D&D General Companion to D&D Survivor: Gem Dragons

[EzekielRaiden]

While that's fair, D&D also has examples of gods punishing the wrong people or going to extremes to hide or brush off their own mistakes. And there are hints and threads of lore that show the Ruby Dragons isn't always the most benevolent (He is TN after all, so mercy or understanding aren't a necessity though I'm sure he is capable of also being those things) and is capable of making such mistakes.

Truthfully though, I love that there are various different depicts of the gods from different angles. It creates fun thought experiments that can lead to fun subversion of the more commonly accepted lore. For example, I really like the First World versions of Bahamat and Tiamat, because it gives both depth that can be further explored. And those subversions can bleed into their creations.

I was a big fan of how the later 4e stuff depicted Kord.

In the earlier things, he came across as a bit of a dumb jock with a heart of gold type. The later stuff, however, characterizes him as much more similar to Batman, playing by his own rules, being CRAZY prepared, doing whatever it takes to prevent another disaster like the Dawn War.

I like to think that both of them are aspects of his nature, rather than either being the "correct" view. He is both the carousing older brother type, loud and boisterous, maybe a bit thick-headed but well-meaning and genuine, AND the grizzled veteran, cunning and unrelenting, incredibly useful as an ally but very bullheaded, and dangerous when acting alone. There may even be other sides of his nature as well.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I was a big fan of how the later 4e stuff depicted Kord.

In the earlier things, he came across as a bit of a dumb jock with a heart of gold type. The later stuff, however, characterizes him as much more similar to Batman, playing by his own rules, being CRAZY prepared, doing whatever it takes to prevent another disaster like the Dawn War.

I like to think that both of them are aspects of his nature, rather than either being the "correct" view. He is both the carousing older brother type, loud and boisterous, maybe a bit thick-headed but well-meaning and genuine, AND the grizzled veteran, cunning and unrelenting, incredibly useful as an ally but very bullheaded, and dangerous when acting alone. There may even be other sides of his nature as well.

nuanced gods tend to be the most fun to use and have the most options, who they interact with and why can get complex meaning more story potential.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Just to be clear, I have no animosity for the general concept of obsidian dragons. Many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, I was on a Dragonriders of Pern fan RP site, and I drafted "gem" dragons that were an alternate slate of dragons that characters could Impress (psionically bond with, for those who haven't read the books.) Obsidian was the most powerful and strongest of the set, the "king" type equivalent to the standard Bronze dragons.

But the description given for D&D Obsidian dragons makes them sound like real jerks.

 

[Corinnguard]

I wonder what the Pern series would look like if it was a D&D setting.

 

[JoeyD473]

I wonder what the Pern series would look like if it was a D&D setting.

Don't ruin Pern

and we seem to be down to our final 5.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I wonder what the Pern series would look like if it was a D&D setting.

Probably unrecognizable. There's a lot of 60s/70s utopianism woven into the background of Pern. It's not totally perfect (that's kind of the whole point of the conflict with the Oldtimers), but it's very much a "we could have a futuristic low-tech society that is actually pretty chill and peaceful if we just had the right conditions." You see similar stuff from Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green-Sky (aka Below the Root) stories, published a few years after Pern.

That said, I certainly think you could put together a D&D world inspired by Pern, where intelligent magical (or telepathic) dragons bond with a select few dragonriders, with such bonded pairs defending their homes from both natural disasters and monstrous beings.

You'd probably have to do the "all magic or no magic" thing though--either everyone is a dragonrider or nobody is. I love Master Robinton as much as the next fan, but he only fits with Weyrwomen and Weyrleaders because he's in a planned narrative. He would make for a great NPC ally/supporter with the right group (it occurs to me that an NPC I run probably comes, in part, from subconscious memories of Robinton's magnanimity and kindness), but I don't think he would really fit in a D&D-like group.

Unless, of course, you stretch the premise further and make it a world with proper magic and such, not just telepathy, hyperspace/time travel, and a couple ultra-convenient biological/geological quirks to make the concept function (e.g. that the planet Pern has unusually high quantities, near the surface, of a stone which just so happens to make great fuel for an organic flamethrower.)

Don't ruin Pern

and we seem to be down to our final 5.

I mean, I wanted to be kinder than that, but yeah--if you tried to just shoehorn D&D into Pern it wouldn't work out. Adapting the core premise as a conceit for a setting properly designed for D&D, however, could work. It just depends on exactly how faithful you want to be to the source material.

We'll see where things go from here. It's pretty unlikely that both Amethyst and Sapphire will fall before the other three do, but if diehard fans of (say) Obsidian dragons all cleave in the same direction, we could see a major upset before we get to the final two.

 

[Maxperson]

That said, I certainly think you could put together a D&D world inspired by Pern, where intelligent magical (or telepathic) dragons bond with a select few dragonriders, with such bonded pairs defending their homes from both natural disasters and monstrous beings.

In 1984 or 1985 I was at The Last Grenadier in Burbank, CA. It was probably the best FLGS of the 80's and 90s in the Los Angeles area. Anyway, there were 5 or 6 old dudes(probably 10-20 years younger than I am now) playing D&D. I asked if I could play with them and they were like, "Sure! Have a seat. We're heading to Perrenland(the DM had apparently converted that Greyhawk country to Pern) to impress some dragons, because we want to be dragonriders." Not knowing a thing about McCaffrey, I just sort of thought these guys were crazy and I never returned to that game.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

sorry little one but I now must figure out how to not lose.

(John Cleese): Mr. Nesbitt has learned the first lesson of not being seen: not to stand up. However, he has chosen a very obvious piece of cover.

 

[Corinnguard]

(John Cleese): Mr. Nesbitt has learned the first lesson of not being seen: not to stand up. However, he has chosen a very obvious piece of cover.

Monty Python skit?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Monty Python skit?

Yes. "How Not To Be Seen." It goes on to blow up a large number of people who do not wish to be seen, including Lord Langdon, three further gentlemen who did not wish to speak with the fictional filmmakers, the city of Manchester, the West Midlands, Spain, and (apparently) the entirety of China.