I was thinking that while the "Dragon Mode" part itself might be a ways down the road, Toady is implementing the politics part much much sooner. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest that Dragons be added to the world civilization political table... each dragon counting as a separate "nation". Let kings declare wars on dragons, and dragons declare war on kings.
Let dragons have a religion... preferably worshipping THEMSELVES, and allow the dragon to be a "missionary" for this religion. Of course, when religious wars come in to play, the dragon's religion would be opposed to more or less every other religion out there.
And then when politics become deeper, the Dragons are already positioned to be involved in intriuge, and if there's one thing D&D has taught me, it's that political intrigue with dragons involved can get FUN!
Here's some specific examples of what I'd like to see, in the form of Toady's "POWERGOALS"
POWERGOAL: A small but wealthy kingdom lays next to a poor but militarily strong kingdom, with but a single mountain pass between them. One day, a dragon sets up a "toll road" in that pass, demanding a reasonable tribute on trade. The small kingdom realizes that the dragon is acting as it's best military defense, and dedicates the few forces it has to keeping the dragon safe from the adventurers that the large (and poor) kingdom hires.
POWERGOAL: A dragon saves the life of the Royal Heir, and establishes a secret frendship with the Prince. When the Prince is crowned king, the friendship becomes open, and the dragon is heralded as the protector of the kingdom, and the royal family in particular, even acting as nanny and tutor to the next generation of the royal line. After several generations of being accepted as part of the establishment, the dragon usurps the throne and becomes the de facto king of the land without an uprising against him.
POWERGOAL: The kobolds have started to become more organized and threatening as of late, with well made weapons and armor, and come to raid your fortress in dog-riding bands that don't stay to fight, but rather grab what they can and run away. Seeking their mountain home to reclaim kidnapped children (and gold) you find that they are being led by a dragon, and your army is incinerated.
Wyverns
Wyrms
Mountain/Plains/Swamp/etc Dragon (or Wyrm)
Dragon Lord (or Wyrm Lord, or whatever)
Noble Salamander
Fire Serpent
Others?
Notable, the reason I have that section of Monster Manual 5 cut out is because I happen to currently be running a game of Xorvintaal (with, obviously, the rules set to both make sense from a real-world point of view, to encourage fun, and to make sense with the published material).
You have dragons (the megabeasts we see) and then you have the Xorvintaal Dragons, the Dragons of the Great Game. Which seems to be just about what you've described.
quote:The world is a big place. If they just hang out in some cave in the middle of a mountain range, noone would find them.
Originally posted by Asehujiko:
<STRONG>And how exactly will those dragons stay hidden long enough for their particular scheme? They aren't realy the most stealty things with their size.</STRONG>
Heck, even a plains or forest settlement could work. Reveal yourself to one small community, and there should be plenty of small isolated communities out there, and do business through them.
quote:
Originally posted by Hague:
<STRONG>Avid shapeshifters and spellcasters, dragons can probably do whatever they desire.</STRONG>
Or they could just be thousands-of-years-old vagabonds until something requiring their involvement appears.
Also I could see magicians specializing in one type of magic forming their own communities, fortresses and/or monasteries in order to further the knowledge and progress on their magics.
quote:
Originally posted by Chaos:
<STRONG>I like your mafia boss analogy. Anyway, since something rather similar is planned in the far future for wizards, I can see something like this happening as well. That would be cool.</STRONG>
I just dont see WIZARDS as being very... socialable, because I can see a wizard with maybe a tower and some golems and minions, but not a group of wizards in a functioning community, mostly because they're evil and like lightning broiled dwarves for dinner. Magicians of a sort, regular joes with magic powers, I can see founding a guild or a village.