Sometime in January, I realized that if I did one monster a week from the Monster Manual, I’d be working on the Monster Monday series for a few years. Now, I like my Monster Monday posts, but I didn’t really intend on tackling a multiyear project when I started that series.
That in mind, I started scheming up several special events that would see me tackle multiple entries in a much shorter time. This is the first of those events. My birthday is in March, and dragons are among my favorite monsters (and have lots of variations to play with). All March long, I’ll be making daily posts, mostly about D&D dragons, but I’ll probably throw in some extras about dragons in mythology, folklore, and modern fiction along the way.
The planned posts thus far are:
- Dragon facts: 10 facts about every dragon in the Monster Manual (including things like wyverns and dragon turtles.)
- Dragon NPCs: Three unique dragon NPCs for each dragon variation, usually with a special ability or magic item.
- Homebrew dragons: Every Friday, I’ll have a special new homebrew dragon to share that will, if time allows, be playtested with some Discord friends on Thursdays.
I hope, especially with the homebrew dragons, to further explore and expand the concept of a dragon. I’ve seen it less lately, but I remember lots of nerd conversations about defining the difference between a dragon, a wyvern, a drake, a wyrm, and so on based on anatomy, magic powers, and place of origin. These can be fun, but unless you’re a folklorist or an adventurer living in a fantasy world, I’m not sure such distinctions are useful.
That discussion is one of those things that starts as fun and then some people take too seriously and try to use as definitive criteria for fiction. Authors and dungeon masters don’t need to know how many limbs a dragon is supposed to have. They need to know the role a dragon plays, and its physicality, already a hodgepodge of traits taken from other animals, is only a fragment of the bigger picture.
Dragons aren’t just firebreathing lizards. They’re apex predators, terrifying even if they’re friendly. They’re guardians of knowledge, wealth, and power. They’re a challenge gating of a hero’s chance to ascend.
So, dragons are cool, and we’re going to talk about them a lot this month. Until next time!
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