The Book of Dragons

Humanity’s myths are dreams of dragons. No other creature is quite so present, so dominant, in our stories. Almost every culture has its own tales of the serpents. Our fantasy reflects this, and dragons have been one of the defining elements of the fantasy genre for decades, and their pedigree in adventure gaming is obvious. There is good reason for this pre-eminence – no other creature has the power or the terrifying majesty of the dragons, no other creature has the curious alchemy of horror and glory that makes dragons so wonderful. On leathern wings, they soar across the skies of our imagined worlds. Their fire threatens the world, but also illuminates it.

The Desolation of the Dragon describes the region around a lair, and explores the effects dragons have on their environment. Watchers on the Mountain provides a system for tracking the progress of an adventuring party and the responses of the dragon and its servants. Servants of the Dragon has details on the various kinds of warriors and pawns used by dragons to defend their lairs and affect the mortal world.

Dragon Lairs has all the detail needed to design a dragon’s lair, from a dank cave filled with rotting remains of previous adventurers to an ancient ruined city despoiled by the beast. When a party finally encounters the dragon, Flattery and Riddles lets them have a few last moments before the dragon employs its Tactics and Warfare to wipe them out.

If by some miracle the party survive, they can delve into the fabled Hoards of the dragons, or even into the carcass of their foe with reference to Anatomy of the Dragon.

Age Advancement presents a variant method for creating dragons especially skilled in warfare, or magic, or some other field of expertise. A selection of new Feats (with especially emphasis on the feared breath weapon) follows. The rules in those two chapters are then used as the basis of a system of Dragon Design.

The nightmarish fruits of that system are presented in New Dragons, ranging from the parasitical Sin Dragons to the noble Heraldic Dragon and chaotic Planar Dragons.

Dragon Magic has new spells and items for dragons (and their enemies). Lifecycle and the Heritage of Dragons delves into the physiology and history of the draconic species. Hatching and Raising Dragons examines the egg. Campaigning contains advice on using dragons in a game, as symbols, enemies, allies, mounts or even characters. Finally, a Mortal Miscellany deals with the response of the lesser races to the dragons.