Layoffs Hit Wizards Of The Coast ‘D&D’ Team

Wizards of the Coast has downsized its Dungeons & Dragons creative team. Included in the layoffs was Bill Slavicsek, WotC’s Director of Roleplaying Design and Development, who joined TSR in 1993 after a stint a West End Games where he oversaw the development of West End’s Star Wars RPG. Slavicsek, who wrote the second and third editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, is considered one of the world’s leading Star Wars experts.

In a farewell statement posted on the Wizards Website Slavicsek noted the projects he had worked on since WotC acquired TSR and moved the staff from Lake Geneva to Seattle: “I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with a talented group of creative people over the years, and we accomplished such feats as launching both the 3rd and 4th editions of the D&D roleplaying game, creating d20 Modern and d20 Star Wars, launching painted plastic miniatures for D&D, creating new worlds such as Eberron and the D&D Core World, and most recently launching a new category of D&D board games that started with Castle Ravenloft.”

At least two other layoffs from the D&D creative team have been confirmed on the EN World Website. Michele Carter, the “Editing Manager” of the D&D Group, who has been around for a long time (her name is in the credits of numerous D&D publications from the 1990s), and Stephen Schubert, the Development Manager for D&D, have also reportedly left the company.

Wizards of the Coast did not respond to a request for comment in time for this article.

Wizards of the Coast has given D&D a lot of support in recent years, including the D&D Encounters Organized Play program and new entry level products. But the company pared its D&D release schedule for 2011, eliminating weaker products from the schedule.

WotC’s new initiative to translate elements of its D&D adventures into the world of board games (see “Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Drizzt”, “Wrath of Ashardalon,” and “Cooperative Ravenloft Board Game”) has met with considerable success.

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WotC to Revise D&D 4th Ed. Game System License (GSL)

Wizards of the Coast has announced on its Website that it is planning to issue a revision to the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Game System License (GSL) and System Reference Document (SRD). Linae Foster, the D&D Licensing Manager, put it this way: “We recognize the important role third party publishing support plays in the success of the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. We have listened to the community and our valued colleagues and have taken their concerns and recommendations to heart. Our commitment to the health of the industry and hobby gaming lifestyle is reflected in the revisions to the Game System License.” The announcement indicated that the revised GSL and SRD documents “will be available in the very near future.” Read more

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition – My Impressions Part 2

Ok, so now I’ve rolled up another character in my quest to become familiar with the new rules. This time around I created a Dwarf Cleric. The way in which the powers function makes it easy to fill in the blanks without having to learn how spells work as opposed to melee abilities. My son and daughter have each rolled up characters as well. My daughter Kyla created a human warlock and my son Logan created a dragonborn ranger.

This process is really helping me understand the mechanics of the new 4th edition as well, and I think will make jumping into our first adventure a lot easier. For example, while in the process of creating these characters, I’ve been able to look up the rules for combat, movement, powers, skills, etc., and now have a basic working knowledge of the flow of the game.

Back in 1978, the first adventure I ran for my friends was Dungeon Module G1 – Steading Of The Hill Giant Chief by TSR. I took some liberties with the module and added a bunch of stuff on my own, including hordes of orc fodder. However, I don’t think I’ll ever forget when Andy’s character betrayed Marty’s, took the loot and escaped to become one of our favorite villains. After 30 years, some of the details have slipped my mind, but the feeling in the air during our sessions is still with me.

I’m going to create a few more characters this weekend and then take my kids through their first 4th edition adventure. Until then, keep fighting!

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Getting Some Positive Initial Feedback

By guest blogger Michael Zenke

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is going to change just about everything for the dice-rolling set.

With the new edition, released Friday, D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast is launching one of the most ambitious attempts the tabletop-games industry has seen at redefining what it means to play an RPG. The rules are different, the mind-set is different, even the delivery system is different. At essentially every level, Dungeons & Dragons is being streamlined and simplified with one goal in mind: To get players together to roll some dice and have fun.

“From the beginning of the 4th Edition design process, we knew we wanted to make a rules set that was accessible and easy to use,” said Bill Slavicsek, R&D director for role-playing games at Wizards. “We wanted to approach them in a friendlier manner, and not necessarily continue the ‘dense textbook’ style of past editions. I wouldn’t say we were thinking ‘mainstream gaming,’ whatever that really means. The D&D game will always be a specialized hobby. The trick is making sure that we can remove as many hurdles as possible so that it becomes the largest specialized hobby it can be.”

I had the opportunity to play D&D 4th Edition in a series of play tests run by a friend of mine last December. As gaming sessions go, they were quite grueling; we showed up at noon and played until well after 10 or 11 p.m. We had to, though: We were on a deadline. Wizards needed feedback on the adventure we were playing by the end of the month. Despite the long hours, despite our fumbling with the rules, despite sometimes rough notes for the dungeon master, it was a glorious experience.

At every level, mechanically, players and dungeon masters (a game’s storyteller and arbiter) are freed to experience the game in ways they never could before. Characters now have special powers that assist them in combat, giving them real moment-to-moment choices in the heat of battle.

“I hit it with my warhammer” gets pretty old; instead, why don’t you whack that monster upside its head so hard that it’s forced to stagger backward? Spellcasters have similarly colorful abilities in D&D 4th Edition; where once they had hundreds of thematically similar spells to choose from, they now only have to make a few important decisions as they gain in power. Warlocks, arcane casters that truck with mysterious powers, have particularly evocative abilities. What better way to deal with a troublesome orc than to teleport it away from you? If part of that trip involves burning in the fires of Hell, so much the better!

You can read the rest of the story HERE.

Thanks to Michael Zenke and Wired.com