Since I have so many dragon articles, and it’s hard for people to know what will be found where, this page exists to give a quick outline of what each article contains, along with links to the articles in question.
One Dragon, Four Articles – A Quick Overview
With chromatic dragons, the young article will generally cover basic strategy, while the adult will focus on basic lair defenses. Additionally, the adult will briefly discuss how the dragon utilizes minions in combat. The ancient will feature more advanced and deadly lair traps and obstacles, and the wyrmling will explore unusual situations.
With metallic dragons, I generally focused more on what could be termed DM advice for using friendly NPCs. The young and adult dragon articles focus on that, although each one does have a combat encounter, and I left the lair descriptions for the ancient dragon. Like with chromatic dragons, the wyrmling is out of norm situations, but will generally have an encounter with the wyrmling as an ally, as well as one where it’s a foe.
The exception is the copper dragon, whom I treated like a chromatic dragon in most ways.
Note: The order of my articles is Young, Adult, Ancient, and then Wyrmling.
(Some encounters reference lair actions that appeared in the 2014 Monster Manual. If you’re using the newer edition, you can still run most of these as-is—or adapt them easily with the included notes and links.)
Chromatic Dragons
Black Dragon
Young – basic swamp tactics.
Adult – more advanced swamp tactics, both with and without lair actions.
Ancient – Encounters for lairs built around the ruins of ancient kingdoms, and containing a plethora of traps.
Wyrmling – hit-and-run encounters using non-magical darkness and fog.
Bonus article – Prisoners of a Dragon. A short adventure detailing:
- Advice for how to get the PCs captured fairly.
- Four different encounters where the dragon sets them up to get killed, and they have to survive. All carefully balanced to be fun (and survivable).
- Mechanics of escape (discussed briefly).
- A chase scene where the dragon spots them and they have to reach the safety of the shrine before the dragon captures them. This section contains about ten different obstacles to put in their way, although I recommend only using 2-3.
- (optional) A test by the shrine spirit, to see if they’re worthy of its help.
- Suggested temporary boosts for the shrine to give the players in order to let them defeat the dragon.
I also suggest that place a few adventures between the escape and the chase (which happens as they’re almost at the shrine), but those aren’t detailed, as they have nothing to do with the scenario and as you can use adventures from any book over here.
Blue Dragon
Young – Tactics for both range and melee. The blue dragon was described by the 2014 Monster Manual as tactical, so this seemed the most logical place to put it, but the tactics would work for any dragon.
Adult – Tactics outside and inside its lair. Outside its lair, it has both an ambush from below and sending boulders from above. Inside its lair, a description of a lair built for defense, including chambers rigged as traps.
Ancient – Like the adult, but even more powerful and deadlier.
Wyrmling – Tactics utilizing chokepoints (bridge, tunnel system) and piles of metal to arch the lightning.
Bonus article – Allies of an evil dragon. This scenario includes:
- Plausible background for why the players would need/want to team up with an evil dragon.
- 2) Methods for making it work, including an examination of whether we can make them think that it’s their idea. (In short, this is unlikely to work, but not impossible, and if it doesn’t work you can continue the scenario without it.)
- Encounter rules for the battle, which keep the dragon highly relevant while not having it overshadow the encounter.
- A brief guide to building a short dungeon crawl. (The story is that the PCs slip away to retrieve something while the dragon continues the main fight.)
- A few consequences of allying with evil, in the form of actions the dragon takes that will keep it feeling evil.
Green Dragon
Young – Negotiation tactics for the dragon, uses of the forest terrain to enhance the dragon’s hit-and-run tactics, and more.
Adult – More negotiation tactics, a deadly combat trap, and analysis of the green dragon’s lair actions.
Ancient – Extremely complex trap setups and a water/boat-based lair encounter with several possible variations.
Wyrmling – Combining wyrmling capabilities with various simple traps.
Bonus Article: On a quest for an evil dragon. This scenario includes –
- Scenario setup, giving a reason for the players to be going on a quest for the dragon.
- Description of travel to encounter, including an example the dragon makes of bandits to establish its strength (and its evil) to the players.
- Several encounters for the “dead” dungeon, as in the bandit dungeon wiped out by the dragon, included at the end of the article so as to let the players play a role. (The actual quest the dragon has them do in not included in the article, as almost any dungeon could be used.)
- (From here on, everything is optional, for players and DMs who want the adventure to continue past the initial quest.) A look at other quest of dubious morality that the dragon might send players on.
- Several ideas for when how the dragon might eventually try to kill them, and how they can escape and fight back.
- Three trap rooms for a short dungeon crawl of the dragon’s own dungeon lair, as they go after the magic item needed to kill it.
- A satisfying final fight, including a magic weapon that will let all of them play satisfactory roles in killing the dragon, and tactics the dragon might use to liven up the final fight.
