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

 

[Umbran]

Both sides can be real jerks when they are only thinking of themselves and their own preferences and happiness. So it's very hard for me to feel for either of them 100% either way.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure we haven't been, "Realistic threat to put companies out of business and people out of work" level jerks.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure we haven't been, "Realistic threat to put companies out of business and people out of work" level jerks.

True. Although responses here on EN World in all the differing threads about this fiasco have had numerous people state they want and hope for WotC to go under and lose everything because of this... which would ALSO put probably thousands of people out of work on WotC's side that have nothing to do with any of this.

Now granted... those individual posters can't actually accomplish what they are hoping for... but their attitudes are such that they give the impression that they WOULD do it if they could-- and many of these people don't even have any skin in the game (other than just wanting to buy products for their own games.) So that sends up dozens of red flags for me to take EVERYTHING that is said regarding this situation with many grains of salt.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure we haven't been, "Realistic threat to put companies out of business and people out of work" level jerks.

that is what I wish we could all keep our eyes on. The people who might loose jobs and or companies are the real victims here.

True. Although responses here on EN World in all the differing threads about this fiasco have had numerous people state they want and hope for WotC to go under and lose everything because of this... which would ALSO put probably thousands of people out of work on WotC's side that have nothing to do with any of this.

Now granted... those individual posters can't actually accomplish what they are hoping for... but their attitudes are such that they give the impression that they WOULD do it if they could-- and many of these people don't even have any skin in the game (other than just wanting to buy products for their own games.) So that sends up dozens of red flags for me to take EVERYTHING that is said regarding this situation with many grains of salt.

yup... the tar and feather crowd doesn't always care if they get the people who did this to them, or if they get the 'anybody close to them'.

 

[Ancalagon]

Opinions are protected speech.

... protected from government intervention. If this is a first amendment comment, it wouldn't apply to WotC or other corporations

 

[Umbran]

True. Although responses here on EN World in all the differing threads about this fiasco have had numerous people state they want and hope for WotC to go under and lose everything because of this... which would ALSO put probably thousands of people out of work on WotC's side that have nothing to do with any of this.

It isn't as if what people say when it is a complete hypothetical have much relation to what they'd actually do if in the position.

that is what I wish we could all keep our eyes on. The people who might loose jobs and or companies are the real victims here.

It isn't a competition. We can embrace the power of "and".

 

[Ancalagon]

Yep. The structure of publicly traded corporations basically demands a willingness to knowingly do that which is wrong for the company, employees, customers/clients, industry, and social order, in the pursuit of quarterly profit growth to serve the shareholders.

And if they don't (seek to maximize shareholder value) the shareholders can sue the company!

This is *clearly * going to lead to bad outcomes, and I don't understand why we are keeping this harm-inducing set of rules. It wasn't always this way.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It isn't as if what people say when it is a complete hypothetical have much relation to what they'd actually do if in the position.

Also true. But it does make reading all of these takes occasionally irritating to read and follow along... when so much of it seems to be the airing of personal grudges moreso than actual concern for the events that are unfolding.

It is not lost on me that I'm seeing a lot of the same level of rhetoric regarding this possible shutting down of the OGL as I do when Jeremy posts a UA that has a couple rules changes in it that people don't like. It makes it hard for me to take a lot of comments seriously when people have cried wolf about D&D for so long.

But you know, that's just me. And who am I to be any sort of judge? And it's mainly why I'm just staying out of most of the threads on this at this point because I have nothing notable to add.

 

[deganawida]

I know a guy who reluctantly agreed to be CEO of his company (after the previous CEO ran it into the ground and there was no one else who could right the ship), and who is now counting the days till he gets to step down. His theory, only half joking, is that anyone who isn't a sociopath and/or narcissist cannot last as CEO of a large company -- the stress and the responsibility will crush your soul, particularly when you have to do things like layoffs.

That's why I'm working to get out of management. I've had to deal with so many layoffs the last four years and I'm just sick of it. Well, there's that part, and there's also the part where eventually my tongue will get away from me, I'll answer truthfully (and bluntly) some stupid question, and get my tail end fired.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

And if they don't (seek to maximize shareholder value) the shareholders can sue the company!

This is *clearly * going to lead to bad outcomes, and I don't understand why we are keeping this harm-inducing set of rules. It wasn't always this way.

do you mean the 'share holders can sue you for not being enough of a jerk' or do you mean the d20 system or the ogl? in this post the phrase 'harm-inducing set of rules' could be miss interpreted...

if it's the 'share holder can sue the company for not persuading profit over people' then I agree though... I have delt with companies that use that as an excuse to do morally bankrupt things (most are technically legal though...but not all) and I have heard horror stories of whole boards all the way down to VPs being 'retired' or 'resign with these benefits' to put in MORE cut throat people to do these morally bankrupt things.

