How common are dragons in YOUR world?

[Jürgen Hubert]

Speaking for Urbis, common in the remaining wilderness areas (and there are quite a few of those), very uncommon anywhere near a large city-state. After all, many cities tend to hurl some kind of epic-level damaging spell at any dragon they see approaching, and that hurts plenty. The major exception to this is the Desert of Thunder, where, of course, dragons run the cities.

Any dragons living in the cities tend to be in humanoid disguise - though you do hear urban legends about dragon hatchlings living in the sewers...

 

[A'koss]

Dragons in my Norse-themed campaign are a little different than core. The Linnorms are not an exceedingly long-lived race with lifespans of around 250 years for the weaker species to about 450 for the longest lived varieties. That also means that Dragons IMC can replenish their numbers far swifter than the core varieties and are more numerous in general. They are, like all creatures IMC, unaligned as well so you never really know how an encounter with them will go...

Intelligent humanoid races are only just regaining a toehold in our campaign so they are not having to fight over resources, but territoriality issues crop up every now and again.

In addition, there are several unique dragons including Hela's Wraith-like Death Dragon who carries the souls of the damned to her domain...


A'koss.

 

[Gez]

We play in the Realms and in two homebrews (plus one third that is discontinued).

In mine, Dragons are rare, but not rarissimo. One may stumble of wyrmlings (especially chromatic wyrmlings) often. From the adult age on, dragons are rare and seldom seen. Those who can are usually polymorphed into a humanoid shape, and their true identity is unknown. Others are happy to deal with wizards and sorcerers only, uncaring about mortal things. And yet others subjugates tribes of humanoids, make them believe they are gods, and use them as a mean to get food and wealth through their pillage.

Metallic dragons raise their own children until they are young, at which stade they are big enough to strive on their own and are encouraged to do so, but chromatic dragons just mate more often and lay eggs anywhere, each apart from the other in a different place, and let the strongest win its right to live. Gem dragons are rare -- about 10% of all dragons are gem. They raise their youngs in a temporary lair, and only until they are very young, afterward they leave them, but often keep an eye on them to protect them if needs be.

Contrarily to standard D&D, blue dragons are nigh unheard off, but one may find brown and yellow dragons competing for territory in the Fire Desert.

The ocean hold dragon-turtle, sea drakes (from Mongoose's Seas of Blood, and maybe those from the FF too), and some other strange draconic beasts.

Otherwise, one may find mock dragons (from Creature Collection). They are thought to be, like the hydras, dragonnes and felldrakes (MM2), degenerate offshoots of true dragons. Mock dragons are prized as big bad pets, and sometimes used as mounts in warfare (a howdah is put on its top, holding archers).


In the other homebrew, the one I play in, Dragons are creatures of legend. They are said to have been the first rulers, those who created the Empire and the Harmonious Order of the civilization (it's an OA setting, about 3/4 Japan-1/4 China). Eventually, they grow tired of managing humans, so they Touched the smartest, most honorables families, that took on draconic traits, and eventually retired totally from human affairs, having left power to this Dragon-Touched aristocracy. Each noble family has its own Mark of the Dragon, a slight difformity, and those who bear it are great sorcerers and the rightful ruler of the country.

Of course, the Mikado is dead without heirs, the Shogun -- who isn't dragontouched -- has assumed rulership, and our Marked PCs, having conspired to take the throne and restore the rightful order of the land, have been exiled to the land of the gaijins...

 

[mythusmage]

Adventure Ore

A pair featuring white dragons.

1. In the whole of the Russian Republic there are but 6 white dragons. The old czars were jealous rulers and saw the white dragon as a threat to their power. So pogroms were declared against the white wyrm. Of the six that survived those days none is younger than old, and none had any surviving children.

The czar is now a constitutional monarch and the pogroms have ended, but the dragons still seek revenge. Through their agents they are spreading dissent and despair. Founding and fostering cults of hate and fear. Their goal to see Russia destroyed and the land emptied of Man and all his works. It is said it was they who awoke the Lich King and started The Lich King's War. By the tales it is they who keep Mother Russia from recovering from that war, for of all the nations of the world only Russia's population continues to decline.

[Adapting to your world] You'll need a great empire that's fallen on hard times, and a band of dragons who were once persecuted for some reason, but are no longer. It may be after a plot of their's failed (as above), or before the plot comes to fruition. The party should start off with an encounter with a mysterious cult, which then (with good detective work) leads to the powers behind the cult, and finally, after much adventuring and investigation, leads to oneof the dragons. Only after a number of encounters with that dragon and his minions should the party learn of another dragon. Run well this could turn into a multi-generational campaign, with the great-great grand children of the original adventurers learning of the full size of the draconic conspiracy. [/Adapting to your world]

2. A century gone a white dragon colony was established on Antarctica. Even for such cold adapted creatures the clime proved to inclement and so the settlement died out. But, stories have reached the outside world that the white dragon Antarctic colony suffered an even worse fate.

The party is approached by a representative of a white dragon consortium. They will pay well for the humans to learn what really happened to their cousins. During the course of the adventure the party discovers what's really behind the loss of the colony, and that things from a realm beyond are behind the disappearance of the lost dragons of Antarctica.

