Monstrous Considerations: Old Eighty - Nine

While I find myself immersed daily in the world of Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs, there's one thing that I do quite rarely as it relates to my hobby. That is, I rarely dream about subject matter related to the game. I have odd dreams at times, most people do. I also have the occasional dream that gets uncomfortable. It is a stretch to call such dreams, "nightmares", as I'm skilled enough at lucid dreaming, to prevent myself from becoming too wrapped up in something overly frightening. Regardless of the type of dream, though, the subject matter is usually far more mundane and certainly not about Dungeons and Dragons.

The other night, however, I actually had a fairly lengthy and unusually vivid dream about a subject matter directly related to Dungeons & Dragons -- Ancient Red Dragons. The dream was so unusual that I wanted to record the major elements of it, and throw it up on the blog for your consideration. Here's what I dreamed about: 

NOTE: Everything described below is to my best remembrance as it occurred in the dream. I'll let you know when I'm extrapolating beyond what I saw or felt in the dream. This keeps me from having to constantly repeat, "as it was in the dream".  Thanks!

It might sounds odd, but this dream actually occurs in a modern context. That is, while I certainly dreamed about a dragon, the creature was something that had been carried forward, if you will, into a modern time setting. So modern, in fact, that in the initial part of the dream, the dragon was actually in the form of a steam locomotive.

The setting was an old amusement park, set above a series of old abandoned mines. Admittedly, the whole thing sort of had a weird Stephen King meets Scooby Doo feel to it, but without the goofy dog or permanently baked companion. In addition, in the upper levels of the mine, sat an old steam locomotive by the name of Old Eighty- Nine. The amusement park was more or less abandoned, but there was a small crew of maintenance (I guess?) workers that inhabited a small (one floor) office building in one corner of the area.

There was an established historical context to the area. The mine was rumored to contain treasure, but no one was ever able to retrieve it. It was also understood that the mines were originally coal mines. The dream never explained how a full sized steam locomotive could negotiate the tracks of a coal mine.

As the dream unfolded, a group of thieves/terrorists (they reminded me of the bad guys from Die Hard, but without all the sweet Alan Rickman action) decide they're going to go after the treasure. They jump one of the maintenance guys at the site of the locomotive. The worker is pretty cautionary, and tells the thieves something to the effect of, "look, I don't know about any treasure, but if you keep messing around on this train, something bad's gonna happen". Of course, no sooner than this is said, the whole area begins to rumble, and the steam train starts acting like it can really function.

At this point the worker (myself, maybe?), begins to flee toward the small office building. The steam locomotive (Old Eighty - Nine) pursues, as somehow the track it sits on leads straight to the (you guessed it) small office building. I (or the worker - you see, the dream perspective was switching back and forth pretty quick at this point) manage to make it safely into the building. For some reason, the locomotive cannot pursue (and doesn't crash into the building). Instead, it changes into an Ancient Red Dragon. The thieves (who had been pursuing the locomotive up until this point) pretty much shit themselves, and several are toasted by the dragon's breath. The rest begin to flee, and the dream ends with the dragon taking flight after them.

I don't know if the dragon ends it's pursuit after killing all the bad guys or if it simply goes back to it's cave. The dragon does fly over the office building a few times, but the building is impervious to the dragon for some reason. As for the dragon, the dream never really reveals what happened to it. It might have gone on a rampage over the rest of the city. Who can say?

The dream was interesting, and the scene for it even more peculiar - perfect fodder for a strange adventure in either a Dungeons & Dragons, or even a Modern campaign. Want to see what this dragon can do yourself?  Here's a little re-skinning I did of a dragon in the Monster Builder Tool. I used the old Monster Builder and upped the damage portions based on the new ranges established with the Monster Manual III.  Enjoy!

Do let me know if you've had similar dreams, or if you've ever incorporated your dreams into your own RPG games. I'd love to hear about it!

Well, there you have it. It's the first Dungeons & Dragons related dream I've had in a long time. I wonder what future dreams will hold?

Until next time...

Game excellently with one another.