The Upside:
Dragons, the mightiest of Fantasy Monsters. Sometimes entire campaigns are set around finding and killing a dragon (hey, it worked for Bilbo!). So naturally, when Hero presents dragons it provides almost sixty kinds of Dragons for your campaign. And if that isn't enough the book has other monsters in it as well.
Chapter One - Here There Be Dragons. This chapter is the meat of the book, and is split into seven parts.
Dragons, the book starts out with a generalized overview of these majestic creatures. Ecology and Society looks at how very large intelligent lizards interact with the world around them. The draconic personality goes further into their motivations (beyond targets for Adventurers). Dragons in combat covers some tactics that a dragon might utilize - beyond landing and hitting things a lot. And finally Appearance of dragons finishes out the first part.
Basic Dragons starts out simply with a look at a generic set up write-ups for Dragons in hero terms. The first four are a Juvenile, Lesser, Greater and Majestic Dragon. Each one a step up in power and age. The next three are common variants depicted in folklore as dragons - the Hydra, Wyrm and Wyvern all get a genetic write-up for use in any Campaign needing a dragon. Draconic Powers looks at other abilities you can add to the basic dragons to make them more unique, or to just surprise your players with once they think they have an angle on the beasts. To go along with this are four looks at Variants for the basic dragons. The Brute is what it says on the package, stupid and vicious, turning the dragon into a true monster to fight. Chromatic and Metallic variations are several different ways you can alter a dragon to fit a specific category template - in this case ones most familiar to any fantasy gamer who has been around in the last twenty years. And the last set of variants are Regional Dragons, templates on how to alter dragons for specific climates (Caves, Deserts, Forests and Jungles, Sea, and several more). Each variant has notes for the four power levels of the Basic Dragon to make them easier to modify. All told, this part contains twenty-five dragons and variations to use in a setting.
Twenty-Five dragons really isn't enough though. So the next section is Other Dragons. Here we get Forty-Three more dragon write-ups to use. These aren't packges to tack on, but fully fleshed out types of dragons. Here are some highlights from this section. Arcane Dragon, made of pure magic. Dragon-Bear, someone crossed a dragon with a bear - this is my favorite dragon in the book, it just sounds cool. Colossal Dragon - because dragons aren't big enough the book had to include an even bigger dragon to play with. Cyberdragon, in case you thought this book couldn't be used with any other genre this one is good for Cyberpunk games. Psi-Dragon, another genre breaking dragon good for Space Opera games as a psionic race. Radiation Dragon, can't forget the Post-Apocalyptic world's need for really dangerous things. Spider Dragon, you thought you had arachnopphobia before? Undead Dragons, from mummies to liches. And the Song Dragon, because not all dragons need to be big and dangerous.
So, now that we've been presented with Sixty-Five dragons, the book gives us yet more dragons. This time the book draws on dragon-lore from countries outside western Europe. It covers legends from the Aztecs, China, Greece, India, Japan, Korea, Norse, Philippines, Slavic, and Vietnam cultures. Some of them are generic dragons and legends, some of them are specific legendary dragons (Typhon from Greece and Jormungandr from Norway). This is another ten dragons, some of which with wildly different motivations than those presented earlier.
With Seventy-Five kinds of dragons written up if you can't find a dragon for use in your campaign here you either don't need one or weren't in the market for a gaming book to begin with. These dragons aren't just slightly modified variations with the color of the scale swapped out either. Each one is presented to enough different and interesting abilities and over all feel to be as unique as any Character.
Or course the book doesn't stop there. Part five of the chapter is Dragon Personalities, there are ten different Characters written up that can by placed on pretty much any Dragon in the book, though some of them lean towards a few types or away from some. Each personality has motivations beyond those outlined at the start of the chapter, fleshing out some Dragons to become true NPCs in your game. Next up Dragon Enchanted Items, sixteen magical items for a Fantasy Game that deal with dragons in some way. Either by being made from them, or designed to work with them, or in a few cases target them. The chapter closes with a pair of Package Deals for creating Player Characters focused around dragons; the Dragonrider and the Dragon Slayer, covering both the Dragon as friend and enemy aspects of Player interaction.
Most of the write-ups come with pictures, in fact the book is littered with some really cool dragon artwork, just in case you didn't think you had enough dragons in your gaming books (you didn't, really). And that's the first one hundred pages of the book.
Chapter Two - Other Monstrosities. Because Dragons aren't the only truly huge creatures of legend, nor should they be the only true huge things your Players encounter. Nine more creatures of truly massive size and scope are presented. Some of these are truly weird and off the norm enemies to put into a campaign. Making them a really nice addition to the book. There's a giant Naga and Evil Temple combo, a really Giant Spider (along with mutated followers), The God Of Worms is a semi-sencient massive worm, and the giant evil living tree that controls a forest. And then, we get a little further off the path, Vorgrath is the Wolf That Ate The Sun because lizards aren't the only thing allowed to be really really big. And then the we go even further out into different, The Snow-Spire Golem is literally an animated mountain in the shape of a man. The Masks Of The Malefic are strange entities who have taken over a city even though they're embodied completely in masks. And lastly, my favorite addition to this chapter, is Machicol the Living Castle. Why throw a monster at the Players when you can pit them against an entire building.
With over eighty huge monsters to bring into your Campaign it's fitting that just the normal rules might not due. Which is why the Appendix is a section on Fighting Giant Monsters. From dealing with issues of scale and addressing them with Hero System Rules and adjustments to them. Climbing Monsters, including a table for modifiers to climb truly huge beasts. And issues to take into account when the Players finally do go to battle with these immense creatures. Hit Locations, Giants Walking (tremors they cause), Hit Locations (getting higher than the ankle), the Terror Effect, Range Modifiers (a head shot could be a long ways off), Tripping giant monsters, and adding Vulnerabilities are all covered in this last addition to the book.
The Downside:
The book focuses on Dragons as antagonists in a campaign, which they are almost all of the time. If I were to add anything it might be a short section on running a campaign with the Players as Dragons. Other than that, the book covers everything it needs to regarding giant flying lizards.
The Otherside:
The book is mostly Hero System write-ups, not leaving a lot for non-Hero gamers space wise. What is there is solid advice, tons of ideas and a general look at Dragons in gaming and adding them into the game without breaking your campaign.
If you ever wanted more Dragons than you could figure out what to do with this book just might cover what you need.
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Originally Posted by ghost-angel
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