Just read that WotC seems to be laying folks off and I wanted to make sure that a company whose CEO answered a question about whether there were tours of their HQ was at least treading water. Because if I need to subscribe to the RPG line (in addition to the stuff I already subscribe to) to help out (rather than waiting until closer to release date to order the rulebook), I'll do it.
'Cause that's the kind of guy I am.
AJ
I should clarify that I understand different companies, different structures and all that. But sometimes, when the big guy on the block has problems, others do too.
AJ
I don't really know much about it, but there have been "WoTC layoff" threads periodically popping up for several years as I understand it. I don't know that it says much about how they're doing, more that they go through staff relatively rapidly.
What do you have to subscribe to in order to get those nifty benefits?
Lisa answered that question about office tours because she is Just. That. Awesome.
Dude (I was in my late teens in the '80s), I know it. I had a lot of things I love about Paizo before, but somehow, that now tops the list. Is there anyway to put "Just. That. Awesome" in the tag in her parentheses?
Paizo's doing great. But, you know, if you wanted to turn your list of subs into a superscriber tag and purple avatar border, we won't complain. Not one bit.
Seriously thinking about it. Also the Flip-Mat, Map Pack one. There are only a couple of those I skipped and I'm getting tired of going through the list every couple months to try and remember which ones I already have.
AJ
I don't really know much about it, but there have been "WoTC layoff" threads periodically popping up for several years as I understand it. I don't know that it says much about how they're doing, more that they go through staff relatively rapidly.
Yeah, I get that. I read this on a blog that links from rpgbloggers.com which may or may not be a good source, so I thought I'd ask. I don't post much, but this place and the folks who make it are great, so I wanted to ask.
AJ
I don't really know much about it, but there have been "WoTC layoff" threads periodically popping up for several years as I understand it. I don't know that it says much about how they're doing, more that they go through staff relatively rapidly.Yeah, I get that. I read this on a blog that links from rpgbloggers.com which may or may not be a good source, so I thought I'd ask. I don't post much, but this place and the folks who make it are great, so I wanted to ask.
AJ
I think if anything they've been hiring more staff of late (though I suppose that might have been replacing staff who were leaving).
It seems to me they're doing very well. Although I dont want to discourage you from superscribing - my Paizo payments are amongst my favorite monthly outlays. :)
Wha, The Illustrious Industry Leader is laying people off again? Who got the axe this time round?
It seems Bill Slavicsek, Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons Games and Novels, is leaving WoTC.
Wow. Bill was with the company since... forever? Wasn't he already on board in the TSR era?Wha, The Illustrious Industry Leader is laying people off again? Who got the axe this time round?It seems Bill Slavicsek, Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons Games and Novels, is leaving WoTC.
He started working for TSR in '93. Before I even started playing.
He also worked for West End Games. And Alternity was wonderful thing - Shame it hadn't got more popular...Is there a chance to catch him and get him to write something for Pathfinder?
Wow, Slavicsek is leaving? I wonder where he’ll be heading off to…
Monte Cook and a few others are posting on Twitter that WotC layoffs are around the corner. It appears that Bill left of his own accord and was not laid off.
While I have no knowledge of WotC's interior workings or Bill's actual motivations, I'm presenting my guess. Bill knew that layoffs were coming and was ready to move on. So instead he left so someone else could keep their job. Or more precisely, so someone could take his job. While I don't know if this is the case this time, we've heard similar stories coming out of WotC before. And since he's leaving before layoffs are coming, I wouldn't call it unreasonable.
Hmm so wait a sec. This guy was the director of R&D. Therefor he is directly to blame for the 4th edition ruleset. AND I would say directly responsible for lying to the community. 1 months before 4th edition was announced (and well into development) they were still swearing on the forums that they were not working on a new edition.
Sounds to me like this guy is directly responsible for wrecking the DnD brand for Wotc.
On one hand we should all thank him that his poor choices set the stage for paizo's rise.
On the other hand he's directly responsible for all the anguish and schisms caused within the rpg community.
