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

freeAgent · Apr 25, 2012

I'm not jumping to any conclusions. A disagreement with the company could be anything. Maybe the coffee in the break room was so repulsive to him that he was forced to quit. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with 5E other than that he won't be helping to develop it going forward.

ShinHakkaider · Apr 25, 2012

Serendipity said:
Regardless of how I feel about the man as a designer, I have to wonder why so many people seem to be taking this as some kind of reason / opportunity to impugn the guy's character. For some reason.
It's just a game people.

That was kind of my thinking as well. Although I may have gone overboard in my response, it still looks like people are attacking him and basically although a bit passive aggressively calling him a liar.

Aberzanzorax · Apr 25, 2012

Rather than speculate, I'm just popping in to wish Monte the best in his future endeavors.

Mark CMG · Apr 25, 2012

braro said:
For example, for the two weeks notice thing? Generally even contractors I have hired give that courtesy; but the situation could be such that this wasn't a "declaring notice" thing.

What makes you think he didn't give notice? I see no evidence of that. It might even be that he gave notice about the time that Mike Mearls started writing the L&L columns again, which would put it about two months ago -

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DMBrendon · Apr 25, 2012

I was really looking forward to seeing his influence on D&D Next. Lets hope Rob Schwalb and Bruce Cordell carry the torch well.

braro · Apr 26, 2012

Mark CMG said:
What makes you think he didn't give notice? I see no evidence of that. It might even be that he gave notice about the time that Mike Mearls started writing the L&L columns again, which would put it about two months ago -

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Here is why I am unclear on the notice thing.

He says that he decided to leave his position at WotC last week.
He is now no longer working for them.

That doesn't mean that he failed to give 2 weeks notice; it could be that he did, but they decided to pull the bandaid. Or it was at a break in contracting terms. Or he had some incorporated paid time off that he was able to use for that week. Or any number of things.

All I am saying is that, I don't know, and I am not going to be able to say I feel a certain way about anything without another source to explain.

seregil · Apr 26, 2012

As someone else said before, WOTC will need to address this issue and 'spin' it so it does not damage 5E's chances.

When you lose one of of your main designers (on a team of three), it is not a negligible loss. This is major and the timing of the departure means that the conflict, whatever it was, was major enough to cause a professional to drop a project mid-run.

Since I believe that 5E being started up so quickly stems from 4E lacklustre results, both in terms of $$ and in terms of enthusiasm from the gamer community, the fact that WOTC did not bend on the issue with Cook leads me to believe that whatever the issue is, it must be MAJOR.

Surely WOTC realises that 5E is their last chance to 'redeem' DND and if they fumble now, DND will continue to loose steam and probably never recover.

About the only issue I can see that corporate suits are this stubborn about would be the OGL. The suits see Pathfinder and are determined never to create their own worst enemy again, failing to see that their stupidity is what is feeding their enemy to begin with.

Pure speculation, of course, but what is the Internet for? Well, speculation and the biggest porn distribution system in the history of mankind.

Perspicacity · Apr 26, 2012

For those knowledgeable of such things, are there now any designers working on DNDNext that didn't work on 4e?

Thyle · Apr 26, 2012

I haven't posted on ENW in several years, and really haven't followed much D&D news since 3.5 came out. It wasn't the announcement of "Next" that caught my interest and brought me back to following the news & developments--it was that Monte was involved. His work is what got me excited about the possibility of returning to D&D with the new edition. I lament this news greatly.

Mercule · Apr 26, 2012

Monte has a lot of great ideas. I never cared for the stuff that was all his, though -- Arcana Unearthed, for example. Given his rock star status, I was actually a bit concerned when he came back to WotC. I definitely liked Mikes' L&L musings last year better than when Monte took the column over.

None of that is meant to knock Monte. He seems like a great guy, and I really do think he has some good ideas. My hopes for 5e just don't rest on him. I think Mike and Bruce are both going to produce something more to my tastes (I really can't single out specific design ideas from the others).