Here Be Dragons
By Jared A. Sorensen
Inspired by Steve D, who asked the question.

Basic System
Roll one 12-sided die, needing to score a number equal to or less than the target number (depending on the dragon's age). This is called a success. Normally, one success is needed to accomplish any task. Exceptional attributes (+1 or higher) allow you to roll additional dice and net additional successes.

Rolling a 12 subtracts a success and lets the player roll again. A roll of 1 adds a success and lets the player roll again. Scoring a negative number of successes results in a Conflageration (aka a "botch" in other games). See "Conflagerations" for more information.

Age
Dragons get larger and more powerful as they age. Each age coincides with a target number (the number you need to roll equal to or less than).

Young

2

Adolescent

3

Adult

4

Mature

5

Old

6

Ancient

7

Dranagh is an Adult dragon. When attempting an action, he rolls a 12-sided die and needs to score a 4 or less.

Most dragon PC's will be Adult. Ask your GM if you wish to play an older or younger dragon.

Attributes
Dragons possess the following attributes:

Eyes
Eyes sense emotion, sight prey and intimidate the faint of heart. Roll this attribute when intimidating another creature, discerning truth from lies and when seeing across far distances.

Wings
Wings allow flight and churn the air into mighty winds. Roll this attribute when dodging an opponent in mid-air or when executing other dangerous maneuvers.

Tongue
The Tongue beguiles the weak-minded and tastes the air, sensing even that which is unseen. Roll this attribute when sensing invisible creatures, when tracking by scent or when lying to or persuading another creature.

Claws
Claws rend and tear, crush and kill. Roll this attribute when fighting to the death or when trying to destroy objects or structures.

Tail
Tail is strength, vigor and balance. Roll this attribute when striking an opponent, when evading attacks on the ground or when trying to lift or carry something heavy.

Scales
Scales protect and sparkle, attracting mates. Roll this attribute when you are trying to intimidate or attract another dragon or when resisting an attack.

Heart
Heart magics are the most ancient and powerful of all magics. Each dragon has a heart made from a single flawless gemstone, granting it the ability to fly (the Wings attribute provides thrust and steering) and the ability to breathe elemental force. This attribute is rolled when taking to the air or when breathing elemental force.

Choose one of the following gemstones when you create your dragon character.

The six gemstones (and their elemental forces) are:

Ruby

Fire

Sapphire

Lightning

Onyx

Acid

Emerald

Poison

Diamond

Frost

Pearl

Sleep

Exceptional Attributes
Exceptional attributes add to the number of dice rolled when attempting a task. Dragon PC's may take one attribute at +2 and one at +1 or three attributes at +1.

There are no benefits given to PC's with non-exceptional or even negative attributes. Dragons do not allow weakness to enter into their bloodlines, though disabilities may arise during play due to injuries or other circumstances.

Dranagh's exceptional attributes are Scales (+2) and Eyes (+1). His heart is a diamond, which means his breath weapon is a blast of freezing air.

Conflagerations
A Conflageration with Eyes or Tongue gives the dragon inaccurate information and causes it to lose its entire Knowledge Hoard.

A Conflageration with Claws, Wings or Tail causes the dragon to take one Wound (this wound cannot be avoided using Armor).

A Conflageration with Heart or Scales causes the dragon to lose its entire Majesty Hoard. Conflagerations with Scales when trying to resist damage don't have any adverse effects. A Conflageration with Heart also prevents the dragon from using their breath weapon for one day.

Hoards
A dragon's hoards allow it to temporarily augment some of their attributes. Whenever a dragon eats food, acquires wealth or knowledge or inspires a mortal with some powerful emotion, that dragon gains a point of the appropriate Hoard. At any time, the dragon can add a die to any corresponding roll by spending a point from the appropriate Hoard. Dragons may not gain more points in any one Hoard than their age allows (the size of any one Hoard cannot be higher).

Dragons start with a number of points equal to their age to distribute between Larder, Wealth, Knowledge and Majesty.

Larder
Dragons dine upon cows and sheep, men and women. Larder adds to their Wings and Tail attributes. Larder is gained when eating a large meal (one point per cow-sized food source).

Wealth
Dragons eat gold and precious items. Wealth adds to their Scales and Claws attributes. Wealth is gained through theft of tribute (one point for a "pile of treasure").

Knowledge
Dragons gather secrets and remember forgotten lore. Secrets add to their Eyes and Tongue attributes. Knowledge is gained when gaining insight (one point per success from Eyes/Tongue).