Or am I missing something?
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Hmm so wait a sec. This guy was the director of R&D. Therefor he is directly to blame for the 4th edition ruleset. AND I would say directly responsible for lying to the community. 1 months before 4th edition was announced (and well into development) they were still swearing on the forums that they were not working on a new edition.
Sounds to me like this guy is directly responsible for wrecking the DnD brand for Wotc.
On one hand we should all thank him that his poor choices set the stage for paizo's rise.
On the other hand he's directly responsible for all the anguish and schisms caused within the rpg community.
Or am I missing something?
Nope, you're quite right. And he is responsible for the travesty that is star wars d20 revised edition and vitality and wound points among other things. His prior work with TSR and early wotc nonwithstanding, he made a great many f******s. Too many.
@ Scott Betts...resist the urge to fight for 4th edition. There are people who dislike it, and people who hate it. There always will be.
Wow. Bill was with the company since... forever? Wasn't he already on board in the TSR era?Wha, The Illustrious Industry Leader is laying people off again? Who got the axe this time round?It seems Bill Slavicsek, Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons Games and Novels, is leaving WoTC.He started working for TSR in '93. Before I even started playing.
He also worked for West End Games. And Alternity was wonderful thing - Shame it hadn't got more popular...Is there a chance to catch him and get him to write something for Pathfinder?
You mean like the "Space Opera" version of Pathfinder?
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Wow. Bill was with the company since... forever? Wasn't he already on board in the TSR era?Wha, The Illustrious Industry Leader is laying people off again? Who got the axe this time round?It seems Bill Slavicsek, Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons Games and Novels, is leaving WoTC.He started working for TSR in '93. Before I even started playing.
He also worked for West End Games. And Alternity was wonderful thing - Shame it hadn't got more popular...Is there a chance to catch him and get him to write something for Pathfinder?
For god's sake no! He ruined enough already.
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yes, he was also behind revised Dark Sun and Council of Wyrms.
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Hmm so wait a sec. This guy was the director of R&D. Therefor he is directly to blame for the 4th edition ruleset. AND I would say directly responsible for lying to the community. 1 months before 4th edition was announced (and well into development) they were still swearing on the forums that they were not working on a new edition.
Sounds to me like this guy is directly responsible for wrecking the DnD brand for Wotc.
On one hand we should all thank him that his poor choices set the stage for paizo's rise.
On the other hand he's directly responsible for all the anguish and schisms caused within the rpg community.
Or am I missing something?
My understanding, from listening "between the lines" at seminars at Gencon, is that there was a lot of pressure from Hasbro to increase the amount of changes from 3.5e to 4e. If that's the case, he's more guilty of not standing up to his corporate masters than anything else.
yes, he was also behind revised Dark Sun and Council of Wyrms.
And he co-wrote Torg, which I'm now running again. He'll always have my best wishes for that.
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I think it's immensely unfair to blame Bill Slavicsek for many of these things that were out of his hands. Sure you can disagree with some of the design choices on 4e, but much of the problem with the edition change was due to Hasbro being a big corporation. And someone like Bill was not able to change that.
I'm sorry to see him and others laid off/forced to retire/whatever from WotC. It's a very difficult industry to find paying work in, and I wish them the best. If any of them can land on their feet at Paizo, I'll be more than happy to support them.
My understanding, from listening "between the lines" at seminars at Gencon, is that there was a lot of pressure from Hasbro to increase the amount of changes from 3.5e to 4e. If that's the case, he's more guilty of not standing up to his corporate masters than anything else.
That's interesting, I wonder why Hasbro would do that? I figure they would have just let WotC be and do their own thing, especially due to the success of 3.x.
I think it's immensely unfair to blame Bill Slavicsek for many of these things that were out of his hands. Sure you can disagree with some of the design choices on 4e, but much of the problem with the edition change was due to Hasbro being a big corporation. And someone like Bill was not able to change that.
I'm sorry to see him and others laid off/forced to retire/whatever from WotC. It's a very difficult industry to find paying work in, and I wish them the best. If any of them can land on their feet at Paizo, I'll be more than happy to support them.
