2017 Fun Fact: On the naming of dinosaurs in fantasy settings, a treatise:
I have a pet peeve about what we call dinosaurs. In developing Eberron, I made the argument that the real-world scientific names by which we know dinosaurs are out of place in a fantasy world.— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020
Thus, the 3e Eberron Campaign Setting book ended up with this table, showing Common and Draconic names for various kinds of real-world dinosaurs. pic.twitter.com/QRisfQtwi8
— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020
My first pass on names for Dinosaur cards in XLN went in a similar direction, but met significant resistance from the rest of the Magic team. I finally yielded and came up with names that *sound* like dinosaur names without actually *being* dinosaur names. That part was important to me, because we intentionally took liberties with scientific accuracy, and I wanted plausible deniability. Yes, I know oviraptors probably didn't actually steal the eggs of other dinosaurs. But the creature on the card Nest Robber isn't an oviraptor!
— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020
It’s a nest robber, and they absolutely do steal eggs from other dinosaurs’ nests. Maybe real-world sauropods didn’t have feathers, but whiptails and altisaurs absolutely do.
Anyway, it’s a compromise where I’m actually quite happy with the results. (On the other hand, I'm not sure what to call a Turdus migratorius in a fantasy setting, because "robin" can refer to many different birds, and "American robin" is clearly wrong. How does your world differentiate between the Loxodonta and Elephas genera of elephants?)
— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020
All the dinosaurs in Ixalan block: https://t.co/h5kSsAK9iL
DMs, please throw a carnage tyrant at your players for me.
— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020
2017 Fun Fact: I thought this approach in Plane Shift: Kaladesh was super clever. (Using art captions to illustrate how standard D&D magic items might take wildly different forms on Kaladesh.) pic.twitter.com/zKhXtQ42mP
— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020