We were talking dragons in my last workshop. I have no problem with that subject, since I played Dungeons and Dragons when G1, G2 and G3 were about the only campaigns around. Lolth in her lair in Q1 wasn't even a glint in Gary Gygax's eyes. (Maybe I should have not revealed that I know that.)

This student loved dragons, was enthused about dragons, and I wanted his dragon to be the best it could be. There are a lot of dragons out there.  It was a challenge.

When I'm stumped in class (or in interviews, social situations or when any cornering of me seems involved), I change the subject. We started talking about life and stuff, and it turns out this student was home-schooled. Did you know that the state sends all kinds of packets and curriculum to the home of the home-schooled and keeps records of all they accomplish? I didn't know that; I thought the home-schooled were all on their own, apparently not!

This home-schooled student had just received his latest science project, which was to dissect a crayfish. He actually got a crayfish in the mail—can you imagine that? He described taking it out and examining its scales, how they overlapped on one another and slid underneath each other perfectly when the tail moved. The claws were intact and seemed still capable of inflicting some damage. The eyes were black and beady.

The light bulb went on at some point during his animated description. I remembered some cryptic lesson dubbed “Write About What You Know.”

“Hey! That's your dragon! Make that your dragon!” I exclaimed.

I like to think that Gygax's Monster Manual VIII will include this student's fire-breathing crayfish/dragon.

By Tom Molanphy
Workshop Teacher