Tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons and Wingspan represent a new and powerful way to inspire collective action for conservation. Author Lucas Zellers will visit Whanganui next week to share how he created a manual for Dungeons & Dragons players that features real-life extinct species as fantasized monsters, and how the book can make a difference in earth's current mass extinction crisis.

 

Book of Extinction is a bestiary of extinct animals resurrected for tabletop roleplaying games. This book tells the real-world histories of the world’s most famous extinct animals—such as the dodo, Japanese wolf, and Haast's eagle—and gives rules to play alongside them in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. It then reimagines each animal as a fantastical fantasy creature, inspired by the legacies the creature left behind. 

 

The authors and publishers of Book of Extinction made an exceptional commitment to accuracy. This book is one of the only thoroughly-cited works ever created for 5th Edition. In the process of researching, Zellers consulted dozens of educators and experts, as well as hundreds of primary sources. Additionally, the book was reviewed by a science consultant working for the Center for Biological Diversity, who graciously partnered with Mage Hand Press to bring this book to life.

 

Zellers will share how the book was made, the incredible stories it has to tell, and how tabletop games don't just raise awareness:  they help people experience what's at stake and participate in the solution.