D&D 5E Kate Welch on Leaving WotC

Kate Welch left Wizards of the Coast a few days ago, on August 16th. Soon after, she talked a little about it in a live-stream.

She started work at WotC as a game designer back in February 2018, and has contributed to various products since then, such as Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Descent into Avernus, as well as being a participant in WotC's livestreams. In December 2019, her job changed to that of 'senior user experience designer'.

"I mentioned yesterday that I have some big news that I wouldn't be able to share until today.

The big news that I have to share with you today is that I ... this is difficult, but ... I quit my job at Wizards of the Coast. I no longer work at Wizards. Today was my last day. I haven't said it out loud yet so it's pretty major. I know... it's a big change. It's been scary, I have been there for almost three years, not that long, you know, as far as jobs go, and for a while there I really was having a good time. It's just not... it wasn't the right fit for me any more.

So, yeah, I don't really know what's next. I got no big plans. It's a big deal, big deal .... and I wanted to talk to you all about it because you're, as I've mentioned before, a source of great joy for me. One of the things that has been tough reckoning with this is that I've defined myself by Dungeons & Dragons for so long and I really wanted to be a part of continuing to make D&D successful and to grow it, to have some focus especially on new user experience, I think that the new user experience for Dungeons & Dragons is piss poor, and I've said that while employed and also after quitting.

But I've always wanted to be a part of getting D&D into the hands of more people and helping them understand what a life-changing game it is, and I hope I still get the chance to do that. But as of today I'm unemployed, and I also wanted to be upfront about it because I have this great fear that because Dungeons & Dragons has been part of my identity, professionally for the last three years almost, I was worried that a lot of you'll would not want to follow me any more because I'm not at Wizards, and there's definitely some glamourous aspects to being at Wizards."

She went on to talk about the future, and her hopes that she'll still be be able to work with WotC.

"I'm excited about continuing to play D&D, and hopefully Wizards will still want me to appear on their shows and stuff, we'll see, I have no idea. But one thing that I'm really excited about is that now I can play other TTRPGs. There's a policy that when you're a Wizards employee you can't stream other tabletop games. So there was a Call of Cthulhu game that we did with the C-team but we had to get very special permission for it, they were like OK but this is only a one time thing. I get it, you know, it's endorsing the competition or whatever, but I'm super excited to be able to have more freedom about the kinds of stuff that I'm getting involved with."

 

[R_J_K75]

It doesn't help that whenever an interested person on somewhere like reddit makes a post asking what they need to do to learn the game, inevitably there are several people telling them to read the PHB cover to cover, which is ridiculous. I can't imagine that is going to encourage new people to pick up the hobby.

Agreed. I always encourage my players to read the parts that are pertinent to their characters. Race, class, & combat mostly. Anything else is just a bonus.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

D&D, even 5E is a complicated game. Could the core books be laid out better, absolutely but its never going to be a game that one can pick up and play in 15 minutes. How exactly would you suggest they make it more accessible to players?

Super easy.
Have a starter set that walks players through their first combat, and building their character sheet as they go.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

On the one hand, there were a lot of people who completely, or mostly, taught themselves how to play D&D during the last major boom (the 70s and early 80s). And I'd say that 5e, especially the starter set, is much easier than the earlier editions to pick up (although B/X and BECMI were darn accessible!).

Those were good, but I don't think anything has yet topped the 1991 Black Box. The SRA Reading Program Style "Dungeon Card Learning Pack" was the most effective tool for teaching new players AND DMs that I've ever seen, and I loved the way it encouraged and taught new DMs to take control of the game and create content (first by stocking a few rooms in the starter dungeon; then by stocking a provided map; and then by being taught how to build their own).

I've long heard that the Black Box was Lorraine Williams' project, and this is one of several reasons why I can't hate her as much as many do.

A remake of this set with 5e mechanics would be a beast.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

For every customer who does that, how many never end up playing and never buying anything else from WotC? Why should it be the responsibility of random people on YouTube to make a company's product user-friendly?

That's not really responsive to what I wrote.

I was just pointing out that some things are much, much easier to learn by participating in it than by reading about it.

Most RPGs that are not D&D have had the benefit of knowing that people already know how to play RPGs, usually through D&D.

The various D&D starter sets for 5e do a decent job, but I think it is inarguable that the best and easiest way to learn D&D (especially to DM) is to experience the play.

This isn't that unusual in the world.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Sadly, gatekeeping is a very real part of our hobby.

Why is being picky about who plays at one's table gatekeeping? Should I be expected to invite everyone who wants to try the game to my house?

I think the rulebooks should be as welcome, open, and inclusive as possible. But as far as my own table is concerned, I'm not letting everybody in without first knowing that new player is the right fit*.


*right fit has nothing to do with previous RPG experience.

 

[R_J_K75]

building their character sheet as they go

Pages 11 through 15 of the PHB pretty much does this. At least for 1st level.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I still think spell depth is better then spell level... either that or go back to 4e spell level equals class or character level

In Chainmail, Gary used the term Spell Complexity. I've always been fond of it.

 

[ChaosOS]

Spell Complexity is good, but Spell Circle feels more "fantasy" to me. Regardless, anything but spell level.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Spell Complexity is good, but Spell Circle feels more "fantasy" to me. Regardless, anything but spell level.

Circles are for druids. Besides, for magic circles are cute and clear. I prefer my magic messy and distasteful.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

1. The very first thing I'd present to a new player would be a pre-generated character. Meet Becky the Fighter Lady and her sidekick Ralph the Religious Dude. She's a pretty strong lady and she's got this cool sword that she can do rad things with. Here, we'll show you.

I would actually give you an almost blank character sheet, and then tell you to focus on a specific place on the sheet (use a symbol; or a color; or a background pattern to draw the eye - I don't know how many times I have had to describe to players how to find the "Skills" section on the character sheet). Then the new player fills it out. The only part they would start with is their Ability scores and bonuses already filled in; aligned with their class.

2. A scripted combat against a, I don't know, goblin or whatever. Here's a map. Becky's here, Goblinface is there. Roll your d20 and add that +1 next to Becky's Initiative entry. Did you beat Goblinface's initiative of 6? Congrats, you go first! Make a basic attack. Don't worry, we'll teach you next round how to use those cool things that Becky knows how to do. We gotta teach you a basic one, first. OK, now it's Goblinface's turn. He's going to try to stab you back but look, Becky has this neat thing she can do to stop it. Moving on to Ralph, he's got this spell called sacred flame and here's how it works...

I wouldn't actually use combat as the first thing you do. I would use a skill check. Combat has too many moving parts. Skill check has only 1, maybe 2 if you add proficiency. So the script would start something like this:

You are at a door. There are a bunch of things you can do but a common one is to listen at the door to hear if there is anything on the other side of it. To do that, you would roll what is called an Ability check. The Ability used in D&D for listening is called "Wisdom". Find the Wisdom area on your character sheet. There is a bonus there (the bonus number may be negative!). Roll a d20 and add the bonus to it. The GM has a number in mind called the DC... etc etc etc