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. "

 

[Sacrosanct]

"What is" and "what should be" often look very different. Just because it's the norm doesn't make it right. We can acknowledge that stuff like this happens (and with WotC it seems that it happens a lot) while still campaigning for things to change. Not to mention that there are companies in this industry offering more equitable contracts and more author-involved revision processes for freelancers.

Not just WoTC, but pretty much everyone. Film, music, art....a lot of stuff hits the cutting room floor. As you say, it doesn't make it right per se (or automatically wrong), but no work for hire contributor should be surprised when they see a lot of their work cut. As mentioned upthread, you're getting paid for your work, not for what they decide to print. (the whole inclusion of "primitive" is an entirely different conversation, but for this context of having contributors having work changed, it's not unusual). Just ask Jon Schindehette about having concept art being included or excluded from final published material

 

[Morrus]

We already have a long thread on this topic. It pretty much took over the review thread:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/candlekeep-mysteries-review-round-up-–-what-the-critics-say.679000/

 

[Zaukrie]

We already have a long thread on this topic. It pretty much took over the review thread:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/candlekeep-mysteries-review-round-up-–-what-the-critics-say.679000/

Sorry about that....my bad.

 

[Reynard]

Not just WoTC, but pretty much everyone. Film, music, art....a lot of stuff hits the cutting room floor. As you say, it doesn't make it right per se (or automatically wrong), but no work for hire contributor should be surprised when they see a lot of their work cut. As mentioned upthread, you're getting paid for your work, not for what they decide to print. (the whole inclusion of "primitive" is an entirely different conversation, but for this context of having contributors having work changed, it's not unusual). Just ask Jon Schindehette about having concept art being included or excluded from final published material

I feel like the DIY nature of easy digital self publishing has fostered a community of creators (of all kinds) that have kind of thrown the baby out with the bathwater as it related to editorial or production input. Not having gatekeepers is good, but not having editors or other professionals whose job is to help a creator polish the work is bad. Most people don't do everything well, and good writers can very rarely effectively edit their own work. Some people are wonderful "idea people" but can't craft the necessary prose without help. I don't know how many indie novels and RPGs I have seen where I think "If only they had an editor/developer for this, it might have been great."

 

[Sacrosanct]

I feel like the DIY nature of easy digital self publishing has fostered a community of creators (of all kinds) that have kind of thrown the baby out with the bathwater as it related to editorial or production input. Not having gatekeepers is good, but not having editors or other professionals whose job is to help a creator polish the work is bad. Most people don't do everything well, and good writers can very rarely effectively edit their own work. Some people are wonderful "idea people" but can't craft the necessary prose without help. I don't know how many indie novels and RPGs I have seen where I think "If only they had an editor/developer for this, it might have been great."

I'm reminded of when the OGL first came out. We have heard, often even on these very boards, how many people do not want to peruse DTRPG or DMs Guild because the overwhelming amount of 3PP stuff is "garbage." (whether or not I agree is irrelevant; those are frequent comments). I suspect a lot of the stuff out there suffers because there were no editors or professionals who gave it a once over. And I'm not throwing stones here. Some of my early stuff was...well...not to be proud of lol

 

[jasper]

If they are so upset about the cuts, they can give the money back. Or is this an ad campaign for their other works?

 

[MichaelSomething]

We already have a long thread on this topic. It pretty much took over the review thread:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/candlekeep-mysteries-review-round-up-–-what-the-critics-say.679000/

My apologies. I didn't check that thread. And it was me who posted that tweet. I made my Enworld account before my Twitter.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think before anyone accuses anyone or anything of racism we should look with a dispassionate eye.

Feeling that the editing on your work changed the integrity of that work isn’t necessarily related to race.

Feeling that you wrote good things that were cut isn’t necessarily related to race.

Feeling that someone else took credit for your work isn’t necessarily related to race (as in the case of last years incident).

It doesn’t matter if it’s “necessarily related to race.” It’s another example of a person of color being hired for a “new perspective,” and then not having their voice actually be heard. This is part of a continuing pattern with WotC. Whether it was explicitly because of their race or not, the outcome is the same.

If there was evidence that it is, then it should be dealt with firmly. We shouldn’t presume racism though.

Or maybe we should try to address the underlying systemic issues that allow racist outcomes in spite of of a presumed lack of malice on the part of the people making the decisions. Just a thought.

We can argue all day I’m sure, about whether using the word primitive to describe a temporary structure to house refugees is racist. I don’t feel strongly about it either way to be honest.

It’s colonialist. Not the same thing as racist, though they are related.

A big breath probably needs taking and a moment to reflect. I feel frustrated that an Internet personality posting a comment or two becomes a starter pistol for all sorts of accusations, some of which can be career ending and at the very least harmful, even if the poster didn’t intend that as the outcome.

Where are these accusations? I see people leaping to the defense of individuals, but no one accusing them of the things they’re being defended against.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"What is" and "what should be" often look very different. Just because it's the norm doesn't make it right. We can acknowledge that stuff like this happens (and with WotC it seems that it happens a lot) while still campaigning for things to change. Not to mention that there are companies in this industry offering more equitable contracts and more author-involved revision processes for freelancers.

Unless we hear from the editor, which I don't think is at all likely, I would take this as one side of an issue that potentially has a lot more going on.

I've made my living writing for my entire adult life, and when editors don't seek input on edits, there are multiple reasons why it might happen:

• Bad editor (lazy, bad at their job, sexist/racist, etc.)
• Editor under a severe time crunch
• Writer turned in such sub-standard work that it's not worth the herculean task of getting them to fix it
• Writer is not expected to be a good participant in the editing process

The assumption people are making here is that the problem here is number one, and that's definitely possible. I've had editors who, inexplicably, think their job is to make every piece of work read like they wrote it themselves. (Editors: This is not your job. Go back to full-time writing if you think your voice is the only one that matters.) I've had editors who, for no reason I can tell, seemed to have a problem with me and saw editing as a way to "get" me.

But lots of times, I've had good editors leave me out of the loop because there's simply no time left and they have to make changes and move on.

And other times, the problem has been me. It sounds like PanzerLion went far beyond his mandate, created new lore for an established race, created a playable race, and went way over his word count, all of which would require a lot of editing. If I had been that editor, I might have said "yeah, this isn't going to be a good process" and just decided to do it on my own. I would have likely sent a note to say what had happened and why, but lots of folks are much more afraid of possible confrontations than I am.

In any case, the professional writers saying "yeah, this is how editing goes a lot of times" aren't wrong. There isn't a magical world where editing is somehow a much better process. Pick a professional writer in any genre you like and ask them. They will tell you that even the happiest and most productive relationships they have with editors are often frustrating and sometimes outright adversarial. I have editors who are genuine friends of mine, and we've still lost our tempers with each other and had conversations end with "well, I'm sorry, but it's my call at the end of the day, and we're going in this direction."

 

[jasper]

You can now Robert A Heinlein's personal letters. Even with editors he had a good relationship, he occasionally thought he was be done a disservice. Sometimes he admitted decades after the fact, the editor was right. Other times it was death to editor even after the editor died. WE are not getting the whole story.