iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Wyatt @aquela.com · 09/07/2026

One thing I’m doing at Gen Con: talking with Wes. Which I do all the time. But this time you get to listen in! And even ask questions! www.dungeonsanddragons.com/gen-con/

D&D Talks—Setting Is Story: Making D&D’s Worlds Your Own.
An old picture of Wes Schneider and a less-old picture of James Wyatt with our names below, superimposed over the D&D ampersand.
D&D Tower, Gen Con 2026
Friday, July 31, 11:00 AM PT, 2:00 PM ET
Get Tickets Today
Live streamed at YouTube.com/dndwizards

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 01/06/2026

Poulsbo’s mayor raised the Pride flag at city hall this morning. I went to show support and (occupational hazard) was invited to speak and offer a closing prayer off the cuff.

James (a gray-haired white guy with glasses and a goatee) wears a stole with dragons in rainbow colors, a clerical collar, and a T-shirt in trans flag colors saying “You will have to go through me.” The background is green leaves and blue sky.

Poulsbo City Hall, with bright blue sky I. The background, and a mast-shaped flagpole with four flags (at half-staff): the U.S. flag, the WA state flag, and two Pride flags.

The Pride flag going up in front of Poulsbo City Hall.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 11/05/2026

Email sent to the altar guild this afternoon:

A screenshot of an email formatted like a poem:

This is just to say
I have taken
the lilacs
that were
in front of the altar

and which
you were probably
saving
for Thursday

Forgive me
they were beautiful
and in my wife’s colors
and I’ll bring them back on Thursday.

(With apologies to William Carlos Williams)

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 01/08/2025

This folder has papers from 1977. Having seen one Star Wars, I was ready to create new droids for more.

Pencil drawings on the outside of a file folder depicting droids—three variations on R2-D2 (all of them with rectangular heads) and one similar to C-3PO, labeled C3DE. These were all drawn by a 9-year-old and look like it.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 01/08/2025

Another school assignment, dated September 6, 1979—a few months after I started playing #dnd.

One panel of a comic-style school assignment. The instructions (not fully visible) say, “You are being interviewed on national network TV. Answer the interviewer’s questions as honestly as you can.” In this panel, the interviewer asks, “What do you like to do most?” The handwritten answer I put in is “Play Dungeons & Dragons.”

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 01/08/2025

In this school project from 1980, you can clearly see the influence of Todd Lockwood’s krolli (Dragon #36). I grew up to be a writer.

A 12-year-old James’ illustration of a winged biped with a dragon’s head and tail. The figure is colored with magic marker—light green, with yellow for the membranes of the wings and the shorts the figure wears. It wields a mace in its right hand and a triangular shield in its left.

Below the figure is the school project title: “Future Center” and a cursive signature: “James Wyatt ‘80”

The drawing is on the outside of a file folder.

A professional illustration by Todd Lockwood of a very similar bipedal figure with wings and draconic features (head and tail). The style resembles an ink sketch, with hatched shading. This figure holds a scimitar in its right hand and a round shield in its left.

The figures are different enough in pose that it’s clear James didn’t trace this one, but the inspiration is very obvious.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 14/06/2025

The Wisdom of God, the Love of God, and the Grace of God strengthen you to be Christ’s hands and heart in this world, in the name of the Holy Trinity.

James (a gray-haired white man with glasses and a goatee) wearing a red stole and chasuble raises one hand, palm out in blessing, at the end of the Diocese of Olympia’s ordination service today.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 18/05/2025

My @aetherobjects.bsky.social Cathedral Dice arrived today! I mean, how could I not?

A set of seven polyhedral dice with a sort of stained-glass look: etched frames on each face and colorful glitter inside. Gorgeous!

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 01/05/2025

Going through old files last night, I found these “PC Combat Cards” I used when I ran the first sessions of what would become Acquisitions, Inc. in 2008. @pennyarcade.bsky.social #dnd

Two “PC Combat Cards” with the character named Omin Dran (half-elf cleric) and Jim Darkmagic (human wizard), with handwritten notations of their hit points and various conditions.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 23/03/2025

I got better! (9, +4 for Bless, +3 Con)

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 23/03/2025

“Oh, I’ll be fine against a cave full of basilisks. I’ll cast Bless on us all first.”—Ad’onohr, last words (?) #dnd

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 06/02/2025

Spotted in the sacristy of my new church. Someone's been scouting me out!

A cluttered bookshelf. Clearly visible are two red Books of Common Prayer, and near them, face up, is a copy of "Storm Dragon," by James Wyatt. Who is me. Other books, less clearly visible, include "A Guide to Pronouncing Biblical Names," a very worn-looking Bible, "The World's Greatest Collection of Church Jokes," and "The Vestry Handbook."

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 08/01/2025

I wore boring black shoes to my ordination, but these were my socks!

A picture of James’s (large) feet, clad in black and red argyle socks.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 29/12/2024

I wore my D&D 50th anniversary jacket to church today. Also had a fun conversation with two parishioners about how their grandson is getting really into D&D. I like being able to be fully myself. ⚓️

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 07/12/2024

Would’ve been nice to be at PAX Unplugged this weekend, but I had a prior commitment… ⚓️

James—a gray-haired white guy wearing a white robe and a red deacon’s stole, holding a Bible—stands in the front of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, newly ordained as an Episcopal deacon.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 06/12/2024

I enjoy changing the color of my watch face to match my shirt, but I am planning to also change it with the liturgical seasons when I'm vested. :)

A photo of my Apple Watch on my wrist, with a blue gradient face, next to my similarly blue shirt.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 16/11/2024

@carrieschobro.bsky.social It seems somehow perfectly appropriate that I received a notification that you followed me while I was newsprinting for CCD!

