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.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I think Introcaso is working on another RPG for MCDM called Crows, which is meant to be more "hard-bitten mercenaries doing dungeon crawls". I don't know if that's a full-time thing for him or if he's also doing Draw Steel stuff.

Also, my understanding is that MCDM pays well, has good benefits, and allows people to work from various locations (IIRC, the HQ is in California but Introcaso lives in New Jersey). Employment there would also appear to be quite stable as long as the company's doing fine, which it seems to be (Draw Steel is selling well, and they just had a crowdfunder for 2026 products that brought in 2.6 megabucks, minus Backerkit's cut), and that's not really something you can say for Wizards. In short, I don't really see any reason why one would leave MCDM for Wizards.

Edit: Coincidentally, Introcaso just posted the following to Bluesky:
View attachment 426547
(Also changed references to "James" to "Introcaso" to avoid any confusion with Haeck).

Absolutely. I don't see anything in the short term to trigger any attempt by J.I. to leave his leadership position at MCDM. I just found it interesting that his "generation" of designers who have moved up the ranks of the independent RPG design scene over the last decade or so are now the ones in position of being in charge of Dungeons & Dragons going forward for probably at least the next 5 to 10 years. J.I. could have easily been one of those people. Now the question of course is whether that was ever a feather in his design and career cap that he actually cared about, which none of us actually knows. But regardless of whether the job itself ends up being good or not... there is definitely a standing to your name and a boost to your legacy you gain by saying you were lucky enough to be one of the ones who had a major hand or were even in charge of the most popular roleplaying game of all time for a certain number of years. It is not something anyone can take away from you.

Frank Mentzer, Zeb Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Rob Heinsoo, Mike Mearls, Rodney Thompson, Chris Perkins... they are just a small number of the all names that will go down in history as having been a part of this Hall of Fame game's existence. And it's the reason why designers keep applying and taking the jobs over there in Renton, even knowing the lifespan of the career there is not exactly long.

 

[saviirkad]

It sounded like Colville wanted Introcaso's input specifically on what MCDM's future was, and it was Introcaso who was a primary reason for the shift away from 3PP 5e content to something of their own making, which ended up Draw Steel.

He certainly may have desired a position at Wizards, and might still do to some degree, but it sounds like it was entirely his motivation and ambition to pursue the path he is currently on. I hope it works out for him. I'm not familiar with Draw Steel but I think the 5e stuff he's done at MCDM were phenomenal.

 

[Zardnaar]

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.

I used it as an ok source book on BG and its monsters.

The adventure was kinda bad. More effort to fix than I could be bothered with.

I liked Wildemont. Didn't buy the Waterdeep books due to their reputation and wasnt impressed reading them.

Think I've got around 35-40 of the 50 they made. A few duds but they were free. Avoided the silly stuff and the worse duds.

Didn't buy Waterdeep ones, most post Tashas and DiA and SKT.

 

[Morrus]

It sounded like Colville wanted Introcaso's input specifically on what MCDM's future was, and it was Introcaso who was a primary reason for the shift away from 3PP 5e content to something of their own making, which ended up Draw Steel.

He certainly may have desired a position at Wizards, and might still do to some degree, but it sounds like it was entirely his motivation and ambition to pursue the path he is currently on. I hope it works out for him. I'm not familiar with Draw Steel but I think the 5e stuff he's done at MCDM were phenomenal.

I have no insight into it, but I bet MCDM pays as well or better than WotC. A small, lean company with a few multi-million Kickstarters under its belt? It's GDB per capita is probably sky-high. I don't imagine that I personally would be better off (financially) working for WotC than I am now, unless I was upper management. And my company is a tenth of MCDM, if that.

 

[Staffan]

I have no insight into it, but I bet MCDM pays as well or better than WotC. A small, lean company with a few multi-million Kickstarters under its belt? It's GDB per capita is probably sky-high. I don't imagine that I personally would be better off (financially) working for WotC than I am now, unless I was upper management. And my company is a tenth of MCDM, if that.

From what I understand, MCDM's freelance rates are very high for the gaming biz. Freelancers for their now-defunct magazine Arcadia were paid $0.25 per word. Comparatively, the only numbers I've been able to find for En5ider is $0.03 per word, but those are (a) described as "starting at" and (b) from 2019, so I don't know how those stack up these days. Anecdotally, I've also seen references to freelance artists quoting prices to them and being told "That price is naughty word, we're going to pay you twice that instead."

Presumably, this attitude would also extend to paying their actual employees and not just freelancers.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I liked Wildemont

I think it was the best written setting book of the era, with just the right amount of detail to be really useful. Call of the Netherdeep was largely a misfire though, despite also having some excellent setting material.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think it was the best written setting book of the era, with just the right amount of detail to be really useful. Call of the Netherdeep was largely a misfire though, despite all having some excellent setting material.

Didn't get call of netherdeep. Missed that, the Vecna one, Strixhaven, sone others post Tashas.


Delayed release means ENworld essentially filters my purchases. I got some meh books for free though.

 

[Morrus]

From what I understand, MCDM's freelance rates are very high for the gaming biz. Freelancers for their now-defunct magazine Arcadia were paid $0.25 per word. Comparatively, the only numbers I've been able to find for En5ider is $0.03 per word, but those are (a) described as "starting at" and (b) from 2019, so I don't know how those stack up these days.

I’m talking about salaries. Though yes, MCDM does pay freelancers very well too.

(And that is not what we pay!)

 

[TheSword]

I approve this appointment. If I now see something in a published product I don’t like I can say
“What the Haeck!”

Seriously, good luck to them though. I thoroughly enjoyed Dragon Heist, one of my favorite products. Not because it was flawless but because it had so much opportunity and interesting stuff in. One of only two adventures I’ve ran three times in my life.

 

[Parmandur]

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

You can add:

• Leon Barillaro, game deaigner
• Patrick Renie, Senior Game Designer
• Carl Sibley, Game Designer
• Jason Tondro, Senior Game Designer
• Josh Herman, Head of Worldbuilding (was Art Director for new Core books, looks to have been promoted to Chris Perkins role)