Yes, this is basically it. Imagine the Oots as a group of players in the forest looking for the starmetal, and they encounter the ancient black dragon as the final boss. Probably a total party kill, even if V is not turned into a lizard at that point. A level-appropriate boss is a dragon that isn't so powerful, which in this system means a youth dragon. The system is basically set up so that dragons of all ages can be opponents in a D&D campaign, as I understand it, but that naturally begs the question of where a young dragon's parents are.