WotC Ex D&D Beyond Staffers Criticize Relationship With WotC

Ex D&D Beyond Product Manager Andrew Searls and co-founder Adam Bradford have both publicly denounced a detetoriation in the platform's relationship with Wizards of the Coast.

Searles, who left DDB in December tweeted publicly, seemingly in support of the OGC community, following the recent Open Gaming License news, that "IMHO, D&D is successul because of the entire community not just because of those that legally own it."

The OGL -- Just What's Going On?

D&D fandom is in uproar again about purported upcoming changes to the Open Gaming License, and rumours are flooding social media regarding WotC's intentions to 'de-authorize' the existing Open Gaming License in favour of a new one. What's the OGL? The Open Gaming License is a share-a-like...

www.enworld.org

Speaking of his departure, he said "December 16th of 2022 was my last day at Wizards of the Coast and working on D&D Beyond. This was a change for the better. It is hard to describe the feeling of working your dream job and being crushed by it at the same time. But, it is bittersweet. I will miss the people I have worked with day-in and day-out. Despite what it may seem like at times there are really good people at Wizard of the Coast that are working on D&D and D&D Beyond that love the game and the community. For my next adventure, all I can say now is that I’m more excited than I’ve ever been and I’ve wanted to work with these folks for a LONG time. One thing I know for certain, for the rest of my career, I will use technology to make ALL tabletop roleplaying games easier to play. I love this industry and I love these games."

He later went on to comment on WotC itself -- "Quick story. When DDB was first acquired by WotC, I had a conversation with someone on the WotC side. They told me that DDB was only successful because of the D&D logo and not the work we had put into it for 5 years. It’s a culture of arrogance."

He also revealed that many of WotC's staff are against the current OGL situation. In reponse to a tweet which suggested that, Searles responded "I know must of them and I can tell you everything in this statement is true."

D&D Beyond co-founder Adam Bradford, who now works for the Demiplane online tools suite, responded "This was starkly evident well before the acquisition. In the early days of the partnership, things went about as well as you could imagine, and something truly special was created as a result of that. Some top level leadership changes later, and it all took an abrupt nosedive."

D&D 5E - Hasbro Acquires D&D Beyond For $146M

D&D owner WotC and D&D Beyond have announced that the online tools platform is being acquired by WotC. DDB’s (former) owner was Fandom, which acquired it in 2018, and which also acquired the Cortex Prime TTRPG system recently. Fandom is producing a range of licensed games using the Cortex Prime...

www.enworld.org

D&D Beyond was launched in 2017, and was acquired by WotC in 2022 for $146M. Bradford left DDB in February 2021, along with various other staff including lead writer James Haeck, Community Manager Lauren Urban, and Creative Manager and co-founder Todd Kenrick (who now works for WotC).

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...

www.enworld.org

 

[Voadam]

Sure. But why would they not be able to say they don’t work there any more for weeks after leaving. What possible benefit would that have to WotC? Besides avoiding the annual Xmas firing squad jokes of yore.

Separation agreements vary. Some include not discussing the reasons for the separation for a period of time. Some include agreements tying some separation payments or retirement type bonuses to agreements not to disparage the company, which can keep former employees quiet on certain things. Some companies require signing onto these types of agreements as a condition of being hired so that it is not an extra to negotiate at the end.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I mean, if DDB was "Hero System Beyond" it wouldn't be significant to the industry broadly (NOTE: I love Hero; that wasn't a dig.) But that doesn't mean the DDB devs didn't work their butts off to create something really valuable. (I almost said "great" but I don't use DDB so I don't know.)

I have a fan made 4e adventure tracker called MasterPlan... it isn't available anymore but 10+ years later I still use it. The guy that made it was awesome it got a dozen update back then... but without the D&D push it didn't catch on.

This guy this Andrew sounds like he may be the same way.

BUT... I agree with the culture of arrogance, weither it is deserved or not

 

[Scribe]

View attachment 271701

Pretty wild to watch Wizards follow Blizz in the 'too big to fail' self importance world view.

Feel bad for the employees not at the top, but I hope it burns to the ground.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Gutsy statement. I hope they don’t retaliate.

Opinions are protected speech.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It strike anyone else as weird that WotC / D&D Beyond is shedding people left and right and they’re all mum about it for weeks after the split?

It occurred over the holidays.

More broadly, I know a lot of people who work in soul-crushing "dream" jobs and when they leave, they rarely decide to put on a show for the general public. They often just want to collapse onto the sofa and be mentally and emotionally exhausted for a while.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, if DDB was "Hero System Beyond" it wouldn't be significant to the industry broadly (NOTE: I love Hero; that wasn't a dig.) But that doesn't mean the DDB devs didn't work their butts off to create something really valuable. (I almost said "great" but I don't use DDB so I don't know.)

Valuable-but-not-great is accurate. They were hampered by manpower issues previously. Now, it's likely there are big changes of direction and a new roadmap being created, so we don't know how well the tool will develop from here on out.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes. But if dndbeyond made gigabyte sized pdfs for character sheets and required a download that didn't work for many computers with an abandoned technology we probably wouldn't have heard much more about it.

LEAVE GLEEMAX ALONE!

 

[Clint_L]

Pretty wild to watch Wizards follow Blizz in the 'too big to fail' self importance world view.

