People on the Move: WOTC, Steve Jackson Games, Pelgrane

This is a new feature I’m ‘commandeering’ from other work I’ve done. I’d love your thoughts on the topic.

Massive leadership shifts within the TTRPG industry in the last month may reflect a sort of ‘turnover’ among major creators in the space.

This is People on the Move, a regular feature dedicated to tracking leadership changes and staff shifts in the major players of the TTRPG space. Whether an artist is joining a company full-time or a CEO is stepping down, this feature (which will release every 1-2 months, depending on how often these events happen) will keep track of who is working where.

Here’s the job changes from the last month:

Major Shifts at Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast game director Jeremy Crawford and creative director Chris Perkins both announced in the last two weeks that they were stepping down from their roles leading Dungeons and Dragons.

According to WOTC VP of franchise and product Jess Lanzillo, the paralleled departures were intentional. “[Perkins and Crawford] wanted to make sure that [the core rulebooks were really successful, that they were setting up all of the future leads for success," Lanzillo told ScreenRant. "That has happened, and they feel really reassured that the folks in place will be able to carry on with the wonderful legacy that they've given us, and then bring their own stuff to the table, which they've already been doing."

That has led to influencers speculating about what this means for the future of WOTC, particularly those inclined toward predicting the death of D&D in light of recent years. It’s this reporter’s opinion that speculation like this isn’t helpful and can muddy the waters around what’s going on within the company and can feed death spirals of negativity that isn’t healthy. That doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be drama or corporate influence around their departure but I’d prefer to actually hear about it from the game designers themselves (if they ever speak up.)

It’s unclear what the two will do next, but they are expected to remain active in the TTRPG community in the coming days.

According to D&D historian Ben Riggs, Chris Cao, the VP of digital game development at WOTC, also appears to be leaving the company. Cao oversaw Project Sigil, WOTC’s attempt to create a 3D VTT, and it seems plausible that he may have been let go in the wake of the project’s struggle. Nearly 30 people were let go from the Project Sigil team in late March, according to Rascal News. There were also several reports around poor communication between WOTC’s executive team (including Cao) and the devs, which likely led to the unfinished product that we got released in early March.

Not all WOTC job news is bad news, however. Greg Bilsland, a veteran marketing manager who worked at WOTC from 2007 to 2016, was rehired as executive producer and will “drive the comprehensive content strategy” for D&D as a whole. Bilsland previously worked at AWS, Destiny 2 dev Bungie, and The Believer Company.

Steve Jackson’s Meredith Placko Steps Down.

Placko, the CEO of Steve Jackson Games, announced on April 17 that she was stepping down from her role as CEO after leading the company for nearly two years. While SJ Games is best known for board games, it is also the creator of the RP-influenced Munchkin and of GURPs.

Placko decided to step down so that she would return to her former company, Turbo Dork, to oversee its future growth.

Placko’s leadership has been noteworthy, as she not only helped the company run a $1 million Backerkit campaign for the Munchkin Big Box but also helped to bring indie game developer Possum Creek Games into SJ Games, thus strengthening the support for a small company of TTRPG makers.

Placko made a lot of news when she was one of the first CEOs to openly speak out about the impact that President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs would have upon the TTRPG and board gaming industries.

Robin Laws Steps Up as Pelgrane Creative Director

Robin Laws, a veteran writer in the TTRPG space, was appointed as 13th Age publisher Pelgrane Press’ Creative Director. TTRPG Insider got a chance to sit down with Laws to talk about the new role and how he hopes to help the company.

“I’ve worked hard at this job for many, many years. But the question eventually comes around where we ask ‘What happens to Pelgrane when we all go off to sit on our porches and drink lemonade?’” Laws told TTRPG Insider. He hopes to use his new role at Pelgrane to expedite project releases, train up new writers, and ensure the company’s legacy continues after he and his fellow old-school writers step away.

You can read our interview with Laws here!

Did we miss any career changes? Got a tip on a story? Please email us at [email protected]. We’re eager to get into the details on this beat and we need your help!

In case you missed it, I wrote up a preview of Modiphius’ Heroes of Might and Magic TTRPG, which will launch on Kickstarter in early May at The Fandomentals. It’s a play on a classic strategy video game that (at least based on the quick start) mixes classic fantasy with a strategic approach to TTRPG combat that might offer an interesting approach for those inclined toward war games.

I also reviewed Willow Guard, a Redwall-esque video game over at The Fandomentals, which is a hack-and-slash card game based on fantasy adventuring that some might enjoy.

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