By Ed Fortune
With the new Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves re-igniting interest in the world of D&D, you might want to find out about the world without having to pick up a whole pile of rule books and the like. Getting into a new hobby can be daunting, especially when young. Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast produce the Young Adventurers books, a series of handy guides filled with information on the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons without any rules.
Dragons And Treasures presents information that can be found in the Monster Manual and Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons in a handy-to-read, fun guide. It’s a small hardcover book of the sort that will slip easily into a carry-on bag, which is useful if you’re out looking for dragons. We get a breakdown of D&D’s ‘true’ dragons; the chromatic, crystal and metallic types all have different traits, strengths and weaknesses. It walks us through how and what they eat and where their power comes from.
We also learn about lairs, treasure hordes, and unique magical items that are associated with dragons. There’s also a list of legendary dragons with their own illustration and explanation. Themberchaud, the big red dragon from the movie trailer, isn’t in this book, but many of his friends are.
This is beautifully illustrated and a lot of fun to read. The text and art are clearly designed to be starting points for your imagination, this is the sort of thing you read to get an idea of what sort of stories to tell.
It’s ideal for folk new to D&D or just wanting to read up a little bit more about this world, and also a handy small format book to pick up and browse through during those quiet moments. Fun, but nothing that will excite experienced D&D players.
