I can sit through the deepest lore for hours please take your time.

"Perhaps a video on the Dragon Princes in a lot more detail in future?" Yes, please! That would be invaluable!

To quote Morty: "that just sounds like slavery with extra steps"

No rush bro take your time im sitting back with a cold beverage and prepared to get deeply nerdy

I adore this concept so much. Imagining the party trying to make piece between two nations at war for hundreds of years, and finding out it was all just two bored dragons playing chess

Man, I wish there was a full written list of the rules for the game somewhere.

I like the idea that an adventuring party end up being the pawns of a dragon playing Xorvintaal without realizing it as they end up playing for a dragon who can take humanoid shape and is giving the party a majority of their quests and missions

Dude. Deepdives that leave nothing of note out are the reason why I prefer your video when I resarch.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

I cannot express how excited I am. I've been hoping for this video literally for years. This...this is the good stuff.

I love the idea of a multi-dimensional game going on between dragons of one world to another the plots would be so deep and the party coming upon them make for a way to demonstrate how much influence a upper level party has on the world at large.

Oh yeah, that's the good lore. God, I love this as a concept and it makes so much sense now, I've wondered about the great game ever since you mentioned it the first time years ago

I'm gonna say it like I've been saying it since the beginning. The best d&d ttrpg lore channel on KZfaq.

Oh this gives me so many ideas for my universe, an Emperor dragon having to deal with the plots of a draconic governor far off from his lands....hmmm thank you!

These novels are such a good read. All manner of dragons are involved - all of them! - as well as all the history of Sammaster and the Cult of the Dragon, and the avariels and and and! And we follow it all through the eyes of a party of monster-slayers that consists of all the classics, including an arctic dwarf. So good!

I can imagine green and blue dragons excelling at this game-- if they can keep from cheating. Ooh! And I bet Erinyes would be invaluable assets.

Nah-Groth, an opal dragon born stands tall. "Fools, ASGOROTH....Asgoroth is Io. Each part the groth of dragons all. We are to lead! Dark or light maters not! All that matters is the groth of all. So, say the rightuos furry of the great guiding father Io!"

The number of games I have been in or watched when other players Role play a dragon. Be it AD&D or WotC. Strait dragon or dragon magic polymorph into a human, with and without the systems rules for multiclassing and Xp gain. In all be all, a dragon is just Scoobie Doo, a talking great dane but bigger. With the mind of a crime lord/serial killer. Ever seen lions fight amount themselves or when they kill ? b.) Ran this game back before WotC around 1998. Low level PCs and I handed index cards to another group to draw and play PCs. The players felt insulted and a little betrayed that I had a clutch of young adult green dragons down on them. I told them, it is a role playing encounter of trash talk, as stated in the books green dragons are close family units and love to bicker. And the PCs had nothing worth stealing. Long story short they became dragon riders, .. The RP was lending to be a partnership and one guy ask if this is going to be a dragon riding game ? I said, " .. Why not ?" c.) dragons follow and show up for human tournaments, the gossip and market are entertaining. Playful tag with humans, bronze dragons are knightly, copper are comical mockery of combat. Green are smug and always have a pair of riders that conduct business. In all it is pro wrestling, .. but with dragons. The chaotic normally can't behave enough to stay after showing up. They get spanked hard and made to leave. Players that made a number of willpower rolls checking against wisdom can stay without provoking or suppress their natural instinct to dominate and kill. Since red and copper dragons are chaotic, a red and copper dragon will share a joke and laugh together about it, leaving the bronze and green dragon in a state of confusion. d.) Ironic enough other than being chaotic, juvenile red dragons paired with a gnome make good air delivery mail service. What keeps the red dragon on track other than being paid with gold, having a cow flavor with bacon grease flash fried or slow roast. Humans know how to burn the fat just right. Green dragons are a bit embarrass how the humans food condition the reds and coppers. Fry up some bacon to the crispness you like, then fry in the grease some eggs or fish. Ribeye beef fat cooked with cod fish is awesome. Question is how evil does the D/GM run dragons in your campaign ? Fail to pay a dragon tribute, and they dig out creek/ river crossings bridges and road damage to slow down trade and military movement. Merchant wagon trains are a lot less defended than a wall town with ballista.

Let's goooo, the Great Game 💖

Mr Pickett, if I could I'd pay you 100 dollars for a video on the Vilhon Reach which is the core of my madness into reviving psionics in the game I run as dungeon master(or perhaps as a dragon who plays this game as an Emerald dragon manipulating the whole party unknowingly, who knows?) My mind yearns to know more about the history of that lost human nation of Psi Warriors, Psions, Wilders, and Soul Knives. The lost gem relics brimming with Psi points and the Aberrations that now probably guard it for my players to dive into and restore possible relics of the lost Psionic god Sardior in this Dragonic Game of minds

There is a fey version played by the Seelie and Unseelie. The major difference is that the players are unknown. Identifying who your opponent is ends the game. It is alternatively referred to as the game of thrones by the greater fey and the game of thanes by the lesser fey. It is rumored that the consort of the Queen of Air and Darkness was the only fey to have ever lost the game. His crown was his ante to play and he guessed his opponent wrong. But like all things faerie, that could be just a story…

This is hands down my favorite obscure DND topic. My current setting is largely shaped by it

Sick. I could make an entire campaign around this.

