Carl recalls his introduction to role-playing games: "Some junior high buddies back in my home state of Maine first introduced me to roleplaying in 1980... we played Keep on the Borderlands. From that moment on, I was totally and irreversibly hooked."[1] Years later, he began doing freelance design for White Wolf Publishing and Dungeon magazine.[1]
Wizards of the Coast
After working as the Policy Director for Organized Play for the Magic: The Gathering game, Carl became a member of the Wizards of the Coast R&D team, designing adventures and modules for the Dungeons & Dragons game: "Both careers have their rewards... but I've wanted to be involved in RPG design since I was fourteen - after all, I still remember rolling my first d20. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the switch."[1] When the D&D third edition was released in 2000, Carl was the designer chosen to begin the process of adding detail to the character classes in the supplement Sword and Fist (2001); he felt that this book "is important because it establishes the model for those that will follow it".[1]
World of Darkness
Carl was the CEO of By Night Studios from 2010 to 2018; By Night Studios is the official licensed publisher of new Mind’s Eye Theatre products for White Wolf’s World of Darkness setting.[2][3] In 2019, he transitioned to the publisher's advisory board.[4]
In early 2018, Carl was a game producer on the 5th edition of Vampire: The Masquerade (part of the World of Darkness series)[5] and an "executive vice president of community" at White Wolf,[6] a subsidiary of Paradox Interactive. Later in 2018, Paradox dissolved White Wolf as an independent entity.[7][8] In 2019, the 5th edition of Vampire: The Masquerade won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game of the Year and won the Origins Fan Favorite Award.[9]
Since 2019, Carl has been the Brand Marketing Manager of Paradox's World of Darkness.[10][11] He also been the storyteller of multiple canonWorld of Darknessactual play web series including L.A. by Night,[12] and Seattle By Night.[13] Carl is the storyteller for the NY by Night web series which is a sequel to L.A. by Night.[14] Em Friedman, for Polygon, stated that L.A. by Night "survived Geek & Sundry's decline [...] in no small part to the masterful work of storyteller and series creator Jason Carl".[15] On NY by Night, Friedman commented that "Carl has a deft hand for scene-setting, creating lyric love letters to real-world locations both famous and obscure" and that "Carl and the players have always been innovators, working toward high production values, costuming, and even creating prerecorded interstitial scenes".[15]
