I think the way dragons are currently handled is weird. Dragons are defined by their color, with different colors of dragons have distinct personalities. Does this not strike anyone as weird? If all red dragons are evil and greedy, how in the world does the species of red dragons survive.
I have an alternate idea for how dragons and their colors work.
Dragons are one species.
Dragons, regardless of their color or physical form, are different forms of the same species. A dragon with red scales is as different to a dragon with white scales as a brown cow is to a black and white cow. This has a side effect: the color of a dragons scales does not impact their ability to reproduce with any other dragon. Dragons are immensely powerful and rare beings that need a large amount of territory to feed off of. Their interactions are rare. It is in the best interest of their species to allow any of those interactions to result in new dragons.
Dragon colors are defined by their personality.
Dragons are sapient long before they hatch. This gives them the time and ability to find themselves, to have a defined personality the second they come out of their egg, and when they do their scales and form will match their personality. A greedy dragon will have red scales. A vain and arrogant dragon will have blue scales.
This answers a question that I've always had with dragons: why are there so few good dragons? Simple, if a dragon hatches and its scales portray it as being kind, or generous, or benevolent, or any other trait that would betray their nature as good, it is in an evil dragon's best interest to kill it. Few things can stop a dragon. Another dragon is one of them. What few good dragons exist do so only by escaping the clutches of their hatching parent, or by being born to good dragons.
Dragons can change.
Given enough time and introspection, a dragon might change the way it thinks. Dragons are powerful beings. Their bodies warp around their minds. If a red dragon becomes cruel and sadistic over time, it's scales will turn black and it's breath will turn from fire to thick acid. Such changes are uncommon amongst evil dragons. There is no need for introspection when you have a mountain of gold and a nice warm place to rest for centuries at a time.
In contrast, good dragons shift form all the time. As their desires and goals change, so do they, and dragons that interact with mortals often have a greater need for introspection and changing their beliefs. A dozen unique shapes of one dragon might be construed as a dozen different dragons.
How do we use this?
One could argue that a use of this idea would be to break player expectation. Traveling to the lonely volcano, where a dragon is said to horde coins in the millions, players might expect a red dragon. They will prepare their potions of fire resistance, and their shields of flame protection, and they will be very confused and extremely worried when they find a black dragon upon a mountain of gold. You'd have to telegraph that heavily to make that work.
Instead, allow me to offer a location with a built in plot:
Cambor, the city of dragons, is a grand city state and merchant republic built along the coast, the only viable dock a hundred miles to the North or South. Cambor makes it's riches on the back of the sea trade, and the city is dense with exotic spices, dyes, beasts, and magical items. Naturally, this makes the city a key target for pirates and bordering nations.
In the past hundred years, Cambor has been put under siege 11 times. Each time, a dragon has come to the city's rescue. The first time the dragon had golden scales with short wings and breath of fire, the second the dragon was silver with long wings that extended to the tip of its tail and with breath of lightning, and so on each dragon was wholly different. Thus Cambor got it's name, the city of dragons, protected by at least 11 dragons.
The truth is that the dragon is but one. Her name is Symiris, and Cambor is her home. The confluence of cultures is something she has vowed to protect, though the reason shifts over time, same as her scales. Symiris lives in the city by posing as the purveyor of a fine art gallery (dragons may take up a mortal form at will!).
A new threat sits upon the horizon. Perhaps a great fleet of pirates, or a neighboring kingdom, or hordes of undead, or anything sufficiently scary. Whatever it is, it's too much for Symris alone, and she knows this. The issue lies in that the senate of Cambor refuses to do anything. Cambor has a small navy, nowhere near enough to deal with an opposing army, but where they to act fast they might be able to muster the forces to survive, even if just with mercenaries. But they refuse to act, for they believe that Cambor's 11 dragons will rise to protect it.
Cambor could easily be the location of faction play, dealing with the senate, local merchant interests, mercenary groups, and of course Symiris herself. There's no right or wrong answers here, hell the players could simply let the city burn, but I would recommend that whatever you do, make it so that Symiris does not want to let the city know she's a dragon. She enjoys her peaceful life, and would greatly dislike having that disrupted.
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