>Dragon is treated like a real animal
>isn't active 24/7
>only shows up once every few decades like a natural disaster, kills and eats a bunch of people then fucks off into a cave somewhere and hibernates
>scientific explanation why it hoards gold and kidnaps princesses
Any fantasy stories like this?

>>96206991 (OP)
That sounds boring as shit.

>>96206991 (OP)
>shows up once every few decades
>like a real animal
It's a cicada?
I don't think you're even pretended to think this through.

>>96207169
if it didn't it would completely wipe out the population by being a giant apex predator with no natural enemies...

>>96206991 (OP)

>>96206991 (OP)
Except the novels

>>96206991 (OP)
Jesus Christ that is beautiful where is it ?

>>96206991 (OP)
>any fantasy stories like this
Except for the last part yes, it's called Beowulf.

>>96207282
It's the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. It's a hotel. It's really nice and the old town is beautiful. You can take a cable car down the hill to the christmas market, in the winter. Visit if you ever get a chance.

>>96207246
Why didn't he swing?

>>96206991 (OP)
There was a story I read years and years ago, I think it was called "No More Dragons", and the premise was that dragons were an entirely artificial creature made by a wizard king as weapons and enforcers centuries ago. But then the wizard king was killed by a usurper, and the dragons just sort of ran amok because there was no one left to control them... but they can't breed since they were made by magic so there are are no NEW dragons.Their numbers can only go down over time.

The story was about a bunch of old farts that were professional dragon hunters in their youth part of the group that hunted down and killed the last of the dragons, pulled out of retirement because it turns out they missed one and they need to go on one last dragon hunt because no one else alive knows the specific tricks of how to do it and live.

The details that brought this to mind reading your OP were that the dragons were never supposed to hibernate, but after the wizard died they kept falling dormant more and more often as the magics controlling them sort of broke down without a master and they would just hibernate and wait for orders for years or decades at a time (which is how the last dragon avoided detection for so long) and that dragons horded gold because they used to be used to gather tribute for the wizard king so they attack towns and gather 'tithes' despite there not being any real purpose to it anymore.
Malfunctioning, masterless magical creations who outlived their maker.

>>96207304
2002 CGI.

>>96206991 (OP)

So uh a non talking Smaug?

(ok, no explanation for the gold, but still. I liked that one that older dragons are fucking hot and silver and gold are the best radiators they can find. Not really sensible of course, but I find it amusing)

>>96207007
I mean, its not that difficult to come up with an interesting POV of a medieval peasant living in absolute fear once a Dragon wakes up from its hibernation cycle and goes on its rampage and there's not much any one can do about it.

>>96207200
sharks exist but somehow there are fish in the ocean

>>96208396
Sure, but Humans also exist and are such a huge threat to sharks we have to regulate their population so they don't go extinct.
See where im getting at

>>96208705
not really.

>>96206991 (OP)
And what does this have to do with La Belle Province, anglo?

>>96208721
Ok, think of it like this-

You have this massive super predator that can fly, breathe fire, and is covered in armored scales that most of your weaponry can not penetrate.

Not only that, it has a ravenous appetite, so its wreaking absolute havoc on livestock, farmland and every agricultural township within its hunting grounds.

If you were the sitting King of this hypothetical scenario, you would be quite stressed out and deem this as a huge fucking problem- but you have some solace considering that:

It only stays active for like a couple of weeks then it goes back into hibernation so you don't have to worry about this thing wiping out all of humanity. And gods forbid you have to deal with a mating pair.

>>96207200
>no natural enemies
Lol. Lmao.

>>96209072
Every fantasy setting that has loads of big monsters like trolls and giants and fucking owlbears all over the places frequently also just has regular ass sheep grazing in fields and never explains why these multitudes of incredibly strong, fast, and frequently magical monsters haven't eaten them all yet.
On the other hand it'd make perfect sense for something like a dragon to just eat lesser predators like owlbears every so often. It's the owlbears problem to figure out what it eats.

Also realismfagging just encourages more realismfagging. Suddenly you get the grogs complaining its wings are too small to create enough lift for it to fly and you already gave them a cookie once.

>>96206991 (OP)
Traditional games?

>>96209117
Trans folx are not natural, Body Type A. That disqualifies any MH fan or character.

>>>/lit/

>>96209072
yeah, that would create a lot of dramatic tension for the humans, which I think is the point of having dragons in your narrative

>>96208396
Only because nature contrived to place its mouth below its face to prevent the shark from eating the entire ocean.

>>96206991 (OP)
>Dragon is treated like a real animal
>isn't active 24/7
>only shows up once every few decades like a natural disaster, kills and eats a bunch of people then fucks off into a cave somewhere and hibernates

Pleistocene Australia?

>>96207819
>take story about slaying dragons
>make it about being a peasant who hides from a dragon the one time it comes out
Booooooring

>>96210078
>survival stories of a natural disaster are boring

>>96206991 (OP)
>scientific explanation
>in fantasy story

>>96206991 (OP)
I dunno, ask /lit/

>>96206991 (OP)
Komodo dragons are like this IRL
They only eat once a month.
However dragons as animals is boring as fuck

>>96209602
Fuck off.