Feel bad for the employees not at the top, but I hope it burns to the ground.

This is a pair of disgruntled executives, who were involved in a merger, airing their side of the issue. I don't think it should be compared to the decades-long toxic work environment, especially for women, that was revealed at Blizzard. It's not a similar situation and conflating the two seems kind of diminishing of the extent of the problems at Blizzard, and of what happened to many, many victims there.

 

[Cistern]

Andrew is a stand up guy. We've had a number of conversations, most recently at PAXU, and he's always been a straight shooter in my book. I thank him for being so honest and straight forward with all of us regarding a situation that sounds more like the rosy red apple called WOTC is actually rotten to the corporate core.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's also not something you say to someone on a team you're trying to integrate into your organization and make them feel like valued members of the overall team.

What about any of this would lead someone to think that WotC execs value anything other than their coffers?

 

[Scribe]

Not

This is a pair of disgruntled executives, who were involved in a merger, airing their side of the issue. I don't think it should be compared to the decades-long toxic work environment, especially for women, that was revealed at Blizzard. It's not a similar situation and conflating the two seems kind of diminishing of the extent of the problems at Blizzard, and of what happened to many, many victims there.

Not talking about that, but the corporate delusion that they are the end all be all.

 

[John R Davis]

Yeah. It's successful for two reasons:

1) It is for D&D
2) It is very good

Both of those things needed to be true for it to be a success. Many things which are for D&D are not a success.

Yeah. I dont use it but my youngling group all adore and spend on it
Boycott that and stop buying stuff on it is a very quick way to protest. I think

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What about any of this would lead someone to think that WotC execs value anything other than their coffers?

That he said it was a conversation with one person, rather than the initial meeting of the two teams, when the most high-ranking people in the room announced they were a bunch of worthless codemonkeys.

What he recounts is not great, but let's not make it more than one conversation with one person.

 

[jerryrice4949]

This is a pair of disgruntled executives, who were involved in a merger, airing their side of the issue. I don't think it should be compared to the decades-long toxic work environment, especially for women, that was revealed at Blizzard. It's not a similar situation and conflating the two seems kind of diminishing of the extent of the problems at Blizzard, and of what happened to many, many victims there.

I think you make several good points. Departing staff often have feeling or agendas specific to them. Also there is no evidence WoTC has a situation like Blizzard.

 

[Waller]

I think you make several good points. Departing staff often have feeling or agendas specific to them. Also there is no evidence WoTC has a situation like Blizzard.

I dunno. There's been a bunch of stuff over the last few years. Not the same as the Blizzard situation obviously, but definitely a situation. Somebody should compile all this stuff somewhere.

 

[Zaukrie]

It strike anyone else as weird that WotC / D&D Beyond is shedding people left and right and they’re all mum about it for weeks after the split?

Do people regularly make really public statements when leaving? I don't find it odd at all

 

[Rhineglade]

That is really disappointing to hear. It does seem that some folks at WotC must think their "naughty word don't stink." And even worse in my opinion is all this behind the scenes drama is known by only a few insiders. The consumer is left high and dry. They will continue to gladly accept our money but what type of product do we receive in return.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I dunno. There's been a bunch of stuff over the last few years. Not the same as the Blizzard situation obviously, but definitely a situation. Somebody should compile all this stuff somewhere.

There are almost certainly legal firms doing just that.

 

[Clint_L]

Do people regularly make really public statements when leaving? I don't find it odd at all

A member of the maintenance staff was recently let go at my school. He made VERY loud and profane public statements when leaving (e.g. yelling in the parking lot. Of a school. With students present). I don't want to judge that situation based on his public statements.

In this DnDBeyond case, yeah, those statements are kind of unprofessional. They might also be accurate. It's a little unfair to judge because there are no names named, and it is almost impossible for WotC to respond. It may be representative of a more widespread problem, or it may be representative of personal issues. At a personal level, I don't like it when people air their grievances this way.

The situation at Blizzard was totally different, as specific offences, some of them criminal, were being brought to light. That was about malfeasance. This dispute seems to be about attitudes. This is one guy claiming that another unidentified person said something that was representative of more widespread "arrogance." There's a lot of ways to read that.

 

[Vincent55]

I suspect or hope, that those who spit from their own company split the player base again and put a death nail in the coffin of the corporate takeover of D&D. I really feel this is the last days of this brand as it gets squeezed for all the money they can then maybe sold off like an old used car they don't want to fix. The company needs someone who loves the game, like those that formed pathfinder and such, but I may be just hoping too much. This is hard to say for me as I have loved this game from the blue and red box sets to the last 5e book I got, but I feel it has since lost its way and has become more about making money and less about the quality of the product. This happens a lot with online games and such with the intro of no subscription and the lock boxes and the hoops they make the player jump through to do things all pay-to-win models and such. With D&D you will end up with, table scraps tossed to us for free, and others locked behind exclusive content on many things like digital-only or rare collectables covers and adventures with small bits of crunch and ther rest left up to the DM to fill in. We the community will be the creative staff, who will have our original creations taken and used to whatever ends they want and we have no say so. Try and complain and bam you are slapped with a court document forbidding you to make or sell anything. No pay, no rights, and no caring for the community only what we can do for them. Yes, this guy was one of the most dedicated D&D fans and DM's but now like a girlfriend who is a mess and keeps taking her back, I am done it's over.