D&D continues to shed expertise to different TTRPGs, as its former VP of franchise and product joins Vampire: The Masquerade creator White Wolf
Dungeons & Dragons simply can not seem to catch a break. First Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, now this—Jess Lanzillo, beforehand the vp of franchise and product for D&D, has additionally moved on to a different TTRPG after leaving the corporate mid-June.
Whereas not as senior as the 2 huge names I simply talked about, Lanzillo nonetheless labored for Wizards of the Coast for eight years—a number of of which had been spent on Magic: The Gathering as a franchise artistic director. Now, White Wolf has snapped her up.
Per a press launch despatched to PC Gamer, Lanzillo would be the artistic director for World of Darkness, the TTRPG franchise that introduced you Vampire: The Masquerade (and the Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines recreation, alongside Troika). She appears fairly excited, all advised.
Lanzillo writes: “World of Darkness has been my artistic north star because the ’90s, and I’ve seen firsthand how these video games create communities and encourage storytellers … My focus is on supporting and amplifying what makes these worlds particular—the wealthy lore, the participant company, the mature themes—whereas making certain they attain everybody who would love them.”
White Wolf’s government vp, Marco Behrmann, views snagging Lanzillo as a part of the writer’s daring strikes to broaden: “Jess is a key pillar of our increasing studio, serving to drive a robust and clear artistic imaginative and prescient from the center of our staff. Her arrival underscores Paradox’s long-term dedication to White Wolf and our objective to make World of Darkness the primary horror leisure model on the earth.”
Title-dropping Paradox is not undoubtedly a touch that we’ll be getting extra World of Darkness videogames—White Wolf has already recommended we’ll—however it’s additionally irrelevant. There’s loads of untapped territory there, seeing because the World of Darkness TTRPGs span a complete bunch of mythological underworld lore.
If I had been Paradox, I would undoubtedly be eyeing up Werewolf: The Forsaken or Mage: The Awakening (White Wolf likes their colons) as potential springboards for various sorts of video games—heck, perhaps we’ll get a Scion RPG. The superhero style has been bone-dry, and enjoying a bunch of little godlings would possibly scratch that itch.
In any other case, it has been a tough time for D&D shedding senior expertise and core solid members. Within the final two years alone, Hasbro has:
I do not assume it is a curtain name for D&D simply but—though I feel Hasbro’s been fumbling the bag—however I can not assist questioning if this shedding of expertise to different techniques signifies a drift away from Dungeons & Dragons’ monolithic grip available on the market. It’s going to in all probability nonetheless be the most-played TTRPG, thoughts, however with Crucial Function making its personal techniques and Larian leaving Baldur’s Gate 3 behind, the market feels ripe for some new competitors. Or perhaps I am simply on some Pathfinder 2e-fuelled copium, who’s to say.
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