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

kitsune9 · Apr 25, 2012

Stainless said:
I wonder if the corporate bean-counters have decided .......

Your assessment about corporate bean-counters is probably an accurate one. Odds are that for whatever reason, there are those above Monte, Mike and Rob who determined that their say is more important than the designers. This is endemic of just about any organization, but moreso for public companies.

Or it could be simply because WotC canceled Free Pizza Fridays.

Kzach · Apr 25, 2012

Piratecat said:
My understanding is that the full time corporate environment within WotC is challenging. Monte's been his own boss for ages. It's hard to go back into an environment with a lot more bureaucracy. He's a great guy; I wish him the best.

Gods yes.

I've never worked well as an underling but after running my own business, I've found it incredibly difficult to go back to being managed, especially when the managers are incompetent buffoons who don't understand the difference between being a jerk and being a manager.

Sorry, just had a run-in last night with one of my 'managers'.

Serendipity · Apr 25, 2012

Well, that's a surprise. Can't say it affects my feelings about 5e one way or another, but it does make me wonder if they're going to do some kind of course correction in terms of what direction the game rules take. Not that we have enough information to be able to tell anyway.

braro · Apr 25, 2012

To the question about a request for other sources, now that someone has broken it out line by line, here are the things that I want another source on:

* He says that he made the decision; did he? If he did last week, that means he has less than 2 weeks turn around time. That seems a breach of professional diplomacy.
* He brings up the potential for consulting later; what does WotC think? His phrase paints it like a "they might still want the goods" buddy buddy leaving thing; WotC might say that this isn't the case, at least with current management.
* The opinion with the company thing is vague. It's very worrisome that he went in to details and named specific people that -weren't- the problem; that is a very bad political move, and is basically pointing fingers by omission. What does WotC think? What do those two other guys think?
* He already basically made it worse, with regards to the NDA, since he has posted this big mystery as to what the disagreement was about.

Gundark · Apr 25, 2012

This could also have nothing to do with 5e. It could be an disagreement over pay, or workload , or benefits .

Janx · Apr 25, 2012

Morrus said:
Lots of speculation - but the cause could be almost anything. While we can postulate scenarios involving design priorities, licensing issues, and other things, it could simply be something like a contract renewal and Monte not being satisfied with its terms.

There are a thousand possible reasons, and Monte doesn't sound likely to share them. Obviously, that means we'll speculate and conjure different scenarios, and one if them might gain traction and become "accepted" but only Monte and WotC know what the issue really was.

True. It seems that if we did not know Monte was working on D&D 5e at WotC and we met him at a cocktail party and he said "Yeah, I just left my job, I can't really talk about it" that our first conclusion is because of design issues?

Apparently not as many of us have had crappy bosses, poor pay, oppresive work regulations, etc.

it can easily have been a matter of Monte was promised to be made a fulltimer and not a contractor, they didn't, he had a better offer in the works, so he said "See ya!"

Because that never happens in the real world...

I haven't been following the 5e threads. I have no clue if if was sounding like a good game. In reality, 4e sounded like a lot of good ideas before it hit the market, and I heard a lot things I didn't like. So ultimately, 5e doesn't matter until it's released, and I find out from other people if it sucks or not.

It's too bad Monte had to leave, but if he wasn't happy, how much of that unhappiness would have made it into the product anyway?

Walking Dad · Apr 25, 2012

Amurayi said:
1. He said good-bye to Cordell and Schwalb and wishes them all the best.

He didn't mention Mearls at all.

Now guess who he has "differences of opinion with"...

.

If this is really the case, I have to say that I vastly prefer Iron Heroes over Arcana Evolved (or Pathfinder).

But my favorite designer is still Steve Kenson.

Starman · Apr 25, 2012

Gundark said:
This could also have nothing to do with 5e. It could be an disagreement over pay, or workload , or benefits .

I bet they refused to let Orc and Pie be the first published adventure. Those cold-hearted bastards.

Holy Bovine · Apr 25, 2012

sheadunne said:
They probably decided to skip the playtest stage and jump forward with the release at Gen Con this year. Wouldn't that be fun . . .

Why did a chill suddenly go down my spine?

seankreynolds · Apr 25, 2012

braro said:
To the question about a request for other sources, now that someone has broken it out line by line, here are the things that I want another source on:
* He says that he made the decision; did he? If he did last week, that means he has less than 2 weeks turn around time. That seems a breach of professional diplomacy.

So you're suggesting that (a) he may be lying, or (b) he unprofessionally ended his contract without 2 weeks notice?