Taylor Navarro Joins Wizards of the Coast as D&D Designer

Reynard · 2026-01-29T14:50:15+0000

THEMNGMNT said:
Wizards lays off a bunch of people.

Internet: "5.5E is doomed!"

Wizards hires a bunch of people.

Internet: "5.5E is doomed!"

This is not as contradictory as you are trying to make it out to be. If I was trying to right a ship after a major release underperformed, I would certainly get rid of the old staff and hire some new staff.

bedir than · 2026-01-29T14:54:32+0000

Parmandur said:
I mean, we know who the team members are, they also post actively on social media...? There isn't much in the way of an "Old Guard", James Wyatt is the "Elder Statesman" at this point I guess, but most of the staff were far younger than Perkins in particular.

Tondro has 20 years creating RPGs
Chris Sims (credited in the Realms books) has 22 years.
Wes Schneider, Ben Petrisor, and so many more have more than a decade writing D&D with two decades of experience in RPGs.

Several people credited in the 2024 core books are also credited in the 2014 books. That's a decade in an industry absolutely famous for treating employees like disposable parts.

EN World seems very distracted by the two big names that moved on, while ignoring that several people their same age and similar experiences (like writing official D&D since before 5e began) are still there.

Artamo · 2026-01-29T15:03:31+0000

bedir than said:
EN World seems very distracted by the two big names that moved on, while ignoring that several people their same age and similar experiences (like writing official D&D since before 5e began) are still there.

I think this may be due to Crawford and Perkins having a lot of visibility in Wizard’s marketing over the past ten years on YouTube, podcasts and social media. That’s changed quite a bit in the past few years. The annual release events that they streamed have gone away. They may still have podcasts and APs but I don’t see their designers being as front and center. I used to love Perkins’ explainer segments on Greg Tito and Shelley Mazzanoble’s podcast.

Davy Greenwind · 2026-01-29T15:47:37+0000

Radiant Citadel was awesome, one of the most original products WotC put out in years. My favorite adventure anthology. Can't wait to see if they do more with it!

dave2008 · 2026-01-29T16:24:05+0000

Reynard said:
This is not as contradictory as you are trying to make it out to be. If I was trying to right a ship after a major release underperformed, I would certainly get rid of the old staff and hire some new staff.

You keep saying it has underperformed, yet that is not what we have neem hearing from WotC, nor what I have heard anecdotally from retailers. So I am curious where you are getting your information from?

To be clear, I don't really care one way or the other. We will be playing our homebrew version of 5e for the foreseeable future. So the success or failure of 5e or an eventual 6e means very little to us. I am just curious why you think it has underperformed?

Gradine · 2026-01-29T17:03:49+0000

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
I think that, in many cases, some of the bloggers and YouTubers with strong opinions about Radiant Citadel have mostly unspoken agendas that put them at odds with the book's overt mission to broaden the voices creating D&D adventures and embrace a wider audience as a result.

Oh no, they are more than happy to speak those agendas out loud, at least on the blogs and the Tubes. They're only left unspoken here because speaking them runs them afoul of moderation.

Charlaquin said:
Also true of video game development

This is correct in all cases except for Bethesda

Charlaquin · 2026-01-29T17:24:35+0000

Gradine said:
This is correct in all cases except for Bethesda

The image isn’t showing up for me, but I’m pretty sure I know exactly what it is anyway

Reynard · 2026-01-29T17:29:22+0000

dave2008 said:
You keep saying it has underperformed, yet that is not what we have neem hearing from WotC, nor what I have heard anecdotally from retailers. So I am curious where you are getting your information from?

To be clear, I don't really care one way or the other. We will be playing our homebrew version of 5e for the foreseeable future. So the success or failure of 5e or an eventual 6e means very little to us. I am just curious why you think it has underperformed?

I do NOT say it underperformed, not even in the post you quoted. I said that IF it did, it would make sense to change up the creative team. That was in response to a post that suggested such a move would make no sense.

I think 5.5 is bad, mind you, and I don't make any apologies for that. But how would I know in any capacity whether it underperformed?

dave2008 · 2026-01-29T17:36:06+0000

Reynard said:
I do NOT say it underperformed, not even in the post you quoted. I said that IF it did, it would make sense to change up the creative team. That was in response to a post that suggested such a move would make no sense.

I think 5.5 is bad, mind you, and I don't make any apologies for that. But how would I know in any capacity whether it underperformed?

Thank you for the clarification. Just to point out how I read your post, this is what you said:

"If I was trying to right a ship after a major release underperformed,..."

I read the "If" as modifying "...trying to right a ship..." not the "...major release underperformed..." which I understood as a statement of fact.

Reynard · 2026-01-29T17:37:09+0000

dave2008 said:
Thank you for the clarification. Just to point out how I read your post, this is what you said:

"If I was trying to right a ship after a major release underperformed,..."

I read the "If" as modifying "...trying to right a ship..." not the "...major release underperformed..." which I understood as a statement of fact.

I was not especially clear. My fault.

Taylor Navarro Joins Wizards of the Coast as D&D Designer

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