Captain's Log C6: Phil Meets Fantasy
- Jeffrey A. Rothermel
- Jul 2, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 21, 2025
Jeffrey A. Rothermel
December 7, 2025
The Captain's Log
When Fantasy Meets Philosophy
also known as
Dragon Evolution
(Part Six of the Dungeon Cooking Chronicles)
SPOILER ALERT. This essay discusses a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) module in the fictional book Hoard of the Dragon Queen written by Wolfgang Bauer and Steve Winter. It was originally published in the year 2014 by Wizards of the Coast (Kobold Press). Read no further if you intend to play this module and have not yet done so.
STOP
Module 3:
The Dragon Hatchery
D&D Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Secrets Revealed Below
Bottom Line. The Bookshop Gang has discovered three dragon eggs. The eggs may soon hatch and produce baby black dragons. Such creatures are believed to be inherently evil. Our adventurers are on the quest to rid the world of evil. The sorcerer has proposed the eggs should be taken to the Bookshop Gang's secret lair where a portion of the gang raises and educates the young dragons to be good, loving creatures. The adventure raises the age-old question about good, evil and how to address it. Some think a black dragon can never be good.
The Gang is considering:
Selling the dragon eggs
Keeping, hatching, and raising the dragons to be good
Liquidation of evil
What would you do?
Background.[1] One Saturday, about every three months- the Bookshop Gang gathers to break bread, socialize, and collectively solve puzzles that are presented during a session of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).[2] Dragons are of course, mythical creatures that do not exist in our real world. But evil is arguably a concept that dwells in our world. How should we address and prevent bad things from happening?
As a bookseller, I sell books considered to be fact and others that are fiction. Then there is an area between fact and fiction. The blurry area is often the most profitable area for a bookseller. Philosophers since the time of Hercules have attempted to define good, evil and how to address it. Which book has the magical answers?[3.]
Sharks are predators. The ancient creatures (some consider monsters) live to hunt. Dragons are a bit different. The mythical dragon is arguably an intelligent creature. They can reason. If the dragon is raised and educated in the right type of environment is the dragon still destined to be evil?
If our three half-elves with good alignment: Lark Abora-the-druid, Reina-the-cleric and Able-the-Paladin remained at the Bookshop Gang's secret lair to care for the dragon eggs, and nurtured the hatchlings... it might prove for an interesting series of future adventures- some years from now. The gods and dice rolls make it unlikely dragons would ever live long enough to become allied with an adventuring party.
The creator of Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, articulated in the 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide for Advanced D&D why monsters should not be the player character (page 21). The game has "evolved" meaning in the year 2025, player characters can be "dragonborn."
Photo from the 1979 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Dungeon Masters Guide"
suggesting players should not be dragons (page 21).
Illustration by D.A. Trampier (DAT)
The 2014 D&D Payers handbook which is commonly referred to as 5e (Fifth Edition) states "Dragonborn look very much like dragons standing erect in humanoid form, though they lack wings or a tail. (p. 32)... Once a sorcerer attains 14th level they "gain the ability to sprout a pair of dragon wings from your back, gaining a flying speed...(p. 103). "It's easy to assume that a dragonborn is a monster, especially if his or her scales betray a chromatic heritage. Unless the dragonborn starts breathing fire and causing destruction, though, people are likely to respond with caution rather than outright fear."(p. 33) "Most dragonborn are good, but those that side with Tiamat can be terrible villains." (p.34) Dragonborns have a breath weapon. Black Dragonborns breathe acid. Blue breathe lightning. Brass spew fire. Bronze spit lightning. Copper spew acid. Gold breathe fire. Green cast poison. Red send fire. Silver cast cold as do white dragonborns.[4]
This recent scenario was interesting. A bunch of cultists were trying to resurrect some sort of evil dragon god. The Bookshop Gang opted to infiltrate the cultists to figure out what was going on. Our mission was to collect information and report back to a religious monk willing to pay for the information. We needed to get inside a cave, which we discovered had thirteen rooms. Unfortunately, something always seemed to happen, and a large melee repeatedly ensued. Rolan the High Elf fighter continued to impress as the draconian villains fell to his anti-dragon sword. [The person that created Rolan had National Guard duty. He allowed his character to be played by us.] Needless to say, out of respect for the guy serving his country in real life, Rolan was employed as a tactical reserve. He never, ever walked point (cough). It was his lucky day. He survived.
Bill Red-Beard-the-dwarf walked point. No self-respecting dwarf was going to follow an elf in a subterrain maze. The fighters continually found themselves in the center of conflict. Just like football linemen, they were continually battling something at nearly every corner of the underground passages. Arvid the dwarf barbarian, Bill Red Beard, and Roland all saw plenty action.
