It's not every industry today where you get to work with your favorite people in the whole wide world, which is one of the many reasons I love making games. Below is eternal wisdom from Toni... if you're new or just trying to break in, pay attention to the lessons below.

When I was initially asked to write a design diary for Dragon Rider’s Primer, I had no idea what I should talk about. Did Goodman Games want a detailed, day-to-day list of each and everything that happened? I could talk about my cats, Pandora and Calie, who like to inconveniently demand aggressive pets and snuggles when I’m working. Or mention the fact that when my daughter is home from college, she often peeks her face around my laptop and makes faces, while asking me what I’m doing, and I have to tell her it’s a secret to everyone? I could whine about writer’s block, my random life events, or even CHAOS. I could write a formal paper or be a silly goof! So, in my uncertainty, you’ll get a bit of both as my brain spews on some of the portions I created that I furiously hit my keyboard to produce.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love dragons so anytime I have the chance to work with them, I jump at it. The idea of a Dragon Rider’s Primer book sparked my imagination, and I immediately went to work. Having an entire book dealing with flying creatures and aerial mounted combat as an integral part of its core identity made me take a step back and rethink much of how 5e functions at its core. This project wasn’t going to be as simple as slapping some wings on things and calling it good. After all, we’re effectively adding a whole dimension and spatial awareness to something that, while included in the original game, usually isn’t more than a footnote or concept. And so began my design work (this is where you insert ominous fantasy music).

I often try to take inspiration for my design work from things in nature, even if the eventual outcome is much more fantastical. I feel like it gives me a strong starting base and that small touches of reality draw people into my creations more completely. I sometimes (ok, often!) get these bursts of inspiration unexpectedly from completely unrelated things.

When I started with the creation of my mounts, I also wanted some aerial creatures that were a little more unusual. It’s great to have a flying Pegasus but how many times has that been done prior? I didn’t want to duplicate anything that had already been in one of the many official 5e creature/monster books and I wanted to have a variety of types that were native to different terrains so to more seamlessly fit into a variety of campaigns. As I was brainstorming, I had a National Geographic on about big cats – and they offhanded mentioned the Japanese Flying Squid. What? Um, yes please, that sounds amazing! I had to think of a specialized saddle for a flying squid (and many of the creatures I ended up creating) but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. The image of people zipping around on this water jet propelled squid amused me greatly and I realized it could be used in a variety of ways if I did it properly. The squid unleashed a tidal wave (see what I did there?) of creativity and next came the Reedglider Frog and I couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with my brain. I managed to get it all down eventually and after walking away from them for a few days, loved what I came up with.

Once I had the actual animals and insects down, I turned my attention to the drakes. The idea behind drakes was to have them at animal intelligence and unfortunately, more than once, I caught myself forgetting that distinction. I just put those creations aside and tried to really focus on what was needed for this primer. Again, I wanted to keep in mind a variety of needs, classes, and environments for the drakes. I often have said that cats and dragons have very similar personalities and wanted to use that in the creation of these drakes. That line of thinking led me to the creation of the sandstorm drake! I was frustrated that my cats couldn’t seem to keep their litter box sand in the actual BOX and it got me thinking about a dragon that kicked sand everywhere. YOU get sand in the face, and YOU get sand in the face! EVERYONE gets sand in the face! The idea not only fit with my amusing head cannon of cats and dragons being similar, but it also allowed me to have a desert creation (as I said, I can get inspiration from the silliest of things). Once I got rolling with the sand drake, the others came easily. As I worked to come up with more unique ideas, I became particularly proud of the Runic Drake. It would be easy in a book about aerial combat and situations to leave out spellcasters so I wanted something specific to them. Plying your magic into a drake just for that purpose was something I would enjoy as a player and I’m hoping it’s something that is going to be further explored in the future.

