[UPDATED!] The Unsung (Female) Half of the D&D Team!

Now that Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes is no longer at WotC, the core D&D design team of eight people (Mike Mearls, Rodney Thompson, Jeremy Crawford, Greg Bilsland, Chris Perkins, Peter Lee, Matt Sernett, Adam Lee) is comprised solely of men. However, it's easy to overlook the other half of the team, which consists of those not so much in the limelight, and who are essential to the game's success - and who include a number of talented female staff. According to Mike Mearls, the following members of the D&D team are female.

This amounts to 9 hardworking, essential people. Mike lists them as follows:

• all of our data collection, polling, research - done by a woman
• our director of publishing, aka the person who decides what we make - a woman
• our marketing senior manager - a woman
• the four person team who created the look of 5e - women
• our licensing director - a woman
• our marketing art director - a woman

I don't know the names of all of them (I've listed the ones in the credits of the books below). I've dropped WotC's Jeremy Crawford a quick line, as he's been helpful with providing WotC staff names and positions before, and I'll update this if I hear back.

The books themselves mention Kate Irwin, Mari Kolkowsky, Melissa Rapier, Shauna Narciso (art directors), Liz Schuh, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, Laura Tommervik, Kim Lundstrom (brand and marketing), and Emi Tanji, Bree Heiss, and Trich Tochum (graphic designers), which is at least 12 women working on D&D!

UPDATE - Jeremy Crawford has responded with an awesome reply which lists many of the people involved with D&D:

We're putting the finishing touches on Princes of the Apocalypse, so I need to keep this short for now.

Many committed, talented people work on D&D products at Wizards of the Coast, both inside D&D R&D and outside it. The D&D team spans multiple departments, and it works on the roleplaying game, video games, licensed products, novels, and more. Regarding the RPG, which is my focus, the credits pages of the three core books show that many people had a hand in forming the new edition of the game.

EN World currently lists the following people being on the D&D team: Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Greg Bilsland, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, Matt Sernett, and Adam Lee.

That list should include Kate Irwin, Dan Gelon, and Shauna Narciso, the art directors who oversee the creation of all art for D&D. The list should also have Bree Heiss and Emi Tanji, who created the gorgeous interior designs of the core books and who worked tirelessly with me, Chris Perkins, and Kate Irwin to lay out those books. Most recently, Kate, Emi, Chris, and I have been collaborating to bring Princes of the Apocalypse to completion. The way we work, art affects text and vice versa.

The list is only complete with Richard Whitters, our amazing R&D concept artist and world builder, who works with Chris Perkins and Adam Lee in shaping the stories and worlds we plan to visit in the coming years. A fun fact: the fabulous condition sketches in the Player's Handbook are by Richard.

The list should name Chris Youngs, Ben Petrisor, Tom Olsen, and Chris Dupuis, members of D&D R&D who work with our video game partners; who work on board games, like the upcoming Temple of Elemental Evil; who review numerous licensed products, like the WizKids miniatures; and who are part of our internal testing of the RPG.

The list needs Nathan Stewart, Liz Schuh, Chris Lindsay, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, Laura Tommervik, Kim Lundstrom, and Trevor Kidd—all members of the D&D brand team. They collaborate with R&D on shaping product plans, creating future stories, gathering playtest data, working with freelancers and outside game studios, planning convention events, and dealing with innumerable other parts of the D&D business.

The list should mention Chris Tulach, who oversees the Adventurer's League and who has participated in many design meetings for the RPG over the years.

I could keep going and going. The core books wouldn't have made it out of the building without the D&D project managers—John Hay and Neil Shinkle—making sure all our departments were working in sync with each other. Our books would never see print without people like Jefferson Dunlap and Cynda Callaway working with our printers. Our gathering of playtest data and potential errata is always helped by Sam Simpson and the rest of our enthusiastic customer service team. We also get feedback and occasional loans of personnel from Magic R&D. For instance, James Wyatt did his final work on the Dungeon Master's Guide while on the Magic team.

And everything we do is in consultation with Bill Rose, the vice president of R&D, and with the rest of the company's executive team.

None of this begins to scratch the surface when it comes to our contractors. People like Michele Carter, Anita Williams, and Robert Schwalb aren't on our staff, but each of them played a key part in creating the fifth edition books. And currently, Dan Helmick is a full-time contractor working for us in-house.

Oh boy, I said was going to keep this short. It's easy for me to get enthusiastic when acknowledging the contributions of the diverse group of people who make D&D what it is today!

​

 

[I'm A Banana]

Glad I'm raising my kid to be a privileged hispanic girl who doesn't believe that bovine feces and can typically out-do any gender on anything she sets her mind towards and not to feel entitled or victimized based on her birth. That she doesn't need to 'play a card' to get ahead in the world.

See, from my perspective, as a privileged white dude, it kind of sucks that pointing out her gender and heritage is a taboo, is something she's not supposed to do, that it is seen as an unfair advantage, as "playing a card." There's a million stories that she can tell that no one else can, because of who she is as a hispanic girl! I don't want her to have to pretend those things don't matter -- they do! They make her who she is, they are part of what makes her exceptional and unique in this world! I would hope she could be PROUD of that, to see that as something that gives her knowledge and abilities that not everyone has!

