James Wyatt (game designer)

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James Wyatt
Wyatt at Gen Con on August 18, 2007
Wyatt at Gen Con on August 18, 2007
Bornc. 1968
OccupationGame designer, United Methodist minister
NationalityAmerican
EducationOberlin College
Master of Divinity
GenreRole-playing games

James Wyatt (born c. 1968

4th edition Dungeon Master's Guide
.

Biography

Wyatt grew up in

Union Theological Seminary in New York City, in 1993.[1][2] He was married soon after.[1] In 1994, Wyatt began his working career as the minister of two small United Methodist churches in southeastern Ohio.[1][2]

While working as a minister Wyatt began writing in his spare time for Dragon magazine, starting with material for TSR's Masque of the Red Death setting. By 1996, Wyatt decided to change his career path: "While I was in the ministry, I started submitting adventures to Dungeon magazine... I found that my D&D work was a source of freedom and energy when ministry was more life-draining for me. When I started getting adventures and articles accepted, it was so exciting that it became clear that D&D would never again be just a hobby for me."[2] The same year he moved to Wisconsin in hopes of getting a full-time job at TSR, which did not immediately work out, but he kept writing material as a freelance author.[2] Wyatt produced work for roleplaying games such as West End's Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game, although he felt that "D&D has always been my one true love in the gaming world... despite junior high flings with other game systems."[2] He continued to have material published in Dragon and Dungeon.

In 1998 he moved to Berkeley, California, and in 2000 to the Seattle/Tacoma area of Washington state.

Matt Sernett, Ed Stark, Michele Carter, Stacy Longstreet, and Chris Perkins; this team updated the setting and cosmology of D&D as the fourth edition was being developed.[3]
: 298 

He wrote the D&D novels In the Claws of the Tiger (2006), Storm Dragon (2007), Dragon Forge (2008), Dragon War (2009), and Oath of Vigilance (2011).

In 2014, Wyatt left Dungeons & Dragons to work on the writing and creative aspects of Magic: The Gathering. Wyatt wrote the text for the series of Art of Magic: The Gathering coffee table books, which reprint illustrations from the cards with details for each plane's lore. He then wrote a series of free PDF releases called Plane Shift which adapts Magic: The Gathering for Dungeons & Dragons; the Plane Shift releases were created to allow players to use those coffee table books as campaign setting guides by providing the necessary rule adaptations.[5] Between 2016 and 2018, six "Plane Shift" articles were released: Amonkhet, Dominaria, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, and Zendikar, along with an Ixalan-set adventure.[5][6][7] However, these articles are not considered official material for organized play.[8] In 2017, Mike Mearls wrote: "It's basically a thing James does for fun, and we don't want to burden it with needing all the work required to make it official".[9]

The positive response to the "Plane Shift" articles lead to the 2018 publication of Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica, a full hardcover setting guide to the Magic setting of Ravnica for Dungeons & Dragons.[10][11] Wyatt was the lead designer on Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica (2018)[12] and he stated "this book is, essentially, Plane Shift: Ravnica".[13] Wyatt and F. Wesley Schneider were then co-leads on the design on the next crossover book Mythic Odysseys of Theros (2020) which adapts the Magic setting of Theros.[14] He is also one of the authors of the sourcebook Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (2021).[15]

Honors

Wyatt received

Origins Awards in 2003 for City of the Spider Queen and in 2005 for the Eberron Campaign Setting, which he co-authored with Bill Slavicsek and Keith Baker. His other notable works include Oriental Adventures (for which he won an ENnie Award in 2002), Draconomicon, the Draconic Prophecies series, and Magic of Incarnum
.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g The Bulletin: Ithaca High School 20th Reunion 1986/2006. July 1, 2006. Pg. 29. Archive copy at Scribd.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ryan, Michael G. (March 2001). "Profiles: James Wyatt". Dragon (#281). Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast: 12, 14.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7
    .
  4. ^ "James Wyatt". Archived from the original on February 24, 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Plane Shift To Kaladesh and Bring Back New D&D Races, Items And Monsters". Nerdist. 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  6. ^ Hall, Charlie (2018-07-23). "Dungeons & Dragons gets a major crossover with Magic: The Gathering this fall". Polygon. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  7. ^ "Plane Shift: Dominaria". Tribality. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  8. ^ "Dungeons and Dragons is Set to Crossover with Magic the Gathering". ScreenRant. 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  9. ^ Mearls, Mike (2018-04-18). "Are The Plane Shift articles considered Official Material?". Sage Advice D&D. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  10. ^ "Dungeons & Dragons' Next Magic: The Gathering Mashup Is a Trip to Ravnica". io9. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  11. ^ Sheehan, Gavin (February 5, 2019). "Review: Dungeons & Dragons – Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica". bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  12. ^ "Keith Baker, Jeremy Crawford & James Wyatt on Ravnica & Eberron | Dungeons & Dragons". dnd.wizards.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  13. ^ Wyatt, James (July 24, 2018). "This book is, essentially, Plane Shift: Ravnica. #wotcstaff". Twitter. @aquelajames. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  14. ^ Baird, Scott (2020-07-28). "James Wyatt & F. Wesley Schneider Interview: D&D's Mythic Odysseys Of Theros". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  15. ^ "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft | Dungeons & Dragons". D&D Official | Dungeons & Dragons. Retrieved 2021-06-11.

External links

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