Bob the World Builder Interviews Kyle Brink

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sure. That isn't what happened, however.

What actually happened is that someone's boss said in an interview that if someone who leaked confidential company documents to disastrous effect on the company were to come see him directly, he'd pursue a course of action that doesn't end in their immediate termination, which is...what would normally happen. Like without any room for doubt.

These are two very different things.

He's literally offering an olive branch to someone or a group of someones that he doesn't want to have to fire, but who he absolutely would normally have to fire. He probably had to convince his Rawson and/or Williams to even allow it.

Having known a lot of whistleblowers in my time -- more than a dozen of them, easily -- I find it hard to believe that these people did not come to him ahead of time.

Whistleblowers don't want to hurt their business. (The people who are telling you otherwise tend to be the people who really, really don't want anyone blowing the whistle on them, for good reason.) All of the folks I know have been true believers who have gone through all the steps internally that are supposed to work and it didn't change anything.

Feeling betrayed by an organization they believe in and whose espoused values they are seeking to uphold more than the powers of be often are, only then do they leak something.

The time to stop a leak is before it happens -- by actually solving the problem in the method you tell staff is the way to do it -- rather than waiting for it to be in the Washington Post first.

 

[Yaarel]

Maybe they can just turn over Dark Sun to another publisher or the DMs Guild?

I dont see how this can happen. The problem with the Dark Sun setting is the setting itself. WotC doesnt want to perpetuate it.

WotC seems to have tried to update the setting to todays ethical sensibilities for 5e. But the "update" was less true to its source materials.

For example, is it possible to have Dark Sun without slavery? Would it still be Dark Sun?

It is too bad. In other ways, the setting is progressive. For its era, the setting has gender equality. Its global climate conscientiousness seems ahead of its time.

 

[darjr]

It’s gotta be surreal for Kyle right now.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, sure, but the internal leaks here are automatic big trouble: my manager loves me, but if I leaked internal team information to a YouTuber (and they exist for out company!), then I would be in deep doodoo.

Honestly it might not come out for years, if ever, hopefully.

For folks wanting to leak more safely -- say, current Wyrmwood employees -- please see this post.

 

[Yaarel]

It’s gotta be surreal for Kyle right now.

Brink expressed WotC is in a good place "today", but wishes WotC arrived here without the mistakes.

 

[Parmandur]

It’s gotta be surreal for Kyle right now.

Honestly, je may be regretting working so close to his actual hobby about now.

 

[Retreater]

For example, is it possible to have Dark Sun without slavery? Would it still be Dark Sun?

Dying world, polluted by magic, heavy reliance on psionics, species outside the norm of high fantasy D&D, focus on survival. Yeah it can do that, and be extraordinarily relevant to pop culture and the modern world rebuilding after a pandemic. It's IMO the BEST setting for these times.
Yes, there would be the end of slavery. Talk about it. Update the social hierarchy. Freedom fighters can be heroes. Focus on a part of the world where they've already won the fight.
There's so much that can be done.

 

[Yaarel]

Dying world, polluted by magic, heavy reliance on psionics, species outside the norm of high fantasy D&D, focus on survival. Yeah it can do that, and be extraordinarily relevant to pop culture and the modern world rebuilding after a pandemic. It's IMO the BEST setting for these times.
Yes, there would be the end of slavery. Talk about it. Update the social hierarchy. Freedom fighters can be heroes. Focus on a part of the world where they've already won the fight.
There's so much that can be done.

I want this setting. Is it "Dark Sun" tho?

My favorite aspects of Dark Sun are psionics and nontheistic elementalism.

Regarding a "dying world" and "rebuilding" it, I want a way for players to "restore the world", even if focusing on achieving this locally.

 

[Parmandur]

Dying world, polluted by magic, heavy reliance on psionics, species outside the norm of high fantasy D&D, focus on survival. Yeah it can do that, and be extraordinarily relevant to pop culture and the modern world rebuilding after a pandemic. It's IMO the BEST setting for these times.
Yes, there would be the end of slavery. Talk about it. Update the social hierarchy. Freedom fighters can be heroes. Focus on a part of the world where they've already won the fight.
There's so much that can be done.

It's doable, and I think the way that Brink answered it suggests that he's been involved in conversations about how to do it. UT doing so while staying PG-13...?

 

[Faolyn]

Having known a lot of whistleblowers in my time -- more than a dozen of them, easily -- I find it hard to believe that these people did not come to him ahead of time.

Whistleblowers don't want to hurt their business. (The people who are telling you otherwise tend to be the people who really, really don't want anyone blowing the whistle on them, for good reason.) All of the folks I know have been true believers who have gone through all the steps internally that are supposed to work and it didn't change anything.

Feeling betrayed by an organization they believe in and whose espoused values they are seeking to uphold more than the powers of be often are, only then do they leak something.

The time to stop a leak is before it happens -- by actually solving the problem in the method you tell staff is the way to do it -- rather than waiting for it to be in the Washington Post first.

Having been a whistleblower, the reason for not going to one's boss is if the boss is the problem, the company's atmosphere is so toxic that doing so isn't safe, or both.

There were reports (or tweets, at least) of people saying WotC had become a hostile work environment. Perhaps that was (or still is) true, and people didn't feel that they could go to Brink and not suffer retaliation for it.