I find it hard to believe that Hasbro executives would have had a hand in crafting the 4th ed. ruleset.
Bill was the director of R&D.He would have overseen the team that did.
I seriously doubt the hasbro executives you prefer to blame would know the difference between Thac0 and Healing Surge. Though I could see some typical cooperate VP saying ooh warcraft is popular make 4e like that.
Irregardless, when you have 2 people ( 1 who tells the other to pull the lever and 1 that actually reaches over and pulls it) They are both to blame when the whole party falls into the pit trap.
Hmm so wait a sec. This guy was the director of R&D. Therefor he is directly to blame for the 4th edition ruleset. AND I would say directly responsible for lying to the community. 1 months before 4th edition was announced (and well into development) they were still swearing on the forums that they were not working on a new edition.
Sounds to me like this guy is directly responsible for wrecking the DnD brand for Wotc.
On one hand we should all thank him that his poor choices set the stage for paizo's rise.
On the other hand he's directly responsible for all the anguish and schisms caused within the rpg community.
Or am I missing something?
Actually I think that was Rich Baker, I recall him specifically telling me he wasnt working on a new edition and said so on a forum to me.
Rich and I had good times too, I reviewed Birthright's Book of Priestcraft for him and he even let me keep the draft copy back when I ran a the Birthright PBEM on AOL in the mid-90's. Creatively he is super.
But when you're management you have to make tough decisions and in this business you're customers are your fiercest critics.
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My understanding, from listening "between the lines" at seminars at Gencon, is that there was a lot of pressure from Hasbro to increase the amount of changes from 3.5e to 4e. If that's the case, he's more guilty of not standing up to his corporate masters than anything else.Hmm so wait a sec. This guy was the director of R&D. Therefor he is directly to blame for the 4th edition ruleset. AND I would say directly responsible for lying to the community. 1 months before 4th edition was announced (and well into development) they were still swearing on the forums that they were not working on a new edition.
Sounds to me like this guy is directly responsible for wrecking the DnD brand for Wotc.
On one hand we should all thank him that his poor choices set the stage for paizo's rise.
On the other hand he's directly responsible for all the anguish and schisms caused within the rpg community.
Or am I missing something?
Having worked for a Fortune 100 company, I can't blame Bill for 4e or WotC's other problems. A lot of the time, you may know something is the wrong direction, so you collect all the evidence and info you can, then you make your best and most passionate case (often repeatedly). If that doesn't work, then you get out of the way or you'll be run over... and do your best later put out fires and fix what damage you can.
I'm sure people can blame Bill for a great many things, but blame doesn't mean he was actually responsible.
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yes, he was also behind revised Dark Sun and Council of Wyrms.
Both very bad products.
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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I find it hard to believe that Hasbro executives would have had a hand in crafting the 4th ed. ruleset.
Bill was the director of R&D.
He would have overseen the team that did.
I seriously doubt the hasbro executives you prefer to blame would know the difference between Thac0 and Healing Surge. Though I could see some typical cooperate VP saying ooh warcraft is popular make 4e like that.Irregardless, when you have 2 people ( 1 who tells the other to pull the lever and 1 that actually reaches over and pulls it) They are both to blame when the whole party falls into the pit trap.
You can find rants from years ago written by WotC employees right after the Hasbro acquisition, that basically boiled down to "Hasbro is telling us write to write/what kind of books to make and it sucks." Basically every book suddenly had to contain certain portion of crunch because crunch sold better.
So I totally believe that the 4e designers were operating under a metric that required 4e to be X% different from 3.5e, so that "consumers won't feel thet they can just keep using their old rules" or somesuch reason.
From Hasbro's PoV, WotC is a vehicle to make them money. The very fact that the Hasbro managers don't understand things like THAC0 menas that they have to care more about the bottom line than thye care about the game itself.
