Unlike the other creatures I disfigured in prior posts, there is no easy 'let's just use this original source' for dragons. They were far too much for far too long, but I finally think I have found an angle that allows me to rid myself of them for the forseeable future.
illustration of Smaug by Tove Jansson
First things first, their depiction in the Little Brown Books (LBB). It is long and rambling so, as a series' first, I'll reoder the text slightly to make it more legible and I am leaving out the example of play for subduing dragons for some much needed brevity:
'DRAGONS:
There are six varieties of Dragons, each with seperate characteristics in particular and other things in common. The varieties will be dealt with first:
[...]
Special Characteristics:
White Dragons will be found only in cold regions.
Black Dragons will be found only in swamps and marshes. If the Dragon can talk there is a 5% chance it can use magic, 1st level only.
Green Dragons frequent woods and forests. If the Dragon can talk there is a 10% chance it can use magic, 1st and 2nd level spells.
Blue Dragons are at home in the deserts and arid lands. There is a 15% chance that talking Blue Dragons can use magic spells of from the 1st and 2nd level.
Red Dragons inhabit mountainous and hilly regions. If the dragon can talk there is a 15% chance it can use magic, 1st through 3rd levels.
Golden Dragons are able to abide anywhere, as they are actually a class unto themselves. These monsters are by far the most intelligent of all their kind, and they are able to use magic. They can employ spells up to the 6th level, gaining one level for each of their stages of maturity, having one spell for each hit die they have. GoIden Dragons are the onIy Dragons which are Lawful in nature although this exception is not noted on the Alignment table. They will often appear as human or in some other guise. They will not usually serve any character.
[...]
Certain weapons will be more or less effective than others against the various types of Dragons. This is indicated on the following chart, the number indicating the
addition or subtraction for the probability of hitting as well as the amount of damage done.
[...]
Breath Weapons:
The Dragon is able to use its breath but three times per day, so sometimes it will bite instead. To determine this simply roll two six-sided dice; a score of six or less indicates the Dragon will bite, but a seven or better indicates it wilI breathe.
Cone-shaped breath weapons originate from the mouth of the Dragon at 1/2"
diameter.
Line-shaped breath weapons will travel in a straight line beginning at the height of the Dragon's head at the time it releases.
Cloud-shaped breath weapons extend from ground level to a height of 3".
Hit Dice:
The number of dice is an indication of the size of the creature. Most will fall in the middle, but 20% will be small and 20% very-large. The value of the hit dice, as well as the value of the breath weapon, will be subject to the maturity of the Dragon.
Maturity:
[...]
Attacking Dragons:
Sleeping Dragons may be attacked with a free melee round by the attacker and +2 on hit dice for chances of hitting.
[...]
Subduing Dragons:
Any attack may be to subdue rather than to kill, but this intent must be announced before melee begins. When intent to subdue is announced hits scored upon the Dragon are counted as subduing rather than killing points. Each round of melee the number of points scored in hits is ratioed over the total number the Dragon has (hit point total), the hits obtained being stated as a percentile of the total possible, i.e. 12%, 67%, etc. The percentile dice are then rolled to determine if the Dragon has been subdued. A roll equal to or less than the percentage of hits already obtained means the Dragon is subdued.
[...]
Value of Subdued Dragons:
Subdued Dragons can be sold on the open market (going out of existance in the game) for from 500 to 1,000 Gold Pieces per hit
point it can take. [...] Offers are determined by the referee merely by rolIing a six-sided die to see if the offer will be 500 (die 1) 600 (die 2), etc. Gold Pieces. Of course the character or characters who subdued the Dragon could keep it in their own service or sell it to other players for whatever they
could get.
Length of Subdual:
A subdued Dragon will remain in that state until such time as an opportunity presents itself to escape or kill its master presents itself, but as long as the master is in a commanding position it will not attempt either course.
Two or More Dragons:
If two Dragons are encountered they will be a mated pair of at least the 4th age catagory. If three or four Dragons are encountered they will constitute a family group of a male, female and one or two young. The adults will be of the 4th or greater age catagory, the young of the 1st. If the young are attacked both parents will automatically use their breath weapons. If the female is attacked the male will attack at double value unless he is simultaneously attacked, and vice versa.
Dragon Treasure:
Very Young and Young Dragons are unlikely to have acquired treasure, Sub-Adult Dragons will have about half the indicated treasure for Dragons. Very Old Dragons can have as much as twice the indicated amount.' (Monsters and Treasure pp.11-14)
Amount: 1-4; AC: 2; Movement: 9/24; HD: 5-12; In Lair: 60%; Treasure type: H (copper, silver and gold coins, gems, and a chance at a decent amount of magic items and treasure maps) (ibid. p.3)
This is... a lot. Surprisingly though, it is also really sparse. What I mean is: We get a lot of subsystems that are for whatever reason mentioned in the context of dragons rather than the common rules, but other than that we get very little interesting information:
- Dragons have breath attacks
- They mature at a rate similar to humans, but exclusively benefit from aging
- Assuming the 1 to 4 is rolled on a d4, 60% of dragons encountered are mating pairs and 30% are the children of mating pairs.
- They only support up to two young at a time, never as single parents
- They come in six flavours of which gold is objectively the strongest and most special.
