Dragons in Ravenloft

[alhoon]

In fairness, any creature except a dark lord can move at will from domain to domain provided the borders aren't closed.

And if they had the prospect of getting rid of dragon, I can't imagine many dark lords would close the borders.

Weeeeell... some borders would kill the dragon. Ivana closing the borders on the dragon, who wouldn't notice it till it was too late.

[Zettaijin]

What happens when people find a dead dragon, then?

[Zilfer]

A cleric or necromancer comes by and cast's raise dead..... Enter Fortitude save.... or undead.....

[HuManBing]

What happens when people find a dead dragon, then?

This happened in the movie Dragonheart.

Hungry peasants: ...meat! ...Meat! ...MEAT!

[Zilfer]

haha! Great movie!

Edit: Brother Gilbert!

[DannWyrm]

I come back and see a guy talking about the purity of anime and McCulture ruining niche media. What the fresh hell.

[Zettaijin]

Not unlike a previously suggested idea of an illithid corpse causing an alien autopsy video-like reaction, a dead dragon could cause significant discussion in the scientific community of the core.

Think River Monsters.

[High Priest Mikhal]

I come back and see a guy talking about the purity of anime and McCulture ruining niche media. What the fresh hell.

It's in my Sig: "Free Speech: You get what you pay for."

I'm surprised no one has even brought this up. In the first pages of Denizens of Darkness/Dread it states, "Dragons in Ravenloft represent the destructiveness of nature and the supernatural. Like forest fires, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions, dragons seem unstoppable and uncontrollable."

It also states they're thankfully rare. I believe I already said it in my first post in this thread. They represent the destructive, uncaring side of nature in Ravenloft. They also symbolize the effects of supernatural powers--magic, psionics, etc.--and creatures at their most horrible and uncontrolled. A true dragon in Ravenloft is something akin to Mount Vesuvius erupting, the 1906 San Fran earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina. They're the worst disasters in history given flesh and bone and often a malevolent genius. Things even the darklords should fear. Azalin himself partnered with Ebb rather than try to control her. And unlike him, she's growing in power. How long until she decides to face him for freedom--or even lordship of Darkon, if that suits the game?

Not unlike a previously suggested idea of an illithid corpse causing an alien autopsy video-like reaction, a dead dragon could cause significant discussion in the scientific community of the core.

Think River Monsters.

Interesting. I imagine some domains would be in an utter panic (War of the Worlds, anyone?) with others like Lamordia maybe taking an interest scientifically or more interested in debunking it as a hoax since it doesn't fit with their neat and tidy worldviews, and others more interested in how to exploit the find for power than in learning anything. Like the example of the alien autopsy video, there's no shortage of people trying to do all of the above.

[Jester of the FoS]

I've had to go through and edit some posts for content. Everyone was restrained so no warnings are being sent out, but the topic was still too risqué for the site.

I now return you to your previously scheduled dragon discussion.

[Jester of the FoS]

I can see dragons working two ways in Ravenloft.

The first is the force of nature.
The dragon comes and destroys, bringing waves of destruction. More time is spent describing the effects than the dragon itself, which moves too fast to really be observe. It's surrounded in shadow or clouds of ash that make details hard to identify.
The dragon itself is not personified. It's like an earthquake or forest fire. People might assign blame, such as sin or violating taboos as bringing down the dragon.

The other dragon is the sleek beast in a dungeon.
You never see the full dragon. It's just a long neck at the end of a corridor or a tail across a room, a head that appears spewing death. The details of the dragon are unseen. It's just this thing in a dungeon that could just as easily be a massive snake. You never see it fully because it's just too much for a single room.

[Nathan of the FoS]

If I used dragons in Ravenloft--which would depend on the overall flavor of the campaign, I can see it fitting in some ways but not in others--they'd be like the ones in The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley.

Amusingly enough, there are two very, very different kinds of dragons in the book--small, fierce, relatively unintelligent critters that are a menace to livestock (sorta like the dragon you see Saint George killing in most of the paintings), and world-bestriding behemoths like Maur, who terrorize whole countries and whose evil lingers even after they are dead in a very interesting and evocative way.

I doubt I'd use both dragon templates in a given campaign, but I think both could be very effective in Ravenloft.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

One alternative nobody's mentioned yet would be if a dragon were lost in the Mists themselves, preying on Mist-led travelers and Mistborn to survive. Once in a century or so it might stumble over a cluster or island, and wreak havoc, only to be driven off by one of the powerful darklords or tricked/lured back into the Mists again by weaker opponents. To the Land's human inhabitants, it'd be a dread disaster out of legend; from the dragon's own POV, it's caught in a snare and trying to find its way home. To the DPs, it's just another villain that didn't stand out enough, by dragon-caliber standards of Evil, to rate a domain.

[Nathan of the FoS]

One alternative nobody's mentioned yet would be if a dragon were lost in the Mists themselves, preying on Mist-led travelers and Mistborn to survive. Once in a century or so it might stumble over a cluster or island, and wreak havoc, only to be driven off by one of the powerful darklords or tricked/lured back into the Mists again by weaker opponents. To the Land's human inhabitants, it'd be a dread disaster out of legend; from the dragon's own POV, it's caught in a snare and trying to find its way home. To the DPs, it's just another villain that didn't stand out enough, by dragon-caliber standards of Evil, to rate a domain.

That might make a useful combination with Elena Faith-hold's backstory--if she seized on a real dragon attack to "impose order" and discovered how useful it was as a pretext.

[High Priest Mikhal]

One alternative nobody's mentioned yet would be if a dragon were lost in the Mists themselves, preying on Mist-led travelers and Mistborn to survive. Once in a century or so it might stumble over a cluster or island, and wreak havoc, only to be driven off by one of the powerful darklords or tricked/lured back into the Mists again by weaker opponents. To the Land's human inhabitants, it'd be a dread disaster out of legend; from the dragon's own POV, it's caught in a snare and trying to find its way home. To the DPs, it's just another villain that didn't stand out enough, by dragon-caliber standards of Evil, to rate a domain.

That might make a useful combination with Elena Faith-hold's backstory--if she seized on a real dragon attack to "impose order" and discovered how useful it was as a pretext.

That makes a lot of sense. I'd always wondered how she came up with the whole Banemaw thing. Given her personality it would be likely she'd use something from the past, since she's so blinded by pride and zeal she can't even see the forest for the trees. Er, no pun intended regarding her obsession with the Phantasmal Forest.