Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Ripplebark and the Laughing Wyrm 

In other words: the aunt/grandmother everyone always wanted.

AJ the cat whisperer

They sound like a pair of stoners

If D&D population is similar to Renaissance earth the wild Ungulate population should be addiquate protein source for orcs. Hurd animals dominated the earth surface until the 20th century. The amount of disasters in D&D universe should keep sentient population under 1 billion beings.

4:38 am for me lol.

Been watching your videos since the doppelganger episode. Keep up the great videos and partying up with AJ

I'm guessing it's about dinner time for him. Globe earth and all...

Hey reds, blues, and greens are very protective of their servants. Its the ones who don’t serve them that need to worry.

Dragons are VERY protective...of their property. Every thing else is A) Food, B) Chew Toy, or C)Threat.

If dragons became guardians, the problem of who watches the watchers will become insoluble. The difference between her dream and draconic rule is in name only. “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” ― C.S. Lewis

@@HenriFaust franklin echoed a similar sentiment, Gold Dragon and Silvers in particular are every bit the tyrant Reds are. The difference? Reds are honest about it.

@@mikewaterfield3599 Ran a few AD&D2ndE and 3.5e campaigns over the years where green dragons got involved in human affairs. Even a few reds where in it as outliners. Unless you were playing a elf or gnome, maybe a dwarf no one else had the lifespan to play in the Long Game's short plots. a.) Young adult male red dragon set up a riverside tavern and dug out drainage ditches for the small village farm fields. Three other females shown up for breeding rights and the challenges turn into a big three way rolling wrestling match which took out the Red Dragon Tavern. " Plenty of slapstick." Plot base adventure party meets and kills the young adult male red dragon, which is PC by another player or talk the dragon into making a raid with them. Then have the party's wizard polymorph the dragon into human form to show how good human life can be. b.) Green dragons are very family incline so just have the young adults travel in pairs or in hatchling groups of 1d4+1. Once they find out how to shake down villages and towns and make allliances with nobles and adventures. 2.) A long time ago, back in the days of AD&D2ndE .. My game shop DM was running campaign of a young green dragon make raids and bully the local town's population. It was to build drama and after a dozen or so encounters the shops multiple player groups would track her down for good. Along with the rest of her family. My 10th-level wizard got off a lucky Polymorph Other spell and turn her into a human female. Green dragon, " How dare you turn me into a long hair Redhead ! My hair is meant to be Green !" Due to the dragon listing from " Council of the Wrym " setting, the index card drawing guest players had her take over the noble politics within a single winter as she was in human form. When 3.0e came out, skill ranks and multi-classing really made dragons fun to run. Dragon just didn't show up to stomp & kill but to play head games with any adventures they met. Remember from the days of AD&D, red dragons only used their fire breath as last resort cause they don't want to damage any magic treasure. Also from " Council of the Wryms," dragons had to Eat a given amount of Xp/gp magic treasure before they could advance into their next age group. The way dogs chew on shoes, baby dragons Will eat any scroll or minor magic item they come across. In AD&D a wizard had to be around 12th-level to cast Enchant Magic Item to even create .. minor .. items. Along with being 9th-level to make scrolls. Good thing 3e magic it cheaper and lower level to create magic items. But if a wizard is openly known to create and run a scroll sell shop, expect a dragon to show up for a Scooby Snack.

Dragons are more likely to suggest the local kingdom move. Its easy to forget there are dragons in Faerun who were hoarding before Waterdeep had a curtain wall, and the first lord put on a mask. How many in Cormyr even know the “Purple Dragon” was an actual dragon.

Indeed.

@@Self-replicating_whatnot Not necessarily. Whats the point of stealing from your own hoard? If they considered the nation their hoard, it would make more sense for them to take the things they might desire from rival nations, both as a means of getting what they want and weakening the other nation. Nothing cuts a military rival off at the knees like having a fair deal of their nation's livestock stolen and eaten or having their nation's mines all raided.(I am assuming the main thing a dragon would be taking from a country is either wealth or food) In either case, it would only be damaging to it own "hoard" if it stole cattle or gold from the nation its protecting, and as a dragon ut has very little reason to steal anything else. Actually, I'll give you one thing it might actually take from its own citizens. Magic items. But it would most likely be the ones it finds useful for defending itself and the nation, so it would just see it as "putting them to their best use" despite it clearly just being a dragon taking some shit for itself. So, yeah, they might actually take a bit from the nation. But I feel a few magic items are worth the flight of dragons.

@@Self-replicating_whatnot Good point.

@@Self-replicating_whatnot I feel that to a dragon, its hoard is seen with a little more reverence than a fridge, but at the same time, that is a very good point. I figure that if it/they value the wellbeing of the people their protecting, they probably arent gunna steal their food. But theres still a good chance the humans would be offering up tons of meat, fruit, wine, cheeses, and baked goods per month just as a "Thank You & Please Keep Protecting Us" type of thing with little to no prompting. People do tend to be prone to that sort of thing. Wouldn't be surprised if they started some sort of religion or knightly order as well.

