Manual Draconum - A DayLITE: Fantasy Companion

From the Hatchery

This book came about out of a realization when I was working on converting our microsetting Ramia over to DayLITE, specifically when working on the Scalesoul Kingdoms. These kingdoms have several dragon rulers, but, they were dragons from the 5e OGL, which we are moving away from using. So, rather than start fretting about how to replicate those dragons in DayLITE, I decided we would make our own dragon flights. I have always been fascinated by dragons as a kid, longing for them to exist in real life. It wasn't until I was older that I realized, while it might sound cool in concept, it would be very bad in reality.

I knew that I had to bring Jen back to design these dragons, as she had done the art for our 5e Ramia book, and had expressed to me that the dragons were easily her favorite part of the design process for Ramia. From there, I brought Laura on, who had done the Hobsparks lineage for Supers & Sorcery, and who I knew had a great talent for lore and worldbuilding. From here, we divided and conquered: Laura and I building the text for the dragons while Jen breathed them into life with art.

I cannot lie in saying that this is one-half providing content for DayLITE, but also one-half guilty pleasure project: I have been itching to build and design new dragons, and this gave us an opportunity to just take what makes a dragon a dragon and pull it apart and make something completely new.

Not only do they look entirely different, but our three flights - the chrothian, mtlakan, and dygnandi - also have allowed us to play around with environment, landscape, science, and geology in numerous different ways. From all of us on the Draconum team, we hope you enjoy all of the new fierce and might creatures we will be introducing to you in the coming pages. Just make sure not to piss the magnesium dragon off, he can get grumpy.

- Cam 

Laura's Note

Things I never thought I’d get into: writing fantasy critters for a TTRPG supplement. I’d never considered myself a writer, but when Cam asked, I figured ‘why not?’ And when Cam told me about his vision for the dragons in this world, I couldn’t resist. The idea of these creatures as more than just giant lizards was unbelievably cool. The dragons that we all know and love from other RPGs are iconic, but they can also be rather interchangeable. Switch the color and the breath weapon and that’s all she wrote. What I love about the dragons for this supplement is that they take on elements not just of their environments, but the creatures that inhabit them. It’s lent itself to some truly delightful designs, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy them!

Fifteen New Dragons!

At first, there was only darkness. And then the Clutch of Three was born, the Great Dragons. These three Beings were Dygnamdradon, the Rainbow Fang; Mtlakalkalan, the Shining Pillar; and Chroit’aa, the Glistening Mother. From them came the three clutches, and from these cluthces, the fifteen dragon clans of the universe...

Explore the all-new dragons of the DayLITE Fantasy Universe from the three new clutches of chrothian, mtlakan, and dygnandi! Detailing their physical descriptions, names, lairs, and treasures you might come across, this book is chock-full of new info! With writing by Cameron Day and Laura Tutu and art from Roselysium and Jen Forth, Manual Draconum will bring new excitement to wing!