Pyramid Review
Draconomicon (for Dungeons & Dragons)
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Written by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, & James Wyatt
Edited by Michele Carter, Dale Donovan, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, & Charles Ryan
Art direction by Dawn Murin
Art and graphics by Wayne England, Emily Fiegenschuh, Lars Grant-West, Rebecca Guay-Mitchell, David Hudnut, Jeremy Jarvis, Ginger Kubic, John & Laura Lakey, Todd Lockwood, David Martin, Dennis Crabapple-McClain, Matt Mitchell, Mark Nelson, Steve Prescott, Vinod Rams, Richard Sardinha, Ron Spencer, Stephen Tappin, Joel Thomas, Ben Thompson, Sam Wood, Dawn Murin, Mari Kolkowski, & Todd Gamble
288-page full-color hardcover; $39.95
When you create a game called Dungeons & Dragons, sooner or later you're going to have to pony up the dragons. Admittedly, the line has produced this book before, but the 3.5th edition needed its own take, hence the latest incarnation of the Draconomicon.
Rather than see the dragon as the huge pile of hit points standing between you and a big pile of treasure, the writers try to flesh out these magnificent beasts. The book treats them as characters first and foremost, participants in the story, and in fact there are guidelines for using them as PCs, NPCs, forces of nature, or just the stuff of legend that dominates an area's history. They can be friend or foe, mentors, or part of the party.
There have been several varieties of dragons introduced over the years, and the issue has been clouded further by the inclusion of . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 19, 2003
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