Our gender and our heritage are part of our identities. I mean, we're all shaped by our unique experiences. "Cishet Middle-class Irish-Germanic Caucasian Dude from the Midwest" (which has gotta be just about as friggin' boringly white as it is possible to be!) is part of who I am, and it has undoubtedly been part of why I'm where I am today. I am pretty proud of that! I won't deny the struggles of my ancestors, the hard work of my parents, the particular time and place I grew up, or how they shape my life. And it sucks that some of those who share that pride in who they are can be seen by some as playing some "card" just because they came from a different place.

...and I realize that part of the reason it sucks is because folks like me sometimes get a little lazy when we're put in positions of power and control and we hire folks like ourselves that we know how to work with and can pal around with rather than folks who bring interesting varieties and challenges to the table.

 

[Morrus]

I suggest this thread be locked, it's well past going into SJW politics, which is not something I come here for. Save that for Video Gaming 'journalist' sites like Kotaku and Polygon.

"Pushing" artificial diversity and acceptance of irrational ignorance of facts is very much SJW politics, which is why I don't want to be having this discussion on a table top gaming site.

And that ladies, gentlemen, and fellow Gender:'Sexual Tyrannosaur's, is SJW bovine feces plain as day. Kill this thread, kill it with fire. Nuke it from orbit, only way to be sure.

I'm trying to get moderator attention to stop this from going any further down the dumpster of SJW gender discrimination theory based on genetic original sin.

I don't even understand most of the references you're making or the terms you're using, but if me posting a list of the women who work on D&D really bothers you, I'll make it easy for you: don't post in this thread again. There are many tens of thousands of other threads which might interest you more. Find one, and enjoy.

More importantly, don't junior mod. It's irritating as hell. If you see a problematic post, feel free to report it.

 

[jimmifett]

What about modern, actually happening today marginalization? Are you allowing them to use that as a justification to be represented?

Was that candidate being hired/retained actively marginalized by the hiring group / organization? Did the other competing candidates marginalize that candidate or have a personal history or marginalizing that sub group represented by that candidate? If not, why should any group be given any automatic extra weighting to a decision to choose one person to bring aboard over another based on that form of marginalization? Should that be the deciding factor of why one candidate is chosen over others, have not the others just been marginalized because they didn't meet the socially correct optics of the 'token representation' candidate? How would one feel if they found out the only reason they were selected over a more qualified fit simply because they were of a specific socially correct optic? "Hi, you were brought on only bc we needed to look good to the public, not bc we value and respect your background, experience or body of work."

In my book, no one should have an inherent, free leg up over others simply because of how they were born.

 

[Morrus]

Folks. This thread is about some of the people behind the scenes who helped make an awesome game. It is not about politics beyond the general intention to point out that claims that no women work on D&D are incorrect. Please keep politics out of it, and applaud the effort of those cool people who have made D&D - in particular those (like the group of women listed) who tend to get overlooked. If recognizing the hard work of those people is really too much for you, I'm sure you can find some other thread to post in.

 

[Patrick McGill]

In my book, no one should have an inherent, free leg up over others simply because of how they were born.

Edit: Sorry Morrus. I'll stop with the politics.

 

[jimmifett]

I don't even understand most of the references you're making or the terms you're using, but if me posting a list of the women who work on D&D really bothers you, I'll make it easy for you: don't post in this thread again. There are many tens of thousands of other threads which might interest you more. Find one, and enjoy.

More importantly, don't junior mod. It's irritating as hell. If you see a problematic post, feel free to report it.

How would posting that women work on D&D bother anyone? Seems like a perfectly normal thing to me.

 

[rjfTrebor]

lol, morrus makes a thread about specifically focusing on some people's gender and then gets upset when people start having a discussion on the topic.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Deleted!

My apologies, Morrus.

 

[Phaide]

Let's talk about a better product.

Is the product more inviting, appealing, attractive, inclusive of, and supportive of a demographic that includes more than just white men of a certain income bracket?

Chances are, if those creating it aren't working hard to ensure that, it won't.

Chances are, if those creating it come from diverse backgrounds, it will.

Cheers,
Cam

Ok, I have cooled down a bit and realize I was, perhaps, a little too hot headed. With that said, Cam I'm not sure how I feel about your point. The only way anyone finds out who made any kind of product is by doing homework. This is one of the few industries I can think of where people dig this deep to see who does what. When you buy a box of cereal, or a car, or just about anything else do we ever stop and say "Gee I wonder if a woman helped create these corn flakes." Why should it matter? Do you like the car you just bought? If it was created by a team of German men does that diminish its value because no woman contributed to its design? As consumers we want the best of whatever it is we're buying, and if it was made by a diverse group of people, hey, so much the better.

Diversity is great, please don't get me wrong, but it isn't the solution to making everything better every single time. And yes, this hobby is male driven. Why? We are the bulk of the gamer base. Ever see a picture of the Gen-Con doors opening up? That is a sea of dudes punctuated here and there by female gamers. Is that bad? No. Maybe we are trying too hard to see a disparity that might not exist is all I'm saying.

 

[Morrus]

lol, morrus makes a thread about specifically focusing on some people's gender and then gets upset when people start having a discussion on the topic.

You? Yet again? Really? Timeouts haven't worked, private warnings haven't worked, public warnings haven't worked, infractions haven't worked, tempbans haven't worked. You've had, what, half a dozen chances now; we've done everything we can to keep you here and not permaban you, but you've rebuffed them all. And this is your latest in a string of snotty, snide comments about moderators. I guess this is goodbye; you're no longer welcome here.