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.

 

[Staffan]

It is not "their game" they just bought the IP. Huge difference!

TSR published D&D for 23 years (1974 to 1997). Wizards has been publishing it for 28 (1997 to today). Wizards has released three major editions (and two revisions) in that time. D&D now is definitely more Wizards' creation than TSR's.

 

[EthanSental]

Just anecdotal numbers, for those who think D&D is not selling well due to Mearls vague conclusion and bookscan erroneous numbers. I took a screen shot of dndbeyond forum on March 26th of this year and looked just now and the total Members (ie created accounts) went up by 106k in the time frame. Unless it’s people creating accounts to post in their forums that dnd is dying or the 2024 game isn’t selling well, I would tend to think adding 100k potential buyers in less than 3 weeks is pretty dang good.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Innovation is overrated.

If innovation and creativity are so important... then why don't (general) you as a Dungeon Master use creativity and innovation within your game at your table? If you innovate within your D&D game then you don't need to rely on Wizards of the Coast for it. Or can (general) you just not be bothered?

 

[soviet]

TSR published D&D for 23 years (1974 to 1997). Wizards has been publishing it for 28 (1997 to today). Wizards has released three major editions (and two revisions) in that time. D&D now is definitely more Wizards' creation than TSR's.

I own a property that was built in 2007. I have occupied it since 2015 and have redecorated. Therefore it was me, and not the architect and contractors, that built it.

Ludicrous.

 

[Staffan]

I own a property that was built in 2007. I have occupied it since 2015 and have redecorated. Therefore it was me, and not the architect and contractors, that built it.

Ludicrous.

But that property is still yours. It may have once belonged to another, but now it's yours. @kayakingpoodle claimed D&D wasn't "their game". It very much is. They bought both the game and the company, lock stock and barrel, and changed things over the course of almost three decades.

Claiming D&D isn't Wizards' game is like saying that this isn't a Subway.

 

[Yaarel]

But that property is still yours. It may have once belonged to another, but now it's yours. @kayakingpoodle claimed D&D wasn't "their game". It very much is. They bought both the game and the company, lock stock and barrel, and changed things over the course of almost three decades.

In this case, owning the IP of "D&D" is more like owning a national heritage site.

D&D belongs to the community that plays D&D. It is a cultural heritage.

Most people in WotC correctly understand that they are "stewards" of the heritage.

 

[mamba]

Nope. No struggle at all.

if you say so, you simultaneously called 3pps not innovative, 2014 having zero innovations and 2024 being full of them, as far as I am concerned that is completely backwards.

I mean, in the D&D sphere it's pretty easy to see. WotC is the innovator most of the time and all the other companies take that and expand on what WotC has done.

Innovative how? 5e was 100% the "Greatest Hits" edition. That was the stated goal of 5e. To turn back the clock and make an evergreen product that hits the high points of D&D history. With the release of 5e, there was nothing in 5e that hadn't appeared in some form in an earlier edition and that was 100% deliberate. Any new mechanics got squashed in the play tests. The D&D Next version of the fighter looked very, very little like the 5e fighter, for example. Fandom was very clear here in that they had zero interest in innovation.

Bollocks. That's just not true. Good grief, I've got 3 brand new core books sitting on my desk right now that are just chock a block with innovations and new ideas for D&D.

Innovative is just another way of saying "stuff I like". If I like it, then it's innovative. If I don't like it, it's market driven drivel only created by soulless marketing teams bereft of any actual ability to create something new.

Does that about sum it up?

no, absolutely not, if you think that is how I used ‘innovative’ you are 100% wrong

 

[AlViking]

This forum isn't dedicated to WotC 5.5, or any other WotC edition of D&D for that matter. It's not even dedicated to D&D at all.

LOL. The name of the forum is literally Dungeons & Dragons. You know, the place where we come to discuss D&D? Not Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E) or *TTRPGs General?

I will never tell people what or where they can post, that would be up to the admins. It's just odd to me that people that don't play the game or simply come here to trash-talk it post here on a regular basis. It's like me going to a Tesla forum and waxing poetic about how some other electric vehicle is so much better because I don't care for the head of Tesla.

 

[AlViking]

It is not "their game" they just bought the IP. Huge difference!

Still doesn't make any difference to the end product. I don't have any allegiance to WOTC or any other company I can think of. I buy products I like.

 

[mamba]

I own a property that was built in 2007. I have occupied it since 2015 and have redecorated. Therefore it was me, and not the architect and contractors, that built it.

Ludicrous.

WotC did a lot more than redecorate though, it tore down the house more than once and rebuilt it on the same lot, but not even with the same footprint, it’s just that each iteration had a bathroom and a kitchen