Dragon: The Embers Core Book - MrGone's Character Sheets

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Really, it’s a tool with which to beat back
the chaotic impulses of your players. If the
threat of personal exposure is not enough to
deter someone from waving ‘DRAGON!’ in
the media’s face, then the knowledge that
Oroboroi exposure en masse will accelerate
their end should act as a nice buffer. If this
still doesn’t help, it can be used by others as
a justification for removing the dangerous
blabbermouth.
The The trials trials trials of of Terror Terror versus versus Tact
Tact
Just as extinction keeps them in line
on a grand scale, discretion keeps the
Oroboroi from trotting around as giant
reptilian monsters. Even if they were
completely untouchable, the human that
Dragon used to be would still have to face
some pretty tough facts before unleashing
her scaly self.
Be it creation or destruction, a
Dragon’s features are catalyst to the world.
Change is scary both when it is physical and
when it is environmental, and the human
inside must understand that each time she
goes into her True Form she’s going to come
out in a different world. New Oroboroi fear
losing themselves in the monster, while
older Oroboroi fear disbanding back to the
charade.
Even if she can resolve herself to the
duality of her existence, she cannot force
such understanding on the things she cares
about. Even domestic animals have
difficulty coping when their owners grow
half a foot taller and sprout wings, so
imagine how more rational beings react.
Unpredictably, of course.
So what does this have to do with
you, the Storyteller? You need to present
your players with these situations; instances
where they would both benefit and suffer
from using their divinities. This is one of
the core struggles in the Dragon setting, and
you have to make it legitimately difficult to
portray the gravity of the decision.
Ego Ego against against the the Den
Den
Though not a support structure of the
game, the Den will serve as the primary
means through which your players interact.
In this instance (almost ironically) Dragons
work better in a cross-over than they do in
their own setting. There are no creatures
more greedy and vicariously untrustworthy
than another Dragon. If you think of each
Dragon as its own nation, it becomes clear
that friendship is highly unlikely and secrets
are the greatest currency.
Interacting Dragons live on the
uneasy balance of a symbiotic relationship.
So long as both continue to benefit on a
relatively fair basis, they can collaborate.
Should one resort to blackmail or extortion,
though, the alliance is likely to end in a
bloody mess (along with the destruction of
one or both Provinces). This is the hard way
out.
Slights that lead to vicious massacres
may seem like a lot of fun, but they’re really
more chaotic than engrossing. While you
want to make your players nervous around
each other, you should bait them away from
this ‘bad end’. The best way to do so is by
rendering the Den’s union co-dependent.
The characters will be less adamant about
slights and backstabs if the alliance provides
them with something their Province cannot
run without. Maybe one player lays claim to
the local legislature and another to a hospital.
The latter must stay in alliance with the
former to cover up insurance ‘shufflings’ for
their poorer patients, and the former must
stay in alliance with the latter to get the
good hospital PR for her politicians. Both
would suffer extreme setbacks if they broke
their Den, and so both would have to be
rational when faced with the gluttony and
ego of the other.
Methods Methods as as a a means means of of maintaining maintaining a a Den
Den
Co-dependency need not be as
specific as that. There are certain areas