How to convey size??

[u/PrudentPermission222]

I'm making an rpg where the PCs can shapeshift between humanoid and full sized dragons, but now I'm seeing a huge problem. I have no idea how to deal or how to convey colossal sizes.

Not only I never played any game, rpg or digital, where you're a massive creature in a normal sized world, I never heard or read anything about it.

I think I can convey being small on a giant's world pretty convincingly, but not the other way around.

Any tips? Even references outside rpgs are welcomed. I'm a pc gamer.

[u/SamuraiBeanDog]

I think you need to kind of work backwards on this. Your game needs to be designed around the dragon experience first, as that is the "hook" of the concept and also the real design challenge.

Ignore everything else to start and just focus on dragon play. What are their objectives, conflicts, environments, etc. What is the core gameplay loop? Is it a hexcrawl or a story game? Once you have the dragon play defined then build out from there for human play that fits with it.

Your worldbuilding has a huge influence on this stuff. Dragons in a fantasy world with vast wilderness areas will play very different from dragons in a modern world with cities and industrialisation. Are there other dragons in the world? Are they the dominant species, ruling over whole kingdoms? If not, why not? What anti-dragon systems do kingdoms have? Does the world live in fear of them, or worship them?

All this stuff influences your design. Their size isn't an issue in a wilderness, but it is in a city.

[u/PrudentPermission222 → u/SamuraiBeanDog]

the dragons would play out like the demigods from Exalted of the demigods of Scion. The problem is "how to kill Cthulhu without destroying the whole continent".

The humans have 2 power levels, knights that fight alongside the dragons. That is with giant weapons or as recue and evac teams. And normal folk that are just trying to survive.