Dragon

dragon, n. 1. a fabulous serpent or reptile, often monstrously large and often winged; examples exist in Northern European, Central American, Middle Eastern and East Asian mythologies; Middle English, from Latin draco "serpent." Dragonlike, draconian. Also drake, firedrake, worm, wyrm. 2. in modern fantasy mileux, one of a species of giant, winged, intelligent reptile-like creatures, usu. with a breath weapon. See pseudo-dragon. [GJ1]
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Addendum: The dragons of modern fantasy gaming and literature are based, not surprisingly, on Smaug, the dragon from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit; he in turn was inspired by the dragon from Beowulf and the worm Fafnir from Volsungasaga. [GJ1]
Addendum #2: A lot of gamers, and other fantasy-oriented types, collect dragons -- pewter dragons, plush dragons, dragon art, dragon puppets, dragon carvings, dragon dice, dragon games, dragon movies, dragon books, dragons on leather, dragons on clothing, dragon tattoos, ad nauseum. Some observers believe that collecting dragons is as stupid and geeky as collecting, say, unicorns. This is incorrect. Nothing is as stupid and geeky as collecting unicorns. [GJ1]