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."

 

[Mistwell]

No one is arguing that D&D should be reduced to a one-page rulebook or anything of the sort. Do better, man.

Weird strawman wherein you claim you're being straw manned. And then you tell them to do better?

Whizbang, I have no dog in this fight, but from the outside it's you who needed to do better with that response.

I see you are taking a break for a while. Probably a good idea. Hope to see you back soon.

 

[ccs]

That's not class specific.

Never really had massive spellcaster problems in AD&D.

Due to various drawbacks they stripped out in 3E.

I've never had that problem even in 3x/PF.
1) Because anything a player can do i can do at least as well as the DM.
2) Its not really about stopping the PCs. If it was? Then I could absolutely do that - I am the DM after all.
No, Its about challenging the characters/players & making it fun.
Sure, maybe they succeed, maybe they fail. Thats why there's dice.

 

[ccs]

The thing is, 1st Edition AD&D wasn't designed to be just a generic Fantasy game; it was aiming to simulate a specific shade of Weird Fiction.... something which I think it did very well; it was set up to feel mostly like Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, rather than Tolkien. And this is a stylistic feel which 5th Edition has mostly gone back to emulating quite well (I get a genuine vibe of REH's Conan stories from a lot of 5E's rules conventions.) If only it didn't have those couple of just plain awful 4E holdovers plaguing the rules, like Dragonborn and the mess they made of Tieflings. As monsters, a race of ostentatious Dragon People and a race of uniformly blatant bright red-skinned, ram-horned, and thick-tailed Devil People are fine, but as playable races in a classic Weird Fiction/Fantasy-style setting they are a really poor fit.

Their appearance =/= rules.
Their inclusion in YOUR game? Completely optional.

You say 1e was trying to present one setting?
Has it occurred to you that 5e is as well? Just a different one.

 

[Cadence]

Their appearance =/= rules.

Why isn't appearance described in the rule books part of the RAW?

You say 1e was trying to present one setting?
Has it occurred to you that 5e is as well? Just a different one.

Isn't there a quote above that 5e mentions its rules work for a variety of settings? And don't the various subrace descriptions describe several world variants?

 

[SkidAce]

...They are entirely lacking in subtlety. If Dragonborn simply looked like large Humans with subtle draconian features and small patches of scales here and there, while retaining all of their game-mechanical abilities, I would be absolutely fine with them. Likewise if Tieflings were still portrayed as individuals with unique Fiendish features resulting from the ancestors, while retaining all of their current game-mechanical abilities, I would likewise have absolutely no problem with their inclusion in the game.

Thats the beauty of it.

What you state above is exactly how I run my world., more or less. Especially with the teiflings.

However, once I explain that, I let the player choose their look. If they go red skinned and classic, might draw some attention. Thats their call.

 

[R_Chance]

Yeah, except that isn't really the price of power. You were powerless and then later have all the power you want. That's completely different to paying the price for power. If anything, as you got more powerful you should be paying a higher price. Instead it was either, "I'm level 1, i have the wrong spells, I suck." or "I am high level. Nothing can stop me."

Really? I'm just saying the price of your high level power is being weak at low level. Seems pretty straightforward to me. To get to the promised land you have to labor in the low level trenches of vulnerability.

 

[Scott Christian]

I think we're all too accustomed to D&D to understand that for most people, a game that requires you to learn the rules in 3 large hardcover books seems unusual to people as compared to a board game with a 5-page rule pamphlet (which is still too much for some people).

Bingo. And on top of that, even seasoned video gamers that like Zelda, Dragon Age, or whatever have an incredibly difficult time picking up the rules. We, I am sure, have all seen people that play for years, yet still don't know many of the rules.

 

[Marandahir]

The thing is, 1st Edition AD&D wasn't designed to be just a generic Fantasy game; it was aiming to simulate a specific shade of Weird Fiction.... something which I think it did very well; it was set up to feel mostly like Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, rather than Tolkien. And this is a stylistic feel which 5th Edition has mostly gone back to emulating quite well (I get a genuine vibe of REH's Conan stories from a lot of 5E's rules conventions.) If only it didn't have those couple of just plain awful 4E holdovers plaguing the rules, like Dragonborn and the mess they made of Tieflings. As monsters, a race of ostentatious Dragon People and a race of uniformly blatant bright red-skinned, ram-horned, and thick-tailed Devil People are fine, but as playable races in a classic Weird Fiction/Fantasy-style setting they are a really poor fit.

Hell, Elves and Dwarves are supposed to be exotic, but it seems that some people seem to feel they have become "boring" and these people need ever-increasing levels of stimulation to maintain continued interest, in the form of ever more and more gaudy, tacky, and outlandish playable races. Which is my entire problem with Dragonborn and the current portrayal of Tieflings; the gaudiness and tacky blatantness of them. They are entirely lacking in subtlety. If Dragonborn simply looked like large Humans with subtle draconian features and small patches of scales here and there, while retaining all of their game-mechanical abilities, I would be absolutely fine with them. Likewise if Tieflings were still portrayed as individuals with unique Fiendish features resulting from the ancestors, while retaining all of their current game-mechanical abilities, I would likewise have absolutely no problem with their inclusion in the game. But as they are presented now, as races of literally dragon-headed humanoids and uniform Devil People, I intensely dislike them. (I only allow those races in my games with the alteration that they just look like normal Humans with subtle draconic/Fiendish features, not as they are described in the rulebooks.)

You see, if the Dragonborn and Tiefling looked any more human I'd be very disinclined to use them.
I do not like planet of rubber foreheads games.

I want to feel like my D&D world is filled with different sentient creatures who are not all humans with a twist. I want to be able to create a Mos Eisley cantina effect.

You don't and that's fine, but 5e is a gold star for people like me.

 

[Cadence]

You see, if the Dragonborn and Tiefling looked any more human I'd be very disinclined to use them.
I do not like planet of rubber foreheads games.

I want to feel like my D&D world is filled with different sentient creatures who are not all humans with a twist. I want to be able to create a Mos Eisley cantina effect.

You don't and that's fine, but 5e is a gold star for people like me.

Dragon born, Tieflings, and most of Mos Eisley aren't pretty much humans with a twist (or rubber masks)?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

As monsters, a race of ostentatious Dragon People and a race of uniformly blatant bright red-skinned, ram-horned, and thick-tailed Devil People are fine, but as playable races in a classic Weird Fiction/Fantasy-style setting they are a really poor fit.

The game is called Dungeons & Dragons. In my opinion, if some people want to play Dragonmen and Dragonwomen, we should let them do it.