Celeste Conowitch hired by Wizards of the Coast as Senior Game Developer for Dungeons & Dragons

TTRPG designer Celeste Conowitch has joined the Dungeons & Dragons design team. Conowitch announced on her social media that she had joined Wizards of the Coast as a Senior Game Developer. Conowitch previously worked for Kobold Press as a senior game designer and was the lead game designer of Tales of the Valiant, a 5E spinoff billed as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons in the aftermath of the Open Game license debacle. Conowitch has credits in most Kobold Press books dating back to 2022 and previously worked on Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Wizards of the Coast has been building up its D&D design team, hiring names like James Haeck and Erin Roberts among others. Justice Arman serves as the game design director of the group, with the design team ultimately reporting to Dan Ayoub, who leads the Dungeons & Dragons franchise.

While Dungeons & Dragons has seen growth on its design team, the overall group took a hit yesterday when community manager LaTia Jacquise was let go as part of wider Hasbro layoffs.

 

[Umbran]

This guy seems to have several things from 5 years ago on Twitter.

It's rarely worth watching anything with a thumbnail and title like that. The outrage mill loves its engagement.

I watched the video, so you don't have to. It would not pass muster under either our inclusivity policy, nor our no-politics rule.

She supposedly made some social media posts supporting work by diverse creators that weren't particularly diplomatic. The video, and that poster, seem to have taken umbrage, and are willing to claim those posts means she "hates" some people, and now by extension WotC "hates" them as well.

Folks going down that rathole are apt to run, Wile E Coyote style, into the wall of our inclusivity policy. So, like, don't do that, please and thanks.

 

[...m...]

I watched the video, so you don't have to. It would not pass muster under either our inclusivity policy, nor our no-politics rule.

Folks going down that rathole are apt to run, Wile E Coyote style, into the wall of our inclusivity policy. So, like, don't do that, please and thanks.

 

[haakon1]

I watched the video, so you don't have to.

Thanks!

 

[Umbran]

...image...

You are welcome. But please do not respond to moderator posts in-thread, even to agree with or thank us.

 

[darjr]

Congrats Celeste!

 

[Vrindlevine]

Good luck to her.

 

[GMMichael]

Conowitch announced on her social media that she had joined Wizards of the Coast as a Senior Game Developer. Conowitch previously worked for Kobold Press as a senior game designer and was the lead game designer of Tales of the Valiant, a 5E spinoff billed as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons in the aftermath of the Open Game license debacle. Conowitch has credits in most Kobold Press books dating back to 2022 and previously worked on Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Is there a "Conowitch Let Go from Kobold Press" thread that I missed?

I hope the revolving WotC door doesn't hit her too soon.

 

[mearls]

I hope that Celeste has a great time working on D&D.

I hope that the weird faction of the fanbase that has a hateful obsession with the people working on D&D finds a more constructive use of their time.

 

[Seramus]

That and I am so glad Twitter wasn't around when I was younger, I probably said some really stupid things in my day.

Oh, same! I used to embrace any random insult someone threw at me, like "You're X!" and I would say "I'm the BIGGEST X!" as a way to depower the insult and redirect it with comedy. I would hate for all of that to be taken totally out of context 10 years later.

 

[Distracted DM]

Oh I wonder which article(s) she did for Arcadia?

I did an extensive search and I couldn't find it at all. If she posted that I guess she regretted it and deleted that. I'm a big fan of second chances (and some times third and fourth chances).

Anyways I looked up her resume and its impressive.

Core Rulebooks & RPG Systems

• Tales of the Valiant: Player’s Guide 1-2 (Lead Designer, Kobold Press)
• Tales of the Valiant: Monster Vault 1-2 (Designer/Developer, Kobold Press)
• Tales of the Valiant: Game Master’s Guide (Designer/Developer, Kobold Press) [1, 2]

Campaign Settings & Sourcebooks

• Venture Maidens Campaign Guide (Author/Designer, 2CGaming)
• Book of Ebon Tides (Designer, Kobold Press)
• Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins (Kobold Press)
• Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns (Kobold Press)
• Tome of Heroes (Kobold Press)
• Vault of Magic (Kobold Press)
• Deep Magic Volume 1 (Kobold Press)
• Deep Magic Volume 2 (Senior Designer/Contributor, Kobold Press)
• Kingdoms & Warfare (Contributor, MCDM Productions)
• Epic Legacy Tome of Titans Vol. 1 (2CGaming)
• Warlock Grimoire 3 (Kobold Press)
• Scarred Lands: Vigil Watch (Onyx Path Publishing)
• Scarred Lands: Yugman's Guide to Ghelspad (Onyx Path Publishing) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Adventures & Modules

• Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden (Co-author, Wizards of the Coast)
• Dream Eater (DDAL-EB-15) (Co-author with Will Doyle, Wizards of the Coast / DMs Guild)
• Caverns of the Spore Lord (Kobold Press)
• Labyrinth Adventures and Wordbook (Kobold Press)
• Blood Sea (Scarred Lands / Onyx Path Publishing) [1, 2, 3]

Bestiaries & Supplements

• Tome of Beasts 2 (Kobold Press)
• Tome of Beasts 3 (Kobold Press)
• Total Party Kill Bestiary Vol. 2 (2CGaming)
• Book of Blades (Author/Designer, Kobold Press / Open Design LLC)
• Play with Class [1, 2, 3]

Periodicals & Digital Short-Form Media

• Arcadia Magazine (Contributing Writer, MCDM Productions)
• Kobold Press Blog & Warlock Patreon (Frequent article and design contributions)
• Ghostfire Gaming (Freelance design articles and system contributions)
• Dungeon Masters Guild Community Anthologies (Design contributions for electrum, silver, mithral, gold, and platinum bestselling modules including Darkhold, Dino World, and Encounters in Theros).
  • Darkhold: Secrets of the Zhentarim (Lead Designer alongside Justice Arman, M.T. Black, Anthony Joyce, Jeremy Forbing, and Ed Greenwood) — A comprehensive 100+ page guidebook detailing the history, factions, spells, and character options for running evil-aligned or faction-heavy campaigns focused on the Black Network. [1, 2]
  • Mordenkainen's Tome of Marvelous Magic II (Co-author with M.T. Black) — A massive supplement expanding on magical items, artifacts, and whimsical options for 5th Edition D&D. [1]
• She's clearly got alot of experience with Systems, leadership, D&D settings, MtG to D&D crossover settings, and even more 3rd party settings so the depth and the experience is there. And she worked with Ed Greenwood on an FR project so that counts for alot.