It has taken me a long, long time to write about dragons in a serious way. Which is funny, because I’ve always loved dragons.
I remember reading a German children’s book that has dragons in it. Ugly, nasty, dirty and altogether unpleasant dragons. (Jim Knopf und Lukas, der Lokomotivführer, by Michael Ende). Actually, there is one exception to that but she doesn’t get much screen time – I won’t say more because of spoilers.
Then Pern happened to me when I was an exchange student. I spent much of my free time translating Dragon Flight into German… And that set the standard rather high. Of course, I imagined my very own dragon, with her own name. Who didn’t?
Also, most dragons in Dungeons and Dragons are … bad news. I actually played a character once who developed dragon characteristics – there was a half-dragon player set in 3E, if I remember correctly. Sadly, that game didn’t go very far, and the group dissolved soon after that. Continue reading