D&D 5E [Merged] Candlekeep Mysteries Author Speaks Out On WotC's Cuts To Adventure

In an event which is being referred to as #PanzerCut, one of the Candlekeep Mysteries authors has gone public with complaints about how their adventure was edited.

Book of Cylinders is one of the adventures in the book. It was written by Graeme Barber (who goes by the usernames PanzerLion and PoCGamer on social media).

Barber was caught by surprise when he found out what the final adventure looked like. The adventure was reduced by about a third, and his playable race -- the Grippli -- was cut. Additionally, WotC inserted some terminology that he considered to be colonialist, which is one of the things they were ostensibly trying to avoid by recruiting a diverse team of authors for the book.

His complaints also reference the lack of communication during the editing process, and how he did public interviews unknowingly talking about elements of an adventure which no longer existed.

"I wrote for [Candlekeep Mysteries], the recent [D&D] release. Things went sideways. The key issues were that the bulk of the lore and a lot of the cultural information that made my adventure "mine" were stripped out. And this was done without any interaction with me, leaving me holding the bag as I misled the public on the contents and aspects of my adventure. Yes, it was work-for-hire freelance writing, but the whole purpose was to bring in fresh voices and new perspectives.

So, when I read my adventure, this happened. This was effectively the shock phase of it all.

Then I moved onto processing what had happened. ~1300 words cut, and without the cut lore, the gravity of the adventure, and its connections to things are gravely watered down. Also "primitive" was inserted.

Then the aftermath of it all. The adventure that came out was a watered down version of what went in, that didn't reflect me anymore as a writer or creator. Which flew in the face of the spirit of the project as had been explained to me.

So then I wrote. Things don't change unless people know what's up and can engage with things in a prepared way. So I broke down the process of writing for Wizards I'd experienced, and developed some rules that can be used to avoid what happened to me."

He recounts his experiences in two blog posts:

• What happened? Writing for Wizards Part 1
• What Happened? Writing for Wizards Part 2

The author later added "Wizards owns all the material sent in, and does not publish unedited adventures on the DM Guild, so there will be no "PanzerCut". I have respectfully requested that my name be removed from future printings. "

 

[Morrus]

Work on a high profile WotC product is the Holy Grail in this business.

Eh.

 

[Morrus]

No it's not. It never happens except for really famous contributors. Work. For. Hire.

Sure it does.

 

[Haffrung]

Eh.

What would you say is the pinnacle of the field for an RPG writer?

 

[Reynard]

Sure it does.

I would be very surprised to hear that no edits ever happened after final acceptance from your freelancers.

I will amend though: it my experience it is vanishingly rare for a publisher to go back to a freelancer months after final submission to tell them they had to cut a bunch of stuff to make the chapter/article/piece fit.

 

[Morrus]

What would you say is the pinnacle of the field for an RPG writer?

Be the person to create an original work of genius that people still remember (and play!) years later. Make Call of Cthulhu. Or the Ghostbusters RPG (the world's first dice pool game). Or Pendragon. Or Traveller. Of course, D&D's original creators are among that group, and why we're all here. While I can aspire to that, I know I'll never achieve it. I can't think of anything better to achieve in the RPG writing field, and it's a small club.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

That doesn't explain them inserting "primitive" in the adventure when the author never used that word, it doesn't explain them removing backstory context to the degree that the writer says they did. They seemed to have removed all of the culture from the frog-people in the adventure, removed context of why Yuan-Ti are doing things, etc. Edits have to happen but should they go that far?

That's what bothers me. Like, for exactly what reason was there to feel the absolute need to insert the word "primitive?" What was the goal of that, exactly? I'm going to wager it wasn't anything wholesome or innocent at all.

 

[Haffrung]

I think we’re talking about different things. The comment you responded to said work in the business. Not personal creative satisfaction. If your goal is to secure paying work in the field, writing for a major WotC product gives you exposure and credibility that can’t be matched. Even if your goal is to design and write your own commercially-successful RPG, credits and experience at WotC are a proven way to get there.

 

[Haffrung]

That's what bothers me. Like, for exactly what reason was there to feel the absolute need to insert the word "primitive?" What was the goal of that, exactly? I'm going to wager it wasn't anything wholesome or innocent at all.

Do you genuinely think there’s consensus in the english-speaking world that the word “primitive” is pejorative and should be excised from all texts going forward? It’s a common and useful word that has a meaning that can’t readily be achieved with a synonym.

 

[mcmillan]

Being a professional writer is not a job for the thin-skinned. Your work gets criticized, revised, cut, and removed. Routinely. It’s part of the job. It’s completely different from writing in school, blogs, or other amateur environments.

Sorry, but this person isn’t doing inclusivity any favours by giving publishers the impression that hiring someone with no professional track record is going to be a headache.

That’s one of the reasons writing is a field where people start small and work up to bigger platforms like WotC. Those doing the hiring need to find out if a writer can write to spec, because a lot can’t. They need to find out if a writer can meet hard deadlines, because a lot can’t. They need to find out if a writer can take criticism and be okay with their work being revised, because a lot can’t.

When my company hires writers, part of the interview is a severe critique of a piece of writing they submitted. If they get flustered or take it personally, they don’t get a call back.

Are people responding like this not bothering to read Panzer's blog post where he explains the process from his perspective? The first paragraph is:

I do not believe that my submitted adventure, the Book of Cylinders, was perfect out the gate. ... I fully expected that my adventure would be edited and altered to patch its faults and issues. Its form and content had made it through the pitch and drafting process, and I had no reason at the time of submission to suspect that it would be subject to the edits and modifications that went into it. Especially because we (the writers in general) had been hired specifically because we were “fresh voices” and “new perspectives”. So, to firmly establish this, I do not think my adventure was perfect, and I do not think it should have been given a freeride through the process. I do however think that how my work was treated ran counter to the spirit of the project concerning fresh voices and perspectives, and that what was released in no way represents me as a writer or designer.

He's not complaining that they edited his draft. His concern is that he feels WOTC made fundamental changes to the concept after they accepted his initial pitch and went through initial rounds of feedback and editing.

Also a more recent thread describes more of his thinking of where the breakdown happened - with the later stages being where he thinks editors were changing things to be more what they think the feel of D&D should be coming into conflict with the stated goal to bring in different perspectives

 

[Morrus]

Do you genuinely think there’s consensus in the english-speaking world

...on anything? No. Of course not.

But listening to minority creators is good and one of the highly-publicized goals of WotC.