Mike Mearls

Michael Mearls is an American writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction.

Mearls worked for Wizards of the Coast from 2005 to 2023, holding various positions. He was the senior manager for the Dungeons & Dragons research and design team and then later became the franchise's Creative Director. He co-led design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked on the Castle Ravenloft board game, and various compendium books for 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions Dungeons & Dragons. In 2024, he became the Executive Producer of role-playing games at Chaosium. Then in 2025, he left to work at Asmodee.

Education Mearls is an alumnus of Dartmouth College. While at Dartmouth he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, and became known for a satiric letter to the campus paper.

Career Mearls wrote the adventure To Stand on Hallowed Ground/Swords Against Deception (2001) for Fiery Dragon Productions, and the last product from Hogshead Publishing, a Warhammer adventure titled Fear the Worst (2002) that Hogshead released for free on the internet. Collins left Wizards in May 2010, and Mearls was promoted to Group Manager of the Dungeons & Dragons R&D team. Shannon Appelcline, author of Designers & Dragons, commented that the new line was "primarily the brain child of Mike Mearls". Mearls also co-designed the Castle Ravenloft Board Game (2010) with Bill Slavicsek. Mearls was, together with Jeremy Crawford, Co-Lead Designer for the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. By 2018, Mearls had become the franchise's Creative Director. He left the Wizards of the Coast tabletop RPG team in 2019 and was replaced by Ray Winninger as the Executive Producer in charge of the Dungeons & Dragons studio in 2020. Mearls went on to join the Exploratory and Vision design teams for Magic: The Gathering. Mearls confirmed on Bluesky that he was laid off in December 2023.

In May 2024, Chaosium announced that Mearls was their new Executive Producer of role-playing games. In June 2025, it was announced while Mearls had left Chaosium, he would still continue to work on some Chaosium projects such as the new edition of RuneQuest. Mearls left to work at Asmodee.

Writing credits

Iron Heroes role playing game. "The Siege of Durgham's Folly," from Necromancer Games Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Player's Handbook 2 Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Monster Manual 3 Dragon magazine #360