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."

 

[wicked cool]

it might be a failure but I find the DM's guide to less useful then the Basic Set. The basic set I would argue has the 1st or second best module

so why get the basic set over the players handbook
you can run the game until you group becomes more comfortable with rules
both basic sets have an included adventure which the players handbook doesn't. Makes it very easy for a Junior DM
dm screen and maps and dice

As an experienced player and DM I ran a 1 shot for 3 adult players where 2 hadn't played a roleplaying game ever and one played once. this game is less daunting than Mantics walking dead, fallout miniature game etc.

Really what is the hard part of this game? Picking spells?picking certain character class's that are weak in certain situations (druid)

90% of this game is imagination

You come upon a farmhouse surrounded by what appear to be zombies. What do you do
the players then react?

 

[MichaelSomething]

As an experienced player and DM I ran a 1 shot for 3 adult players where 2 hadn't played a roleplaying game ever and one played once. this game is less daunting than Mantics walking dead, fallout miniature game etc.

What if a person doesn't have access to an experienced player/DM? Just having the books to learn with would imply that D&D is very rules heavy.

 

[wicked cool]

its really not especially early on

however I do have my copy of Rime of the Frostmaiden and this adventure is not catered for new DM's

 

[Al'Kelhar]

A bit late to this conversation, but my 2c.

The focus of the discussion around the new player experience seems to have been caught up in the length and complexity of the ruleset.

The new player experience has nothing to do with the length and complexity of the ruleset.

Let me use an analogy.

My wife has one of those "sleep story" apps, where some softly-spoken person tells you a nice, calming story to relax you and send you to sleep. One of those sleep stories is, quite literally, John McEnroe reading the official rules of tennis.

I think tennis is quite a popular sport. It is quite a popular activity for kids. Tennis schools abound.

Has any one of the tens or hundreds of millions of tennis players ever read the rules of the game? Remember, those rules can literally send you to sleep.

And yet, millions of people take up tennis, and for many reasons, for example, because it looks fun, they want to get fit, or their friends play it and they want to hang out with their friends.

D&D is the same.

The new player experience has to focus on the experience. If I see a bunch of people laughing, yelling, hanging on the edge of their seats as some other person at the table evocatively describes a scene for them, jumping up and high-fiving other players when they roll some number on some weird-shaped die, or even bursting into tears when some imaginary person dies or otherwise does something deeply emotionally moving - I want in on that experience. That shared experience.

If I get that experience, and keep getting that experience, sooner or later, I'm gonna learn the rules. Possibly wrongly. But who cares, right?

Improving the new user experience is fundamentally about improving the experience, not improving (simplifying, making more accessible, etc.) the rules. The rules are a vanishingly small part of the experience.

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[R_Chance]

This thread has been going a while. So, to sum up a lot of conversations... D&D has always been taught to new players by an "master / apprentice" system where experienced players (or DMs) mentor new players and bring them in to the game. Some people want it to move to an "academic / instructional textbook" model for those people who do not have (or want) a mentor. Oddly enough streaming games, which many like or value as an introduction for new players, is really an extension of the old master / apprentice model. Maybe they need instructional videos? Instead of watching a game played by others have rules exposition (hopefully well done / entertaining), explanations and examples? Might be a good replacement for the "introductory game book". Just a thought.

edit And yes, I know there are websites with "how to X" videos, but I mean ones done by WotC and intended to fill / replace / supplement any new basic game set.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

There's a reason spells have universal levels, though.

Paladin/Ranger/Artificer might get Spell levels 1-5 over the course of 1st-20th level rather than SL 1-9 over that same period, but the fact that they learn their spells slower doesn't change the tremendous benefit from having spells by level tabbed.

If Pages 211-289 are spell descriptions, then say pages 211-215 are cantrips, 216-230 are 1st level, 231-240 are 2nd level, 241-250 are 3rd level, 251-260 are 4th, 261-270 are 5th, 271-275 are 6th, 276-280 are 7th, 281-285 are 8th, and 286-288 are 9th.

As a spell caster, I'd only ever have to look at the pages I have spell levels from. An1st-level spellcaster would only ever need the first 20 pages of the spell lists, rather than having to flip all around the chapter to look up their spells.

WotC shouldn't ASSUME that you're using some sort of support tool to find each of your spells.

There's a reason GaleForce9 has made a killing on spell book cards. It's just too much busy work to keep skipping around the book during a game. People who don't buy the cards almost certainly have copied over their known spells to a word document or something for reference.

It's unwieldy and unnecessarily so. And it's even worse for Divine Casters who know their entire spell list to draw from every day.

At my table we just look them ip. Isn’t a pain at all, unless we misremember what book a spell is from. Because the descriptions are alphabetical.

 

[Celestian]

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.

Looks like she went to work for Dreamhaven, headed by Mike Morhaime.

 

[ChaosOS]

Oh I saw the Dreamhaven news but I didn't notice Kate's name on their list. Big pickup for both sides!

 

[wicked cool]

sorry to necro an old thread but I just noticed that D&D has an announcement on Friday 10/30 (youtube D&D) called night of Dread and Kate Welch is listed on it???

 

[jerryrice4949]

sorry to necro an old thread but I just noticed that D&D has an announcement on Friday 10/30 (youtube D&D) called night of Dread and Kate Welch is listed on it???

Well that cannot be the case. Everyone knows that once you leave WoTC you must hate them because they are evil

Kidding of course.