One of the biggest influences on me as a Games Master was the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module, “DL1 Dragons of Despair“. This scenario opened up two big experiences: the awesome sunken city in the swamp, and the Draconians.
In my quest to pay homage to all the great influences on my gaming from that era, I created the Dragon Kings and their dangerous Dragonmen armies as a feature of my own realm of Mystamyr.
My story is different and the ideas are perhaps more “inspired by” than true believers in Krynn might like, but there is no escaping the origin of the idea: the wilderness hex crawl around Xak-Tsaroth.
Dragonman, Brass
This post, then, proposes some monstrous statistics for Dragonmen.
In short, I dug out my copy of “Dragonlance Adventures” and tried to come up with some notes for one of the types. Having drafted it, I asked for some feedback and advice from Rodney Leary (author of Classic Fantasy). Having made the suggested corrections, I’ve decided to put those notes out there (on here?) for your comment.
You can find my proposed stats for the Brass Dragonman here –> Dragonman, Brass
Feedback welcome!
Game on!
“If using the option presented in the Classic Fantasy Expert Set and Unearthed Companion.”
Hey now, I call ‘unfairsies’ for insider information! 😉
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that, while BECMI is my system of choice (and thus I was drawn to this blog by your tales of The Ghost of Lion Castle and such), I actually just bought the Classic Fantasy Mythras pdf based upon your glowing review. I never played Runequest back in the day, but I’m intrigued.
So if your secret plan was to boost sales, it’s working!
While I imagine the chaps at TDM will be delighted at another sale, I have to say that boosting sales was not my reason for posting about Mythras Classic Fantasy. 😉 Like you, I’m a gamer and I write about what I enjoy. Thanks for the feedback!
Don’t forget, you’ll need to grab the free Mythras Imperative rule book if you want to play Classic Fantasy, as it has the core system which is referenced by the latter.
Well, TDM should send you a fruit basket or something, because I’m sure I’m not the only sale you generated for them!
By the way, can I ask you a question about Classic Fantasy? In the section on spell casting it mentions a Magic User can memorize a spell twice so that it will still be available if a bad roll causes the spell to be lost. I understand that casters have to make skill rolls to cast spells, but I was under the impression that memorized spells were not lost (as in D&D), and can be cast so as long as you have enough magic points available. Are spells wiped from memory if the roll is fumbled? I can’t seem to find a rule in the book which clarifies this.
Thanks again!
Classic Fantasy page 122 (top right, bullleted) outlines how on on Failure or a Fumble spells can be lost from memory. In short, a Fumble loses you the spell while on a Failure you can choose to “push” the spell, causing it to cast as if successful but losing it from memory.
Hope that helps!
Thanks again for your help!
By the way, if by any chance you’re planning to post another solo game or something like that, could you make one involving a magic user character? It’d be nice to see an example of the magic system in play.
Pingback: Classic Fantasy: Creating Flamepaw | UbiquitousRat.net
Big fan of Dragonlance. Did you convert the rest of the draconians as well? If so I would love to see the stats for them. What formula do you use to convert from AD&D to Mythras?
Yes, I converted all of the Dragonmen – Brass, Silver, Gold, Bronze, and Copper. I also created a Red Dragonman for fun. There wasn’t a formula so much as I used the Lizardman from Mythras as a base and then extrapolated from there. Comparing AD&D Lizardmen to Draconians helped a little. It’s more art than science, if that doesn’t sound too pompous. Oh, and asking Rod for some advice was priceless. I submitted them all to Rod for consideration to include in the Unearthed Companion – I mean, I can hope, right? If you’d like a one-to-one chat about it, email me.
Yes, I would like to get some insights on these guys and some general mindsets for monsters in general since I am new to this. Where do I find your email though or can you just email me?
Fairly new to Mythras here but I’ve jumped in the deep end by starting with a Dragonlance conversion. I’ve been running through a few mock combats with Draconians and find that their wings and tails are very vulnerable. It seems almost a cheat to get a lucky hit on the wing incapacitating the creature.
Well, you can always decide to beef up the wing natural armour a bit. For me, I think a vulnerability like that is something that makes Mythras Classic Fantasy much more tactically interesting than AD&D: I can “Choose Location” to target the wings and incapacitate these guys; when they are fighting, Dragonmen won’t want to stand toe to toe and take their lumps but instead might use shields to block their vulnerabilities or look to ambush by gliding in and getting a quick win. I dunno if it’s for everyone, but hit locations have always been interesting to me. Thanks for the feedback though: next time I go to use them, I’ll have another look over the locations.
I agree the vulnerability makes it interesting I was hoping you’d found tactics for them or maybe I’d missed some reach rules (like the roll d10 for giants hit locations) that stopped or weakened hits to the back of the draconian.
Personally, using the cover rules and the passive blocking from the shield, I have always ruled that you cannot strike the wings from the front unless they are unfurled. They are simply inaccessible unless a combatant can flank or get behind the Dragonmen. That is, however, simply my own ruling based on what I view to be the logical imposition of the body and head between a frontal attacker and the rear-mounted wings.