D&D General Dan Rawson Named New Head Of D&D

Hasbro has announced a former Microsoft digital commerce is the new senior vice president in charge of Dungeons & Dragons. Dan Rawson was the COO of Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Hasbro also hired Cynthia Williams earlier this year; she too, came from Microsoft. Of Rawson, she said "We couldn’t be bringing on Dan at a better time. With the acquisition of D&D Beyond earlier this year, the digital capabilities and opportunities for Dungeons & Dragons are accelerating faster than ever. I am excited to partner with Dan to explore the global potential of the brand while maintaining Hasbro’s core value as a player-first company.”

Rawson himself says that "Leading D&D is the realization of a childhood dream. I’m excited to work with Cynthia once again, and I’m thrilled to work with a talented team to expand the global reach of D&D, a game I grew up with and now play with my own kids.”

Interestingly, Ray Wininger -- who has been running D&D for the last couple of years -- has removed mention of WotC and Hasbro from his Twitter bio.

 

[ad_hoc]

FWIW as far as the (off-topic) edition discussion goes, note that the One D&D FAQ distinguishes between "One D&D" and "fifth edition". Even Wizards doesn't see them as the same thing, even if they're careful to avoid the 'E' word when referencing One D&D.

Wizards rarely refer to 5e as 5e.

It's normally just "D&D". There is mention of it on the back of the core books but I don't know off hand where else they use the name.

 

[MockingBird]

On a side note, I keep trying to play and enjoy Dragon Age Inquisition and it has the same problem. Its a single player MMO. Zzzzzzzz

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about DA Inquisition. I loved the first one but that one just didn't do it.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Nearly eight years of Unearthed Arcana articles were referred to as "playtest material" but not as part of something other than "fifth edition." Only One D&D has been differentiated in that way.

Can you seriously not see the difference between the previous UAs and the 1D&D UAs and the purpose of marketing a more expansive playtest for a special anniversary update if the core books?

 

[JEB]

Can you seriously not see the difference between the previous UAs and the 1D&D UAs and the purpose of marketing a more expansive playtest for a special anniversary update if the core books?

Yes, I absolutely see the difference.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Interestingly, Ray Wininger -- who has been running D&D for the last couple of years -- has removed mention of WotC and Hasbro from his Twitter bio.

So, does anyone know what the above means for Ray Winninger? Anyone know if he is still with WotC/D&D?

 

[Parmandur]

So, does anyone know what the above means for Ray Winninger? Anyone know if he is still with WotC/D&D?

Nope, but the longer he maintains radio silence, the weirder it gets.

Based on how things went down with Mearls exiting the team, we may barely ever get a grudging admission if he is gone.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Nope, but the longer he maintains radio silence, the weirder it gets.

Based on how things went down with Mearls exiting the team, we may barely ever get a grudging admission if he is gone.

Until someone else fills the role of executive producer. Whenever the truth is, I wish him the best.

 

[Parmandur]

Until someone else fills the role of executive producer. Whenever the truth is, I wish him the best.

I wouldn't necessarily expect thst the role will be filled, given the apparent reorganization. Remember that the role was created specifically for Winninger after Nate Stewart was promoted to VP of Franchise and Mearls was shuffled off of D&D, to combine their previous roles. If I had to guess, which I love to do, Winninger is out in a reorganization, and Rawlson is doing more of the executive side that Stewart used to do, while probably Crawford will fill the role Mearls used to play before the EP role was created for Winninger.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I wouldn't necessarily expect thst the role will be filled, given the apparent reorganization. Remember that the role was created specifically for Winninger after Nate Stewart was promoted to VP of Franchise and Mearls was shuffled off of D&D, to combine their previous roles. If I had to guess, which I love to do, Winninger is out in a reorganization, and Rawlson is doing more of the executive side that Stewart used to do, while probably Crawford will fill the role Mearls used to play before the EP role was created for Winninger.

