How common are dragons in YOUR world?

[Kryndal Levik]

They're extraordinarily rare in my world- my campaign history has a period (several hundred years before present time) where the dragons were systematically hunted down and destroyed as a "race." The remaining dragons are not hiding, per se, but they're definitely not out in the open. Those that are left are, in general, ancient and quite deadly. Occasionally a "youngster" pops up, but that's a rarity in and of itself...

 

[maddman75]

Dragons in my world are rather important. I have one that protects a free city from its agressive neighbors, keeping it as a meeting ground. Another nation is ruled by an Imperial family of red half-dragons.

They generally follow one of two paths. Some are isolated, lairing in the most remote places. Others will become movers and shakers if they enter the world of men.

 

[Tonguez]

"Dragons" Master Erasthius began his lecture in typical style " are Creatures of Legend known only from the tales of mighty heroes of bygone ages. They are metaphors for the struggle of mortals against uncontrolled nature and indeed the Mystic Dragons featured in Eastern Myth are more weather spirits than actual creatures...

...now" he continued "there are rumours that the High King of the Great Mountain is an ancient dragon in disguise. However with due respect to his Royal Majesty this is probabaly a reference to his high status as being dragon-like, beyond the level of mortal men. This is comparable of course to the legend of the Ancient Golden Pheonix which some have suggested was infact a dragon."

He was interupted then as a student posed a question

"No, no - of course not" he replied "Although it has been suggested that those repulsive Bog Lizards are actually baby dragons no clear evidence to prove the assertion has been acquired! Of course attempts to capture Bog Lizards is greatly hampered by their habitat and their dangerous habit of spitting an acidic slime - the same slime that their bodies ooze and which often causes the poisoning of their habitat and possible mutation in surrounding wildlife. To my knowledge three Bog Lizards have been raised in captivity, in two cases the creature escaped causing significant damage and loss of life and in the third case the creature died after having reached a length of 14 feet and being approximately 67 years old."

 

[Blockader7]

I'm working on a homebrew in which a group of dragons secretly rule a country. The country is Lg and non-expansionist nor militaristic, but very wealthy and has some powerful defenders against outside attack.

 

[Ace]

How common are Dragons IMC? Well so far the players haven't encountered any in my game world partially achived high enough level but mainly because Dragons are very very rare

They do exist but not in any areas where men dwell. Any Dragon would be killed on sight probably by a veritable army of high level types

Heck there really aren't any Dungeons either but thats another story

 

[kenjib]

There are stories of dragons in old history, but nobody knows for sure if they are myth or not. If any dragons still alive now, they are probably sleeping a slumber of 1000 years, hidden from the eyes of men. There have been no verified cases within the lifespan of anyone living (there are only humans in this world, so nobody has a 500+ year lifespan). If dragons do exist, and one awakens, it would probably have the might to bring the will of entire kingdoms under his brutal claw.

The great emperor of Mizun Lai is, according to legend, an immortal dragon with the ability to assume human form who has ruled there for over 600 years, but so very few people have ever seen him that it is thought by many that his agents, who rule by his decree, are part of an ancient conspiracy that has been perpetuating a continual hoax to maintain power. Others speculate that he is a wicked and powerful sorcerer or demon, rather than a dragon. If the emperor of Mizun Lai is truly a dragon, he would be the only known one at this time.

 

[gunter uxbridge]

I have been playing this game since 1991 and have seen a total of ONE dragon. Thats it...just the one, and that is playing with multiple DMs and running campaigns of my own.

I don't like to fool with them.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Every dragon in my campaign is a powerful entity. I give them all very high Intelligence scores, so even the White dragons are smarter than most of the humans who bother them.

I generally leave them backstage, though there are quite a few of them. All of them have the ability to take a variety of humanoid forms, and they like to use this ability to take positions of power in humanoid realms. They are cunning, political, and typically supported by many, many supporters, followers, retainers, and minions. Most of the time, the PCs aren't even aware they're dealing with a dragon, unless they have some way of seeing through their humanoid forms.

Half-Dragons are quite a bit more common, and can be encountered nearly anywhere. Unless their draconic parent is openly a dragon, they are typically unacknowledged; they adventure to earn power and wealth, either to impress their parent or to surpass them.

 

[nimisgod]

Dragons in my setting have only recently returned months ago, having been banished by mortals several millenia ago via the use of ancient magicks now lost.

To place them in my world's flavor, I've changed their appearances and started giving them "better" names. I've found labels like Red Dragon or Silver Dragon to be kinda lame anyway.

Thus the Vulcanian Dragon uses a Red Dragon's stats. A Malgathan Dragon (first seen in the swamps of Malgatha) uses a Black Dragon's stats, etc.

Like what a lot of guys said, I have uber-dragons as well.

The return of the Dragons was called the "Gathering of Storms" a much prophesied and dreaded event. The "Storms" are the spirits of a thousand great wyrm dragons, each representing the different kinds of Dragons about.

Most Dragons hate mortals, though they've been trickling in too slowly to even affect the world adversely...for now. One of the "Storms", Creeranthymar (The 113th in Draconic) has taken interest in mortals though. He has begun to study them for his own purposes while the rest of his kin plot the destruction of the descendants of the one's who banished them.

Dragons are fun.

 

[s/LaSH]

My campaign? There have been precisely four dragons so far. One of them was a wee tiny thing, being used by certain villains. The PCs fought that one in a dungeon. The other three? They all sought out the PCs. And only one of them ever got involved in a fight (it was after the same thing the PCs were). And won effortlessly. The others just wanted the PCs to do stuff...

So yeah - powerful and proactive, and the only reason the PCs are in contact with them is because they're doing deeds that affect whole regions - now whole nations and soon whole continents - things that dragons are interested in for various reasons.

As a final aside, why should there be young dragons roaming the countryside? You have to have younglings for the elders to spring up, but what if their parents took care of them? Hid them away, brought them food (whales or elephants or big bars of iron or whatever dragons eat), and taught them about Big Bad Adventurers. Sure, every so often one of them gets whacked. That's probably an exception, not the rule.