How to play peacefuly with a dragon
Launching soon on Kickstarter, Draconis: Creatures is a feel-good dragon compendium where not every encounter has to end in bloodshed!
One of the core strengths of Draconis: Creatures lies in offering a wide variety of strategies for dealing with sometimes dangerous dragons—without having to draw your sword!
We call these strategies Dramatic Keys, and we’ll explain exactly how they work in this article ;)
While combat is still possible in Draconis, violence is known in the game world to have dire consequences.
Most of the time, PCs will try to negotiate or outwit their opponents first—it’s part of their culture and values. That’s why the game system also reflects this philosophy.
Draconis is powered by the 5E system. We haven’t removed the combat rules you know, but we’ve added an alternative mechanic for interacting peacefully with dragons: the Dramatic Keys.
🔑 Dramatic Keys
Dramatic Keys bring dragon motivations and behavior directly into the rules, giving players mechanical ways to influence them.
Let’s look at a common situation: the party wants to befriend a dragon so it will travel with them. Sure, they could try to subdue it by force—but it’s far more effective (and interesting!) to understand the dragon and earn its trust. First, the PCs must determine the dragon’s motivation. Once they’ve figured that out, they can take actions that act as “keys” to the “dramatic locks” that govern the dragon’s behavior.
🐉 Example: The Ensine — Pyromaniac Dragons
The ensine is a dragon like no other—a striking hybrid of bat, reptile, and hedgehog, with three pairs of legs. When it dances gracefully through flames, its dark scales shimmer with golden firelight, a sight that leaves all who witness it awestruck.
Behavior of the Ensine
Ensines are generally friendly and curious about new things. But their innocent nature doesn’t make them harmless—they’re largely unaware of how dangerous fire and extreme heat are for other creatures. To them, flames, burning winds, and magma are sources of joy.
Worse, ensines have the unfortunate habit of adapting their surroundings to suit their fiery needs. While this works fine in volcanic craters, it becomes a serious problem when they stray further afield. Their fiery breath can ignite devastating wildfires near their chosen homes. Forests and villages are particularly vulnerable, and managing a joyful, fire-loving ensine is no easy task.
You get the picture: the mere presence of an ensine can lead to blazing chaos. A nearby village might beg the PCs to help—crops are burning, homes are at risk! After observing the ensine, it’s up to the players to come up with creative ways to drive it away or calm it down.
🔥 Dramatic Keys: Channeling an Ensine’s Flames
Ensines don’t burn things out of cruelty—they do it to survive and stay active. They’ll gladly accept help relocating to a warmer environment better suited to their needs.
- Goal: Prevent the ensine from burning everything down
- Motivation: Survival
Here’s a sample lock-and-key table players can use to act:
| Locks | Keys |
|---|---|
| Warm the ensine | Item: heat source or Spell: fire-based magic |
| Guide the ensine elsewhere | Skill check: Wisdom (Survival or Animal Handling) |
The number of locks is determined by a new stat in the dragon’s profile: Willpower (average is 2). These locks and keys are meant to help GMs stage interactions with dragons and track their outcomes—feel free to improvise or invent alternatives as fits the situation.
The bestiary will offer examples of dramatic keys like the ones above for each dragon, but these are just suggestions. You’re free to come up with your own… and let’s be honest, players often do anyway!
So if your players come up with a brilliant idea to calm down an angry dragon—go with it!
🔥 Launching on Kickstarter early October!
Draconis: Creatures invites you to play differently. To see dragons not as obstacles to slay, but as story hooks—turning every encounter into a memorable scene, while revealing new aspects of the Draconis world your players haven’t seen before.
So, are you ready to discover all these new dragons?
To find out more: