Fantasy Thursday 1

Yay, I am finally getting back on track post wise!

So I have been working out some ideas for my personal system here and there while I do my other projects.  While work is kind of slow, it is still progressing which makes me happy.  There is, as always, the question of what setting to use.  I had been working on a lee-than-'normal' setting involving a mass of floating islands and the like where portals to other dimensions dumped creatures and stuff in randomly.  the problem with that is it is a bit vague and hard for many to grasp.  Plus there is the fact that I just wanted to include way to much stuff that wouldn't make sense.

So I am back to working on Espeth as my primary fantasy setting.  Is this a bad thing?  Heavens no.  I mean, I have so much stuff written up for it that changing the system is a minor thing really.  The important thing is fleshing out the setting over bogging it down with unnecessary details.

And that brings us to the topic of this post... Dragons.  Dragons are, at least to me, one of the most over-used creatures in fantasy today.  I think they are an excellent foil for a group, but throwing them around willy-nilly degrades their threat, mystique, and cool-factor in a setting.  Look at some of the 'official' D&D books of late.  You can run into a young dragon with a group around 4th level?!?  That just seems wrong to me.

I feel dragons should be massive, impressive, and a major threat to anything that comes near them, but they should also be rare.  Granted, there are exceptions where lots of dragons make sense, like the Dragonlance world, but these are the exception not the rule.  I may be crazy but that's just my thinking.

In my world's a group may never run into a dragon although they may run into their kin/offspring depending on the campaign.  I think it is a great idea to have them as a foil, but they should be played right.  A dragon to me will have long-term plans, great goals that can only be accomplished over time.  This is due to their far-sight and long lives.  I mean, if your going to live for ages why hurry?

Of course I am also of the mindset that says that dragons 'alignment' shouldn't be entirely dictated by their color.  I mean why can't a silver dragon be selfish and conniving?  Why must all white dragons be brutish and stupid?  They live hundreds, if not thousands, of years and that surely has to have an impact on their personalities.

Ah well, just a rant from a random writer I guess.  I know that every GM and Player has their own vision of their world and that is a great thing.  There is nothing wrong with being different and playing things your own way!

Keep on Gaming!