D&D General Adam Bradford, Lauren Urban, Todd Kenrick Leave D&D Beyond

They join lead writer James Haeck, who left a couple of weeks ago. Adam Bradford is the D&D Beyond co-founder, and VP of Tabletop Gaming at its owner, Fandom. Lauren Urban is DDB's Community Manager. Todd Kenrick is the company's Creative Manager.

D&D Beyond, launched in 2017, is currently owned by Fandom (previously known as Wikia), after it acquired the company in 2018 from previous owner Curse, a Twitch subsidiary.

According to Cam Banks, creator of DDB owner Fandom's Cortex, all three received offers elsewhere which they could not turn down.

 

[Michael Linke]

D&D Beyond is likely keeping them going financially well enough that projects like Cortex Prime are even possible.

Cortex Prime was kickstarted by Cam Banks. They didn't get involved until after the successful Kickstarter.

 

[Michael Linke]

I somehow didn't realize this was the same Fandom that does the fan wikis. That makes sense. Still, I have to imagine D&DB is a strong revenue source.

Cortex Prime is a HUGE get for Fandom. If you look at how Cortex Prime works, creating a new licensed rpg is almost as simple as slapping die-rating badges on existing articles.

 

[Sunsword]

It would be pretty low to undermine your own licensees by poaching their staff.

This IS WotC.

 

[Sunsword]

Cortex Prime is a HUGE get for Fandom. If you look at how Cortex Prime works, creating a new licensed rpg is almost as simple as slapping die-rating badges on existing articles.

But how popular is it? It's been literally years since it was in the market. A great IP is inviting but isn't necessarily a killer app.

 

[Sunsword]

Cortex Prime was kickstarted by Cam Banks. They didn't get involved until after the successful Kickstarter.

I might be wrong, but Cam hadn't delivered it and their involvement I believe made it possible for him to do so.

 

[darjr]

They probably pay a hefty licensing fee for that golden goose. A silver goose where they get to keep all of the profit might be better for them.

I... this almost laughable.
It’s pile of gold bricks compared to a pocket of steel pennies.

even if it’s 80-90 percent it’s still 10-20 percent of a pile of gold bricks compared to a few steel pennies.
And I respect Cortex. Even kind of like it.

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

It would be pretty low to undermine your own licensees by poaching their staff.

It wouldn't be a surprise if WotC did any poaching.

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

I might be wrong, but Cam hadn't delivered it and their involvement I believe made it possible for him to do so.

The delays in the fulfillment were partly because of all the negotiations between Cam and Fandom and the selling of Cortex System to Fandom.

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

I... this almost laughable.
It’s pile of gold bricks compared to a pocket of steel pennies.

even if it’s 80-90 percent it’s still 10-20 percent of a pile of gold bricks compared to a few steel pennies.
And I respect Cortex. Even kind of like it.

Cortex Prime is a game designer's dream rpg if they want a true rpg game design toolbox. Unless you are playing one of the premade Cortex Games you have to build your own game using the options in the Cortex Prime main book.

 

[embee]

Fandom’s stock is in the toilet right now. It’s been quite a year.

Are you sure you aren't confusing it with Fandom Sports Media?

Fandom, Inc. is privately held. It has no stock price because it is not a publicly-traded company.

Fandom Sports Media Corp, which has nothing to do with DDB or Wikia, is trading at about $0.17 a share.