Todd Lockwood Laid Off By WOTC! (thread necromancy)

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Yeah, Todd Lockwood, one of the greatest artists on staff at WOTC, has been fired, according to the latest news by Morrus. Todd's employment will be over at the end of this year.

I wish Todd all the best. I hope he makes more money than ever, and I hope he can find work with competitors that can grind WOTC good! WOTC is shooting themselves in the foot, for sure.

Can you believe this? WOTC is just plain stupid. That's it, get rid of all of your creative talent! Real smart! You know, for all of the WOTC apologists out there, this kind of thing just isn't good, I don't care how you want to slice it. It just isn't. Companies gain strength by keeping resources. Todd is an excellent resource that they just stupidly fired! Real smart.

What do you think?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Sulimo]

Whilst I never liked Todd's art much (at least from my limited experience in the 3e PHB DMG and MM), it is very unfortunate that Todd's lost this position.

Then again, it might be an opportunity to spread his wings doing freelance stuff for a varierty of companies.

It does bring up the question of whether a RPG company really needs to have their artists on permanently rather than using a group of freelancers. Of course this might be problematic if your trying to keep a single art style over a whole product line.

 

[Napftor]

WotC is definitely finished with D&D. There is no more "core" material to put out, really. So why not wipe the slate of talent as well? It only means the community can reap the benefits as these artists/writers enter the d20 freelancing community.

 

[AaronLoeb]

As someone who has in the past been laid off from a job I really loved, I wonder -- was he fired or was he laid off? These distinctions are very important, especially to the person in question. If his position was eliminated, it's a layoff. If he's actually been shown the door and will be replaced, that's a firing. From what you've said (job ends at the end of the year), it's a layoff.

I don't know Todd from Adam, but I would say for the sake of politeness, don't say a guy got fired if he's been laid off. It stings. Firing implies (even if you don't mean it to) that there's been some kind of performance issue or something. It sounds like budget cutbacks have caught yet another supremely talented person, and that person shouldn't have to read they've been fired when they haven't been.

I don't mean any disrespect to you, Shark. I'm sure you're using the harder word to convey your displeasure with WotC. But keep in mind: that harder word does splash damage -- to the firer as well as the "alleged firee."

AJL

 

[Sulimo]

WotC is definitely finished with D&D. There is no more "core" material to put out, really. So why not wipe the slate of talent as well?

Well, there is the new setting...although given the infrequency of Realms material I wonder how much the new setting will be supported.

 

[Renaissance Man]

Has the entire art staff been eliminated, as suggested in Todd's post? Who else would be affected?

As when faced with a suspected illusion, I attempt to disbelieve...

 

[SemperJase]

Re: Todd Lockwood Fired By WOTC!

and I hope he can find work with competitors that can grind WOTC good! WOTC is shooting themselves in the foot, for sure.

What do you think?

I wonder how many of those competitors you speak of keep artists on staff?

If none (or very few), it is actually a smart move by WotC. Nothing in the news says that WotC will not use Mr. Lockwood's work in the future.

But then again, from Mr. Lockwood's perspective it would suck. I can empathize with the desire for a steady paycheck and health benefits.

Still, any rational person knows that there is no such thing as job security now. I wish Mr. Lockwood much success in a freelance career.

 

[Squire James]

Because it's sooo much cheaper to force people to "be entrepreneurs" than to actually hire people for long-term jobs anymore! Why keep a guy on their payroll if they can re-hire him for a specific job one year later for half-pay because he's desperate for money?

It works for computer people... it'll work for artists. Take it from a computer guy who has been out of work 15 months and would GLADLY take a half-pay computer job right about now (even though I'd need more like 2/3 to actually pay my bills)!

 

[Dr Midnight]

What???

Todd Lockwood is arguably the greatest illustrative talent to ever work for RPG's. Sam Wood is a good second choice, for me. This is ridiculous. I'll only accept this without screaming if he was asking for an outrageous amount of money.

His stuff is so damn good. Sigh...

 

[jester47]

They are shipbreaking WotC. Thats all there is to it. Eventually they will be small enough to move to RI. I hope they loose interest and sell D&D to Peter Adkinson. Then we will have what we want and the wheel will have come full circle. There will be a company that runs GenCon and makes D&D.

Aaron.