Physical Description

Dragons are enormous, winged, elemental lizards. They are the largest and most threatening monsters in all of Cimmeria. The only greater power than dragons are gods and creatures touched by divinity. In addition to their great size, many dragons can breathe elemental energy to devastating effect. A calculating intelligence guides the greatest dragons. They are fearsome beasts without peer in the mortal world.

Dragons have many terrifying natural weapons and defenses. Sharp claws and teeth are the primary weapons of all dragons. Large dragons are able to use their powerful wings to beat down enemies or to start windstorms. The tail of dragons is also a dangerous tool, even having a poisoned tip in some dragon varieties. Draconic connection to elemental magic gives many of them the ability to cast spells. Along with their many offensive powers, dragons are also impregnable defensive towers. Their scales are immune to all but the most enhanced magical weapons. They are naturally resistant to spells of all kinds. The largest dragons are shrouded in a supernatural aura of fear that frightens many hardened warriors away from even approaching the monster.

Dragons possess particularly sharp senses in addition to their other advantages. They can see further in the dark than most other species. Their senses of smell, touch, and hearing are so precise that they can accurately locate creatures that are close to them, even if those creatures are invisible. Sneaking up on a dragon is almost impossible due to this natural ability. Their amazing processing of incoming signals also allows dragons to sense when someone is lying to them. The slight changes in sweat, pheromones, and tone are all things that dragons pick up on and intuit unconsciously to determine a speaker’s intent and truthfulness.

Culture

Dragon culture values one thing above all else, treasure. Dragons have a pathological need for treasure. Gold, silver, jewels, magic items, and works of art are best, but anything of value is worthy of a place in a dragon’s hoard. Long-lived dragons often own collections of an esoteric item. Poetry, official seals, or luxury garments from a particular seamstress. Whatever it is, dragons are known to forgo all other things in their greed.

Draconic social relationships are minimal. They spend much of their time in solitude, either hunting or overlooking their hoards. Dragons typically only interact with others of their species when they feel the urge to breed. Beyond that, they have little tolerance for another dictatorial apex predator sharing their space. Female dragons are often forced to care for their eggs until they hatch but rarely provide any assistance beyond incubation. Once hatched, a dragon is typically on its own until death.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Hem tells us about their actual play campaign, The Sprouting. Within the world of The Sprouting, Earth's history diverged during the 1800s when an eldritch horror was summoned into our reality. The horror lay in wait for centuries, building up a secret army of plant monsters. In 2020, the plant monsters struck, ruining infrastructure and attacking population centers across the world. One hundred years have passed and our heroes learn that the next stage of the plant apocalypse has begun…We also discussed some of the difficulties and pleasures of actual play podcasts and how the RPG community varies internationally (Hem is in Iceland).If you want to try listening to The Sprouting its available on all major podcast platforms. You can learn more on The Sprouting's website.For other shows produced by Hem check out Blighthouse Studio's website.Hem mentioned The Lucky Die actual play show of theirs several times which used D&D 5e.And the broader network of Fable and Folly has their website too.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  2. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)
  3. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  4. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  5. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)