Jonathan Tweet

Jonathan Tweet (born 1965 ) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games Ars Magica, Everway, Over the Edge, Talislanta, the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons and 13th Age, as well as the collectible miniatures game Dreamblade. In 2015, Tweet released Grandmother Fish, a full-color, full-sized book about evolution aimed at preschoolers. In 2018, Tweet released Clades and Clades Prehistoric, two card games for children and adults which demonstrate the concept of a clade.

Early life

Native to Rock Island, Illinois, Tweet is the son of Roald Tweet, an Augustana College professor emeritus and local historian, and Margaret Tweet. Jonathan Tweet started playing D&D in the 1970s, when his father gave him his first Dungeons & Dragons game. He then formed his own gaming group by recruiting classmates. Tweet graduated from Rock Island High School as class valedictorian in 1983. He majored in psychology and sociology at his parents' alma mater, St. Olaf College in Minnesota. His article "Egyptian Magic for Call of Cthulhu" appeared in Different Worlds #47 (Fall 1987), the magazine's final issue. Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions. In 2001, Tweet oversaw the Chainmail Miniatures Game design team, and Skaff Elias was responsible for the main design work while Chris Pramas created the game world.

13th Age, a d20 System RPG designed by Heinsoo and Tweet, was published by Pelgrane Press on August 3, 2013. The pre-release version was a nominee for the RPGGeek "Geek RPG of the Year 2013".

In 2015, Tweet published Grandmother Fish, a Kickstarter-funded book described as "the first book to teach evolution to preschoolers". While criticized by creationist organizations, it has been praised by science educators.

In 2018, Tweet, along with children's science illustrator Karen Lewis, released two card games, Clades and Clades Prehistoric. These animal matching games are intended to be used as tools to teach about evolution. Clades Solo, an app version that includes both prehistoric and modern animals, was released in 2019.

On June 1, 2019, the third edition of Over the Edge was released, with a new setting and new rules.

Religious views

An atheist since grade school, Tweet has devoted much of his personal website to his views on religion, in particular on the historical Jesus. He also blogs about religion on the Secular Sunday School blog.

Personal life Tweet and his wife Tracy moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1994. Tracy died from multiple sclerosis in 2008.