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Chris Perkins
Perkins at the Penny Arcade Expo in 2008, second from the left
Born	Christopher Perkins (1968-02-29) February 29, 1968 (age 56) Canada
Nationality	American
Other names	Christopher Zarathustra
Occupation	Game designer
Years active	1988–present
Known for	Story design for Dungeons & Dragons

Christopher Perkins (born February 29, 1968) is a Canadian American game designer and editor who is known for his work on Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, currently as the Creative Director.

Career

Under the pen name "Christopher Zarathustra", Perkins got his career start in 1988 writing the adventure "Wards of Witching Ways" for Dungeon magazine #11. He later officially started working for Wizards of the Coast in 1997, beginning as the editor for Dungeon. A few years later, he was promoted to editor-in-chief of Wizards periodicals.

Perkins later became the senior producer for Dungeons & Dragons, leading the team of designers, developers, and editors who make products for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Perkins was the story manager for Dungeons & Dragons in 2007 before the release of the game's fourth edition. Perkins was working on the Star Wars Saga Edition while Dungeons & Dragons fourth edition was being developed, and ideas were exchanged freely between Perkins and the fourth edition team. He was also on the SCRAMJET team, led by Richard Baker, and including James Wyatt, Matthew Sernett, Ed Stark, Michele Carter, and Stacy Longstreet; this team updated the setting and cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons as the fourth edition was being developed.

Perkins wrote a blog, "The Dungeon Master Experience", on the Wizards of the Coast website for over two years, where he shared tricks and advice about the challenge of "dungeon mastering" a campaign through the lens of his homebrew world, Iomandra. However, in the penultimate posting of March 2013, he announced the following posting would be the last "at least for a while", whereupon the blog became inactive.

Perkins was the Lead Story Designer for the adventure module Curse of Strahd, released in 2016, which added Ravenloft to the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. In 2018, Perkins was the senior story designer for Dungeons & Dragons. In a 2024 interview, he highlighted that as the Game Architect for the Dungeons & Dragons brand his "primary responsibility is to manage the team of designers and editors" who make the tabletop game products along with supporting "other D&D teams as well as business partners". In October 2024, Perkins stated that "although I made substantial contributions to the Monster Manual (2025) and the next D&D starter set, the Dungeon Master's Guide (2024) is the last official D&D book in which I'm credited as a product lead". He later clarified that his position at Wizards of the Coast has shifted from Game Design Architect to Creative Director.

Actual play

Perkins was the longtime Dungeon Master for the Acquisitions Incorporated Dungeons & Dragons games at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), until PAX Unplugged 2018. The games began in 2008 with the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons before switching to the 5th edition following the release of the new edition.

From 2016 to 2019, Perkins was the Dungeon Master in the Twitch show Dice, Camera, Action, which was a livestream play-through of Dungeons & Dragons' latest story lines. He has also guest starred twice on the Dungeons & Dragons-based show, Critical Role.

Personal life

In his free time, Perkins runs a Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in his homebrew world of Iomandra.

References

1. "Happy Birthday to Dungeon Master Chris Perkins". Dungeons & Dragons. 29 February 2016. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
2. Perkins, Christoper (4 June 2016). "I was born in Canada..." Twitter. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
3. ^ Perkins, Chris (October 17, 2024). "Not true. I *was* a Game Design Architect. Now I'm the Creative Director, which is a more "behind the scenes" gig that lets me play quietly in a bunch of different sandboxes. #wotcstaff" (Tweet). Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Twitter.
4. Baichtal, John (5 March 2008). "Chris Perkins Answers D&D 4E Questions". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
5. ^ "Christopher Perkins - D&D Creative Manager". Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
6. "Christopher Perkins :: Pen & Paper RPG Database". Archived from the original on October 4, 2007. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
7. ^ "Chris Perkins". Dungeons & Dragons. Archived from the original on November 29, 2017. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
8. "The Magic Touch". The Seattle Times. 2000. Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
9. Villoria, Gerald (September 10, 2007). "Dungeons & Dragons: The 4th Edition Interview". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
10. ^ Appelcline, Shannon (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 298. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
11. "Article Archive". Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
12. Perkins, Chris (2013-03-14). "Until the Next Encounter". Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
13. "Chris Perkins and Tracy Hickman on Curse of Strahd". Dungeons & Dragons. 21 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
14. Whalen, Andrew (2018-12-03). "'D&D' roleplayers can alter reality with Worldbuilders boons from Critical Role, Patrick Rothfuss". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
15. Brodeur, Nicole (2018-05-04). "Behind the scenes of the making of Dungeons & Dragons". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
16. Johnson, Deej (2024-04-02). "DUNGEONS & DRAGONS at 50: a chat with Chris Perkins, Game Design Architect, WOTC". Brands Untapped. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
17. Hall, Charlie (2024-10-15). "Matt Mercer, Deborah Ann Woll, other professional DMs helped write the new Dungeon Master's Guide". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
18. Gabe (2011-08-01). "Acquisitions Inc". Penny Arcade. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
19. Haeck, James (2018-12-03). "Chris Perkins Steps Down from Acquisitions Inc.; Jeremy Crawford Named Successor". D&D Beyond. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
20. ^ Hoffer, Christian (1 February 2019). "Chris Perkins Makes Hilarious Surprise Appearance on 'Critical Role'". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
21. Hall, Charlie (2015-08-27). "Watch Acquisitions Inc. from PAX 2015, one of the most-watched D&D games of all time". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
22. "Dice, Camera, Action". Dungeons & Dragons. 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
23. "Dungeons & Dragons on Twitter". twitter. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
24. "Critical Role: Episode 55 - Umbrasyl". Geek & Sundry. 2016-06-06. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-15.

• 1968 births
• Actual play performers
• Canadian emigrants to the United States
• Dungeons & Dragons game designers
• Living people
• People from Seattle