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

 

[Henadic Theologian]

When an editor decides to create a new edition, it's because the sales have been declining for some time. If 5e was still going strong, they would not have lifted a finger.

There are be other major reason then sales, word is the edition change happened in order to blackmail the previous owners Beyond into selling to WotC, because by changing editions it could have left Beyond in the cold by not letting them use it.

 

[The Soloist]

There are be other major reason then sales, word is the edition change happened in order to blackmail the previous owners Beyond into selling to WotC, because by changing editions it could have left Beyond in the cold by not letting them use it.

Source? Because without a verifiable source this is just conspiracy theory.

 

[darjr]

I think Fandom was looking to sell anyway.

 

[Azzy]

There are be other major reason then sales, word is the edition change happened in order to blackmail the previous owners Beyond into selling to WotC, because by changing editions it could have left Beyond in the cold by not letting them use it.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

 

[Zardnaar]

His first published work was Dungeon 11 apparently.

 

[pukunui]

His first published work was Dungeon 11 apparently.

One of the early Perkins Dungeon adventures that I've considered converting to 5e (but haven't yet) is the one featuring some hill giants. The PCs can explore their log cabin and interact with some teenage hill giant girls as well as the parents. It came with a fold-out map of the house IIRC. Can't remember more details than that at this time. I'd have to go dig out my hard copy. I think it was called "Bad Apples" or something like that.

Anyway, Chris' love of the whimsical shone through in that.

 

[Zardnaar]

One of the early Perkins Dungeon adventures that I've considered converting to 5e (but haven't yet) is the one featuring some hill giants. The PCs can explore their log cabin and interact with some teenage hill giant girls as well as the parents. It came with a fold-out map of the house IIRC. Can't remember more details than that at this time. I'd have to go dig out my hard copy. I think it was called "Bad Apples" or something like that.

Anyway, Chris' love of the whimsical shone through in that.

Cant remember that one.

He apparently wrote under the name Chris Zarathustra iirc.

All I remember his name turned up a lot.

 

[pukunui]

Cant remember that one.

He apparently wrote under the name Chris Zarathustra iirc.

All I remember his name turned up a lot.

Found it! It's called "Them Apples" and is in Dungeon #48 from 1994. It's for Basic D&D (for PCs of levels 1-3).

Basically, there's a community of halflings who tend to an apple orchard that produces apples that are the envy of other apple growers. The halflings' secret is that they plant posies around the apple trees, sing to the trees, and let their children climb in the trees' bows. This makes the trees happy, so they produce really nice apples.

One envious human apple grower in particular hires a shapeshifting dragon known as a "wood drake" (who the human thinks is an elf) to poison the halflings' apples. When the trees start dying, the halflings seek out some local druids, who provide some potions to cure the poisoned trees, but this delegation is captured by a random hill giant on their way back to the village. One halfling escaped the giant's attack and is the quest giver for the adventure. The PCs have to sneak into the hill giant's home to rescue the kidnapped halflings and recover the druids' potions. The wood drake, disguised as a halfling, follows the PCs to the hill giant's home in hopes of foiling their recovery plans. The hill giant is not at home when the PCs arrive, but his daughters are.

The adventure states at the outset: "Although the possibility for combat exists, the party's success will rely more on ingenuity than swordsmanship. The antagonists in this module can easily devastate a low-level party."

And yes, that issue of Dungeon came with a full-color fold-out battle grid map of the hill giant's house.

 

[Zardnaar]

Found it! It's called "Them Apples" and is in Dungeon #48 from 1994. It's for Basic D&D (for PCs of levels 1-3).

Basically, there's a community of halflings who tend to an apple orchard that produces apples that are the envy of other apple growers. The halflings' secret is that they plant posies around the apple trees, sing to the trees, and let their children climb in the trees' bows. This makes the trees happy, so they produce really nice apples.

One envious human apple grower in particular hires a shapeshifting dragon known as a "wood drake" (who the human thinks is an elf) to poison the halflings' apples. When the trees start dying, the halflings seek out some local druids, who provide some potions to cure the poisoned trees, but this delegation is captured by a random hill giant on their way back to the village. One halfling escaped the giant's attack and is the quest giver for the adventure. The PCs have to sneak into the hill giant's home to rescue the kidnapped halflings and recover the druids' potions. The wood drake, disguised as a halfling, follows the PCs to the hill giant's home in hopes of foiling their recovery plans. The hill giant is not at home when the PCs arrive, but his daughters are.

The adventure states at the outset: "Although the possibility for combat exists, the party's success will rely more on ingenuity than swordsmanship. The antagonists in this module can easily devastate a low-level party."

And yes, that issue of Dungeon came with a full-color fold-out battle grid map of the hill giant's house.

Nice.

I miss the variety in Dungeon magazines. I ran a few 2E ones for C&C.

Last one time to wrap up campaign.

New 2E Mere of Dead Men Dungeon 69-73.

 

[Alzrius]

Source?

I looked into this a while back, and came up with the following:

WotC Post in thread 'Hasbro CEO Chris Cox, "I would say that the underlying thesis of our D&D business is all about digital,”'

Aug 13, 2023

so 2024 is the next half baked and rushed out the door cash grab?

Yes, it is. But not because they're trying to squeeze more money out of their existing base of tabletop players; rather, One D&D is only being made because WotC wanted to leverage Fandom to sell them D&D Beyond. But don't take my word for it, take Stephen Glicker's (who you'll recall had several of the most pointed insights into what was going on during the OGL scandal back in January):


And really, that explanation not only dovetails with what I mentioned before re: Ben Riggs saying that WotC...

• Alzrius

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