Wizards of the Coast Is Hiring a D&D Worldbuilder

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Wizards of the Coast is looking to hire someone to build new worlds for Dungeons & Dragons. Over the weekend, Wizards of the Coast posted a new job listing for a "Senior Narrative Worldbuilding Designer for Dungeons & Dragons." The new position will help Wizards of the Coast "create exciting and inspirational new settings" alongside developing existing settings. Notably, this isn't a position limited to the D&D RPG design team - the position will also work with "ensuring narrative consistency" across video games, entertainment and the D&D RPG.

At a press event earlier this year, D&D franchise head Jess Lanzillo mentioned that new campaign settings were potentially on the way. "With Jeremy Crawford taking on the game director role and then Chris Perkins taking on the creative director role is that we were able to really reestablish a world building environment," Lanzillo said. "What does that mean? We can really establish our worlds and settings like the Forgotten Realms and also look to creating new ones again. That's something that we are working on and we don't have anything to really discuss today other than to tell you like we are re-establishing everything that we have and we are going to make some new stuff too."

The full job listing is below:


We are hiring a Senior Narrative Worldbuilding Designer for Dungeons & Dragons. In this role, you will create exciting and inspirational new settings and develop existing ones. The settings you create will become part of our ever-expanding multiverse. Working closely with others in our creative team, you will give life to legendary characters, intertwine the narratives of D&D stories across various platforms, and provide new content for internal and external partners to play with across all expressions of D&D. We need a world builder with strong writing skills, a collaborative spirit, and a focused imagination.

What You'll Do:
  • Build and develop comprehensive narrative worldbuilding materials for the D&D franchise
  • Design and flesh out new worlds, locations, and settings within the D&D multiverse
  • Evolve and expand existing D&D settings through compelling narrative development
  • Build and develop franchise-level characters, factions, and storylines
  • Ensure narrative consistency across the franchise portfolio including video games, entertainment, and the RPG
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align worldbuilding elements across different media
  • Develop detailed lore documentation and creative briefs for our fans, partners, and team members.
  • Lead narrative development for our world bibles and style guides
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


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Now you're speaking my language. I guess I can engage - a little - on this subject after all. (Sigh!)

It's true that all of Radiant Citadel's adventures take place on different worlds. Would they count as different settings? Not fully fleshed-out ones, no. But enticing starts, perhaps.

The way D&D is made today is very different than it was in 2e days - so, can we count (say) Humblewood, Drakennheim, or Etharis? Probably not, because they are 3pp, but they ARE available from WotC on D&DBeyond. This would never have been possible in 2e days.

If we're going to count "Diablo" for 2e, then we oughtta count "Rick & Morty" for 5e. This could go around and around, which is why I didn't really want to get into it.
That reminds me, I really need to get started on a Rick & Morty inspired D&D game, I hope my group goes for it!
 

Whoever gets the job, everything they generate will be lore-neutered by the WoTC sensitivity coaches. No amount of money would make me take that job.

Personally I'd cut those jobs and just hire well educated immigrants from a variety of countries as designers instead, which I think we better achieve their gods more effiently, and increase productivity, while maintaining diversity.
 

I wonder what kind of world building WotC is interested in doing. It will be really interesting to see where this goes and if they can build something new that fits into the game that D&D has become.
 



Whoever gets the job, everything they generate will be lore-neutered by the WoTC sensitivity coaches. No amount of money would make me take that job.
Mod Note:

Anti-inclusivity right out of the gate? I’m not even going to waste my future time on you.

You went big, AND you go home.
 

Those aren't separate micro setting, same reason I didn't list Gothic Earth for 2e (it's a subsetting of Ravenloft), they are subsettings.

And I did note that Witchlight: Realms of Delight is a grey area, it's seems clearly a mirror to Ravenloft: Domains of Dread, but WotC does not list it as one of the official settings for D&D in dmsguild, instead functionally treating it as an extension to FR.

But if one includes it, the 2e and 5e are tied.

I don't see why folks are seeing this in terms of winning or losing, it's just interesting factoids.

3e/3.5e had

1. Greyhawk
2. Forgotten Realms
3. Eberron
4. Rokugan
5. Ghostwalk
6. Dragon Fist
7. Mahasarpa (listed separately from Rokugan because while it was intended for use with the OA Rokugan, it got orphaned when Hasbro sold legend of the Five Rings, so it's functionally it's own setting. Personally I'd just merge it into radiant citadel, or failing that Kara Tur).
My recollection is that Dragon Fist was before 3e released. And I’m certain it didn’t use the D20 System. Don’t remember the specifics, but I feel like it was closer to Alternity in mechanics? Something about different die-types for stunts, maybe?

[Edited to capitalize “System” for clarity.]
 
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