Campaign Conversions: Tyranny of Dragons

Strangely, Wizards of the Coast's campaign featuring dragons seems one of the hardest to adapt to a world featuring dragons. This is because in Tyranny of Dragons is about dragons trying to take over the world. In Dragon Princes, they already have! However, there are ways to make this campaign work.

The first change that we need to make is to the Cult of the Dragon. In Tirenia, the Cult of the First Dragon is made up of disaffected young dragons. They feel that dragons have lost their rightful power by ruling humans rather than destroying them. Most of them also feel that they, personally, should have more power, and that this is a way to get that power. They make offerings to the First Dragon, the mythical creation of Malifer during the Hostwar, which later rebelled against him as Malifer rebelled against the Creative One. These dragons are also served by many humans - hirelings and agents, those who have been manipulated, lied to or promised great things when the First Dragon comes. The cult is not taken seriously by adult dragons, who view it as a phase that their pubescent offspring are going through. Many dragons have dabbled in devil-worship during their youth, and grown past it in time. But this time, this loose philosophy is turning into a true threat. The Prophet of the First Dragon is a red dragon who is uniting those who believe what he believes. He has seen visions, that with the five dragon masks, the First Dragon can be summoned from the Inferno to remake the world in his image.

As in the original adventure, the players will have to travel all over the world, and convince the different factions to unite to face this threat. Some factions already have an inkling that something is up - that's why they're backing the heroes' investigation - and others will have to be convinced. Ultimately, the factions will have to battle the Cult of the First Dragon and its Prophet, before the First Dragon can be summoned.

There's just one catch.

There is no First Dragon.

What force is manipulating the Cult, and what will come through the portal when the heroes arrive to save the day?

Image result for medieval art hydra
Art: 'Hydra.' From a medieval bestiary, c. 1210.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ruins of Auromia - Session Two: The Song of the Harpy Queen

Image
Valentino returned to Accluso, Dova, Ilaria and Noke later that afternoon, with a sack containing the few Auromian artifacts that he had available. He showed them to an interested Dova: there was an ancient scroll that looked about ready to fall apart at a moment's notice; a small decorated jar and a curved wooden stick that the scholar recognised as an oil jar and strigil; a good luck amulet in the shape of a flying phallus; a repaired Auromian centurion's helmet with an impressive golden horsehair plume; a small collection of antique coins. After some haggling, Accluso and Dova bought burial insurance, Dova bought the scroll without being able to ascertain its contents, and Noke bought the phallic amulet and the strigil. As they left the Cigno , the group were accosted by a number of rough-looking men. Accluso and Noke were ready for violence, but the leader of the ruffians held out his open hands to show that he came in peace. He was from Vittoria, the bandit chieftain wh...
Read more

The Pirates of Panormo, Session Two: The Villa Salamandre

Image
 The crew of the Brazen Nudibranch fled the city of Staglia as quickly as they could. They decided to head inland to Trion, the home of the quicksilver dragons. They hoped that they could learn more about the ritual that had brought the marble and gold dragon to life. It was slow going, however, because very quickly they found themselves pursued by soldiers hunting for them. People said that spies from Staglia, with the help of a traitor (Scelto), had infiltrated the city and attacked a gathering of dragons with black magic. The group posed as itinerant monks to avoid being discovered. Soon they reached the shining Fulgente River, in whose silvery waters an angel was said to have once died. Evangelia grew nostagic as they beheld the glimmering water, for her home city, Medilano, was located downstream on the same river, and the Fulgente was sacred to the silver dragons. Avoiding a boat, because of the soldiers checking passengers, they made their way along its banks until they reac...
Read more

Mercury Dragons and the Magic of Trion

Image
Trion is a city of about 30,000 people situated in the foothills of the White Mountains, about 200 miles north-west of Staglia. It was founded by the Auromian Empire after an important victory against the orcs in the mountains. Since then, it has had many rulers: it was part of Carlo d'Orso's empire, was ruled by the Ordinarch-Princes of the church, was conquered by mercury dragons and finally annexed by the bronze dragons of Staglia, who still rule it. All of Tirenia is highly magical, due to the convergence of ley lines there, but Trion is particularly magical. The ruling mercury dragons princes have many magical advisors, and have created palaces attuned to the five elements - earth, fire, water, air and aether. There are rumours that some great alchemical secret is buried in caves under the city, but no one knows what. Certainly, the aetheric currents in the city means that it is closer to Heaven and Hell than usual. It is rumoured that the lost caves may lead to the Unde...
Read more