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FYI: D&D 5E will have it's Dragon Splat on October 19th.

Started by Jam The MF, July 16, 2021, 10:52:18 PM

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Jam The MF

Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
Already listed on Ama... for presale.

Will include Gem Dragons.

I guess this will be the Draconomicon of 5th Edition?
Let the Dice, Decide the Outcome.  Accept the Results.

Zelen

Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.

Shasarak

Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.

Dragons are like Elves and Jelly, always room for more.
Who da Drow?  U da drow! - hedgehobbit

There will be poor always,
pathetically struggling,
look at the good things you've got! -  Jesus

Jam The MF

Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.


I recently asked a child to answer several questions about the setting for a gaming session; to potentially lead into additional gaming sessions, of an unknown duration.

She decided there were Red, White, and Blue Dragons in this setting.  Red were the most common, and White were the least common.  She called the Red Dragons Fire Dragons, the White Dragons Ice Dragons, and the Blue Dragons Thunder Dragons.

That's plenty, for me to DM.  Plus, she doesn't know about the Dracolich.  There should be plenty of other creatures around; but obviously, there are Dragons too.
Let the Dice, Decide the Outcome.  Accept the Results.

Jam The MF

Quote from: Shasarak on July 17, 2021, 12:54:14 AM
Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.

Dragons are like Elves and Jelly, always room for more.


I've been expecting WOTC to release a Draconomicon, and a Manual of the Planes for D&D 5E for years now.  They are going to tell the story of the First World, in this Dragon release.
Let the Dice, Decide the Outcome.  Accept the Results.

Chris24601

Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.
Not everyone runs a setting that's a Tolkien clone. There are numerous fantasy settings where dragons are much more common; even used as mounts by the protagonists/antagonists in some of them.

Heck, even D&D got in on that action with the original Dragonlance modules.

The point is; just because you don't run/play in a setting where they're common doesn't mean everyone does.

HappyDaze

Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.
I don't always need dragons to be rare, and if they are more common, they don't have to be very unique at all. WFRP has dragons that are ridden by elves by the dozens (Sigmar help you if you're on the wrong side of them), and they are fairly homogenous. OTOH, there are the very unique (and almost godlike) great dragons of Earthdawn (and Shadowrun, if you like) that are quite rare--outside of all of the fiction that focuses upon them. IOW, there is room for both.

palaeomerus

Might be nice to have a tan dragon, taupe dragon, winter grey dragon, beige dragon, and navy vessel gray dragon and they have a chromatic sovereign who is the most boring true neutral entity who ever lived. All five of these dragons respectively focus on accounting, financial services planning, nutrition, low maintenance suburban yard care, and technical writing.
Emery

Shasarak

Quote from: palaeomerus on July 18, 2021, 09:19:31 PM
Might be nice to have a tan dragon, taupe dragon, winter grey dragon, beige dragon, and navy vessel gray dragon and they have a chromatic sovereign who is the most boring true neutral entity who ever lived. All five of these dragons respectively focus on accounting, financial services planning, nutrition, low maintenance suburban yard care, and technical writing.

Maybe the chromatic sovereign could be the Plaid Dragon
Who da Drow?  U da drow! - hedgehobbit

There will be poor always,
pathetically struggling,
look at the good things you've got! -  Jesus

Ratman_tf

Quote from: Chris24601 on July 17, 2021, 08:23:18 AM
Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.
Not everyone runs a setting that's a Tolkien clone. There are numerous fantasy settings where dragons are much more common; even used as mounts by the protagonists/antagonists in some of them.

Heck, even D&D got in on that action with the original Dragonlance modules.

Can't be overstated. It's in the name of the game, it's an iconic monster, and there's a campaign setting revolving around dragons.

The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

palaeomerus

Quote from: Shasarak on July 18, 2021, 11:20:45 PM
Quote from: palaeomerus on July 18, 2021, 09:19:31 PM
Might be nice to have a tan dragon, taupe dragon, winter grey dragon, beige dragon, and navy vessel gray dragon and they have a chromatic sovereign who is the most boring true neutral entity who ever lived. All five of these dragons respectively focus on accounting, financial services planning, nutrition, low maintenance suburban yard care, and technical writing.

Maybe the chromatic sovereign could be the Plaid Dragon

ooh. Textile dragons. Double knit dragon, herring bone, hounds tooth, tweed, tartan...cashmere...chiffon, fishnet...the leisure suit dragon...endless possibility.
Emery

JeffB

Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.

I'm with you, but no doubt if  they produce something "cool" and it becomes popular whomever owns the property will regurgitate it over and over again to the point of absurdity- Drow. Against some Giants. Mind Flayers. Orcus. Tombs of Horror. Lich Lords. Beholders. The Great Wheel. Dragons/Dragonlance. Elemental Evil. Big Cities and Small Towns of The Savage Frontier....  these will be crammed down your throat until the property dies (which won't be anytime soon).

This is what Wizards* says you want to buy.



* No doubt TSR did this too, but they at least gave us tons of other material to pick and choose from as well.

Habitual Gamer

Quote from: Chris24601 on July 17, 2021, 08:23:18 AM
Quote from: Zelen on July 17, 2021, 12:35:37 AM
Do people really run games where dragons are so common that you need two dozen varieties? I guess I'm old fashioned but dragons are always rare and unique characters.
Not everyone runs a setting that's a Tolkien clone. There are numerous fantasy settings where dragons are much more common; even used as mounts by the protagonists/antagonists in some of them.

Heck, even D&D got in on that action with the original Dragonlance modules.

The point is; just because you don't run/play in a setting where they're common doesn't mean everyone does.

Vanilla D&D has 5 different dragon types, with different stats and powers for each age of each type.  It works as a "you're level 5, so here's a dragon you can fight in an interesting battle.  And here's a different dragon for when you're level 20" sort of thing.  You can fill the freaking skies with all sorts of dragons.  And you don't even need all 5 types and the range of ages if you don't want them all.  You can make a setting where red dragons are the only kind, and they fill all roles you want a dragon to fill (challenge, mount, livestock, etc.). 

But honestly?  TTRPG gamers are often jaded and unimaginative enough that the idea of "just" an old chromatic dragon is boring to them.  Blame it on the GM if you'd rather, for not sparking some life in the encounter and its description.  So publishers churn out books of pre-imagined stuff, and people gobble it up to read (and maybe, just maybe, actually put in a game).  The idea that "variety equals interesting" is a lazy fallacy.

Habitual Gamer

Quote from: JeffB on July 19, 2021, 09:31:38 AM
* No doubt TSR did this too, but they at least gave us tons of other material to pick and choose from as well.

And when TSR did it, we didn't have literal decades of material from other publishers doing it on top of them.

I'll cut some slack for the company who published monster manuals back in the 80's.  The publishers doing it now -really- have to up the bar to be worth a damn.

Jam The MF

I started this FYI thread before I saw the whistleblower stuff about Hasbro.  I'm not trying to help sell WOTC product.  I'm just noting where we probably are in the life cycle of 5E.
Let the Dice, Decide the Outcome.  Accept the Results.