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.

 

[overgeeked]

It is quite amusing that a common response to any change is "The Sky is Falling"

People can get used to anything. They can even become comfortable in their misery. But change is scary because you don’t know what will happen. Anything could happen. Most people know how good things are, even while complaining endlessly. So, for most, change will more than likely mean change for the worse...so it’s Chicken Little time.

 

[Greg Benage]

People always want to turn these threads into psychological mumbo-jumbo. I don't know any D&D player -- of any edition -- who thinks D&D is perfect. The arguments are always about what should change and how it should change, not "OMG change scares me!"

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I remember them saying that 5e was the last edition, well it obviously not, 5e is the last edition I will ever back from this company. I have decided to use all the older versions and some of my own fixes to fill the gaps. I saw an article about the balance of melee and casters and the reason there is a problem is due to the 5e changes caused the casters to have more power in many ways and fail to enforce drawbacks.

The older editions had their problems with casters being too much power, this was because the melee ones had much less as well, with each edition adding to the total power of each class having improved the melee classes very much. The problem is they removed many of the balance factors of the caster classes. So how do we fix this? well first take a look back while embracing what already is in 5e, as this version is way oversimplified and tends to not give any real drawbacks.

I have thought about the issues with the caster classes and the martial ones, and the fix is easy, wizards 1d4 for hit points, age requirements to be one, like in 2nd edition or 1st. Also no armor and limited weapons. Sorcerers: 1d6 is ok as well as the weapons but requires a bloodline background or at least gives the DM a heads up, so you can't just willy-nilly decide to take a level. Also a blood component for all their spells, best way to do this is the divide their hit points in half, if they go past the half limit then they suffer a level of exhaustion, they can regain all the hit points used in this way during a short rest but the exhaustion is recovered as per the standard rules. Warlock: Easy enforce the drawback of a patron example: demon well the character can't be good or suffers from an evil taint that if detected he will emulate as if evil. This also would require the person to do an evil act or something distasteful.

I am also in favour of ability penalties as per races from the old days as well, because an ogre will always be stronger than a halfling and also you could apply this to movement as well but could overcomplicate that part of the game. So reducing movement for small by 10 feet i think is a good idea. And for large increase by 10 as well. I can remember being a child and having a hard time walking can keep up with my stepdad, my small legs had a hard time keeping up. Anyway like I said not supporting this new edition and will just do my own version of the game i am willing to run, but good luck with getting people to buy digital stuff and charging a membership fee every month to keep more updates. This is what many games do to sell you a new costume option or weapon or a manor of things. The thing is with the theatre of the mind they can't do this and so once they sell enough books the money starts to dry up and so bam a new edition is slightly more different to cause most to buy new books. Now they say that it's compatible but we all know that the new shiny is appealing.

That sounds like a very annoying game to play, frankly.

Have fun, if that’s your gig.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Yeah i know that. I'm simply using MMO for its mechanics and feel of the game. Much like Dragon Age Inquisition isnt an MMO but feels like one.

As i said, MMOs were the inspiration for the game.

Hmmh. Interesting, can you elaborate?

We for our part did no pulling. No raids. No instances. Did you?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

People can get used to anything. They can even become comfortable in their misery. But change is scary because you don’t know what will happen. Anything could happen. Most people know how good things are, even while complaining endlessly. So, for most, change will more than likely mean change for the worse...so it’s Chicken Little time.

That is all very well for big existential issues, like a change of government or a foreign invasion. But is a dude appointed to a management job in an entertainment corporation. it is not like he can raise my rent.
It is not going to greatly impact my quality of life if I never again buy a D&D book, and this is from a person that likes the direction D&D is going in.

I mean I feel a little bit bad for Ray Winninger if he has in fact lost his job due to this but is probably not the new guy's fault that decision lays at the feet of someone else in the hierarchy.
The thing is at the level this new is going to be operating at we are never going to know anything about their effect on the game. It is probably going to be minimal. They are not going to be making design decisions.

The only prediction I will venture is that we are going to see a push into multimedia.

 

[darjr]

Well I think we are going to have Dragonlance because of Ray.

 

[overgeeked]

That is all very well for big existential issues, like a change of government or a foreign invasion. But is a dude appointed to a management job in an entertainment corporation. it is not like he can raise my rent.

It is not going to greatly impact my quality of life if I never again buy a D&D book, and this is from a person that likes the direction D&D is going in.

At a guess, you don’t stake your identity as a person to this game. A lot of people do, apparently. It’s how a lot of folks define themselves. However unhealthy that is, it’s what happens when a game decides to become a “lifestyle brand” or whatever. It’s a game. Relax.

I mean I feel a little bit bad for Ray Winninger if he has in fact lost his job due to this but is probably not the new guy's fault that decision lays at the feet of someone else in the hierarchy.

That’s one of the many problems with hierarchies.

The thing is at the level this new is going to be operating at we are never going to know anything about their effect on the game. It is probably going to be minimal. They are not going to be making design decisions.

Hopefully not.

The only prediction I will venture is that we are going to see a push into multimedia.

I think that’s a safe bet.

 

[overgeeked]

Well I think we are going to have Dragonlance because of Ray.

Likely Spelljammer as well. Love that the setting returned, utterly hate the nothing slipcase it came out as.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

"I'm so excited to play for the first time, I got a great deal on a used PHB from this edition. ... Why does everyone sell the used PHBs for this edition so cheap? Anyway, I made my half-elf ranger using my book for this edition and then went to enter it online like you said ... and nothing matches!?!? Was my PHB labeled wrong?"


But seriously, if they have a free download of all of the errata to make the first printing work (like they do with new printings) and the average player would have little trouble using an OG book with the errata file, then I buy it's just the same edition. If not, then it seems to fail any reasonable definition of same edition to me.

So far, you could just play the half elf ranger in a game where everyone else is using new stuff.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

At a guess, you don’t stake your identity as a person to this game. A lot of people do, apparently. It’s how a lot of folks define themselves. However unhealthy that is, it’s what happens when a game decides to become a “lifestyle brand” or whatever. It’s a game. Relax.

Funny you should say that, but "D&D" is a big part of my identity as a person but as a player. The community is important but not the corporations nor any particular individual in the industry or the hobby. I am thankful for their work and what it has contributed to my entertainment.

That’s one of the many problems with hierarchies.

Hopefully not.

I think that’s a safe bet.