Resurrecting extinct animals for 5th Edition

The Book of Extinction is a compendium of extinct animals, resurrected in roleplaying games.

Learn about and play alongside lost animals like the dodo, saber-toothed tiger, and great auk in D&D 5th Edition.  

The stories in this book are real. The Book of Extinction is perhaps the only D&D book in history to be carefully fact-checked by a science consultant (generously provided by the Center for Biological Diversity), to feature insight from dozens of interviews with experts, and to include hundreds of factual citations from primary sources.

A eucladoceros and other extinct animals grace the cover of Book of Extinction from Mage Hand Press.
In one panel, a grainy black-and-white photograph of Benjamin the thylacine as he paces his concrete enclosure at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. In the second panel, the thylacine is resurrected as a DnD monster. It is a transparent, glowing green ghost tiger branded with arcane runes stalks across the page with a curious look in its eye.
In one panel, a grainy black-and-white photograph of Benjamin the thylacine as he paces his concrete enclosure at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. In the second panel, the thylacine is resurrected as a DnD monster. It is a transparent, glowing green ghost tiger branded with arcane runes stalks across the page with a curious look in its eye.

Listen to the companion podcast Making a Monster: Extinction

Learn more about history, game design, and conservation as we make fantasy lore out of real-life stories: fossilized cyclops remains, the natural history of the griffin, and the housecat who killed an entire species, just for a start!

Praise for The Book of Extinction

By you caring about it, that’s really the solution. We have the opportunity to make the change, but it takes all of us to do that. Extinction is depressing, but it has a solution and that solution is us. – Steve Sullivan, Director, Hefner Museum of Natural History at Miami University

The ghost tiger hits all the right notes of this slightly ghostly, slightly hidden creature that does supposedly still exist in some areas of Tasmania. I think that’s really good, honestly. – Jeremy Vine, Professional DM in Melbourne, Australia

You really don’t know how excited I am about it, because it’s a passionate and driven and resourceful community. I can just see this community running with this, that could be the tipping point – extinction ends here! – Tierra Curry, Senior Scientist at The Center for Biological Diversity

The ghost tiger hits all the right notes of this slightly ghostly, slightly hidden creature that does supposedly still exist in some areas of Tasmania. I think that’s really good, honestly.
Jeremy Vine

Professional Dungeon Master, Melbourne, Australia

By you caring about it, that’s really the solution. We have the opportunity to make the change, but it takes all of us to do that. Extinction is depressing, but it has a solution and that solution is us.
Steve Sullivan

Director, Hefner Museum of Natural History at Miami University

You really don’t know how excited I am about it, because it’s a passionate and driven and resourceful community. I can just see this community running with this, that could be the tipping point – extinction ends here!
Tierra Curry

Senior Scientist, The Center for Biological Diversity

Press

NPR: Can Dungeons & Dragons Help Save Endangered Species?

https://www.wyso.org/local-and-statewide-news/2021-12-22/can-dungeons-dragons-help-save-endangered-species

Nerdist: EXTINCT ANIMALS COME BACK TO LIFE IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

https://nerdist.com/article/dungeons-dragons-book-supports-extinct-animals-endangered-species-book-of-extinction/

All Press Coverage
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