Majesty
Dragons inspire awe and fear. Majesty adds to their Heart attribute. Majesty is gained when inspiring fear or awe (one point per success from Eyes or Scales when intimidating (but not when rolling Armor) or when taking flight or using a breath weapon to impress a mortal).

Size
Size is a special kind of Hoard that represents the high agility of smaller, younger dragons. Unlike the other Hoards, Size cannot be replenished (though it may be added to during character generation). Size points depend on your dragon's age:

Young

5

Adolescent

3

Adult

1

Mature

0

Old

0

Ancient

0

You may add Size dice to any roll where you are attempting to dodge an attack or when attempting to perform any kind of aerial maneuver (ie: Wings). Size dice are only lost when spent. If you don't spend them, you may save them (even if your dragon grows larger and older!).

Dranagh has 4 points to spend on his Hoards and a starting Size bonus of 1. He places 1 into Knowledge, 2 into Majesty and an additional point into Size (giving him 2 Size points).

Losing Hoards
Aside from losing Hoards due to Conflagerations and through normal expenditure, dragons also can lose points from their Hoard through other means.

The Larder Hoard can be voluntarily reduced to heal a Wound (one Larder point heals one Wound) but only when the dragon isn't engaged in activity (like flight) or combat.

The Wealth Hoard is most often reduced through theft (either by other dragons or by creatures such as humans).

Attacking and Defending
Both combatants announce their actions and then roll an appropriate number of dice (1 + their exceptional attribute bonus + any Hoard bonuses). If both combatants are attacking, each does a number of wounds equal to the number of successes rolled. If one combatant is defending, their successes are subtracted from their opponent's total number of successes.

Dranagh challenges Geerl (another Adult dragon) to a battle. Both dragons attack! Dranagh rolls 1 die, needing a 4 or less. Geerl (who has an exceptional Tail of +2) rolls 3 dice, needing a 4 or less. Dranagh scores 0 successes and inflicts no Wounds. Geerl scores a 3, 4 and a 12. He rolls again and scores a 1, cancelling out the poor roll of 12. He inflicts 2 Wounds upon Dranagh.

Armor
After receiving one or more Wounds, the dragon may try and reduce their Wounds by rolling the appropriate number of dice (1 + their Scales bonus + any Wealth bonuses). If successful, one Wound is removed for each successful die rolled. Wounds cannot be reduced past 0, nor can Wounds be healed from previous injuries.

Armor does not protect against the sleep breath of pearl-heart dragons.

Dranagh rolls 3 dice (1 + his Scales bonus) and needs a 4 or less. He scores 1 success, bringing the number of Wounds down to 1. Later, he'll spend 2 of his Larder points to heal his Wounds down to 0.

Breath Weapons
When attacking with a breath weapon, roll the appropriate number of dice (1 + their Heart bonus + any Majesty bonuses). Breath weapon attacks are made at range and dragons are immune to their own breath attacks and any elemental attacks of the same type as themselves (yes, this means that pearl-heart dragons never sleep).

Dranagh backs away and breathes a cone of frost at Geerl (who is a ruby-hearted dragon and thus not immune to cold). He rolls 1 die and adds his 2 Majesty dice, netting two 2's and a 1! He rolls again…another 1! He rolls a third time and scores another success. Scoring an 5 amazing successes, Geerl takes 5 Wounds from the icy cold.

Wounds
Dragons can take a number of Wounds equal to their Age without suffering permanent disability or death. Once they have received that many Wounds, further Wounds result in Scars (and possibly, death). When a Scar is received, the dragon's Wounds reset to 0, even if their total number of Wounds was higher than its Age.

Tail attacks do not result in Scars. A dragon who would normally be Scarred from a Trail attack instead falls unconscious. Pearl-heart dragons are not immune to this form of attack. Also, pearl-heart dragons cannot inflict Scars with their breath weapon (treat it as a ranged Tail attack).

Geerl wasn't able to deflect the attack with his Armor roll and must now deal with 5 Wounds of cold damage. Because he can only take 4 Wounds due to his Age, he receives a Scar and his Wounds reset to 0.

Scars
Once a dragon has received its Age in Wounds, it gets a Scar. A Scar permanently reduces one attribute by 1 point. When any attribute reaches -1, that attribute cannot be used unless the dragon spends some of its Hoard. When any attribute reaches -2, or when any four attributes reach -1 (ie: half the dragon's attributes are -1 or lower), the Dragon dies. If an exceptional attribute is Scarred, its bonus drops to +0 (even if it was a +2 attribute!).

On the good side, each Scar raises the Dragon's Majesty Hoard by 1 point.

Geerl choose his Tail to bear the Scar, which reduces its rating to +0. His Majesty increases by 1 point.