D&D 5E Mike Mearls did an interview for Escapist Magazine and reveals PHB classes, races, and much more

PaizoCEO · Jun 4, 2014

Morrus said:
I think I heard that Paizo has about 50 people total. I don't know how many of those work directly on the RPG though - they do a lot of minis, comics, novels, retail, OP, and stuff. I wonder how many people WotC has total?

We will very quickly have 20 people working on Pathfinder-related stuff from an Design/Editing/Development POV. In other words, the folks who work full-time on creating the print products that we make. That does not include the 5 members of the art department who do nothing but Pathfinder stuff. It doesn't include our Pathfinder licensing manager who spends his time on the minis and other licensed products. It doesn't include Erik who pretty much focuses on Pathfinder most of the time.

-Lisa

Morrus · Jun 4, 2014

PaizoCEO said:
We will very quickly have 20 people working on Pathfinder-related stuff from an Design/Editing/Development POV. In other words, the folks who work full-time on creating the print products that we make. That does not include the 5 members of the art department who do nothing but Pathfinder stuff. It doesn't include our Pathfinder licensing manager who spends his time on the minis and other licensed products. It doesn't include Erik who pretty much focuses on Pathfinder most of the time.

-Lisa

Wow, that's really interesting, Lisa. Thanks for stopping by! It sounds like you have significantly more staff working on Pathfinder than WotC has on D&D.

PaizoCEO · Jun 4, 2014

Morrus said:
Wow, that's really interesting, Lisa. Thanks for stopping by! It sounds like you have significantly more staff working on Pathfinder than WotC has on D&D.

Well, to be fair, we also release a heck of a lot more products per month than WotC seems to be doing with D&D5 (at least insofar as has been announced). It makes sense that we would have more staff to create more products. But I am really proud of our staff here at Paizo. They do a yeoman's amount of work with pride and passion.

-Lisa

TerraDave · Jun 4, 2014

I really should just let this go

FR was introduced at the end of 1E to replace Greyhawk as the "main" setting for D&D. While Oerth was actually retained, and many others introduced, it has remained the main setting. In 2E (ie in the PHB rangers use 2 weapons, and has firearms, does the realms still have firearms even?). In 3E (greyhawk was "default", but realms got much, much more love). In 4E (I don't know if I can call it love, but FR got the most attention).

So there is something self-perpetuating about this. We don't know what would happen if they just stopped.

And I guess we won't.

occam · Jun 4, 2014

PaizoCEO said:
Well, to be fair, we also release a heck of a lot more products per month than WotC seems to be doing with D&D5 (at least insofar as has been announced). It makes sense that we would have more staff to create more products. But I am really proud of our staff here at Paizo. They do a yeoman's amount of work with pride and passion.

It should be noted that most of those products are in the category of adventures and settings: Adventure Paths, Modules, Campaign Setting guides, etc. The RPG folks at WotC are currently working on the equivalent of things like Ultimate Combat, or Mythic Adventures, or the Bestiaries. How much of the collective effort of those ~20 people is spent on RPG products like those vs. adventure and setting products? That's probably a more direct comparison to what WotC is doing, right now at least, especially with them outsourcing their most intensive adventure products.

I was surprised, though, to hear that WotC only has something like 7 or 8 people working on the D&D RPG. If they don't continue to outsource adventure design, at least, or start hiring more, it certainly seems like we won't see as much output from WotC during the 5e era as we've been used to from TSR and WotC in the past.

Plageman · Jun 4, 2014

Well it isn't surprising if you consider that the number of products published during 4e was very limited compared to what was produced during 3e.

Also WotC is coming out of time period were no products were released so a tighter staff was logical.

It will be interesting to make the same comparison 2-3 years after the release and see if it has changed.

Of course it will all depend on how Hasbro/WotC will manage the market too (less products per year = less staff).

Anselyn · Jun 4, 2014

Did anyone else notice this ... Dynamic Basic D&D

I would say that's definitely where Basic D&D comes in. When the Starter Set launches it's going to cover character creation. Once the Player's Handbook launches we'll update it. [Basic D&D] is going to be a updated a few times when it first launches.

It seems that Basic D&D is a updated summary product. A reason for new adopters to be returning to the site for the latest updates - and drawn towards upgrading to the core books (?).

DaveMage · Jun 4, 2014

I think it's a pretty safe bet that WotC will outsource a LOT of D&D 5E unless they significantly scale back their offerings.

Outsourcing might be much, much cheaper for them - especially if they make their agreements on a % of sales model. WotC staff may focus on rules only while letting others do all the setting & adventure stuff. In the hands of a trusted contractor, fluff may not require *any* review by WotC staffers.

dd.stevenson · Jun 5, 2014

DaveMage said:
I think it's a pretty safe bet that WotC will outsource a LOT of D&D 5E unless they significantly scale back their offerings.

Outsourcing might be much, much cheaper for them - especially if they make their agreements on a % of sales model. WotC staff may focus on rules only while letting others do all the setting & adventure stuff. In the hands of a trusted contractor, fluff may not require *any* review by WotC staffers.

Also it (probably) means that the wotc's adventure production team(s) is (are) free to take up any other projects they might fancy, unfettered by wotc's HR department.

I didn't think I would ever say this, but I am thrilled with the direction they've taken with their adventures in 5E.

Jester David · Jun 5, 2014

occam said:
It should be noted that most of those products are in the category of adventures and settings: Adventure Paths, Modules, Campaign Setting guides, etc. The RPG folks at WotC are currently working on the equivalent of things like Ultimate Combat, or Mythic Adventures, or the Bestiaries. How much of the collective effort of those ~20 people is spent on RPG products like those vs. adventure and setting products? That's probably a more direct comparison to what WotC is doing, right now at least, especially with them outsourcing their most intensive adventure products.

The APs and most of the Modules, Campaign Setting, and Player Companion lines are handled by freelancers. They're only edited, and laid out by Paizo staff. So not all that different than the a Tyranny of a Dragons adventures.
But, yes, Paizo has much more staff because they release more books. Or, because Paizo releases more books, they have more staff.

D&D 5E Mike Mearls did an interview for Escapist Magazine and reveals PHB classes, races, and much more

PaizoCEO

First Post

Morrus

Well, that was fun

PaizoCEO

First Post

TerraDave

5ever, or until 2024

occam

Adventurer

Plageman

Explorer

Anselyn

Explorer

DaveMage

Slumbering in Tsar

dd.stevenson

Super KY

Jester David

Hero

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