January 16 is “Appreciate a Dragon Day”. In honor of this holiday, Wizards of the Coast is encouraging D&D fans and players to celebrate in various ways, including:
- Show your appreciation for two of 4th Edition’s new metallic dragons by “friending” them on Facebook and giving them gifts.
- Share the stories of the dragons you’ve encountered in previous campaigns.
- Play Dungeons & Dragons and incorporate a dragon into your current campaign.
- Invite a friend to try Dungeons & Dragons for the first time.
- Visit your local library and look for a newspaper article or book about dragons; explore the myths about dragons.
- Pull out your old Halloween costume and dress like a dragon.
- Pop some popcorn and watch movies about dragons, both friendly and unfriendly dragons:
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Dragon Heart, Eragon, The New Dragonlance movie, Reign of Fire, Shrek series, Pete’s Dragon.
Backstory
It’s a little known fact that dragons have played influential roles throughout history. Mostly because humans have taken all the credit. Some examples of dragons’ contribution to society*:
On December 17, 1903, when the Wright Brothers changed history, they did so with the help of a dragon. Orville and Wilbur claim that the winds on Kill Devil Hill on the coast of North Carolina aided their flight tests, but really, it was a dragon.
George Herman Ruth Jr., more commonly known as “The Babe”, is known for his feats of skill on the baseball diamond, in particular his “called shot” home run during the 1932 World Series. Baseball aficionados have cited this moment as support for claims that Babe Ruth is the greatest player of the game ever. If they only knew that The Babe was able to call that shot because he had the help of a dragon….
Amelia Earhart, famed female aviator, is well-known for her flights, but perhaps most well-known for her disappearance. While scholars around the world have researched her life and disappearance, they have yet to uncover the real secret of her success: aided by a dragon who fell madly in love with “Lady Lindy”, she rose to fame. Realizing that their love wouldn’t be understood by her peers, she ran away with her dragon to a place of glorious seclusion.
Throughout the photographic archives, almost all images of Winston Churchill from his tenure as Prime Minister include a lit cigar. Many believe that while he may have lit these cigars with a standard matchbook, it has since become widely known that he employed a small dragon among the staff at 10 Downing Street.
It is because of the influential role dragons have played in society that the International Guild for the Nobility and Importance of Typically Eschewed Dragons (IGNITED) founded Appreciate a Dragon Day in 1974. Some ways dragons have been honored in the years since include the creation of popular RPG Dungeons & Dragons, the introduction of helpful dragon characters in movies like Pete’s Dragon and the proliferation of dragon-themed tattoo art.
*Disclaimer: these descriptions represent theoretical explanations of said events, the veracity of which has yet to be proven. The FDA, FCC, NASA, MLB and RAF have not weighed in on these findings and probably would not support these theories. Please distribute responsibly or you may find yourself at the wrong end of a dragon’s wrath.