This seems ripe ground to develop a wargame within D&D. That is, if the current IP owners get around to reading the lore.

would say this is probably one of the most interesting dragon videos even by dragon video standards and yes would like to know about the dragon princes

PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEASE do a deeper dive into the history!!!

As an mtg player, especially commander, I must past priority to you, resolve your statement, and move up to the next phase, feeling acknowledged as state-based, layer 1 effect

I can imagine that a particularly devious dragon could try to exploit the game without actually becoming a Taaldaraxi and thus not being bound by the rules but still taking advantage of openings other players make for them.

A j, will you do a video on the sword cities?

Was listening to the rap song 'Unleash the Dragon' ... now having a brain storm of the song refering to a pair of dragons playing xorvintaal

This is amazing! I'm imagining, although outside of the established lore, each prominent faction in Faerun being an unknowing result and participant in Xorvintaal. You just found a way to make Dragons even more interesting aspects of the game. Thank you!

So, Xorvintaal is basically a PvP MMO strategy Kingdom builder played by Hardcore rules lawyer type Fans.

Ayo Aj back at it with another crispy one. I love dragon lore and schemes

AJ I stopped 3 minutes into this video, not because of lack of interest, rather that's how long it takes you to inspire me to prep my next dnd session. Thankyou as always!

Draconic lore passes on through their bloodlines, Inherent knowledge carryover much like other creatures, including humans. Dragons also breed in and around to gain more than just learned knowledge as well. Xorvintaal can become physically combative as well creating gladitorial dragons moving from mental to physical superiority and contests, even creating things beyond dragon kind through methods of selective breeding bringing forth things considered unnatural or abominative. Draconic "krakens" moved as monstrous "pieces" on a physical worldspace made into a simulative tabletop with bounderies and limits created in a physical world. The happening in and around "adventures" could be the workings of Draconic "gamers" taking turns and gathering wealth beyond treasures. At least, that's how much further I tend to explore the space of Xorvintaal. Love its explore in 3.5 and it took the forefront of some really interesting competitive play at the events I ran at countless flgs across my 35 years of public play event hosting. So many fun ways to explore the Great Game. Dragons like Tartarian dragons and combined bloodline dragons like red/black hybrids and such in many instances I've used as the explore of the Great Game. The box set from a ways back explored this in a more world level explore taking bloodlines and types within the existing space at that time and "Game of Thrones" style moving them around in a really amazing box set with just a single expansion/re visit across its lifespan. Another great one AJ. You do good work here sir.

Thanks AJ. I have been pestering you to do a video on the Great game for a few years. Amazed that you finally did it. I still hope to see your own creations.

This gives me Yu-Gi-Oh vibes. A world of high stakes magical games with rules that simply cannot be broken.

Fantastic video! Your videos on D&D have been sorely missed, it’s great to see them return! They’ve been a great source of inspiration for my campaigns.

YES! THE GREAT GAME

Incredible work- I will very much enjoy coming up with ways that Xorvintaal enters the table, thanks for the suggestions!

Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth-Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker Dragon style According to Clytemorrenestrix Dokaal is a word for any member of two legged races.

Can we get a video going over this ancient Dragon civilization? I feel like almost everything in D&D is basically the fallout of this one huge knot of ancient history. The Dragons seemed to have a functional unified civilization, then in the blink of an eye there were Giants fighting the Dragons, then the Dragons had multiple civil wars, which allowed the Elves to essentially blind-side both Giants and Dragons with the Dracorage Mythal, and finally allowing humanoids a chance at civilization. And I get the feeling that this Xorvintaal was pretty critical to the functioning of this Dragon society, almost like a formal Dragon nation. Since the Dracorage Mythal has recently been neutralized, shouldn't this mean that Dragons have a real chance at just taking over the world once again?

Xorvintaal is awesome your lore on the subject is priceless. And I would absolutely love to watch or listen to Xorvintaal based Dungeons & Dragons game that you play in or run

Any chance of a video on the factions of kara tur?

with the idea of the illithid infiltrating xorvintaal, i'd probably go to the next level or extreme and have the elder brain try to assimilate a dragon of the game and turn it into a variant of an elder brain dragon :3

I would watch a second video about this. In fact if you wrote a campaign or novel centered around this in World game that would be awesome

Wow that is like trying to absorbe how a spy network is layed out. Complex but interesting.

In addition to giving up their natural spell casting, these dragon initiates also lose their spell resistance.

Oh yeah! That's a very interesting topic! Also, may I ask you to look into remorhaz? They are very cool creatures, but not much information about them

I've used this game as part of my recent D&D campaign that is coming to a close. It has been fun! Though, I didn't know all this info, so I left out a bunch. Whoops XD

This sounds like a lot of fun

I like to think that certain dragon families (mostly metallics as they are more social) follow certain players of the great game much like we do cricket or football. With a long line of dragons being fans of one particular Dynasty. If would also be interesting to see if some dragon families have a tradition of for instance sending the first hatchling of a mated pair to be trained in the ways of the great game once they are old enough.

