James Haeck Hired as Senior Game Designer for D&D

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Noted tabletop RPG designer and community commentator James Haeck recently announced that they would be taking on a new role at Wizards of the Coast as a Senior Game Designer for Dungeons & Dragons. Haeck (who uses the pronouns they/them) has previously worked as a freelance contributor for a number of official and third-party D&D 5e products, but will be moving in-house at Wizards of the Coast on a full-time basis.

The news was announced on the popular Eldritch Lorecast podcast (which Haeck regularly appears on) and comes hot on the heels of the recent promotion of longtime D&D designer Justice Ramin Armin to the role of D&D Design Director. Taken together it represents a continuing shift in the internal design team at WotC, following the departure of veteran designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, with a number of young creative stepping in to fill the void.

So just what can we expect to see next from James Haeck? Below, we take a look all the details.

Who is James Haeck?

James Haeck is a Seattle-based, ENnie award-winning tabletop RPG game writer and designer who has worked for publishers including Wizards of the Coast, Critical Role, Darrington Press, MCDM and Ghostfire Gaming. Haeck starter their career as a freelance writer for Geek & Sundry and later as an editor of EN5ider Magazine before transitioning into a role as the Lead Writer for D&D Beyond.

As a freelancer for Wizards of the Coast, Haeck was the lead designer on the D&D campaign book Call of the Netherdeep, and also contributed to Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

More recently, Haeck has been working as a Senior Game Designer for third-party publisher Ghostfire Gaming and was featured regularly on the Eldritch Lore Podcast (which Ghostfire Gaming operates), but will be stepping down given the new role at WotC.

What new D&D books will Haeck be working on?

It’s not yet clear what new Dungeons & Dragons products Haeck will be working on in their new Senior Designer role. In the Eldritch Lore podcast they noted only that: “I’m starting a new job as a Senior Game Designer at Wizards of the Coast, so from from here on out, no longer a freelancer will I be, brought into do good work under the auspices of Wizards the Coast, but I will be there in house leading books starting with some stuff that I’ll be excited to tell you about it when it comes out or when it gets announced.”

Notably, Wizards of the Coast has been conspicuously silent about new titles in 2026, with no new D&D books announced for the coming year. That’s not likely to be the case for much longer, however, and Haeck’s recent hiring suggests will likely get some news soon.

Final Thoughts

Wizards of the Coast has been searching for a Senior Game Designer for the past year (including posting the position on Hasbro website and LinkedIn), so it’s not surprising that they’ve pulled in someone like Haeck’s who has extensive design experience and has worked with WotC in the past. Haeck is one of a new class of young designers who has taken on senior roles on the D&D brand, joining creatives including Makenzie De Armas, Amanda Hamon, F. Wesley Schneider and Justice Arman in shaping the game going forward. What comes next for D&D, however, remains to be seen.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead. In the meantime, below is a video from the Eldritch Lorecast timestamped to the announcement from Haeck on their recent hiring at Wizards of the Coast.