Candlekeep Mysteries writer criticizes edits to his adventure

It has been just over a week since Wizards of the Coast released the 17 adventure anthology book Candlekeep Mysteries.

The 16-level-spanning module has been celebrated for its collaboration efforts, with a number of diverse voices being brought in as writers to add new perspectives to the stories.

However, Canadian writer Graeme Barber, AKA POCGamer, has raised some questions about the way that editors at Wizards of the Coast cut out cultural information from his contribution, Book of Cylinders.

Barber first brought up the issue on March 22, stating on Twitter that the final draft he had written of the adventure included “a much larger description of the Grippli, player race data for them, and location and items that were removed from the final version.”

He stated that nearly 1300 words were cut from his final draft, though that the descriptor “primitive” had been included — as it didn’t appear once in his draft.

“The worst part of this, THE WORST, is that I gave false impressions to interviewers leading up to the release of the adventure because I hadn’t seen it and assumed that most of the story and conceptualization made it through the process because I hadn’t heard anything otherwise,” Barber wrote.

“I literally talked up the connections to the Days of Thunder, to the deeper lore in the game. Then when it was released, I doubled down, not having fully read it. I feel like a fucking tool. Now my name is attached to something using the colonialist language I hate.”

Barber has also noted that, while his interactions with Wizards “has been cordial throughout,” he has requested that his name be removed from future printings of the anthology.

Barber consolidated the situation into one Twitter thread on March 24 — two days after the initial tweets — stating that he was left “holding the bag” as he feels the he misled the public regarding what his adventure was all about.

The full thread can be found below:

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