Wizards of the Coast has employed longtime Dungeons & Dragons author James Haeck as a senior sport designer, bringing considered one of fifth version’s most prolific contributors absolutely in-house because the D&D group continues to evolve. Haeck introduced the information on a Dec. 31 episode of the Eldritch Lorecast podcast, the place they famous that the function marks a shift away from freelance and third-party work and into main future D&D books from inside Wizards of the Coast. The transfer follows a interval of main change for D&D’s inner design group. In the midst of 2025, veteran designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford departed Wizards to hitch Essential Function’s publishing arm, Darrington Press. Wizards has since begun staffing senior inventive roles with designers who got here up through the peak fifth version period, with Haeck as the newest staffing change.
Haeck is greatest recognized for his or her work on some 5e’s higher hardcover adventures. They served as lead designer on Name of the Netherdeep, the primary official D&D marketing campaign set in Essential Function’s Exandria, and in addition co-wrote Explorer’s Information to Wildemount, which can be set in a Essential Function realm. Haeck additionally served as co-author on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. The previous is considered one of 5e’s most versatile beginning adventures constructed round intrigue reasonably than dungeon crawls. Dragon Heist depicts Waterdeep as a residing metropolis of rival factions that offers Dungeon Masters an unusually versatile city sandbox to work with 4 totally different seasonal variations of the journey that enables for some replayability. Descent into Avernus is a metal-as-hell journey with memorable demons and devils because the villains, a hunt for a really cool sword wielded by a fallen angel, and “Infernal Struggle Machines” you drive that make it really feel like Mad Max in Hell. Along with their hardcover work, Haeck spent a number of years as lead author for D&D Past, the place they authored and edited dozens of guides aimed toward instructing gamers and Dungeon Masters the way to play, run encounters, and construct campaigns. Collectively, Haeck’s physique of labor within the house has made them one of the seen designers on this period of the sport. The information of Haeck’s hiring additionally comes only a few brief weeks after Justice Ramin Armin was promoted to D&D design director. They’re going to each work alongside F. Wesley Schneider as principal sport designer, together with Makenzie De Armas and Amanda Hemon as senior designers.
Wizards of the Coast has not but introduced which upcoming D&D merchandise Haeck shall be main — or a lot of something for its 2026 slate. Through the podcast announcement, Haeck mentioned they’d be working in-house on future books however declined to share particulars till tasks are formally revealed. The addition of one other senior designer with deep hardcover expertise means that new bulletins is probably not far off. For now, it is clear that Wizards of the Coast is doubling down on designers who helped outline 5e’s most beloved adventures as the sport prepares for its subsequent chapter.
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