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.

 

[Mournblade94]

Referring to them as rats fleeing a ship is gross on several levels.

I mean I get it. This is though a very common metaphor used in daily and professional parlance. If i tell you to "go jump in a lake" it's not because I think you need to get wet.

 

[Mournblade94]

Will they? I mean they might, but I think they might have a rather shorter road ahead of them.

Especially with the Chinese tariffs for the USA

 

[MonsterEnvy]

D&D books are not made with Chinese materials as far as I know.

 

[Mournblade94]

I think you are right about freeloaders. And I would be interested to know what demographic is buying materials vs. responding to surveys saying they are players. Secondly, agree the company finds a way to make money on a brand or they stop producing product.

Yeah man. Heroforge is free. Lots of users use it for free.

But then they release kitbashing which is awesome. You need to subscribe for that really good feature.

Many users are mad that's not a free feature because it's so convenient.

Well yeah. You still have full functionality as provided before but now you have to PAY for this feature.

 

[Mournblade94]

I've heard from people with WotC connections how the corporate culture regularly ruins products. It's amazing to me how they could take someone as talented as Rich Baker (Red Hand of Doom, Forge of Fury, Primeval Thule) and put out something as mediocre as Princes of the Apocalypse.

Can confirm as someone with very close wotc connections

 

[Mournblade94]

is it, how? I am not seeing MtG as helping TTRPGs or being an entry into it. People say that about D&D and there I can at least see the connection, but Magic?

If anything Magic accelerated the downfall of TSR

Oh no no no. I read every quarterly report before D&D got big. D&D wasn't even worth mentioning. In fact if 5e had the reception of 4e I assure you WOTC would be MtG and no D&D besides a board game.

WOTC Magic money kept WOTC in business. D&D was a negligible comparison. And now, execs are talking about how they can take advantage of the Esports popularity with D&D. Indicating Esuite knows nothing about Esports.

Chris Cox though is a D&D player. He knows old school D&D very well.

Illustrious D&D designers like James Lowder have said at Forgotten Realms panels that Hasbro does not understand publishing. From what I hear they still don't.

Why are the novel lines dead at WOTC. They barely register as a profitable product.

Magic SAVED D&D from TSR bankruptcy. Magic saved D&D from being a shelved brand at Hasbro.

Maybe PAIZO would have found a path to save TTRPG though. I'm a dad.

 

[Minigiant]

I am not sure, D&D makes 50+ million profit a year, that allows for some VTT development to fail and not have to fall back on MtG money for it

I don't think WOTC would throw half a years profit into an unproved VTT system if they don't also have MTG making 10 times that money.

 

[Mournblade94]

I am not sure, D&D makes 50+ million profit a year, that allows for some VTT development to fail and not have to fall back on MtG money for it

That is NOW. Before Stranger Things not a chance. But that's neither here nor there because budgets aren't concerned what product the money comes from. Strategic planning is concerned. And when WOTC was bought Hasbro execs even before 4e considered D&D not valuable.

If not for VTT speculation D&D would have died at 3rd.

 

[Mournblade94]

D&D books are not made with Chinese materials as far as I know.

But ink and machines and parts are. The pulp comes from Canada.

 

[Umbran]

My view is the game has been very badly mismanaged for years, Crawford seems the single person most responsible. So this seems very hopeful news. I guess it could just be they are going to mothball the brand. But I hope at least we get no more "half races are racist" type stuff driving design. The Angry Mothers From Heck era ended and hopefully this era will end too.

Mod note:
There are many things we can hope.

For now, I hope you will realize that your dismissal of approaches to diverse representation in games is apt to make other people feel unwelcome.

And, we hope you realize that, whether you care about people feeling welcome or not, the site you are posting on holds it as a key to good gaming discussion such that we have rules that you're apt to run afoul of if you are not more thoughtful in how you characterize things you do not like.