MonsterEnvy
Legend
He's was a marketer.
D&D General Todd Kenreck Let Go from WotC
- Thread starter Eubani
- Start date
The Firebird
Commoner
I think the difference here is how long the history of Crawford and Perkins was. I guess Zeb cook is similar, but they were both there for well over a decade...I remember a Perkins mod from 2004. And that includes multiple edition changes.
I'm as pro-AI as most anyone on this site...but I think you're reaching. The Atutagawa prize author used ChatGPT for about 5% of her novel, apparently to generate responses given in-universe by an AI bot. As for the Chinese case, it is hardly a prestigious award:
Both of these stories are over a year old. Given the progress in AI, if it really were that easy, we'd be seeing more of it.
I'm basing my views on my own AI use too. I use it to clean up text I write; about 30% of the time, it has something useful to say, and the edits are typically not very good. I use it because it is fast and hits often enough to be useful; that is different from being good at writing. I also use it to generate and reference ideas for my campaign setting. I could imagine d&d writers using it as an aid.
But until I see something that impresses me in English, I won't think they can replace people wholesale with AI generated content.
Desdichado
Hero
What does that mean that he did, though? I'm trying to understand what this means for the brand and for the game.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Nothing. That sounds harsh, and I don't want to take away from the work Todd did, but for most people it doesn't have any impact. They can pretty much grab anyone to do interview videos (there are lots of folks who are still at WotC who do those), and anyone can help with convention set up for the panel interviews. I'm not sure what else his job duties were.
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
And here we go again. It will be interesting to see how many other names come out in the next couple of weeks.
Whenever something like this happens, people always say "In video games, after launch you see this sort of thing all the time, and there's the 'non-edition-edition' that just came out."
The problem is, RPGs aren't like computer or console games. You don't just hit release and then everyone goes their way, perhaps getting together again for the next score (in this I imagine sort of a heist-caper movie here). D&D is going to need support and product to keep it moving forward. Right now, WotC aren't giving any signs of doing that.
That dragon anthology book that's coming out isn't going to market itself. Or perhaps the assumption is that it will. Who knows.
I am sorry to hear this about Todd. Who knows, maybe another RPG company might be looking for an experienced marketer.
To WotC management: I hope that slight change on the spreadsheet brings you some comfort.
Whenever something like this happens, people always say "In video games, after launch you see this sort of thing all the time, and there's the 'non-edition-edition' that just came out."
The problem is, RPGs aren't like computer or console games. You don't just hit release and then everyone goes their way, perhaps getting together again for the next score (in this I imagine sort of a heist-caper movie here). D&D is going to need support and product to keep it moving forward. Right now, WotC aren't giving any signs of doing that.
That dragon anthology book that's coming out isn't going to market itself. Or perhaps the assumption is that it will. Who knows.
I am sorry to hear this about Todd. Who knows, maybe another RPG company might be looking for an experienced marketer.
To WotC management: I hope that slight change on the spreadsheet brings you some comfort.
mamba
Legend
which is where the refining comes in (and their own custom AI)
that was not my point, but I do tend to care less for their recent releases on average (relative to ‘early’ 5e)
grimslade
Krampus ate my d20s
It is a shame to see Todd go. He may not have been a designer or developer, but he was one of the most recognizable people of the 5E era. I assume they want a fresh face to match all the other fresh faces for their product launches. I also imagine the interview format will go by the wayside for a more traditional marketing info dump. I will be interested where Todd winds up. Best of luck!
dave2008
Legend
What would that look like in you opinion. I can't even picture what that could realistically mean in the context of D&D.
Having a severely reduced writing staff throwing out Chat GPT prompts for monster designs, new spells, new magic items, archetypes, etc. Then doing a little clean up, throw it in a book, and ship it.