>>96206991 (OP)
>scientific explanation why it hoards gold
This makes no sense because the reason why a dragon hordes gold has always been metaphorical. A dragon is a monster because it hordes gold. It is the opposite of what makes a good king (someone who distributes rewards to his men).
What you are saying would be the equivalent of trying to write a story where you scientifically explain how a snake convinced Eve to disobey God.

>>96207200
Until it got a bad illness or infection.

Not only are the best parts of dragons are the parts that are more supernatural or sapient, there are so many other monsters in and out of D&D that fill this niche. Whiny faggots who want to wring all the mystique and fantastical from high fantasy should hang themselves.
>>96210141
They aren't but a dragon that's just a dumb animal removes a lot of mystique about dragons. If you want a fantastical natural disaster, there are plenty of them. This is a world where elemental spirits could ravage the kingdom if you really want to.

>>96207361
>no explanation for the gold, but still
The animal explanation still works for Smaug: he likes shinies.

>>96211721
I dunno man. /tg/ likes tits, but sure as hell doesn't sleep on a pile of them.

>>96207311
That sounds like a great story anon, I tried searching for it but could not find it. Could you offer more information on it?

>>96206991 (OP)
For gold there's a lot of stuff a near-inert highly-conductive metal could do for vaguely plausible exotic biochemistry, the second of which would also rope in copper and silver for the classic trimetal monetary system, but when it comes to princesses I can't help but think of the hereditary aristocracy being somehow part of reproduction so it fundamentally can't finish eradication, with a WIDE range of possible /trash/-worthy details. Only some of which are actually my own kinks, because I have unfortunately come across art of decidedly turn-off examples.

>>96207007
Generational threats give a good bridge between narrative structure and macro-historical cycles, which creates a lovely contact point between mechanics for individual or small-group "Great Heroes" present for few climactic events and mechanics for multigenerational politicking/conquest.

>>96207200
Or it has a territory of truly absurd proportions to make it fit anyways.

>>96216233
Smaug can get shinies, /tg/ cannot get tits.

>>96209072
Shorter periods of activity for the larger predators makes sense in a world where there is such a wide range of powerful predators. Lycanthropes only appear on a full moon, Drow only raid the surface on a New Moon, Stirges and Harpies could be migratory, Goblin/Orc/gnoll/Bugbear/Ogre raiding bands constantly on the move, Owlbears hibernating in winter, Dire Wolves only coming down from the north in winter, Dragons sleeping for decades, the Lichlord's undead armies only sweeping out every few centuries, Notchtuhlu only destroying the world when the stars are right, etc.

It makes the players think more about and intereact with the world more, chossing the right time to cross the mountains or black swamp, or when they can try to tiptoe through the underground shortcut (at the risk of triggering a sleeping threat).

It also gives low level characters some good quests and introductory lore to some of the bigger threats that are out there when they take on doomcults trying to kickstart a big one.

>>96207298
the scientific for it keeps a heathenish hoard in its barrow is because its an unwashed pagan

>>96211721
Bait. The dragon values worthless yellow rocks because they attract tasty treasure hunters to its lair.

>>96209072
My dragons eat wood and stone.
Villages are a casualty because they're a convenient source of both.

>>96218503
Cool ideas anon
>>96217238
Given their low melting points, they might just be a nice blanket for a fire-breathing heat-resistant creature

>>96211409
I have a soft spot for a book which tried a different tack on the hoarding. In short, the bio-magical shenanigans needed to breathe fire and whatever else meant that dragons exuded corrosive gases and bodily fluids. Over time, any rocks in their lair would be chemically dissolved and any inert metal ores (like, say, gold) and uncut gems would remain. Consequently, dragon hunting was less a treasure hunt and more of a mining expedition for MEN. The 'treasure hoard' was simply a result of Chinese whispers.
Not going to comment on plausibility as I'm not a mining chemist. But I do admire the attempt regardless.

>>96206991 (OP)
>>96207301

Quebec City. All of Canada could have looked like this but the english are anti culture

>>96206991 (OP)
>>scientific explanation why it hoards gold>>96207361
>I liked that one that older dragons are fucking hot and silver and gold are the best radiators they can find.
Like pigs wallowing in mud!

>>96216233
>/tg/ likes tits, but sure as hell doesn't sleep on a pile of them.
>/tg/ cannot get tits.
Yeah, it's not like we wouldn't!

>>96217238
>when it comes to princesses I can't help but think of the hereditary aristocracy being somehow part of reproduction so it fundamentally can't finish eradication, with a WIDE range of possible /trash/-worthy details. Only some of which are actually my own kinks, because I have unfortunately come across art of decidedly turn-off examples.
Dragon Heart Maiden...

>>96221195
... Wouldn't they just eat mountains?

>>96211721
Actually in Middle-earth Morgoth had infused his magicl essence into the world to corrupt and dominate it and gold was especially filled with it. It is called Morgoth's metal in Morgoth's Ring.

>>96207169
Maybe its just constantly migrating