5 points for a man-sized dragon and up to 20 points for a great wyrm. <br /><br />You are going to need a o.50 cal belt-fed to take down a great wyrm in my campaign.Clovis Cithoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18208194219083373456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post-8647268016532700562011-02-15T14:58:50.656+13:002011-02-15T14:58:50.656+13:00"Dragons consider themselves to be the domina...<i>"Dragons consider themselves to be the dominant — the highest, most perfect — life form on the face of the planet."<br /><b>Why? Because they're bigger?</b></i><br /><br />No, because they're <i>dragons</i>. It's an ego thing — they're not bigger than many dinosaurs, but I have dinosaurs (and other very large critters) roaming around bits of the world too.<br /><br /><i>"The mortality rate among wyrmlings is high; few will survive to reach adulthood."<br /><b>Why? They live in remote regions with few other predators, can breath fire (or acid, or lightning, etc.) and can fly. Even a young whelp is, as you noted, the size of a large dog. What's causing a high mortality rate?</b></i><br /><br />Wyrmlings <i>don't</i> neccessarily live in remote areas. Until they gain some semblence of sentience, dragons (like any other creature) will go where the food is. So young horny dragons could well be mating and laying their clutches there too. When I say "spawn in large numbers" I'm envisioning <i>thousands</i> of mouse-sized hatchlings, with about the intelligence of a tadpole, which will prey on each other as well as anything else they can manage.<br /><br />At that stage their breath-weapons would be pathetic; a red wyrmling might be able to produce a brief flame to rival a candle; a blue wyrmling could produce a shock about as serious as the static belt off a nylon carpet. They'd be easy prey for hawks, owls, snakes, foxes or anything else with claws or teeth until they grew big enough to be able to defend themselves.<br /><br /><i>"This stage of life is when they begin to gather their hoards. The motivation behind this behavious is unknown, but there appears to be elements of competition for status with other dragons. Certainly, they don't appear to have any obvious concrete use for their gathered wealth."<br /><b>I can only assume this is for the players' benefit and you do have an answer for this one. Right?</b></i><br /><br />Not until I need one. Why bother until then?Peter Fitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17675284304482852740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post-14817090551606562932011-02-15T14:02:55.988+13:002011-02-15T14:02:55.988+13:00I don't mean to be a jerk and I apologize in a...I don't mean to be a jerk and I apologize in advance but this sounds no different and no more intriguing than any other background for dragons I've ever heard. It also contains a number of arbitrary pieces of information that I think would greatly benefit from answering the 'why' of it, even if its just for yourself (the players don't need to know).<br /><br />For example...<br /><br />"Dragons consider themselves to be the dominant — the highest, most perfect — life form on the face of the planet."<br /><br />Why? Because they're bigger?<br /><br />"The mortality rate among wyrmlings is high; few will survive to reach adulthood."<br /><br />Why? They live in remote regions with few other predators, can breath fire (or acid, or lightning, etc.) and can fly. Even a young whelp is, as you noted, the size of a large dog. What's causing a high mortality rate?<br /><br />"This stage of life is when they begin to gather their hoards. The motivation behind this behavious is unknown, but there appears to be elements of competition for status with other dragons. Certainly, they don't appear to have any obvious concrete use for their gathered wealth."<br /><br />I can only assume this is for the players' benefit and you do have an answer for this one. Right?<br /><br />I am totally in agreement with your first statement, D&D Dragons are Wimps. To solve that problem they need some element (or a group of elements) that make them stand apart from other creatures as interesting and formidible foes.<br /><br />In the (rare) fantasy campaigns that I've run, just mentioning a dragon is enough to make players rethink the whole adventure and consider travelling to the Abyss and picking on some nice, easy demons.Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post-32768262637627054332011-02-15T12:54:45.400+13:002011-02-15T12:54:45.400+13:00I would think that dragons like yours would spend ...I would think that dragons like yours would spend years and years slumbering, or even hibernating, in their lairs. Only to occasionally venture out to feed. That would explain why all of a sudden a particular region is terrorized by a great monster. It would also be a good way to introduce a dragon when you deem the heroes ready to face one -- on of your adults would quickly dispatch a group of low- to mid level adventurers, I would think.<br /><br />Also, this could open up for a nice dungeon crawl, with the thieves, er, heroes, sneaking in to steal some artifact from the sleeping wyrm. And then (maybe years) later have them receive the blame when the dragon wakes up and tears the country apart searching for its property.Haraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09864029225698561023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364472617154190092.post-10367465319439380392011-02-15T12:52:59.232+13:002011-02-15T12:52:59.232+13:00This comment has been removed by the author.Haraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09864029225698561023noreply@blogger.com