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!!! Or rather, if Anyone was going to put out a Video on this, It was AJPickett, and he never disappoints!

I call upon the community to list their precepts and favorite plays for the Great Game of Xorvintaal. I'll start. The Scaled Charlatain If a player of Xorvintaal is able to become a ghost through their dokkali and summarily posess their Iovac, they lock their opponents into incredibly difficult positions. Being within the body of their Iovac, other Taaldaraxi cannot attack them, as it would 'technically' be attacking the Taaldaraxi directly, nor can the posessed Iovac attack any opposing Taaldaraxi. However, this allows the 'Iovac' to simply stroll into any rivals lair and pilfer at will provided there are no other Dokkali to defend it. This play brings great shame and great losses of points to any who run afoul of it. However if the 'Iovac' is killed, the possessing Taaldarax is removed from the game for the next 100 years, at which point, they may acquire an new body - I mean 'Iovac'. Im quite proud of this play😈 Copper Dragon - Agmmagnog, The Stray Thought -

Aj, would it possible for a deep dive into the overall Draconic history in the Forgotten Realms?

This is a very dangerous concept and I love it. How do you wipe dragonkind off the face of the universe? Cognitohazard of course!

Whoa... aye, I'd like to know more about these dragon princes. I know next to nothing about eastern Fae'Run or the Hordelands. Heck, the Hordelands could be a video too. And indeed, anything on the politics of dragons, their influence, videos on specifically important dragons would all be welcome. Dragon lore, is some of the best lore. ^_^

It reminds me of the game played by demons in Xanth.

Sounds like the Taaldarax heard about of EDH and took it WAY too literally lmfao

people say Anime and D&D shouldn't mix, but i swear some anime are already in the lore...this is literally "No Game No Life" with dragons. Pretty sure Dragons are one of the species in that show/manga as well

Xorvintal could explain why 5e dragons don't have innate spells, Xorvintal has just gotten very popular, to the point that most dragons you meet can be expected to not cast spells. Not a perfect explanation, but it drives home the virility of the great game

This gives me so many ideas for campaigns or even one-shots.

Your videos bring me so much joy! 🎉

What about the rest of us that come to you for the lore? 😅

Glad to see you back to doing dnd content .

What is the interaction of Xorvintaal with the lung of Kara Tur? I mean the lung are a complete other society with different functions, as they are not independent entities as much as functionaries of the Celestial Empire.

Richard Lee Byers "brotherhood of the griffon" series so illuminating about this subject

I've been wondering what is a good primary resource for learning about Abier?

Oh, so THAT'S how it's spelled!

Alas!!! Love you AJ! xD

This is my favorite forgotten realms lore. And I'm adapting it into lmop, doip, and hotdq, where cryovain, venomfang and those black twins are competing for the region, and the pcs are taken as minions

I love this my gears are turning 😋 might add this into my racing campaign as a sub plot

AJ, my friend, thank you! I've been wanting this one, what a Game!

Do you think the mercury dragon would do good in this with all his craziness?

Aj this is what we come here for❤

I love the early articles on the ferrous dragons. I wish they would get more attention.

Omg this is so good, thank you for all the hard work you do to make this great content.

Thanks so much for posting this- priceless work!

I imagine Xorvintaal like the olimpics or monday night football 🏈 imagine a stadium 🏟️ full of Xorvintaal fans watching two dragons in the area haveing teams duke it out in the ring though combat or double dare challenges! 😂 or even a trivia contest!

17:29 *_Zorquan!_*

Great stuff! I am so thankfull that you are back in the “Realms”!❤

Also thanks for sharing the excellent video

Pls tell me pls tell me that the Elves were wiped out in droves for their crimes.

Soooooo glad you're back at it! I'll go get my beverage now.

Can you do some videos on ?Abir? The sister world or point me in the direction of some lore I'm super interested in hearing about the other world?

Dragolympics......wait that might be something else 😅

So i am somewhat confused by the wording of this. When you say they lose the ability to cast spells but they keep their spell like abilities how would you do this in 5e? Take away innate spellcasting based spells but not other magiclike traits like shapechange?

So good aj please more

Need to find a way to have my dm bring this into our game. In playing a gambling teifling rogue that loves to cheat at every game he plays. Would love to see how this would work out

Was this in the Council of the Wyrm? I do not recall seeing it in that supplement.

YES!! Dragon prince video!🔥🤩🍿

I'm a big fan of the channel. I truly appreciate the hard work you put into your videos. I was wondering if you would be interested in doing more rifts content. I know the system is garbage but the lore is awesome. Thank you sir.

Love it

great vid

Bless the Mighty GlueStick

I like this game

136th like. I have 2 beverages for how nerdy we are about to get.

Good video AJ

Aj if you want to explain this right from the start just tell people it's the dragon's version of playing DND

I'll be honest I haven't heard of this intell now!