Dinosaurs in fantasy settings

Dan Davenport · April 24, 2012, 03:03:25 PM

Two questions:

(1) Do you like dinosaurs in your fantasy settings?

(2) If so, how do you like them presented? As just another sort of creature in the setting, or as temporal anomalies of some sort?

I think the approach used in Arrowflight is kinda cool, which presents dinosaurs as a primitive sort of dragon.

jadrax · April 24, 2012, 03:07:37 PM

Quote from: Dan Davenport;533310Two questions:

(1) Do you like dinosaurs in your fantasy settings?

(2) If so, how do you like them presented? As just another sort of creature in the setting, or as temporal anomalies of some sort?

I think the approach used in Arrowflight is kinda cool, which presents dinosaurs as a primitive sort of dragon.

1) If they fit the setting, sure.
2) Just another creature, I think if you start bogging them down with back-story you start to take away from the fact your being attacked by a pack of T-Rexs!

Marleycat · April 24, 2012, 03:13:47 PM

Quote from: Dan Davenport;533310Two questions:

(1) Do you like dinosaurs in your fantasy settings?

(2) If so, how do you like them presented? As just another sort of creature in the setting, or as temporal anomalies of some sort?

I think the approach used in Arrowflight is kinda cool, which presents dinosaurs as a primitive sort of dragon.

Not usually unless your setting is in a jungle or lost civilization meme. Though the temporal anomaly thing works for me if you wanted one as a little twist in your typical setting.

Overall I am not against it I just don't use them myself unless in the above cases.

Rasyr · April 24, 2012, 03:32:47 PM

I usually use them as just another creature in most cases, often in distant, remote areas (such as the Savage Lands in Marvel Comics), with sometimes using the temporal anomaly bit (often a gate or portal gone awry).

danbuter · April 24, 2012, 03:42:06 PM

I like dinosaurs, but I think they should be limited to a tropical island, like it was done in Isle of Dread. Maybe have a few in a local zoo on the mainland for the PCs to see, as well.

The Butcher · April 24, 2012, 03:47:25 PM

Great fit for a Lost World type setting, like Mystara's Hollow World, or Eberron's Xen'drik (sp?), or Azeroth's Un' which mesh really well with your average pulp sword-and-sorcery milieu (including D&D).

As for more traditional fantasy settings, with dragon running and flying around, I suppose the real question is -- is there such a thing as too many giant lizards?

daniel_ream · April 24, 2012, 03:49:56 PM

I ran a short-lived D&D campaign once set in a Meso-American style milieu where all large fauna were dinosaurs. Brave warriors riding dromaeosaurids, hunting T-Rexes in the jungle, that kind of thing.

So I love dinosaurs in my settings, but not so much in the "how does this fit into my setting" way and more in the "Woo-hoo! I'm riding a @#$%ing dinosaur!" way.

VectorSigma · April 24, 2012, 03:56:32 PM

I love dinosaurs, but in my current setting they're limited to Snollygoster Swamp (essentially the Everglades).

Rasyr · April 24, 2012, 04:03:06 PM

And let's not forget that the setting I have in development for Tyrlon will also have dinosaurs -- http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=532304&postcount=29

thedungeondelver · April 24, 2012, 04:14:40 PM

I do. I grew up with movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth, Island at the Top of the World, At The Earth's Core, The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot...the list goes on and on. Love the idea of characters fighting dinosaurs.

Dan Davenport · April 24, 2012, 04:21:15 PM

On a related note, what do you call the dinosaurs in your fantasy settings, both as a group and as the various types? Do you just call them "dinosaurs," "velociraptors," etc., or do you have setting-specific names for them?

Doom · April 24, 2012, 04:24:00 PM

Quote from: danbuter;533329I like dinosaurs, but I think they should be limited to a tropical island, like it was done in Isle of Dread. Maybe have a few in a local zoo on the mainland for the PCs to see, as well.

My players were exploring Isle of Dread in my semi-sandbox campaign. So, I buy a big ol' tube of plastic dinosaurs.

They went back to the mainland before I could use even...one...freakin...dinosaur. I've been trying to lure them back, but so far no dice, no dice at all, and it's been over a year.

Anyway, yeah, I like dinosaurs, but not as a 'temporal anomaly' (ancient people, when encountering dinosaur bones, did not realize the bones were millions of old, after all). They're critters, albeit not ones you'll see as often as orcs.

thedungeondelver · April 24, 2012, 04:26:36 PM

Quote from: Dan Davenport;533344On a related note, what do you call the dinosaurs in your fantasy settings, both as a group and as the various types? Do you just call them "dinosaurs," "velociraptors," etc., or do you have setting-specific names for them?

Lizard-beasts.

jadrax · April 24, 2012, 04:33:36 PM

Quote from: Dan Davenport;533344On a related note, what do you call the dinosaurs in your fantasy settings, both as a group and as the various types? Do you just call them "dinosaurs," "velociraptors," etc., or do you have setting-specific names for them?

Pretty much I call them by name, I.e. "velociraptors," etc.

Sam reasoning as before really, calling them other things just dilutes the awesomeness.

Tahmoh · April 24, 2012, 04:40:31 PM

Rampagers, Titanivores, Earthshakers, Rippers, Renders, Venomtails.

Basically anything that sounds like a mage or hunter would feasibly come up with that term on the spot is good enough for my fantasy games(Titanivores was a name one of my mage players dubbed a carcarodontosaurus after i described it hunting).