Red Dragon
Young – The red dragon is known for favoring direct strength over any form of tactics. As such, a description of several brute force moves a dragon might employ, to liven up the fight.
Adult – A scenario in which the dragon is setting the city aflame, including both the obstacles the players will face on the way to the dragon, and various tactics the dragon will use in the climactic battle.
Ancient – I decided that the ancient is old enough to use some measure of tactics. As such, a number of fire-based traps/hazards the dragon will employ.
Wyrmling – Five different ways to keep the fight engaging, most of them different uses of fire.
2-part bonus article: In Part 1. Survival, we discuss several different pursuit ideas for outrunning a raging dragon, based on different terrains. In Part 2. How to Kill a Dragon, we show three different ways to take down a dragon more than ten CR levels above them, without resorting to using magic to nerf the dragon or power up the PCs.
White Dragon
Young – The white dragon is the master hunter. Different hunting tactics it will employ.
Adult – A look at the defenses of its lair, both the ones they meet on the way to the dragon and the ones they contend with while fighting the dragon. Also, a boat battle on a flooding river.
Ancient – Three different encounter, showing how a white dragon will utilize a blizzard, an avalanche, and a battle atop an iceberg.
Wyrmling – seven different cold based hazards/obstacles to contend with while fighting the wyrmling.
The Special Dragon Encounter Articles
Dragon Homebrew: This article contains homebrew ideas for each of the twenty chromatic dragons (five colors, each with four ages). I provided ideas that were all different, while remaining true to the tone of dragons. They leave the dragons feeling like dragons. This is also the most popular article on my site.
Dragon Encounter Design: A brief guide to all the ways you can build your own unique dragon encounter. This article explores methods of creating dragon encounters that are different from one another, both drawing from my individual articles and building on them, and well as suggesting a new method that I didn’t explore in the individual articles.
Dracolich: I wrote this one as the apex of evil and cruelty. As such, several variations on having to rescue innocents while fending off the dragon, along with a look at consequences if they leave the innocents to their fate. A look at a few suicidal strategies the dragon might use to kill them even at the cost of its own destruction (the benefit of coming back to life). And finally, several extremely lethal lair traps, and a climactic battle to finish off the dracolich.
Shadow Dragon: I played this as a horror monster, with three encounters to threaten them without giving them the opportunity to kill the shadow dragon, and two different options for the climax.
I also wrote a separate article on How to Run Horror in D&D, in which I outline the three basic principals of running horror, and provide tips for more ways to enhance the atmosphere of horror in your game. I also discuss foreshadowing in D&D (not easy when hearing about danger motivates them to go fight it), and winning battles in a horror game.
Metallic Dragons
Brass Dragon
Young – A discussion of how to handle discussion with a brass dragon without revealing too much, what might happen if they do, and how the brass dragon might retaliate with misleading comments. (All based on the 2014 Monster Manual, which says that brass dragons love to talk, can be indiscreet with other’s secrets, and retaliate with lying back when lies to.) Also, urban terrain combat encounter.
Adult – Different ways to use a powerful neutral force in D&D. Also, allies-based combat encounter.
Ancient – Roleplaying a king in D&D. Dessert and lair encounters, mostly fire themed.
Wyrmling – Combat encounters where they have to rescue the wyrmling from captivity and from a burning house, and how to fight it in the same burning house.
Bronze Dragon
Young – Using an ally elsewhere than alongside the players, while making the ally useful. Coastal combat encounter.
Adult – Five ways to use a powerful ally in combat with the players, without overshadowing them. Also, a basic lair encounter.
Ancient – Detailed look at an island lair, and how the bronze dragon will defend it.
Wyrmling – Cave with waterfalls combat encounters.
Copper Dragon
Young – Ways to use the copper dragon’s famous humor in your game. Hillside terrain combat encounter, utilizing the climb movement.
Adult – Acid trap-based combat encounters for its lair.
Ancient – Boulder trap ideas and a deception-based scenario.
Wyrmling – Cave based combat encounters, both with and against the players. Also, more uses of humor in D&D.
Gold Dragon
Young – Giving gifts and advice to the players without ruining your campaign. Combat encounter.
Adult – A scenario in which the players are forced to rob the dragon. Contains magic obstacles for the players to get past, complications caused by the dragon’s hunt for them, and a climatic final battle with ways to end it without killing the dragon.
Ancient – Lair action-based combat encounter.
Wyrmling – Garden of beauty and traps combat encounter.
Silver Dragon
Young – A look at fighting the silver dragon in the mountains, with alternate goals than killing the dragon.
Adult – More on mountain fighting, mountain obstacles, and using the dragon for transportation and escape.
Ancient – Castle lair encounter, relying heavily on the dragon’s ability to control fog and make it solid. (From the 2014 Monster Manual.)
Wyrmling – Combat scenarios featuring escaping a tower filling up with water and chasing an enemy down the length of a cavern. Both scenarios have options to be played with the dragon as an enemy or as an ally.