D&D: World of Warcraft lead designer hid his own Night Elf in the book
James Wyatt's Night Elf Warrior riding the Spirit of Eche'ro appears as a personal Easter egg, as the team details how the art stays faithful to the game.
The lead designer of Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft put an illustration of his own Night Elf Warrior riding the Spirit of Eche'ro into the book, he told Polygon. The artwork, which shows his personal character on the spectral moose, is described as a personal Easter egg rather than a gameplay element.
The designer spoke alongside lead art director Sergio Jaramillo about how the team kept the book's illustrations close to the source game. Characters were built in the Wowhead Dressing Room for reference, Jaramillo said, and the resulting illustrations were sent to Blizzard Entertainment for checking.
The book also carries game material drawn from Warcraft. A character proficient in history can search Highmountain Tauren ruins for Archaeology fragments and assemble six of them into a staff that casts Find Steed, summoning the moose once ridden by Huln Highmountain. Raising Renown with the Cenarion Circle lets players obtain the Cenarion War Hippogryph, and an alchemist's scale bears an image of Sylvanas Windrunner.
Some of the art required inventions the game never produced, Jaramillo said: the team created proportions for Tauren children riding a kodo because no such models exist in World of Warcraft. A gnome serves as the signature Warlock in both the D&D book and the Player's Handbook.
A slipcase with two loyalties
The Collector's Edition comes in a slipcase so players can choose whether the Horde or Alliance logo is displayed.
In the 2018 expansion Battle for Azeroth, the Archaeology profession was discontinued, making the Spirit of Eche'ro's bone-fragment grind obsolete. Before this project, the lead designer had built D&D books on the Magic: The Gathering worlds of Ravnica, Theros and Strixhaven.
Quick answers
Is the Night Elf riding the Spirit of Eche'ro in D&D: World of Warcraft a playable option?
It is an illustration of the lead designer's own Night Elf Warrior included as a personal Easter egg, according to Polygon.
How do you get the Cenarion War Hippogryph in the D&D book?
By raising Renown with the Cenarion Circle.
What does the Find Steed staff in the book summon?
The moose once ridden by Huln Highmountain, assembled from six Archaeology fragments found in Highmountain Tauren ruins.