Having worked for a Fortune 100 company, I can't blame Bill for 4e or WotC's other problems. A lot of the time, you may know something is the wrong direction, so you collect all the evidence and info you can, then you make your best and most passionate case (often repeatedly). If that doesn't work, then you get out of the way or you'll be run over... and do your best later put out fires and fix what damage you can.
I'm sure people can blame Bill for a great many things, but blame doesn't mean he was actually responsible.
Fair enough, I completely understand what you are saying. I see that sort of thing often enough where I work. But I was under the impression Bill was proud of and took full ownership of the 4e rules.
Has he ever said he wished things were done differently?I mean that question in a genuinely curious way. Not as a debate attack point.
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Fair enough, I completely understand what you are saying. I see that sort of thing often enough where I work. But I was under the impression Bill was proud of and took full ownership of the 4e rules.
Has he ever said he wished things were done differently?
I mean that question in a genuinely curious way. Not as a debate attack point.
I think that Bill Slavicsek does have responsibility for much of the 4e ruleset and design choices. That's why I think it's perfectly valid to fault him for design changes from 3rd edition to 4e that you don't like. If you don't like 4e powers, skill challenges, etc it's fair to disagree with his design ideas.
Having said that, he was probably under a lot of pressure to change the entire mechanic to move D&D far away from the OGL so WotC would own all D&D material for future editions, and I'm sure there was pressure to adapt a card/toy(mini)/digital model for future projects. I don't know if the board games were planned back in 2007, but that seems to be a huge part of their business model moving forward.
I don't think it's fair to fault him the disaster of the GSL and the discontinuation of an OGL, alienation of 3PP, the poor customer service, putting half the classes and races in the PHB 2 instead of the PHB, for the shift from print to electronic subscription model, for axing Dragon & Dungeon magazines in favor of DDI, etc.
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I should clarify that I understand different companies, different structures and all that. But sometimes, when the big guy on the block has problems, others do too.
Well, remember that WOTC is owned by Hasbro. Layoffs at WOTC don't necessarily mean the company is in any kind of financial trouble or has "problems." The way modern corporate culture works, these big companies just lay people off to temporarily boost profits. There's no sense of loyalty to employees any more, and people are just seen as disposable cogs.
Having worked for a Fortune 100 company, I can't blame Bill for 4e or WotC's other problems. A lot of the time, you may know something is the wrong direction, so you collect all the evidence and info you can, then you make your best and most passionate case (often repeatedly). If that doesn't work, then you get out of the way or you'll be run over... and do your best later put out fires and fix what damage you can.
I'm sure people can blame Bill for a great many things, but blame doesn't mean he was actually responsible.
Fair enough, I completely understand what you are saying. I see that sort of thing often enough where I work. But I was under the impression Bill was proud of and took full ownership of the 4e rules.
Has he ever said he wished things were done differently?
I mean that question in a genuinely curious way. Not as a debate attack point.
I think something to consider too, is if he did say he was proud, whether you interpret that as being proud of the business model, or being proud of what he was able to accomplish within (or despite) the business model. If you separate some of the design elements from the publishing, there are some cool concepts within the game.
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And he is responsible for the travesty that is star wars d20 revised edition and vitality and wound points among other things. His prior work with TSR and early wotc nonwithstanding, he made a great many f******s.
Its all a matter of perspective. I actually like Star Wars d20 RCR, it was my first d20 game (yes, before D&D even) and I preferred it to Star Wars D6 which required too much dice adding.
I particularly liked the Wounds and Vitality rule - it allowed for effective Mook rules, encouraged genre emulation in terms of heroes not wearing armour but stormtroopers doing so, and also made 1st level character fairly sturdy. In fact I was shocked when I did buy D&D3.5 that 1st level characters didn't get their Con Score added to HPs.
So it just shows that what someone doesn't like, others will.
Both very bad products.yes, he was also behind revised Dark Sun and Council of Wyrms.
Indeed
Tough there are others at WotC more deserving, those two that destroyed FR.
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I hate whoever this person (the axer) is to irrational extremes. I really miss Dragon.
