Jaclyn Lewis (@wranglerofchaos.bsky.social)

After interviewing @LucasZellers.bsky.social for this article, I was filled with evangelical zeal. Thoughtful engagement with 5e! Scientific inquiry and accuracy! Conservationist principles built into the design! I dearly hope I did the Book of Extinction justice:

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Use DND To Teach Biology and Conservationism With This Monster Manual Teachers, parents, and others are wondering how to teach biology in a fun way. The game of Dungeons & Dragons has already been used to teach social emotional learning, sign language, history, and more. Why not use D&D to teach biology and conservation? Mage Hand Press, creator of custom D&D content, teamed up with the Center for Biological Diversity, scientific advocate of endangered species, to create a totally unique monster manual. In this book, you won’t find orcs, goblins, or kobolds. Instead, each “monster” is inspired by a real-world extinct animal. The Book of Extinction has two versions for each entry. One is the actual creature from our world: its history, biology, and the circumstances leading to its extinction. The other is a creature with lore, magic, and abilities that are inspired by the real-world creature but more suited to the world of D&D. As a team of educators, parents, therapists, and youth workers bringing D&D to young players, we’re always looking out for awesome D&D resources for teachers, and we fell in love with this one immediately. We got to chat with Lucas Zellers, the lead writer for the Book of Extinction, about his journey from D&D player to honorary conservationist. https://www.youngdragonslayers.com/d-and-d-video-blog/teach-biology-conservation-dnd