No shade to anyone who's into this, but I think this is super boring. I hate that it reduces dragons to something like a taxonomic genus and thus to just a certain kind of animal, I hate gold dragon supremacy, I hate 'nuclear family' as a model for dragon group and reproductive behaviour, and I really hate that a 100+ year old dragon is considered 'very old' and thus the strongest a dragon can get. Really, having them mature at the same rate humans do breaks my mind.
Surely we can do better, we must do better. But how?
Natural History: a dead end
The first idea was to do what I did for basilisks: these are creatures folks used to believe actually exist, so what did they think dragons were?
A snake.
No really, thats it...
'Dragons, in the original sense of the word, are real animals. These iconic monsters of European folklore are the literary descendants of ordinary snakes that evolved through the centuries with much help from the discipline of natural history. Classical authors applied the term dragon to large snakes such as Aesculapian snakes and pythons. Over time, so many fabulous traits accrued in the descriptions of these animals that by the Renaissance dragon descriptions strained credulity, and eighteenth-century scientists dismissed dragons as mythical.' (from the abstract of Snake to Monster: Conrad Gessner’s Schlangenbuch and the Evolution of the Dragon in the Literature of Natural History by Senter et al. in Journal of Folklore Research vol. 53, no. 1)
This was a very dissapointing dead end to reach so quickly. I tried looking for interesting traits ascribed to dragons in natural history but they are profoundly boring. Just look at this overview from the same paper:
(ibid. p. 69)
Ibn Sina's grouping of morays and stingrays under dragons is a fun little novelty, but for the most part this is useless at the table.
The paper did allow me to justify excluding non-european dragon origins to keep the scope more manageable:
'It is important to note that the Occidental (Western) dragon is not directly related to the Chinese dragon. The latter is a mythical creature believed to have its own independent origin and evolution in art and literature' (ibid p. 71)
Their reference to a book called the Art of the Dragon from 1988 by Yang Xin, Yohua Li, and Naixiang Xu, I could not check as I could not find a copy online nor did the local university library have it.
Sigurd and Fáfnir: an unexpected journey
Tolkien reference very much intended, as will become clear later.
The main reason I chose this story is that according to Max Miller from the youtube channel Cooking History, Regin (Fáfnir's dwarven brother) lies to Sigurd that the creature he wants him to kill is a snake (at about 9:25 of this video).
I can't find this particular claim by Regin in either the Volsung saga, nor in my copy of the poetic Edda, but I am desperate to make a decision on which dragon to use, so any link between OG drakōn (i.e. greek snakes) and literary dragons is taken as a qualifying criterion.
Both the saga and the Edda have very little to say about Fáfnir, but fortunately Tolkien has written an adaptation of Sigurd's encounter with the dragon (The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, specifically part V Regin) which gives us a lot more in that regard:
[...]
Fathoms thirty fell
the fearful cliff
whence the dragon bowed him
drinking thristy.
[...]
the land trembled
forth came Fáfnir,
fire his breathing;
down the mountain rushed
mists of poison
The fire and fume
over fearless head
rushed by roaring;
rocks were groaning
the black belly,
bent and coiling,
over hidden hollow
hung and glided.
So the dragon Fáfnir:
- Is very long, he can bend down 30 fathoms to drink
- Is heavy, the ground shakes under his footsteps
- Is constantly breathing fire
- Emits a mist of poison
- Can project his fice by roaring
- Has a long, coiling body, suggesting something like a snake
Fáfnir is killed with a single thrust, but the sword used was only approved by Regin for the job after it was capable of cleaving an anvil in two, so we can add
- Had incredibly tough skin
to the list of his qualities.
That is not yet the extent of the dragon's qualities. After killing it, Regin intends to consume the dragon's heart, in Tolkien's adaptation to gain the dragon's wisdom. While preparing it, Sigurd tastes some of the dragon's blood after which: 'beasts cry he knew, and birds voices'.
Consumption of the dragon thus bestows abilities. Perhaps these are the dragon's own abilities, the language of beasts and birds being part of his wisdom, in which case
- Can understand beasts and birds
- Transfers knowledge and skills to whomever consumes their body
should both be added.
Finally, and cucially, Fáfnir wasn't born a dragon, he became one after killing his father for the blood money that was payed for the death of his brother Otter. There is some beautiful poetic irony in killing someone to get the money they got as compensation for the untimely death of their son. I find that way more compelling than the potential 'patricide is bad' reading of the curse.
Fuck that was long. I promise (mostly to myself) the next few will be shorter, and hopefully take less time.v
Dragon
Traits:
- Long (like a train), creep (like a gator), fly (like a kite)
Strengths:
- Scaly armor: Overlapping scales, like harderdened steel, cover the entire outside of their body.
- Fiery breath: Exhale flames with each breath. Able to bellow large balls of fire with a roar.
- Toxic mist: The fumes coming of its flames are poisonous, crippling all who breathe them.
- Beguiling speech: When conversing it is difficult not to tell them more than you intended.
Weaknesses:
- Cold-blooded: Does not understand compassion and gets sluggish if cooled down.
- Self-centred: Cannot imagine anyone caring about or being motivated my anything other than them.
Ecology:
- Blood curse: Born by spilling blood to gain what was given to compensate for unjustly taken lives.
- Growing greed: The larger the hoard, the greater their size. The greater their size, the larger their greed.
- Magical bodies: Their form caused by curse, consuming them bestows blessings and cursed alige.
- Inhospitable neighbours: They do not honour the laws of hospitality. Their prolonged presence blights the surrounding lands.
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