Jeremy Crawford: Lead Designer of Dungeons & Dragons

Jeremy Crawford is a renowned game designer best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons, serving as Lead Rules Designer for the 4th Edition and Co-Lead Designer for the 5th Edition. He has been instrumental in shaping the beloved tabletop role-playing game, fostering inclusivity and contributing significantly to its success.
American game designer
This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.
Find sources: "Jeremy Crawford" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR
(May 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Jeremy Crawford
Jeremy Crawford, one of the Lead Designer of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, at Lucca Comics & Games 2014.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationGame designer
Spouse
Phillip Lienau
(m. 2014)

Jeremy Crawford is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He was the Lead Rules Designer for the 4th Edition of Wizards of the Coast's tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and one of the Lead Designers of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.

Career

Green Ronin Publishing (2005–2007)

Jeremy Crawford co-designed and edited the Blue Rose (2005) role-playing game along with Steve Kenson for Green Ronin Publishing. Blue Rose won the 2005 ENnie Awards for "Best Rules" and "Best d20 Game". Crawford is credited on the updated edition of Blue Rose (2017) as it carried forward parts of the setting design from the original edition. He also worked on the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Mutants & Masterminds.

Wizards of the Coast (2007–present)

He was hired by Wizards of the Coast in 2007 as a game designer for their flagship Dungeons & Dragons product, and has worked there since then. His Dungeons & Dragons design credits include Player's Handbook 2 (2009), Dungeon Master's Kit (2010), and Heroes of the Fallen Lands (2010).

He was the rules manager for the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Development on a new edition started in 2011 and Crawford became the Co-Lead Designer, along with Mike Mearls, of the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Crawford also became the lead rules developer and managing editor of the edition. Under Crawford and Mearls, there became a concerted effort to boost inclusiveness both in the game and in the development of the game. The 5th Edition version of the game credits women as contributors to its design more than any previous one: about 26 percent are female, as opposed to 20 percent in 4th Edition and 12 percent in 3rd Edition. The Mary Sue reported that under this new direction, 40% of Dungeons & Dragons players in 2018 are women which is an increase "from 2012, when women made up 20–25% of players". He is credited as one of the authors of the Player's Handbook for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, along with several other books in the edition. He also wrote the monthly "Sage Advice" newsletter. He is lead designer on the upcoming 2024 Revised 5th Edition Player's Handbook.

In 2024, Crawford won the Gayming Icon Award for his Dungeons & Dragons game design.

Personal life

Crawford is openly gay, and married his husband Phillip Lienau in 2014.

Works

Title Game Credits Date ISBN
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd Edition Designer 2005 978-1844162208
Blue Rose Blue Rose 1st Edition Designer, Editor 2005 978-1932442229
Blue Rose Companion Blue Rose 1st Edition Designer, Production Staff 2005 978-1932442366
World of Aldea Blue Rose 1st Edition Designer, Production Staff 2006 978-1932442465
Paragons Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition Designer 2007
Player's Handbook Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer, Production Staff 2008 978-0786949298
Monster Manual Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer, Production Staff 2008 978-0786948529
Forgotten Realms Player's Guide Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2008 978-0786949298
4th Edition Core Rulebook Collection Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2008 978-1786950638
Dungeon Master's Guide Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2008 978-0786948802
Player's Handbook 2 Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer, Production Staff 2009 978-0-7869-5016-4
Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2009 978-0786950003
Player Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen Lands Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2010 978-0786956203
Monster Manual 3 Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2010 978-0786954902
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer, Production Staff 2010 978-0786956296
Dungeon Master's Kit Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2010 978-0786956302
Player's Option: Heroes of the Feywild Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2011 978-0786958368
Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2011 978-0786957453
Neverwinter Campaign Setting Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2011 978-0786958146
Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2011 978-0786958382
Book of Vile Darkness Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2011 978-0786958689
Player's Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer, Production Staff 2012
Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Designer 2012 978-0786960323
Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Playtest Designer 2013 978-0786965311
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer 15 July 2014 978-0786965595
Player's Handbook Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer, Player's Handbook Lead 19 August 2014 978-0786965601
Monster Manual Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer, Managing Editor 30 September 2014 978-0786965618
Dungeon Master's Guide Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer, Dungeon Master's Guide Lead 9 December 2014 978-0786965625
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Designer, Managing Editor, D&D Lead Designer 3 November 2015 978-0786965809
Elemental Evil Player's Companion Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer, Managing Editor 16 April 2015
Curse of Strahd Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer, Designer, Managing Editor 15 March 2016 978-0786965984
Storm King's Thunder Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer, Managing Editor 6 September 2016 9780786966004
Volo's Guide to Monsters Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Lead Rules Developer, Managing Editor 15 November 2016 978-0786966011
Tales from the Yawning Portal Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Lead Rules Developer, Managing Editor 4 April 2017 978-0-7869-6609-7
Tomb of Annihilation Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Lead Rules Developer, Managing Editor 19 September 2017 9780786966103
Xanathar's Guide to Everything Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Lead Designer, Managing Editor 21 November 2017 978-0786966110
Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Lead Designer, Managing Editor 29 May 2018 978-0786966240
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Rules Development, Managing Editor 18 September 2018 978-0786966592
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Managing Editor 20 November 2018 978-0786966264
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Lead Designer, Managing Editor, Ravnica World Design 20 November 2018 978-0786966592
Ghosts of Saltmarsh Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Developer 21 May 2019 978-0786966752