This image is a sneak peak of the cover of an upcoming new D&D book called The Book of Extinction. And it's filled with real world extinct animals to be used for Dungeons and Dragons. And WOTC isn't working on this alone. The Center for Biological Diversity is co-opting the project.
So far, all I know that's been added are the Passenger Pigeon, and the Florida Fairy Shrimp. Judging by the art above, it looks like the Dodo and Thyacline are also being resurrected. But how can you see real life extinct animals be adapted into Dungeons and Dragons? Having them as monsters, and animal forms and companions for druids and rangers would be obvious. Do you think this book will introduce story options for DM's?
For example, let's say in any one of the game's settings, these animals are also extinct... until suddenly and without warning... poof! Their all alive and well again. What caused this? Is this a sign of good things to come or an omen of something bad? Have the gods associated with nature brought back their lost children to give the mortal races a second chance to coexist with creatures they wiped out? Or are the lost species back to punish the mortal races? Are these creatures newly created souls or have their souls been ripped from the afterlife? Are the gods of death and the afterlife angry or indifferent to this? And if the gods of nature did not do this, who or what did? A necromancy ritual? Some magic experiment gone wrong or right? Has something caused time to go out of balance?
This image is a sneak peak of the cover of an upcoming new D&D book called The Book of Extinction. And it's filled with real world extinct animals to be used for Dungeons and Dragons. And WOTC isn't working on this alone. The Center for Biological Diversity is co-opting the project.
So far, all I know that's been added are the Passenger Pigeon, and the Florida Fairy Shrimp. Judging by the art above, it looks like the Dodo and Thyacline are also being resurrected. But how can you see real life extinct animals be adapted into Dungeons and Dragons? Having them as monsters, and animal forms and companions for druids and rangers would be obvious. Do you think this book will introduce story options for DM's?
For example, let's say in any one of the game's settings, these animals are also extinct... until suddenly and without warning... poof! Their all alive and well again. What caused this? Is this a sign of good things to come or an omen of something bad? Have the gods associated with nature brought back their lost children to give the mortal races a second chance to coexist with creatures they wiped out? Or are the lost species back to punish the mortal races? Are these creatures newly created souls or have their souls been ripped from the afterlife? Are the gods of death and the afterlife angry or indifferent to this? And if the gods of nature did not do this, who or what did? A necromancy ritual? Some magic experiment gone wrong or right? Has something caused time to go out of balance?
And biggest of all, is there a way for these species to survive or do they have to go again? Can the species of now live with what was? What will the various druid orders of the settings think of this? What would you do with this? Here's a link for a coming webinar that COBD is hosting about this. https://act.biologicaldiversity.org/qwQF0XOhc0u4AJZNlrJmgA2?sourceid=1008912&fbclid=IwAR0gfDu_9pnjQYm3p7AqLvJDe-ZQ9czawory-21IojLb2pHdTwxwsh97l8g