James Haeck Joins Wizards of the Coast as Senior D&D Designer

James Haeck, one of the co-writers of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, has joined Wizards of the Coast as a senior D&D designer. Haeck announced the news on Eldritch Lorecast, a podcast hosted by Ghostfire Gaming. Haeck is a prolific D&D designer, having worked as a freelancer on multiple Wizards of the Coast titles. They were involved with several Critical Role projects, including acting as the lead designer of Call of the Netherdeep and co-writer for Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. Haeck also worked as the lead writer for D&D Beyond for several years, working on various editorial projects that appeared on the front page before the site was purchased by Wizards of the Coast.

Haeck joins a roster of recent promotions and hires at Wizards of the Coast, which includes Justice Ramin Arman who is now game design director for the D&D studio. Other notable names at Wizards include F. Wesley Schneider, Makenzie De Armas, James Wyatt, and Amanda Hamon.

 

[scarletmoth]

Why is he in a lab? I enjoyed his appearances in the Eldritch Lorecast.

They aren't in a lab, it's just the kitchenette background of a cafe (source: I took that photo)

 

[Snute]

I only have experience running Dragon Heist. My group enjoyed it a lot. Some great memorable moments that we still talk about. Did you run it or is this based on a cold read?

Not the person you are replying to, but we ran Descent into Avernus and it has big issues and needs major work to be somewhat useable.
Spoilers for DiA:
After a very brief stint in Baldur's Gate the group is sent immediately to a city that has been cast into Avernus (a sphere of hell if you will) in its entirety. The first part in Baldur's Gate is somewhat balanced in the sense that it has opportunity for social encounters, while the latter part in Avernus leans heavily into basically a big chain of combat encounters. The part in Baldur's Gate is also very underdeveloped and structured very badly, as it exptects a very linear progression, without giving more plot hooks -> this part is fixable with effort by the DM, but the way larger second part was basically useless and would require major rewrites to be enjoyable. Also, on the mechanical part, the book spends a lot of time introducing "soul coins" and hell machines, drifting into a "Mad Max"-like take on Avernus that really didn't resonate with me. My players also really did not want to engage with that system, so it was basically just taking up space that could have been spent to fluff up the BG section or introduce more NPCs in Avernus to interact with.
Maybe my perception is somewhat tainted, because I am not a fan of the high power level / adventure paths that cater this much to power fantasy.
The heist adventure I have no experience with besides a cursory glance, but it does seem a lot more useful and fun.

 

[GarrettKP]

For everyone bringing up Descent Into Avernus, a reminder that Haeck worked as one of 15 designers on the project, was not one of the 11 story creators, and was not the project or book lead.

What that means is that Haeck was given a small section of the book to do design work for and that is all their involvement. That could be as big as a chapter, or more likely, as small as a single dungeon area. So holding that book against them as a designer is not really helpful to the discussion as we don’t know what section they worked on.

Haeck had a much bigger role in books like Explorers Guide to Wildemount (one of the three writers on the project), Call of the Netherdeep (co-lead with Matt Mercer and Chris Perkins), and Waterdeep Dragon Heist where they were one of the three designers working with Perkins (who was the lead).

 

[Snute]

Fair point, and as I said previously, Call of the Netherdeep is a lot better product than DiA and an adventure path that I would recommend (as is the Wildemount book), so major props to them for that!

 

[saviirkad]

Netherdeep is the only work I've ran straight, as I almost exclusively just cannibalize content for my own use, often with significant rewrites.

It was an incredibly fun adventure, and not just because it was Critical Role or we're all fans. Exactly half of the table have never watched a thing and had a great time with it.

 

[Johnsy]

For everyone bringing up Descent Into Avernus, a reminder that Haeck worked as one of 15 designers on the project, was not one of the 11 story creators, and was not the project or book lead.

I think 1 of 15 designers tells you part of the problem with DIA right there! I found the experience, at least as a player, quite disjointed and so wasn’t surprised when I later found out that Baldurs Gate section (which I personally preferred!) was bolted on later in the design process. Overall the adventure felt a little railroady too. I still enjoyed it tho (we had a good DM).

To the point I absolutely think you can’t judge Haeck’s work on DIA. And I actually really like DH, which you say they were more involved with. Though I haven’t run it, there’s a lot of potential in there. Anyway, as I said above, I’m exciting to see what they come up with, along with the other new starts or folks in new roles.

 

[Parmandur]

More than looking at any one of those products, since they were all team efforts, it is maybe more helpful to look at what the different books share in common. And I think you can draw a pretty straight line between what is good in Dragon Heist, Wildemount, and Netherdeep: rich setting detail and hooks.

 

[darjr]

James at WotC!

 

[bedir than]

James at WotC!

View attachment 426561

The City of Dragons -- Renton Washington.

I hope James visits Erasmus too

 

[Mark Craddock]

So what's the org chart look like? This is just the list from the OP. I have zero insight into any of this.

Justice Ramin Arman: Director of Game Design
Greg Bilsland: Executive Producer
F. Wesley Schneider: Principal Game Designer
James Wyatt: Principal Game Designer
James Haeck: Senior Game Designer
Makenzie De Armas: Senior Game Designer
Amanda Hamon: Senior Designer

I really hope Hasbro/WotC gives them the same kind of freedom the original 5E team had. Just leave them alone and let them cook. The quality of their recent products is phenomenal and I am really looking forward to Dark Sun.