Jeremy Crawford Also Leaving D&D Team Later This Month

Jeremy Crawford is leaving Wizards of the Coast later this month. Screen Rant (via me!) had the exclusive announcement. Crawford was the Game Director for Dungeons & Dragons and was one of the guiding forces for D&D over the past decade. In the past year, Crawford has focused on the core rulebooks and leading the team of rules designers. He has also been a face of Dungeons & Dragons for much of 5th Edition, appearing in many promotional videos and DMing Acquisitions Incorporated Actual Play series.

He joins Chris Perkins in leaving the D&D team in recent weeks. Perkins, who was the Creative Director for D&D, announced his retirement last week. Both Perkins and Crawford appear to have left Wizards on their terms, with Lanzillo very effusive with her praise of both men and their contribution in our interview.

On a personal note, I've enjoyed interviewing Jeremy over the years. He was always gracious with his time and answers and is one of the most eloquent people I've ever heard talk about D&D. I'll miss both him and Chris Perkins and look forward to their next steps, wherever that might be.

 

[The Soloist]

You like 5E but also want to try OSE, but can't see the appeal of Shadowdark? That strikes me as odd.

I play 5.5e and OSE. One is not the other. I have no desire to play a game that melds the two things I like, for different reasons.

I want my percentile thieves, love the flavourful Saving Throws, the 2d6 undead turning, level draining undeads, etc, etc, etc. Plus OSE connects very well with Mystara Gazeteers. No conversion necessary.

 

[MNblockhead]

One thing the last decade taught me is there is a large contingency of fans in many fandoms who cannot accept not being the main target audience.

Exactly this. Is this attitude more common with niche hobbies or just a natural reaction to getting older. I'm trying to be self-aware, but I don't recognize this attitude in myself. I enjoy a lot of the new stuff and still have access to and enjoy playing the old stuff that made me fall in love with the hobby. There is so much available content for all tastes, world views, and pocket books in the TTRPG hobby these days, it seems like a waste of mental energy to get worked up about changes in audience tastes in one segment of it.

 

[Reynard]

all Baldur’s Gate games were D&D branded

Not on the console box art, and even the PC box art "Dungeons and Dragons" was much smaller than "Baldur's Gate" and only on the back. D&D was not the main driver of that title.

 

[Bae'zel]

The people who stubbornly stick to the latest edition of D&D yet continuously seethe at how much they wish it was a different game should really pair up with the people who insist that earlier editions of D&D (or completely different games) are vastly superior.

A match made in heaven.

 

[Charlaquin]

Huh? Um, do I even want to know?

In the visual language of film, starkly contrasting lighting coming in from opposing angles is generally used to communicate some sort of duality within the character who’s being lit this way - not always bisexuality, but it certainly has been used that way with some frequency. Of late though, it has become a very popular lighting setup for left-leaning YouTubers (especially with pink and blue, the colors of the bi pride flag), who are often very openly using it to signal their bisexuality. And so, folks who regularly consume such content often directly call it bisexual lighting.

 

[mamba]

Same boat. Took a look at Shadowdark and didn't see the appeal - in my 50's and preferring 5E

yeah, SD is too bare bones for what I want, curious about what Mearls will release, that seems to sit comfortably in the middle between SD and 5e, which is where I prefer to be

 

[Faolyn]

And my question, which is a much deeper one, is: what does this new audience want that's incompatible with the old one? I think the issue is that there isn't a clear set of design principles or overall "wants" that this new audience has. Remember that 4E was the last attempt at giving people what they wanted and, that didn't work out, did it?

A lot of what I've seen on these forums at least has to do with the fact that the art is "cuter" than it used to be, which some people think makes the game more juvenile or Disneyfied than it "should" be. The other thing I see here a lot is that 5e is very non-lethal.

So I think you could solve a lot of problems--definitely not all, but a lot--if you had more "serious" art (whatever that means, considering that AD&D had Holloway's art) and probably fewer hit points and maybe either getting rid of spare the dying or turning it into a 1st-level spell.

 

[Dire Bare]

I'm so tired.

Every action is a herald of doom. Every movement proof the end is nigh. The community has already decided the new books are trash and death is imminent. And everyone is just sitting here with baited breath waiting to dance on the grave.

There are no greater enemies of a brand than it's "fans".

Eh, #notallfans.

It's the really loud ones heralding doom, not the majority in any way. But yeah, I'm tired too.

 

[Micah Sweet]

yeah, SD is too bare bones for what I want, curious about what Mearls will release, that seems to sit comfortably in the middle between SD and 5e, which is where I prefer to be

I see SD as more if a fun option among many for OSR play. I still like other games with similar style sensibilities.

 

[Dire Bare]

You are sooooo going to run up against the broad brush here.

There is no one "older audience", and presuming to speak for all of them at once is going to generate pushback. Some of the older audience want that simulationist, greedy grounded game. A lot of older gamers played that way back in the day, but now embrace other styles.

Everytime someone posts about what the older fans "want" . . . it rarely seems to match up with any of the older fans I know, IRL and here on the forums.

When the post about what the younger fans "want" . . . it doesn't match up with any of my middle-school students who love D&D.