That sounds like something a dog would say, Not a Dog.

I think your trading one problem for a bigger problem there.

@@Zasek2112 Thats what clerics are for.

It fruits very rarely, yielding small, blood-red and bitter fruit that is used to make very valuable alcohol.

@@AJPickett imagine the daring races that would race to find as much blood fruit to make great alcohol

@@joedan5366 I could totally see svirfneblin or drow scout parties keeping an eye out for it. Caverns where it's more common would cause conflict.

@@Zasek2112 thanks I am going to add that to my game

@@joedan5366 I can think of no higher compliment 😁

I know right?

More or less, its their culture that enforces this behaviour, culture and religion.

@@AJPickett Then I suppose they stand to gain from the Evil Dragons living south of them. Sure, they gain respect from picking on farmers, but Dragons? Fighting a Dragon will gain better respect than fighting any mortal, especially mortal farmers.

I will never stop!

My pleasure!

Yes! Finally lol

Gotta love any dragon who's breath weapon is a laser beam.

@@jmhaugen4757 Laser beams? I thought steel dragons had poison and acid breaths.

Imagine for instance the group meets a steel dragon in human form without knowing. A random PC passes a seduce role without knowing it was made, she shambles over to the player and adjusts her glasses and raises a hand to gently pat there face as a steel/silver tear rolls down her face. She wispers a name under her breath (A man she loved centuries ago) closes her eyes and turns away and asks that player to leave the room. You can tell she's remembering something painful, her manservant/bodyguard (her son), a powerfuly build man of about 40 with a grey beard stares daggers at the player as they leave.

Don't have to fear the half-dragons out breeding as they are sterile

@@michaelbalcom5233 Fair point. I still love the idea in general tho.

@@Zasek2112 oh same

@@Zasek2112 This is so deliciously good!

THANK YOU AJ FOR ❤️ING MY COMMENT!! :D That means a lot!

In one of the many campaign setting my game shops ran, they have a family/ clan of green dragons that are into landscaping in creating field drainage ditches, shallow ponds used to catch rain water shed run off. Creating new roads for increase trade traffic along with charging a .. modest .. road/ bridge toll. Like any .. dog .. that dig shallow pits in the yard to lay in the cool dirt to sun themself, they just go about it so humans can benefit from such normal dragon activities and a way to increase their fame in human communities with improved wealth of grain sells and more live stock to feed off of. For as to is said regarding green dragons, nothing tastes finer then a live screaming elf being chewed on. But butter covered slow roasted meats and fish come very close. Most half dragons in the campaign setting are green hybrids cause they seek more social control power. Also too many fools try to melt down gold & slivers down to make coins out of the scales. Humans are far too greedy for their own good and not to bright. When a lawful green dragon gets involved with a towns' development, they treated it like a private garden and seek to turn a higher profit to increase their hoard and fame.

It lacks of anything that would put her on disadvantage - too positive and too good. She should lack something like zundaerazylym - that one lacks firepower as steel dragon.

@@JOXOcean I’ll take that into consideration ~! She’s flawed as a vain creature. I’ll think of something.

Same for me

*bard intensifies*

Our Firbolg certainly ate it in the underdark when everyone else found some meat rations.

Goliaths probably would when in the lowlands, Firbolgs and Verbeeg certainly would.

@@AJPickett Do you happen to know what foods do they make out of it?

Our brains gained such volume due to migrating along waterways, land bridges and shores where shellfish and fish were plentiful, this marine diet and frequent bathing resulted in perfect brain nutrition and reduction in disease carrying parasites, it also encouraged more upright posture, there was also a shift in sexual selection in our species which resulted in form of neoteny, so these days, humans look like big baby chimps, because infant primates have a much larger head to body ratio, this is difficult to prove due to the environment our ancestors lived in and migrated along in successive waves of radical climate shifts being really terrible for fossil preservation.. the big gap in our material history.. these days though, humans are very clearly adapted to semi aquatic lifestyle, we live alongside bodies of water, we bathe all the time, our feet are almost flippers, etc, etc. Personally, I think we would be well served going fully aquatic, a space vessel full of water blocks cosmic radiation very well and carrying a large supply of water provides extra fuel, chemical processing resources, life support, and even great protection from micro-meteors, also, water is easier to keep heated and insulated.

@@AJPickett monke lore

@@AJPickett Are these recent discoverys? That also explains why I like swimming and why I have so much fun at sea and getting slapped by it's weaves! Thanks AJ!

Imagine a dragon that doesn't need to rest for weeks, months or years at a time?

@@AJPickett Yeah, that will do it, alright. (maybe it's a good thing, that she has not succeeded so well there yet).

If I were an evil dragon, I would get the population hopelessly addicted to some drug only I could supply them... there is nothing as productive as a junkie desperate for their next fix. Thankfully, I am not an evil dragon.

The steel dragon in my campaign sees the people in her town as her hoard. Adding old adventures and teaching their children. Giving her a powerful network of young adventures all over the world.