Is throwing a dragon at the party just too cliche these days?

>>50241188
Depends. If you do this in a VtM game, it's more of "what the fuck is wrong with you asshole?" but in D&D you might need some buildup instead of just going "poof! a dragon! have fun now poofters!"

>>50241188
that depends, what narrative purpose does the dragon fill? What does its presence say about the world and the characters? How does combating it affect the personal growth of the PCs?

>>50241188
>Is it just boring?
Only as boring as you make it.

Part of it is not giving any context for your game's violence, just slapping enemies down on the battle-mat and expecting fun to happen.

>>50241188
Tabletop games are pretty much a story that you play. That dargon is only going to be as boring as your foreshadowing and storytelling skills.
You could just be like
>You reach the dragon's lair and it emerges from the darkness. "What do you want?" It hisses.
Or you could have a buildup where the area around the dragon's den is charred and stinks of sulfur. The PCs can see signs of a dragon ( Claw marks in solid rock, a burnt village, the remains of several monsters which the PCs know to be dangerous) which really puts them on edge for the big reveal.
>As you approach the dragon's den, an immense scaled form drags itself from the tunnel, pulling itself along on fiercely taloned forelimbs. The gigantic reptile raises its head and seems to appraise your party for several seconds. The dragon opens its jaws, allowing a rumbling, inhuman voice to escape. "And what, might I ask, are you doing out here?"

>>50241188
My players have almost never fought a dragon due to our games falling apart quickly due to everyone having a shitty work schedule. The one time I managed to get them into a dragon fight it blew their fucking minds.

>>50241188
I threw an adult and a young black dragon at my party of four lvl 6s. (5e)
They killed them in 2 turns...

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>>50241188
>Is throwing a dragon at the party just too cliche these days? I feel like it's "oh woow a dragon, who gives a shit" at this point. Is it just boring?

You'd think so, but they never do

Just like these doubles

>>50241188
If you want it to be special, build it up and make it special. Dragons are everywhere in media, so a lot of people think they're tired of the *concept* of a dragon, but I defy them to play Baldur's Gate 2 and feel nothing about the dragon encounters in that game.

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>>50241188
Depends on the build-up and how it's handled. For a video game example, i feel like Dragon's Dogma did a fantastic job of building up the dragon and making the fight a real spectacle worthy of being the game's title. It was a totally cliche, basic dragon with some neat twists and a fun fight.

Also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZNbabKjKpA

It typically comes down to execution, like most cliches. They can be really trite and boring, or they can be familiar and evocative.

>>50241188
If you just throw a random dragon at your party, of course it's gonna be boring. there's as much narrative as a random goblin encounter, just a bigger pile of HP with bite/breath/claw/claw instead of scream/stab/stab/tetanus.

Dragons are sapient, highly intelligent (assuming most mainstream settings). they're BBEG/Lieutenant material, not just beefier chumps.

>>50241188
Your thread is shit. You know full well that the answer to your questions is depends.

>>50241188
1) it's not cliche, it's classic
2) things became cliches because they were overused; they became overused because they were cool once in the first place. which means cliches ARE cool, it's just our greater exposure to media that makes us see them as uncool. but that's something you can temporarily bar in your mind - i mean, that's the only way to actually read and enjoy Lovecraft these days. Dragons are not different.
3) depends on storytelling and how it's presented. take Pillars of Eternity for instance. fighting a white dragon for an egg I didn't really care about was boring. dropping into a well and finding myself nose-to-nose with a young red (or was it black?) felt like oh-shit-oh-shit-what-should-i-do and resulted in an epic fight

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>>50241188
well it can be mabey make it special in some way to give with more edge to peak interests, look at the dark souls / demon souls dragons sucha s the gaping dragon or seath the scaleless

I've never actually fought a dragon in all my time playing TRPGs. I feel cheated.

>>50241188
No not at all. I never seen anyone throw Dragons at people to kill them before. Usually the Dragon goes over there himeself to kill them because they pissed him off, never before has someone ever seen the utility of Dragons as an Impact weapon.

I guess it's just what happens when you piss off a giant.

TL:DR you should totally have a giant throw Dragons at the party.

>>50246214
Nice try, nerd. The dice gods only have power over dice, not post numbers.

>>50246255
I loved how cliche was that dragon