A large piece of newsprint with these words written in colored marker: Inquiry/Data Collection & Feedback. “One of the most powerful interventions you can ever make in an organization is getting the organization in touch with its own data!”

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 05/11/2024

I figure (as I desperately search for distraction) today’s a good day to unveil the Secret Portrait that @kp11studios.bsky.social did for me last year! On Dec 7 I’ll be ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church (God willing and the people consenting), and as a priest in June. ⚓️

A portrait of James—middle-aged white guy with beard and glasses—wearing a clerical collar and double-breasted suit jacket.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 19/10/2024

In response to that comment, @spacejunkz.bsky.social drew me! And posted this over in the Bad Place.

An adorable cartoon showing me—an old white guy, hugging a stringed instrument, with the words “I have a thing about hurdy gurdies” on banners around the image.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 19/10/2024

@spacejunkz.bsky.social I’m not really using Twitter any more, but this is you, right? I love it so much!

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 17/09/2024

If, like me, you saw and dismissed your "thanks for being our nth user" message on logging in, you can find it again by clicking on the 🎉 at the top of your feed.

Message from BlueSky: Celebrating 10M users, #570,126 (first 10%). Joined Aug 14, 2023.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 03/02/2024

Our druid chose al-mi’raj as a Wild Shape form, so our DM (my awesome daughter) made this mini. Feeling lucky to have her as my DM! #dnd #wotcstaff

A cut-paper mini of a FLUFFY! al-mi’raj, which looks like a rabbit with a unicorn horn. Totally adorable!

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 06/01/2024

@neilhimself.neilgaiman.com This showed up on my Facebook memories today and I thought you might get a kick out of it. In fact, I think Orpheus in Sandman plus this misheard lyric is why I ended up writing a novel about Orpheus singing karaoke.

Facebook memory:
on this day 13 years ago
Try as I might, I can't help but hear the lyrics to the Usher song as, "the DJ god is falling in love again." I keep imagining some Gaimanesque Apollo or Orpheus working as a DJ in sleazy clubs...

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 10/12/2023

When the diviner cast Augury, I went and grabbed my Deck of Many Things, and handed my daughter the card reference guide so she could get inspiration about what we might face in this abandoned cellar… #wotcstaff

Four cards in a row: Fates (reversed), Tree (reversed); Tower (reversed); Corpse

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 17/10/2023

I took these pictures in York, unimpressed by both the horns and “larger than life” being used to describe a statue smaller than me.

A sign from a museum in York, England:

AD 1180-1200 (Medieval)
Limestone statues
St. Mary's Abbey, York
From left to right, the statues represent:
Moses
YORYM : 1998.28
Unknown Apostle
YORYM : 2001.1125
St. James
YORYM : 1993.321
St. John the Evangelist
YORYM: 2008.200
These larger than life statues were placed above the west entrance to the abbey church at St. Mary's to awe and inspire visitors. Beautifully crafted and painted in a rich palette of colours, they are the finest surviving example of eleventh century sculpture in the country. The statues were discovered by Reverend Charles Wellbeloved in 1827. They had been unceremoniously laid face down in the ground as foundation stones when the church was later rebuilt.

A skeptical-looking James standing beside the “larger than life” statue of Moses, which is 8 inches shorter than he is and sports horns.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 24/09/2023

I got them for Christmas in 2013, and I did eat them (after, I think, using them in a game).

A set of chocolate dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20) in their packaging. The label says “60% Cacao Chocolate Dice Set.” Each die is in its own little foil cup.

The chocolate dice behind a fancy DM screen (sculpted to look like a castle wall) whose shelves are full of dice and D&D miniatures.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 24/09/2023

Last night I was going through old photos (looking for the chocolate dice I got for Christmas one year) and found this graphic illustration of my career at Wizards. This is all the books I was a designer on before the launch of 5th edition D&D. #ttrpgintro #wotcstaff

A big stack of D&D books! Dungeon Master 4e for Dummies, Player’s Guide to Faerûn, Monsters of Faerûn, City of the Spider Queen, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, Sharn City of Towers, The Forge of War, Player’s Guide to Eberron, Eberron Campaign Setting (3e), Eberron Campaign Guide (4e), Pyramid of Shadows, Fiend Folio, Magic of Incarnum, Madness at Gardmore Abbey, Dungeon Master’s Kit, Manual of the Planes (4e), Monster Manual (4e), DMG (4e), PH (4e), Book of Exalted Deeds, PH2 (4e), Oriental Adventures, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Deities and Demigods, Heroes of Horror, PH Races: Dragonborn, and a couple more whose titles are not visible.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 23/09/2023

Playing D&D with my daughter DMing means using her drawn tokens on a TV battle map, and it is awesome. #wotcstaff

Drawn paper minis of zombies and a skeleton archer on a glowing blue grid (a TV on its back) showing a forest clearing.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 10/09/2023

I now own both of these books, which delights me. I would be hard pressed to argue that one is more “complete” than the other.

The cover of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition sourcebook, “The Complete Priest’s Handbook,” by TSR, Inc.

The cover of “A Priest’s Handbook: The Ceremonies of the Church, Third Edition,” by Dennis G. Michno.

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James Wyatt @aquela.com · 19/08/2023

For me, it was carrot cupcakes!

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