Dragons of Tirenia

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 ...

The first adventure for Fifth Edition, and still one of the best, Lost Mine of Phandelver is a perfect match for Tirenia with only a few mild tweaks! Consider changing the setting of the adventure to Sfantalini, a small town in southern Tirenia. Like Phandalin, it is rebuilding itself after a disaster. In this case, rather than having been destroyed by an invasion of orcs, it was decimated by the Great Death. Now, a generation later, the town is starting to rebuild itself. However, banditry is rife, and the notorious group, 'Le Marchi Rossi,' now has a lot of influence in the town. The fabled Lost Mine nearby was a forge during the Hostwar. You may want to play up which faction ends up with control of the mine at the end of the adventure. Dungeons and Dragons has a tradition of monstrous humanoids. In this adventure, there are tribes of these monsters at the Cragmaw Hideout and Cragmaw Castle. It is unusual for these monsters to reach so far into the heart of Tirenia - you...

The Renaissance is an extremely popular time period, and there is a lot of very readable and informative popular history books that are readily available, ready to give more details about any topic in which you are interested. There are books about the artists, the politicians, the warriors, the famous men and women; there are more specialised works about different aspects of society. (An article about shopping, inspired by one of these books, is coming down the pipeline!) In addition, modern travel writing can be very good for talking about the feel of a place, what the most important locations are, and giving an overview of the history and personalities. I am not going to touch on those topics because there's far too much out there! Instead, these are my favourite overviews of the entire Renaissance. The Renaissance in Europe  by Margaret L. King This book is intended to be an introductory textbook for university students or just those who are interested in th...

There is a huge amount of literature from the Renaissance that survives to the modern day, and it is all worth reading to get into the head of people living at the time, and to add the small details that can really make a game pop. Here are four works that I particularly recommend for Dragon Princes. T he Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio This book is a collection of a hundred short stories told by a group of young nobles while they hide away from the Black Death. The description of the plague is horrific and excellent for Dungeon Masters who want to include it in their games. But the hundred short stories, in a wide variety of genres, are great for understanding Renaissance social life and attitudes, and seeing a huge range of possible NPCs for a game. The Divine Comedy ( Inferno , Purgatorio and Paradiso ) by Dante Alighieri This poem is the story of a mystical trip that the author takes from the depths of Hell to the heights of Heaven. It was (and is) immen...

Not all of the gold dragons are dead. At the fall of the Auromian Empire, the last surviving gold dragons fled Tirenia for distant lands. Tirenia is often myopic in its focus, and so their survival went unnoticed. Over time, the Golden Emperor unified Tataria. Tataria is wrongly dismissed as a backwards, barbaric land by the Tirenians, and so this went unnoticed. The Golden Emperor then brought his Tatarian horsemen to bear against far-distant Cataia. There was a brief hiccup in the trade of silks, but when the silk trade resumed, the Tirenians paid it no notice. Eventually a Vanzenian trader, Niccolo Defusah, travelled to the court of the Golden Emperor, where he was given many rich gifts and told the Emperor all about his home. Defusah has since returned home, but few have noticed the threat implicit in the story of his travels - of course a foreign court would mimic Tirenian dragon iconography! The Golden Horde is mustering. The Emperor's bodyguards, a legion of half-drago...

The brass dragons are the only dragon bloodline that have not claimed land. They deplored how the evil dragons had dominated Tirenia, and swore to oppose them. However, they see the actions of the other good dragons as hypocritical and self-serving - freeing humans from oppression by taking control yourself will just trade one master for another. The brass dragons have gone into deep cover, hiding themselves among the cities. They work to promote the humanist agenda. Some foment rebellion, working to destroy the hold that the dragon princes have upon the land. Others have a more day-to-day approach, simply trying to make the world a better place. When their work is done - or when their cover is broken - they depart, only to start again in a new place. The brass dragons are not unified in the same way that the others are, although they try to have a passing knowledge of where their kindred are at any given time, and try to help each other out if needs be. But these dragons are socialite...

I've been reading a lot of books set in Renaissance Italy. Dungeons and Dragons has a famous appendix of recommended reading: this is the beginning of a similar list for Tirenia! Here's the first group: a series of excellent books for younger readers that are great inspiration for players and Dungeon Masters alike! As I find more recommendations, I'll update this list. The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones Anything by Diana Wynne Jones is always worth reading on principle! But this story is particularly relevant for us, set in an alternative world where magic is commonplace. It's part of a series, but no prior knowledge is required, and tells a Romeo and Juliet inspired tale of feuding wizard families. Diana Wynne Jones is always superb at making magic feel unique, alive and quirky. The Italian setting is also very well realised. While not set in the Renaissance, there is a lot to recommend this book! The Stravaganza  series by Mary Hoffman ...