WotC Chris Perkins announces Retirement from Dungeons and Dragons

Over on Twitter and Bluesky, Chris Perkins has announced his retirement from Dungeons and Dragons.

Chris Perkins started officially working for Wizards of the Coast in 1997 as an Editor for Dungeon Magazine. Since then, he has functioned as the Editor in Chief of D&D Periodicals, A Senior Producer, and eventually landing as the Senior Story Editor over D&D 5e and Game Architect on D&D 5e 2024.

He also is known for acting as one of the Dungeons Masters for Acquisitions, Incorporated.

Personally, I'll miss the guy's work.

https://bsky.app/profile/chrisperkinsdnd.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3llyvdjkphk2p

 

[Azzy]

He can call it whatever he likes. For all intents and purposes it's 5.5 though.

Meh, I'd call it 5.2.

 

[Zardnaar]

Meh, I'd call it 5.2.

I'm thinking a 5.25 might be the best version.

5.5 DMG and some revised classes and monsters would be fine in 5.0.

Other way around some missing spells and classes one to mind.

 

[TiQuinn]

Meh, I'd call it 5.2.

D&D Me?
D&D Home Edition?
D&D Vista?
D&D For Workgroups?

 

[darjr]

D&D Me?
D&D Home Edition?
D&D Vista?
D&D For Workgroups?

D&D 9

 

[TiQuinn]

D&D 9

Ah yes, gotta skip a version or two to keep people guessing.

 

[darjr]

Ope! Can't have that. Keywords might accidentally match D&D 95.

 

[Bravesteel25]

Is something happening over at WotC that I'm just not aware of? They seem to be shedding a lot of seasoned talent lately.

 

[Scribe]

Is something happening over at WotC that I'm just not aware of? They seem to be shedding a lot of seasoned talent lately.

Latest version of the evergreen rule set released, now would be a prime time to slash costs by encouraging retirement (payouts) and backfilling with far cheaper resources who have less experience.

Since everyone looks to be in store for a contraction anyway, things are going to be running lean for a bit.

 

[TiQuinn]

Is something happening over at WotC that I'm just not aware of? They seem to be shedding a lot of seasoned talent lately.

I'm not surprised Perkins is retiring - he's been working either with the company as a freelance writer or direct employee for nearly 30 years. There's also always been a trend of designers leaving after they released a new edition. It's been very rare for the designer of a major edition to stay for the next one. Zeb Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Rob Heinsoo, Monte Cook - they all moved on after their respective editions. WotC is also part of Hasbro which has not always been a strong company. Their stock is down %28 over the last five years. I don't get the sense that there's a lot of room for growth and expansion within the company - more like shifting positions based on whatever the next product they would like to focus on. Andy Collins was hired back to lead the development of Sigil. Sigil didn't work out, and so Collins and the team he led were laid off.

I feel that status quo rather than growth is what really defines WotC.

 

[Bravesteel25]

I'm not surprised Perkins is retiring - he's been working either with the company as a freelance writer or direct employee for nearly 30 years. There's also always been a trend of designers leaving after they released a new edition. It's been very rare for the designer of a major edition to stay for the next one. Zeb Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Rob Heinsoo, Monte Cook - they all moved on after their respective editions. WotC is also part of Hasbro which has not always been a strong company. Their stock is down %28 over the last five years. I don't get the sense that there's a lot of room for growth and expansion within the company - more like shifting positions based on whatever the next product they would like to focus on. Andy Collins was hired back to lead the development of Sigil. Sigil didn't work out, and so Collins and the team he led were laid off.

I feel that status quo rather than growth is what really defines WotC.

Yeah, in retrospect you are completely correct. It really is par for the course regarding WotC. Don't mind me!