No one can definitively say what Brocc the stealthy gnome rogue was doing while lurking in the shadows as the fighters were engaged in mortal combat. He might have been employing the grassy knoll sneak attack. One minute there were hordes of bad elements in the cavern. The next moment, arrows from the darkness sailed into the hordes as the fighters were also hacking and slashing the enemy cultist army. After one melee, once all the evil had been destroyed, Brocc the assassin materialized from the shadows to investigate a treasure chest. He picked the lock, but he earned his name Bad Luck Brocc by also triggering a trap built into the walls of the cave. An acid mist steamed out of the walls wounding everyone. Somebody said, "We might have been luckier if one of the dwarves had opened the chest."[6]
Recipes for the Soul
As D&D was taking off in the late 1970s, dragon was a term used for the title of a 1970 self-help book by Keith Miller:
Habitation of
Dragons
Dragon is associated with struggle or conflict. Miller's book portrays dragons as inner enemies that one can learn to co-exist with and even tame.[7.] Dragon traits are often thought of in a negative manner. Some believe dragons are impossible to defeat, tame or master. Though, the concept of the dragon is evolving. Some book collectors prefer to be classified as a book dragon. They are someone that collects books like a dragon collects treasure. Both are fiercely protective of their collection. There are also book nymph's and book goblins.[7a.]
"I agree with Tolstoy that the highest purpose of art is to make people good by choice."
John Gardner 1978 [8.]
Don't fear the dragon.
THE END
===== NOTES.
[1.] The last Cooking Chronicles were published over a year ago, on December 6, 2024. Much has happened since the last reported session of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) on November 23, 2024. The Bookshop Gang met four times this past year, which was roughly one Saturday every three months. The Dungeon Cooking chronicles began over two years ago, when a person bought Chris-Rachael Oseland's book AN UNEXPECTED COOKBOOK, The Unofficial Cookbook of Hobbit Cookery at the Captain's Book Shoppe. The customer presented me with a challenge. If I would gather a party of worthy role-playing adventurers, he would "dungeon master" a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign.[2]
It started like the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter. As a bookdealer, I wear many hats. [You can even buy a Captain's Book Shoppe hat, for $25.} One of my hats is as Centauri-the-bookdealer. Customers that browsed through the science fiction / fantasy paperback section were possible candidates for recruitment into the party. [Sidenote: Jonathan R. Betuel wrote the movie The Last Starfighter. Alan Dean Foster (ghost writer for the original Star Wars novelization) also novelized the film: The Last Starfighter.] As Centauri-the-bookdealer, those that picked up an Alan Dean Foster paperback were possible candidates for the D&D adventure. The final test were a few Bilbo Baggins (Tolkien) riddles. Nine customers from all walks of life joined the adventure. The only common thread was that they bought a book at Captain's Book Shoppe LLC.
[The Bookshop Gang met on January 15, 2025, June 28, 2025, August 23, 2025, and December 6, 2025.]
[2.] Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) "The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS roleplaying game is about storytelling in worlds of swords and sorcery. It shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. Like those games, D&D is driven by imagination. It's about picturing the towering castle beneath the stormy night sky and imagining how a fantasy adventurer might react to the challenges that scene presents." Mearls, Mike and Jeremy Crawford, , and ... D&D PLAYER'S HANDBOOK . Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2014. P. 5.
[3] Philosophy, religion, particularly Bibles are selling. "Self-education is a long, sometimes tough journey. My first set of antiquarian Bibles took fourteen months to sell. My most recent century-old-Bible took thirteen days." 1882 King James Leather Antiquarian Bible (1611 & 1881 Parallel Columns) (Accessed December 7, 2025)
[4.] Mearls, Mike and Jeremy Crawford, , and ... D&D PLAYER'S HANDBOOK . Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2014. pp. 32-4, 103.
[5.] B&W Dragon drawing from: Gary Gygax. DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE Advanced D & D. Revised Edition. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR Games, December 1979. [Illustrators: David C. Sutherland III, D.A. Trampier (DAT), Darlene Pekul, Will McLean, David S .La Force, Erol Otus.] p. 21.
[6.] Those wishing another perspective from a different group of adventurers concerning the Dragon Hatchery can refer to: YouTube video link review of: Hoard of the Dragon Queen DM's Guide/Review-Episode 3: Dragon Hatchery (D&D 5e) | Nerd Immersion (194) Hoard of the Dragon Queen DM's Guide/Review-Episode 3: Dragon Hatchery (D&D 5e) | Nerd Immersion - YouTube (Accessed December 10, 2025).
[7.] Keith Miller. Habitation of Dragons. Waco, Texas: Key-Word Books, Word Books, 1978. Some of the dragon traits Miller categorized was loneliness, insecurity, anxiety, sexual problems, fear, guilt, and anger. Miller's examination of the dragon is through a Christian lens of reading scripture and prayer. 175,000 copies of the book were reportedly sold by 1978.
[7a.] Book Dragon. What Is A Book-Dragon, And Should It Replace the Bookworm? – Tylor James (Accessed December 10, 2025). Book Dragon, Bookworm, or Book Nymph: Find Your Type! | TikTok (Accessed December 10, 2025).
[8.] John Gardner. On Moral Fiction. NY: Basic Books, 1978., 106.
[9.] Gardner, p180, 181. "...Creativity has something to do with obsession. The demons of Poe, Van Gogh, and Liszt are not exceptions but extreme cases of the rule... Art begins in a wound, an imperfection-a wound inherent in the nature of life itself- and is an attempt either to learn to live with the wound or to heal it. It is the pain of the wound which impels the artist to do his work, and it is the universality of woundedness in the human condition which makes the work of art significant as medicine or distraction."
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Previous Editions of
Dungeon Cooking Chronicles
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