Ditto on this one. While I enjoy my electronic materials and the ease of access to things like D20PFSRD, I miss curling up on the couch after work the day Dragon (or Dungeon) arrived and just reading through it. Heck, I even miss seeing the advertisements.
Is there a chance to catch him and get him to write something for Pathfinder?
From the posts I've been reading yesterday and today, the overwhelming majority says, "Hell no, keep him as far away from Pathfinder as possible."
Like Ambrosia Slaad and others, I don't blame Bill for 4E or any of the other things that happened at WotC that I happen to disagree with. In my own day job, there are a number of things I disagree with, but I do what I am told because I have a car loan, college loans and a child support to maintain. Sure from time to time I tell me boss that something should be different, but I pick and choose my battles for things that won't get me fired and things I can actually win. But the rest of the time I keep my mouth shut and just do what I must.
I'm sure the corporate overlord situation there similar. Ordered to get rid of all external licenses (Dungeon, Dragon, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, OGL, d20, you name it, but customer demand produced the GSL, while imperfect is better than nothing). Make X% of the book new and different. Get the properties ready for online integration. And don't say anything about it until X date. While WotC should have said, "No comment," instead of, "No we are not working on a new edition."
Is there a chance to catch him and get him to write something for Pathfinder?
Ummmmm... no. No thanks.
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Bill announced his leaving in his last Ampersand column on wizards.com. It doesn't go into detail, but I guess the two parties are leaving on good enough terms that they let him use their site to say good-bye.
Like Ambrosia Slaad and others, I don't blame Bill for 4E or any of the other things that happened at WotC that I happen to disagree with. In my own day job, there are a number of things I disagree with, but I do what I am told because I have a car loan, college loans and a child support to maintain. Sure from time to time I tell me boss that something should be different, but I pick and choose my battles for things that won't get me fired and things I can actually win. But the rest of the time I keep my mouth shut and just do what I must.
I'm sure the corporate overlord situation there similar. Ordered to get rid of all external licenses (Dungeon, Dragon, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, OGL, d20, you name it, but customer demand produced the GSL, while imperfect is better than nothing). Make X% of the book new and different. Get the properties ready for online integration. And don't say anything about it until X date. While WotC should have said, "No comment," instead of, "No we are not working on a new edition."
Yeah see I take issue with that. That's the excuse a lot of companies uses to avoid taking the blame for a bad decision. That logic absolves everyone of responsibility until you get to the CEO and the Board who then blame it on trying to appease the share holders.
The guy was a director. He's an executive. I just can't give him that much of a pass. The way you paint it he's just an empty suit corporate drone.
Is there a chance to catch him and get him to write something for Pathfinder?
Please no.
Just plain no.Hell no, even.
Twice on sunday no.
Did I fail to mention...... no.
Uh-uh, no.
No means no.
etc. (you get the picture)
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That's interesting, I wonder why Hasbro would do that? I figure they would have just let WotC be and do their own thing, especially due to the success of 3.x.
My understanding, from listening "between the lines" at seminars at Gencon, is that there was a lot of pressure from Hasbro to increase the amount of changes from 3.5e to 4e. If that's the case, he's more guilty of not standing up to his corporate masters than anything else.
IMHO: Hasbro underestimated the popularity of 3.5...due to the vocal minority who complain about the complexity of the rules, overpowered casters and underpowered melees/skillmonkeys, and the xmas tree effect all at the same time. We do that here, too, but we keep playing 3.5/PF because we feel the pros still outweigh the cons. Hasbro/WotC decided it would be better to risk throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
I ran a Star Wars game using the Revised Core Rules for nearly two years and had an absolute blast doing it.
Although my next foray into SW will likely be either Saga Edition, or heavily homebrewed with liberal doses of Pathfinderized feats and skills (not to mention some much-needed lightsaber nerfs), the RCR is the foundation of the game for me.
My friends and I enjoyed many great hours of gameplay as a result of that system. For that, I sincerely thank Bill, and I wish him the best in his next endeavor.
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one last thing.....
No Mearls either.
