Wizards of the Coast made a delayed apology yesterday for not crediting the cultural and sensitivity consultant who contributed to the latest Dungeons and Dragons sourcebook, Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. After omitting Tanya DePass’s name and role from the book’s credits page, Wizards apologised for the exclusion, as well as the way in which the mistake had been publicly handled.
Acknowledgement of the miscredit was first made by the book’s lead designer, Amanda Hamon, on her personal Twitter account earlier this week. She thanked DePass for her work, confirmed that digital versions and future printings of the book would include the correct consultation credit, and said the D&D team had accidentally left the credit out in their “rush to get to class on time”.
However, an apology was not made on the official D&D or Wizards of the Coast social channels, leaving some to criticise Wizards’ actions for insufficiently relying on an author to acknowledge the mistake, rather than using its larger, official social channels to make the announcement.
Wizards’ final apology came in the form of a string of Tweets that both apologised for the initial omission and the way in which it had been handled, as well as confirming the book’s second printing with the correct credit had already been sent out for production.
“We also failed at communicating this update appropriately,” the official D&D Twitter account tweeted. “We apologise for both our communication failure and for making the initial credit mistake in the first place.”
The first print run of #Strixhaven missed a crucial credit – the consulting work by @cypheroftyr. We publicly apologize to Tanya for the omission, as we have privately. Future printings will include her credit. See the attached page w/ updated credits already available digitally: pic.twitter.com/ubUG3qXWhW
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) December 8, 2021
DePass has since responded to the announcement: “I did get a private email apology before those two tweets went out. However, I’m not going to say the tweets from yesterday were acceptable and I’ve made my feelings on them known to relevant WotC parties.”
“So I’m slightly annoyed until I get printed copies with my name in the credits,” she added. “However the folks who could drop a proper apology from official channels have done so. I’m considering the matter done.”
DePass is the founder and director of I Need Diverse Games, a non-profit organisation that works to expand diversity in gaming at large. She was also the creator and creative director on afrofuturist tabletop RPG Into the Mother Lands that was released earlier this year.
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos was released on November 7. A crossover with Magic: The Gathering, the book is set in the titular magical university and includes four adventures that span your character’s time as a student. As well as introducing a new setting to D&D, it also adds several new roleplaying mechanics, such as forming platonic and romantic relationships with NPCs, studying for exams, and partaking in extracurricular activities.
Prepare yourself for adventure with our guides to the D&D races, or have a look at our pick of the best D&D 5E spells you should put in your book of arcane secrets.