Dungeons and Dragons and Dinosaurs: How Do Prehistoric Creatures Fit Into Tabletop Roleplaying Games?

By Lindsay Kastroll, Master’s student in Biological Sciences, University of Alberta

When you think about the hit table-top roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, you typically think about elves, wizards, magical quests, and of course, dragons. Dinosaurs don’t really factor into that equation. However, you may be surprised to learn that prehistoric creatures have had a long history in Dungeons & Dragons, going back at least as far as the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual published in 1977. They’ve even been featured in popular D&D settings like Eberron and adventure modules such as Tomb of Annihilation, and periodically make appearances on “let’s play” programs like Critical Role. Hells, even my own table recently battled a mosasaur when our Dungeon Master was feeling creative!

For those unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons, I would describe it as a storytelling game in which several players try to defeat monsters, discover treasure, and save the day within a fantasy world narrated by a “Dungeon Master” (“DM”), someone who controls the elements in the world around the players and generally dangles carrots in front of them to keep the story moving. The DM and the characters generally improvise their way through the story, but for any act they want to do that involves some amount of skill or chance, they allow dice to decide the outcome. If you want to stake a vampire through the heart, you’d roll an attack and add your character’s Strength score to see if it hits. Or if you wanted to flirt with a guard as a distraction, you’d try rolling and adding your Charisma to determine how smitten the guard is.

Most D&D game settings tend to fall into the realm of medieval fantasy, well after the dawn of civilization but well before the advent of modern technology. Non-avian dinosaurs went extinct millions of years before humans evolved, so if you care about scientific accuracy, this anachronism probably isn’t ideal. That begs the question, then, why do things like dinosaurs exist in the Dungeons & Dragons universe?

Well, from the beginning, dinosaurs have always captured the public’s imagination as terrifying “monsters” that could make the earth tremble and swallow elephants whole. From the original 1933 King Kong to the modern Jurassic World franchise, people love to see huge reptilian beasts wreaking havoc and killing humans. All things considered, it’s only natural that they’d be included in a game that also has giant, three-eyed frog monsters with tentacles for arms.
With inclusion in D&D comes the assignment of all-important statistics that inform the DM and their players as to how the creature interacts with the world. So, every prehistoric creature in D&D has stats for how quickly they could move, what sorts of offense and defense they possess, etc. These stats are, of course, inspired by the developers’ knowledge of real paleontology, and therefore are indirectly informative for the players about the lifestyles and abilities of the prehistoric creatures as well. Take Plesiosaurus for example: its stats include a much faster swimming speed than land movement speed because it is an aquatic reptile, and it has a special ability called “Hold Breath” that denotes it can hold its breath for up to an hour, since it doesn’t have gills and must breathe air at some point.

The eagle-eyed paleontology-enthusiast may notice an issue in the description above: plesiosaurs were fully aquatic reptiles that likely couldn’t move around on land at all, so why would they have a movement speed for land? Such is the limitation of media that was not made to be scientifically accurate. However, even depictions of prehistoric creatures that are inaccurate have inherent educational value simply for inspiring interest, opening the door for further conversations and learning.

For example, I’ve had long conversations with fantasy aficionados about the relationship between dinosaurs and dragons. There is a compelling argument to be made that a little-known group of dinosaurs, the Scansoriopterygidae, could be considered wyverns. A wyvern is a draconic creature that substitutes its arms for bat-like wings, an arrangement remarkably similar to those of the scansoriopterygids. Instead of a fully-feathered bird-like wing, these dinosaurs glided on a membrane supported by their hand and wrist bones. They were as close to a real-life wyvern as you can get!

Conversations like this one make it clear you don’t need scientifically-accurate paleo-media in order to have an informative discussion, despite how much scientists might crave accurate representation. As long as someone is curious to learn more, even the silliest genetically-modified movie monster can prompt important discussions. In this way, I find that science communication is remarkably easy. All it takes is bridging the gap between the science and your audience with something that’s familiar and interesting to them. Games and other media are a great way to do that at all ages.
Most people who play Dungeons & Dragons are not doing it for the educational value, of course. They just want to exist in a cool fantasy world for a while, and if there’s some cool prehistoric creatures in it, all the better. And that’s okay, because fantasy world-building doesn’t have to make sense. The setting already has magic and sentient robots, so take your pterosaurs and run with them. The beauty of the game is the creativity – any interest in paleontology or any other science that may spring up by happenstance is just a bonus (in addition to hanging out with your friends, of course).

So, say you are a DM or a player who wants to involve more prehistory in your fantasy game, whether for educational purposes or just for fun. Are you restricted to only including prehistoric animals as monsters to fight? Not at all! You can certainly find stats for a prehistoric monster encounter in many D&D source books, but not every story needs to have a violent ending. In Eberron, for example, there’s an entire civilization of halflings that have tamed dinosaurs to ride as mounts. Players can involve prehistoric creatures in their character builds with animal companions, playing as rangers with powerful animal allies or even playtesting the 2022 Unearthed Arcana druid, “Circle of the Primeval.” Or, if you want to take things a step farther, the paleontologist-made third party source book Dr. Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs even introduces humanoid dinosaur races that you can play as.

No matter how you involve prehistoric creatures in your games, if you find yourself struck with inspiration (bardic or otherwise), I encourage you to ask questions, do some research, and learn more about the field. Science communication is best done when your passion for learning has already been piqued, and is the most fun when you’re playing an elven druid (in my experience, at least).