D&D 5E Monte Cook Leaves WotC - No Longer working on D&D Next [updated]

steeldragons · Apr 25, 2012

aw crap.

That can't bode well...at all.

malkav666 · Apr 25, 2012

Having Monte directly involved with 5e was pretty much one of the main reasons I was optimistic about 5e. Seeing him leave the project lowers my overall interest levels in the new edition. Ill take a look when the playtest starts. But I don't think the departure bodes well for a unification edition.

love,

malkav

Scribble · Apr 25, 2012

Bedrockgames said:
Read it again. He doesn't say it isn't over design, just that it was a disagreement with the company and not the designers. wOTC ciuld have handed him a design decision he disliked. So it is entirely possible he left because of the direction of the game itself (though anything now ispure speculation).

Doubtful.

I'm guessing if anything it's some sort of company policy.

Possibly that anything he does while there is considered property of WoTC, so his other stuff like Dungeon a Day, and Malhavoc stuff, and possibly book deals, would be owned by WoTC.

amerigoV · Apr 25, 2012

5e we hardly knew ye. RIP.

Best of luck, Monte!

Sunseeker · Apr 25, 2012

I have good thoughts about this, and I have bad thoughts about this. It'll be interesting to see if playtest leaks take a drastic turn in a different direction.

technoextreme · Apr 25, 2012

DEFCON 1 said:
I did admittedly raise an eyebrow when Monte was removed from Legends And Lore and Mearls took them back. I wondered what was up with that, since his articles and polls got lambasted by what seemed like everybody. So perhaps there was a disconnect between what he wanted and was doing, and where the company and/or gamer public was wishing 5E would go?

Well the guy did single handedly come up with a great way to alienate a large percentage of the fan base with one of those articles.

hanez · Apr 25, 2012

I have to say that one of the things that made me most interested in 5e was his ideas. Oh well.

Dausuul · Apr 25, 2012

[KeanuReeves]Whoa.[/KeanuReeves]

I'm... not sure what to make of this. 3E is my least favorite edition, and I have not been a big fan of Monte's work on other games. If you made me choose between Monte Cook and Mike Mearls to be the Boss of D&D, I would pick Mearls in a heartbeat.

But while our tastes may differ, I firmly believe that Monte is a gamer first, and that he believes in putting the good of the game and the community ahead of short-term profits. Reading between the lines of his post, he's at some pains to indicate that his problem is with Hasbro/Wizards management. This is a bad sign. I would be a great deal happier if he were citing "creative differences."

I guess it's time to go back to buffing up my Personal Edition. I'll still follow D&DN, playtest it, and perhaps adopt it when it comes out, but my optimism has dimmed somewhat.

Yora · Apr 25, 2012

This certainly comes unexpected and at an unusual time.
But while the time is suspicious, I don't consider it a loss and possibly something beneficial to what I anticipate of 5th Edition. Of all the more well known designers, he was always the one who made me the most confused about why he would think certain things to be good ideas. Maybe he does do a great job at what he does. But I just don't like the things he produces, they are just not for me.