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.

 

[mamba]

Compared to other products you might make? Sure. Compared to the sales from products other companies make? Not a fair comparison IMO.

obviously other products WotC makes for D&D, you cannot compare WotC or D&D to 3pps or other TTRPGs, they are not in the same league

 

[Parmandur]

but innovation for the sake of innovation is meaningless. People do not have to like something for being different / innovative. If it finds its audience, great, but every product gets criticism, whether for being too different or for not being different enough, so designing a product to have the least resistance is a fool’s errand, design it so it matches the target audience’s desires (which goes back to not every product is for everyone)

Right, but the conversation is about how WotC has taken innovative risks in their 5E books. Which they have, to sometimes controversial results.

 

[Remathilis]

I had moved on from 1e by the time 2e came around, never had any desire to combine them.

Also not a big fan of the early adventures, I consider many overrated and only classics because there was nothing else. Definitely more a fan of the Hickman revolution, I basically aimed for that from the start / before I heard of the term.

I started long after 1e was out of print. I got my first 1e books when in college when eBay became a thing. Looking backwards, I was astonished how... unrefined 1e was. The rules were everywhere. Gary's meandering prose meant finding anything a hassle and understanding it moreso. I still can't tell you how initiative in 1e is supposed to work per RAW. 2nd edition has its problems, but if I was going to ever play an older edition, I think it would be much easier to start with 2e and integrate elements* from 1e than to start with 1e and try to go forward.

* Honestly, by the end of 2e, everything I would have ever wanted from 1e was back anyway. Half-orc was back as of Humanoid's Handbook, there were a few variants of monk and assassin (the best was in Scarlet Brotherhood, which made proper 2e versions of the 1e classes) and the barbarian from the Complete Barbarian's Handbook, less all the weird "you can't adventure with mages" BS. There is no element of 1e I find superior to 2e where mechanics are concerned.

 

[mamba]

I don't run canned adventures anyway, and neither did my old group. All homebrew adventures and settings. And I don't care for the Hickman revolution style in any case. Adventure paths are not why I play or run D&D.

even then my homebrew was basically an AP however

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Adventure paths are not why I play or run D&D.

That's totally fair and I share that viewpoint, but on the other hand, we've got to be real that pre-written campaigns, later called adventure paths, are probably a big part of what kept D&D going over the years, and what made it accessible and cool to a large audience of people. Also honestly I don't think oWoD would have got as big as it did without having similar (even if they were terrible - ironically some of the nWoD ones were extremely good, but the zeitgeist was no longer filling the sails then).

WotC are a company dedicated to making money. So were TSR. Let's not have any illusions. APs seem to make money and get people buying more products, so they're pretty important.

 

[mamba]

Right, but the conversation is about how WotC has taken innovative risks in their 5E books. Which they have, to sometimes controversial results.

yes, and I am saying that there is nothing wrong with controversy and that it should not keep you from innovating. Failure to find an audience should get you to innovate in a different direction however

 

[Parmandur]

yes, and I am saying that there is nothing wrong with controversy and that it should not keep you from innovating. Failure to find an audience should get you to innovate in a different direction however

OK, sure...? Not really sure how that followed from anything.

 

[mamba]

OK, sure...? Not really sure how that followed from anything.

maybe I was not clear enough initially, but since there was a strong undercurrent of ‘WotC is not allowed to innovate because some people will complain if they do’ I wanted to clarify this

 

[Micah Sweet]

even then my homebrew was basically an AP however

Fair enough. Different strokes of course.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's totally fair and I share that viewpoint, but on the other hand, we've got to be real that pre-written campaigns, later called adventure paths, are probably a big part of what kept D&D going over the years, and what made it accessible and cool to a large audience of people. Also honestly I don't think oWoD would have got as big as it did without having similar (even if they were terrible - ironically some of the nWoD ones were extremely good, but the zeitgeist was no longer filling the sails then).

WotC are a company dedicated to making money. So were TSR. Let's not have any illusions. APs seem to make money and get people buying more products, so they're pretty important.

WotC certainly feels adventure paths are important, I can agree. I hope the designers making them at Hasbro's command feel the same way.