[Additional note] Find a copy of At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft or Beyond the Mountains of Madness from Chaosium Games. You don't (necessarily) need to use either, but they'll give you an idea of what sort of adventure you're dealing with here. Slimy, squamous things and all that. (Picture a white dragon covered with ichorous ooze, his arms flailing at you while he screams, "Kill me! Kill me! For God's sake, kill me!")[/Additional Note]

[Adapting to your game] Any desolate land and a doughty band of brave dragons seeking a new home will do. The colony is established, the land turns out to be even worse than they had thought, and the settlement is lost. Then questions arise. Tales are told, rumors spread... ...soon enow a concerned group of dragons approach the party to seek their assistance in the inquiry. (Maybe they'll learn something, and you're not endangering any dragons.) Things unspoken of (besides sex) need not be a part of this, but they do add a touch of the eldritch to the affair.[/Adapting to your game}

[Note] This is raw ore, a bit of refining must needs be done before you'll have an adventure ready. As stated above, you don't have to use the ore as is, changes and adaptations for your world's conditions will be necessary. What you get when the refining is done won't (necessarily) be the same as what another gets. Have fun.[/Note]

 

[Chimera]

IMC ATT(At this time); Dragons are an ancient race, allied with the Calaseans (powerful natural magic users - humanoids - who rule the world and have all other races enslaved or on the ropes.

Or, they were allied, until the battle of Kemensereg, 24 years ago, when 3 million Calaseans, 60 million of their slaves and about half of the world's Dragons were wiped out in one massive continent rending explosion. (versus 1 million Elorhim - the enemies of the Calaseans, 90% of the world's Rana (intelligent horse-like Elorhim allies) and one demi-God. Three Gods were knocked out of service for several centuries to come.)

Now the Dragons mostly remain in the Dragon Lands, their home territory which encompasses the bulk of another continent. On occasion, young Dragons or a mated couple will head into other lands seeking to carve out a hunting territory.

A few of the more fierce Dragons remain allied with the Calaseans. (Picture a 30th level Wizard riding a maximized Great Red Wyrm, attacking a village of 300-500...just to spread terror.)

And at this point in time, there are no "Good" or "Evil" Dragons. They all see Humans and their ilk as nothing but food.

 

[mythusmage]

Originally posted by Chimera (of dragons0
They all see Humans and their ilk as nothing but food.

Only food? Such a limited vision. Humans and the like can be so much more than food. For one, they can be such a wonderful source of entertainment. The groveling, the whining, the wringing of hands. Especially when he was boasting of what he would do to your corpse but an hour before. Knights of all kinds are real fun. Once you crack the hard outer shell there's a chevy center.

Elephants you have to hunt down (elephants are sensible beasts), humans you can get to cook themselves.

Oh, as for destroying a human village. It's much more fun to get them to do it themselves, then encourage them to blame somebody among their number for the carnage, whom they hand over to you for punishment. When they've rebuilt their village is when you destroy it. For any dang reason you feel like.

Keep them constantly afraid, it saps their strength and off balance.

 

[s/LaSH]

Only food? Such a limited vision. Humans and the like can be so much more than food. For one, they can be such a wonderful source of entertainment. The groveling, the whining, the wringing of hands. Especially when he was boasting of what he would do to your corpse but an hour before. Knights of all kinds are real fun. Once you crack the hard outer shell there's a chevy center.

Elephants you have to hunt down (elephants are sensible beasts), humans you can get to cook themselves.

Oh, as for destroying a human village. It's much more fun to get them to do it themselves, then encourage them to blame somebody among their number for the carnage, whom they hand over to you for punishment. When they've rebuilt their village is when you destroy it. For any dang reason you feel like.

Keep them constantly afraid, it saps their strength and off balance.

But the truly grand dragons have left their desire for material treasure behind. Why be unsatisfied with a static jewel, when you could own a thriving metropolis and demonstrate to the whole world your magnificent ward? A town is so much more valuable than a cave full of coins. It's fragile, too, which gives you the occasional excuse to go out and blow something up when it starts looking dangerous.

Yes, that's what one of my dragons thinks. He owns Catania, a prosperous Sicilian sea-port, and has done since Roman times (he's fond of mentioning the time he slew an entire legion). Did I mention he's a Red? Mortals are so far below him that he regards their city as just another inventory item, not a threat. He's the one the heroes ended up working for when they passed through Catania.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Depends which world... In my tabletop game (set in Kalamar), they're fairly rare -- about one or two per Kingdom. My players have met two, which is appropriate, considering they are out to Save the World. (They befriended one, slayed the other...)

I'm with the others in using Red Dragon stats, and I only stat dragons when I have to. They're not meant to be fought -- they're meant to be a force which changes decisions. They fell really foolishly into a head-to-head battle with the one they killed... They all died, except for the fact that one had a magic item which resurrected him with explosive force... A force which managed to finish off said dragon (did I mention they also managed to get some elite hobgoblin troops on their side by claiming, rather convincingly, to be their long-dead leader come back to earth in Dwarven form?)

As rare as I make True Res IMC, a dragon's horde is definitely enough to bring back three people, with some change to spare.

In my PbP game, which has a somewhat more low-fantasy tone (in certain respects -- it's more like a slightly low-fantasy world trying to cope with a slightly high-fantasy dilemma, if that makes sense... I'm going for an epic feel without getting really ridiculous, so I have to make normalcy for the world seem a little more mundane), Dragons will be more along the line of the "forces of nature" that others have described. Not necessarily higher-CR -- just a higher-feeling CR. I generally consider levels 12+ to be "epic level" in a sense, and try to communicate that feel to the PCs.