A Game I'll Never Run - Working for a Dragon

A deep dive into my own notes is a key step as I prepare a new RPG campaign. I frequently rediscover little gems that I jotted down months or years ago and promptly forgot. Something else I find are fantastic concepts for campaigns that I have absolutely no time to run. After all, I'll hopefully be busy with my current campaign for awhile.

Rather than let them lie unused, I'll be presenting them here as they turn up. Feel free to borrow anything that looks handy. Just let me know how it turned out.


The Quest Giver is a Dragon

Our adventuring party works for a great wyrm of considerable age and wide experience. The beast isn't interested in acquiring more wealth. This particular dragon's hoard is already big enough to be comfortable to lounge upon. This dragon has moved on to other things. But what are the dragon's motivations and how can the adventurers help to achieve them?

Meet the new boss?

Collecting Scholarly Knowledge

Knowledge was a means to an end in the dragon's youth. Genuine curiosity eventually overcame ambition as the dragon grew old and strong. However, a dragon showing up to ask questions is usually counterproductive. Many interactions between dragons and others involve raided livestock, looted gold, and things on fire. Employing adventurers as agents tends to work better. At least, until those adventurers start getting ideas.

Before that, our adventurers can find employment by:

• Tracking down and acquiring the last copy of an ancient tome before anybody else gets it.
• Convincing an elderly sage to part with their particular brand of wisdom. The sage is done with life and can't be bribed or threatened, even by a dragon or band of cutthroats. What would convince such a sage?
• Trading books with various libraries. The dragon has extra copies to spare, but wants to avoid the complications of letting others know who they are dealing with. It's best to send the adventurers as representatives.
• Swapping knowledge over networks of scholars who may not be keen on giving their secrets to a dragon.
• Establishing relations with key scholars. The dragon foresees the need to consult with them repeatedly.
• Prying a scroll of lost lore out of the cold, undead hands holding it.

Collecting Arcane Knowledge

Knowledge can be power, but magical knowledge gets to the point quicker. There is some overlap between this and acquiring scholarly knowledge. Some of the ideas presented above can be used with this motivation. In both cases, the dragon is using the adventuring party as agents to gain access to sources that would be denied otherwise.

• Meeting with a jinn or devil on their own plane and figuring out what it would take to persuade them to part with what they know. The first challenge is the logistics of arranging and traveling to the meeting.
• The dragon has learned of a tome called the Necronomicon. The knowledge it contain is both valuable and dangerous. One doesn't survive to become a great wyrm by taking unnecessary risks - best to have someone else read the book and transcribe its contents in a form safer to peruse. There is a troublesome mage who has beat the dragon's prior agents to various prizes over the decades. Perhaps the adventuring party can convince the mage to take on this task? Of course, a copy of the Necronomicon must be obtained in the first place.
• Raiding the library of a demi-lich. It is located a trapped-infested crypt, but the demi-lich should be distracted with whatever such undead do down there.
• Rumors suggest that another adventuring party has looted a rare magical item from some dungeon. How to get it without showing the dragon's hand?
• Trading magical secrets with an organization of wizards with a dodgy reputation. Both sides know that betrayal is coming, just not exactly when. The assassination attempts against the dragon's prior agents don't really count. That's just common practice.

Supporting the Imperial Dynasty

Centuries ago, the dragon took another form and founded a ruling family. Affairs of state grew boring, so the dragon left the polity in the hands of later generations. But the dragon takes family obligations seriously enough to intervene from time to time.

The dragon doesn't want to operate openly and uses agents when possible. The dynasty has to appear to be strong enough to stand on its own. Besides, the dragon isn't a pet that comes when called just because there's a handsome representation on the imperial crest. This is a situation where each side gets things it wants because both parties compliment each other nicely. The player characters could be adventurers acting as the dragon's agents, part of the imperial court, or members of the imperial government with a mysterious boss.

• The dragon and the dynasty are family, but that doesn't rule out backstabbing. There's always upstarts who think that they have what it takes to further their ambitions by getting rid their mysterious "great uncle" from out of town. Keeping an eye out for trouble is one option. Finding a place to hide the charred corpse and cooking up a cover story is another.
• The dragon is the center of a spy network. The dragon makes for a pretty good spy with superior senses, the ability to fly, and maybe even shape changing. The dynasty has used its connections and wealth to build a wider net for gathering information. Of course, such networks have vulnerable nodes that enemies can attack or co-opt. That's what the internal security and assassination branches are for. The adventurers are handy as deniable assets with no obvious connections to either the dragon or the royal family.
• A lack of money isn't a problem for either the dragon or the dynasty, but there are some problems wealth can't solve. Some folks just can't be bribed. The player characters need to find a way to persuade the source of the issue or otherwise make it go away.
• The dragon can solve some issues indirectly. Sometimes that ambitious lord making moves in the imperial court can't just be killed off. On the other hand, that lord might get called back home to deal with a crisis at precisely the right time. A dragon attack on the lord's holding might be the source of that boon. But somebody has to make sure that word get through to the lord at precisely the right time.
• The dragon and dynasty view their relationship from an interpersonal perspective rather than a political one. The dragon's long life and unusual viewpoint make it a valuable source of advice. The dragon prefers to quietly guide the dynasty along and providing indirect support while juggling more draconic interests at the same time. Besides, the player characters are around to handle any dirty work.
• There was those times when everything was going smoothly until the current ruler and most of the heirs were assassinated. The dragon was busy guiding someone never expected to take on the role of ruler while investigating the assassinations. One such incident is the source of the imperial decree forbidding multiple members of the dynasty from riding in the same airship.