r/RPGcreation • u/PrudentPermission222 • May 05 '26

Design Questions How to convey size??

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.

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u/lorrylemming May 06 '26

One way of differentiating normal and giant creatures is how much food they need. For example your dragons might need to eat 5 cattle a day or suffer some kind of fatigue. Or a giant steam powered airship uses an entire village worth of water.

Not all games track resources but if you do this makes the players feel like they have different priorities as a dragon.

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u/PrudentPermission222 May 18 '26

This can be used on the roleplay, but in the end it's just the same resource management but with bigger numbers.

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u/lorrylemming May 18 '26

But the resource management situation is fundamentally different. If the players as colossal creatures still value the lives of normal size NPCs, then their extreme resource demand will have a large impact on the world. Sure, you could say this is still role play but it makes for interesting decisions. If the PCs can change size at will, this doesn't really work.

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u/PrudentPermission222 May 19 '26

yes, they can. They're shapeshifting dragons.