That is a possibility and there may be more roles that have opened up in the organisation the new VP need people to boss around after all.
What I do expect going forward is that the rpg becoming a more and more minor thing in the corporate D&D universe if the push into digital multimedia is successful.

 

[Parmandur]

That is a possibility and there may be more roles that have opened up in the organisation the new VP need people to boss around after all.
What I do expect going forward is that the rpg becoming a more and more minor thing in the corporate D&D universe if the push into digital multimedia is successful.

Yes, but that may be healthy for the game community. Less need to force product churn.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Yes, but that may be healthy for the game community. Less need to force product churn.

One can hope

 

[Xohar17]

Minis. Dice. DNDbeyond to manage characters. Novels. Movies. LEGO. Adventures. Rule books. Dmsguild. It's a rare group that only uses one to three books. Maps. Board games. I gave this no thought, and came up with that list.

Most people dont read the novels, dice are not primarily a wotc product at the moment, I personally own a little bit over 200 dice, only like 7 from wotc, and none which were bought from them, only included in some product. Minis I give you that, maps too. Howvee to play the game you really dont need mucj from wotc, especially when a lost of people just pirate the hell out of the books. I see dnd mosre as a brand or franchise, where as you said, the novies or toys or legos or branded merchandise does the heavy lifting rather than the main product.

 

[Jahydin]

Based on how things went down with Mearls exiting the team, we may barely ever get a grudging admission if he is gone.

Mearls left?! Aw man...

 

[bedir than]

What I do expect going forward is that the rpg becoming a more and more minor thing in the corporate D&D universe if the push into digital multimedia is successful.

I wouldn't expect them to pull back on the RPG while it continues to have growth that every single company would be thrilled to have

 

[Zaukrie]

Most people dont read the novels, dice are not primarily a wotc product at the moment, I personally own a little bit over 200 dice, only like 7 from wotc, and none which were bought from them, only included in some product. Minis I give you that, maps too. Howvee to play the game you really dont need mucj from wotc, especially when a lost of people just pirate the hell out of the books. I see dnd mosre as a brand or franchise, where as you said, the novies or toys or legos or branded merchandise does the heavy lifting rather than the main product.

You don't need anything.... But that's not important to monetization.....

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I wouldn't expect them to pull back on the RPG while it continues to have growth that every single company would be thrilled to have

I do not expect them to pull it back, but I would expect a successful movie/tv franchise along with associated merch to leave the tabletop game in the shade in short order. Not to mention a successful AAA quality game or two.
Up until now D&D tabletop has been the driving force within D&D in Wizards. They are making a push into multimedia as evidenced by the purchase of game studios and the making of a new movie. As well as the putative tv/cartoon shows.
If that is successful I would expect that, that revenue would exceed tabletop revenue much as MCU revenue vastly exceed comic revenue.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Mearls left?! Aw man...

I was not aware that he left, last I heard he was more involved in the video game side of things.

 

[Xohar17]

You don't need anything.... But that's not important to monetization.....

Its not? Then how do they expect to get the money of their costumers if they dont need to buy anything from them?

 

[Parmandur]

I was not aware that he left, last I heard he was more involved in the video game side of things.

Nope, he has been on the Magic Team since June 2020, per LinkedIn, and the latest thing he worked on is the Commander Legends: Baldur's Gate Set a few months ago:

"Mike Mearls (set/vision design, Human Dungeon Master)"

"Mike was one of the designers who helped create Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, which is no small feat. If we had any question about anything Dungeons & Dragons, Mike was a trove of information about all kinds of D&D player perspectives. His deep knowledge of D&D was key to finding a ton of top-down moments and monsters that we didn't hit in Adventures of the Forgotten Realms."

First Out of Baldur's Gate

Mark kicks off Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate previews by introducing the design teams and showing off a preview card.

magic.wizards.com

 

[Zaukrie]

Its not? Then how do they expect to get the money of their costumers if they dont need to buy anything from them?

People buy stuff now, even though you can play for free. So, the same way as always.