Having finished up with the mounts, it was time for the subclasses and feats! I had ideas right out of the gate but putting those ideas to paper was a little more painful than I anticipated. My brain can be a jumble of ideas and clearing out the noise so that these ideas function for others is sometimes difficult. I wanted to lean into some of the changes and challenges that adding a 3rd dimension would bring and have answers for some of those challenges. I was surprised when the subclass I’d have the most fun working on turned out to be the monk. I had this image of monks whirling around wildly, leaping from mount to mount, kicking people in the face (what is it with faces) or throwing them off their own animal before taking control of the creature for themselves. I wanted it to be evocative and visual…which means my first draft was too long in the fun description portion. I admit, I tend to be long winded in my writings (on a different project I once got the comment that, “Toni, it hurts my heart to say this as these descriptions are awesome, but I need you to trim it down by about half.”) as I want people to be drawn into the project. It just means I’ve got to do more than a few passes to trim things down narratively for clarification. Rangers were another class that I wanted to press into new territory with movement, specifically how to blend instinct and thought into a single, unified class while not doubling up on a different feat or stepping on the toes of another subclass. For me, when my mind sets on something it can be difficult to break out of it to make things mechanically different.

Speaking of feats, while working on the feats I brought home CATastrophe. I hadn’t realized I wasn’t signed into my Microsoft account and Pandora decided she was going to jump up on my laptop and smash a bunch of buttons in some order that caused my work to erase. She’s cute, so my very colorful words didn’t have much bite to them though I was thrown into a no good, terrible panic. Recreating a bunch of feats that I’d already completed once made my brain implode as it kept screaming at me that I’d already done these and I was repeating myself. And when that happens, my writing grinds to a halt and turns into writer’s block. It was great or…something. I stewed on the feats for way too long because in the end, I wanted something fun and useful. Not something that was a steppingstone to something else or a feat that was so different in power level that everyone either wanted to take it or avoid it like the plague. You’ll still sometimes get those feats and sometimes people think in a way you didn’t, but I wanted them all to be something someone would want to include in their class and be playable. I again leaned into mostly the movement aspects of this project and in typical fashion for me, I thought of a bunch more cool ideas ONCE I ALREADY TURNED THE PROJECT IN. I hate that.

I hope you have a great time reading through and playing using the Dragon Rider’s Primer and my little pile of words explaining some of the details on the writing process. I’m super proud of the work that has gone into this, and I think it’ll be a blast to use this book in your OG 5e campaign. I think I’m going to hint to my DM once these rules are published, we should use them in my ongoing Dragonlance homegame. MWHAHAs.
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Heya Folks!

Chris Lindsay here once again with a fantastical preview of one of my favorite mounts, the Gorecrest Raptor. Like many folks, the first time I saw Jurassic Park, I was mesmerized by the idea of engaging with dinosaurs in any setting really. So... this deadly creature adorned with beautiful plummage seems a natural fit in our variant animals category of aerial mounts. I hope you love it as much as I do.

The gorecrest raptor is a creature of terrifying beauty and predatory nature. Overlapping layers of vibrant plumage coat their overly muscular frames, every colorful feather crafted for intimidation and spectacle. Its jaw is narrow and filled with interlocking teeth and its skull is adorned with a serrated crest of iridescent feathery frills that flare outward when agitated. These raptors have special pigments within their plumage that refract light differently depending on the creature’s agitation levels, making their colors shift with their emotional state. Standing on its hind legs, it has elongated, feathered, and clawed arms that support true flight with wickedly curved crested talons on each hind foot. 

     Gorecrest raptors are true carnivores and scavengers, eating and killing indiscriminately, sometimes for the sheer pleasure of the hunt. 

     Terrain. Though most gorecrest raptors are found in dry, desert conditions they have adapted to a large range of environments.

     Training. Gorecrest raptors are tolerant predators whose cooperation is earned through constant vigilance and dominance. Its rider must continually assert their place as the apex of their bond or risk being torn from their saddle midflight. Training involves isolated imprinting when the raptors are babies, the riders continually feeding the creature raw meat. Even then, it takes months before a gorecrest raptor accepts touch and years before it allows a saddle.

     Gear. Gorecrest raptor equipment is constructed to minimize anything that might provoke aggression. Their saddles are lean, with a contoured frame lashed to the raptor’s upper spine, keeping the rider just out of reach of snapping jaws. These saddles include a quick release strap for the rider, so if the raptor lashes out the rider can choose to fall rather than fight for control.