“ Leader carries gold into battle with him. When he sees a great feet of bravery or valor he rewards them with the gold, or maybe a token worth some prize if they survive.”
“ Someone needs the blood of a dragon, given willingly, to make a rare potion. Guess who gets hired to sweet-talk a dragon into giving up some highly powerful blood?”
“ What if dragon-sightings and evidence of such was treated with the same skepticism and mockery as modern UFO sightings? More for a low magic world where dragons 'dont' exist.”