D&D 5E Kate Welch on Leaving WotC

Kate Welch left Wizards of the Coast a few days ago, on August 16th. Soon after, she talked a little about it in a live-stream.

She started work at WotC as a game designer back in February 2018, and has contributed to various products since then, such as Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Descent into Avernus, as well as being a participant in WotC's livestreams. In December 2019, her job changed to that of 'senior user experience designer'.

"I mentioned yesterday that I have some big news that I wouldn't be able to share until today.

The big news that I have to share with you today is that I ... this is difficult, but ... I quit my job at Wizards of the Coast. I no longer work at Wizards. Today was my last day. I haven't said it out loud yet so it's pretty major. I know... it's a big change. It's been scary, I have been there for almost three years, not that long, you know, as far as jobs go, and for a while there I really was having a good time. It's just not... it wasn't the right fit for me any more.

So, yeah, I don't really know what's next. I got no big plans. It's a big deal, big deal .... and I wanted to talk to you all about it because you're, as I've mentioned before, a source of great joy for me. One of the things that has been tough reckoning with this is that I've defined myself by Dungeons & Dragons for so long and I really wanted to be a part of continuing to make D&D successful and to grow it, to have some focus especially on new user experience, I think that the new user experience for Dungeons & Dragons is piss poor, and I've said that while employed and also after quitting.

But I've always wanted to be a part of getting D&D into the hands of more people and helping them understand what a life-changing game it is, and I hope I still get the chance to do that. But as of today I'm unemployed, and I also wanted to be upfront about it because I have this great fear that because Dungeons & Dragons has been part of my identity, professionally for the last three years almost, I was worried that a lot of you'll would not want to follow me any more because I'm not at Wizards, and there's definitely some glamourous aspects to being at Wizards."

She went on to talk about the future, and her hopes that she'll still be be able to work with WotC.

"I'm excited about continuing to play D&D, and hopefully Wizards will still want me to appear on their shows and stuff, we'll see, I have no idea. But one thing that I'm really excited about is that now I can play other TTRPGs. There's a policy that when you're a Wizards employee you can't stream other tabletop games. So there was a Call of Cthulhu game that we did with the C-team but we had to get very special permission for it, they were like OK but this is only a one time thing. I get it, you know, it's endorsing the competition or whatever, but I'm super excited to be able to have more freedom about the kinds of stuff that I'm getting involved with."

 

[thatparanoidguy]

Do you mean the 4E Essentials books? If so - I agree those were really well done.

Those were also good but I meant Necrotic Gnome's OSE books. The ones that take the old B/X rules and merge them into on book really great stuff.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Those were also good but I meant Necrotic Gnome's OSE books. The ones that take the old B/X rules and merge them into on book really great stuff.

Isnt OSE also divided in smaller booklet, with mage and cleric spells in different books?

That would be a format I would appreciate for 5e. They could so the same for their adventures, like Beaddle and Grimm do, but without all the minis and metallic handouts. The small module of D&D next were also divided in small booklets stashed in a soft DM's screen; those were great.

 

[imagineGod]

"
So, yeah, I don't really know what's next. I got no big plans. It's a big deal, big deal .... and I wanted to talk to you all about it because you're, as I've mentioned before, a source of great joy for me. One of the things that has been tough reckoning with this is that I've defined myself by Dungeons & Dragons for so long and I really wanted to be a part of continuing to make D&D successful and to grow it, to have some focus especially on new user experience, I think that the new user experience for Dungeons & Dragons is piss poor, and I've said that while employed and also after quitting.
"

She went on to talk about the future, and her hopes that she'll still be be able to work with WotC.

"I'm excited about continuing to play D&D, and hopefully Wizards will still want me to appear on their shows and stuff, we'll see, I have no idea. But one thing that I'm really excited about is that now I can play other TTRPGs. There's a policy that when you're a Wizards employee you can't stream other tabletop games. So there was a Call of Cthulhu game that we did with the C-team but we had to get very special permission for it, they were like OK but this is only a one time thing. I get it, you know, it's endorsing the competition or whatever, but I'm super excited to be able to have more freedom about the kinds of stuff that I'm getting involved with."

I can't even...

 

[schneeland]

Isnt OSE also divided in smaller booklet, with mage and cleric spells in different books?

They have two options:
1. Five smaller booklets (Core Rules, Classic Fantasy: Genre Rules, Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells, Classic Fantasy: Monsters, Classic Fantasy: Treasures), available also with a fancy box for all of them
2. A rules tome containing all these rules (also available in a trimmed player-only version)

In addition, there's 2 "advanced fantasy" books out (currently being complemented by more from a Kickstarter), where "advanced fantasy" is a backport of popular things from AD&D to the B/X framework

As others mentioned, the layout is pretty good and I think it does a solid job of introducing new players to the game.
I also think, B/X has the right level of complexity, but will admit that this might also be based on personal preferences.

In general I think 5e is not horrible as an introduction, but it could do much better, especially in terms of structuring content and examples of play (most OSR titles I read are much more straightforward). I also think that 5e still has too many moving parts (while, at the same time, having cut back too much on aspects like skill system and situation modifiers), but again this is probably a question of preference.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'm currently running two campaigns for groups of new players. Both groups have one player with experience.

The new player experience is god awful. Its terrible. Its trash. The books are laid out poorly, and since we play over zoom cuz some of us are scattered, they have to navigate DnD Beyond, and that doesn't make things any easier, even with a subscription and content sharing.

The terms are confusing to new players. Saving throw? DC? AC? Even after explaining it for 3-4 sessions people are still confused. D&D takes a lot of buy in and is in no way intuitive for the new player. They have to struggle against what they can and cannot do (which is nothing, they can do anything, that's what you have to convince them!) and the book does a bad job of doing this.

All you people saying the new user experience is great are living in a completely different world from a significant subset of the world.

Concur. My new players still can't recall that you basically roll a D20 for most every check. "how do I do that again" is a question I get a lot of.

As for her leaving, if she wasn't happy, good for her. Too many people stay in jobs they hate out of fear.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Do you know what happens when you design with the new user experience in mind? 4th Edition! Do you people want more of that?

Clearly the solution is that everyone here should spend 10+ hours a week teaching and guiding new players.

 

[DnD Warlord]

Do you know what happens when you design with the new user experience in mind? 4th Edition! Do you people want more of that

I do... I want more 4e

 

[Alzrius]

Seriously, the word "planes" confused the hell out of me as a new D&D player

I don't know, it lends itself to some amusing uses, like that time the fighter in our group got fed up with the huge-sized demonic serpents that they were fighting in a sylvan pocket dimension an evil wizard had created.

"Get these massive fiendish snakes off this magic forest plane of existence!"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The roughly page or so "how to play" section in the PHB is a good executive summary.

I have a hard time imagining a group of five total newbies (DM included) wouldn't be able to figure the game out.

Test it! I think you will be shocked to see how many times newbies bounce off the rules.

There are board games with a steeper learning curve.

I suspect their target numbers and the ones Hasbro has for the D&D brand are pretty different.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Do you mean the 4E Essentials books?

He's talking about Old School Essentials.