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

Xanathar’s says an adamantine weapon costs 500 gp more than a normal weapon of the same type, but it doesn’t discuss how to MAKE one. How much adamantine do you need to make an adamantine weapon? How long does it take? @JeremyECrawford #DnD #DnD5E The specifics of physically how much adamantine it requires isn't something we're worried about. It has a cost, there are crafting rules, DM's call beyond that. But a good quick gauge, particularly for all/mostly metal weapons, is the weapon's weight. You need about that much.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) January 28, 2020

2018 Fun Fact: I have a weird soft spot for D&D’s crabfolk (which I named yurians in 3e’s Fiend Folio), which I attribute to Willie Walsh’s adventure “Back to the Beach” in Dungeon issues 50 (1994). So it was a kick to do homarid stats in Plane Shift: Dominaria!! I also wrote them up as a playable race for AD&D 2nd edition in "Heroes of the Sea" (Dragon 250, August 1998).

— James Wyatt (@aquelajames) February 11, 2020