I often share RPG stories on here but this week I have talked my muggle life more... I was part of a contract negotiation only a few years ago (minor part really) and when I let it slip I thought someone was not playing nice or fair, someone told me the previous person in that position was fired for not 'maximizing profits'

 

[dbolack]

The BEST businesses I have worked with thought that way. Some times you grow sometimes you sustain and sometimes you fall a little behind. Its a marathon though not a sprint and I feel many (especially bigger) companies forget that.

It's not that they forget. Too many members of C level aren't in it for the marathon, so you end up with a series of never-ending sprints as headcount rolls over and Golden parachutes deploy.

 

[dbolack]

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.

The problem here is that brand owners frequently do not see any type of third-party license as enhancing their brand. They think their brand always does the heavy lifting. D&D made E.T.! D&D made Stranger Things!

They do not seem to understand that many of these things are brand enhancers that lift them up in previously unaccessed/unavailable ways.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And if they don't (seek to maximize shareholder value) the shareholders can sue the company!

This is *clearly * going to lead to bad outcomes, and I don't understand why we are keeping this harm-inducing set of rules. It wasn't always this way.

Yeeeeeup

 

[Ancalagon]

do you mean the 'share holders can sue you for not being enough of a jerk' or do you mean the d20 system or the ogl? in this post the phrase 'harm-inducing set of rules' could be miss interpreted...

the rules I was talking about were the "maximize shareholder value" rules.

the D20 system can't destroy our civilization. Maximizing shareholder value could.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

True. Although responses here on EN World in all the differing threads about this fiasco have had numerous people state they want and hope for WotC to go under and lose everything because of this... which would ALSO put probably thousands of people out of work on WotC's side that have nothing to do with any of this.

I'm pretty sure those people can easily find jobs in the non-D&D market, especially since those publishers will absolutely need more workers when they receive the massive influx of customers ditching Wizbro and giving their wallets to these other publishers instead.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I'm pretty sure those people can easily find jobs in the non-D&D market, especially since those publishers will absolutely need more workers when they receive the massive influx of customers ditching Wizbro and giving their wallets to these other publishers instead.

Nobody should assume ANYONE will have an easy time finding a job in the best of times.

(I don't know if you are in the US) Here in the US our retirement founds, our health care and sometimes our life insurance are tied to employment... so you change employment to a new job you have to restart all of them. Does the new health insurance require you to go through pre auth again? Does the new health insurance even except your doctor? Does your 401k roll over easy to an IRA or the new job's 401K?

I have a friend that had to switch doctors when she switch jobs (only unemployed for like 2 weeks) and as such had to switch medication stepping down 1 and stepping up another... just to find she is allergic to the new one and had to stop, and got VERY sick for it... the kicker, being sick she lost time from work (and since she was new it was unpaid).

Job switching is NEVER even on the best of times easy.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm pretty sure those people can easily find jobs in the non-D&D market, especially since those publishers will absolutely need more workers when they receive the massive influx of customers ditching Wizbro and giving their wallets to these other publishers instead.

Heh... this is the kind of response that makes me even more assured of my point that I have to take everything everyone says here on the boards with a grain of salt.

"Culture of Arrogance" / "Culture of Entitlement" indeed.

 

[bedir than]

I'm pretty sure those people can easily find jobs in the non-D&D market, especially since those publishers will absolutely need more workers when they receive the massive influx of customers ditching Wizbro and giving their wallets to these other publishers instead.

Either writing for a specific system is a skill or it isn't.
When you suggest people who are good at one thing can do a similar, but different thing quite easily it minimizes the time and effort creators put in to do things well.

 

[Shardstone]

I'm pretty sure those people can easily find jobs in the non-D&D market, especially since those publishers will absolutely need more workers when they receive the massive influx of customers ditching Wizbro and giving their wallets to these other publishers instead.

Id love for this fantasy to be reality, but it isnt.

 

[Shardstone]

Heh... this is the kind of response that makes me even more assured of my point that I have to take everything everyone says here on the boards with a grain of salt.

"Culture of Arrogance" / "Culture of Entitlement" indeed.

Your sanctimonious stance neither impresses nor moves anyone. It just makes you as arrogant as everyone else.

 

[Umbran]

"Culture of Arrogance" / "Culture of Entitlement" indeed.

Mod Note:
Please stop antagonizing people. It isn't constructive.