Elon Musk Calls for Wizards of the Coast to "Burn in Hell" Over Making of Original D&D Passages

Elon Musk, the owner of the app formerly known as Twitter, is calling on Wizards of the Coast and its parent company Hasbro to "burn in hell" for the publication of Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons. On November 21st, former gaming executive turned culture warrior Mark Hern posted several passages from Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons on Twitter, criticizing the book for providing context about some of the misogyny and cultural insensitivity found in early rulebooks. These passages were pulled from the foreword written by Jason Tondro, a senior designer for the D&D team who also worked extensively on the book. Hern stated that these passages, along with the release of the new 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D's "40th anniversary" (it is actually D&D's 50th anniversary) both "erased and slandered" Gary Gygax and other creators of Dungeons & Dragons.

In response, Musk wrote "Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets to trash E. Gary Gygax and the geniuses who created Dungeons & Dragons. What the [naughty word] is wrong with Hasbro and WoTC?? May they burn in hell." Musk had played Dungeons & Dragons at some point in his youth, but it's unclear when the last time he ever played the game.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets to trash E. Gary Gygax and the geniuses who created Dungeons & Dragons. What the [xxxx] is wrong with Hasbro and WoTC?? May they burn in hell.

- Elon Musk​

Notably, Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons contains countless correspondences and letters written by both Gygax and Dave Arneson, including annotated copies of early D&D rulesets. Most early D&D rules supplements as well as early Dragon magazines are also found in the book. It seems odd to contain one of the most extensive compliations of Gygax's work an "erasure," but it's unclear whether Hern or Musk actually read the book given the incorrect information about the anniversary.

Additionally, Gygax and Arneson are both credited in the 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. The exact credit reads: "Building on the original game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and then developed by many others over the past 50 years." Wizards of the Coast also regularly collaborates with Gygax's youngest son Luke and is a participant at Gary Con, a convention held in Gygax's honor. The opening paragraph of the 2024 Player's Handbook is written by Jeremy Crawford and specifically lauds both Gygax and Arneson for making Dungeons & Dragons and contains an anecdote about Crawford meeting Gygax.

Musk has increasingly leaned into culture war controversies in recent years, usually amplifying misinformation to suit his own political agenda.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

His writing....didn't age well at all. Too many creepy pedophilic and misogynistic themes that keep recurring (Spell of Chameleon literally says a woman can't be smart and beautiful at the same time.". Just go back and see how many times he sexualizes children, and reinforces the theme that a female's only value is her sexual appeal. There are at least 5 instances of him writing men having sex with 14 years old or younger girls and seems to do it with glee and in great detail (Xanth, Incarnations of Immortality, Bio of a Space Tyrant, Mode series, and Firefly,

Spoiler: awful stuff

where a man rapes a 5 year old girl in great detail and Anthony defends the man by saying the girl was damaged by her parents, and this man gave her what she wanted.

Yeah, gross.

Don't know about you, but that's a recurring theme that's disturbing. Even moreso when Anthony defends pedophilia in an interview he did, calling it harmless":

Spoiler

"I suspect our priorities are confused. We have problems enough with world hunger and injustice, without making more by punishing people for deviant but perhaps harmless behavior."

Or his comment when working with a convicted and imprisoned sex offender:

Spoiler

"But this is another bit of evidence of the problem in our society: as far as I know, Santiago Hernandez did not hurt anyone. [He was in prison for sexual molestation of a 13 year old] He just happens to be sexually attracted to small boys."

I am very glad it only took one Incarnations of Immortality book for me to get the ick and stop reading him. (That was just one full of sexism and ageism, but it was clearly coming from a very deep well of such views.)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

We have a poster to created an OSR-style product with exactly that goal, although I am embarrassed to say I don't remember the name of the game.

@Snarf Zagyg, I believe, also started a thread this summer about LGBT-friendly RPGs that would probably also be worth looking at, since those are normally very feminist as well. (Thirsty Sword Lesbians, for instance, sits squarely in the overlap of that particular Venn diagram.)

@Sacrosanct It's called Chromatic Dungeons.

Izegrim Creations

Have Fun With Friends

izegrimcreations.com

And I try to post the Pride Thread every year.

🏳️‍🌈Pride Month- Celebrating Representation in TTRPGs (2024)

This is an update and edit from a prior post. Please note there will be references to mature subject matter in games in this post. While it is not explicit, it is present. June is LGBTQI+ month* in the United States (aka Pride Month), and I wanted to make a post celebrating that Pride in the...

www.enworld.org

 

[Zardnaar]

Ol mElon Husk dribling again.

 

[Lord Shark]

I loved Xanth as a kid, but in retrospect...literally the creepiest stuff I have ever read.

Try "In the Barn," the story he did for Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions, set in a world where women are not sentient and raised and treated like cattle. Or his early novels Chthon and Phthor, where there's a species of alien women whose brains are wired to treat hatred and abuse as affection, so they deliberately provoke men to violence.

I was a Piers Anthony fanboy in my teenage years, and I still have a few of his books on my shelf out of nostalgia, but there's no denying how much bad stuff he's produced.

On-topic: gee, I wonder why so many people are leaving for Bluesky.

 

[Gradine]

@Sacrosanct It's called Chromatic Dungeons.

Izegrim Creations

Have Fun With Friends

izegrimcreations.com

I believe his newest system is called GEAS, including a very adorable-looking version for children titled "GEAS Crux"

 

[Zardnaar]

If Muskrat ever did play D&D, I reckon he played a worm that crawled up the backside of the Orange of Coot.

I thought it was the Great Orange Dire Baboon of Doom.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I believe his newest system is called GEAS, including a very adorable-looking version for children titled "GEAS Crux"

This is true! Thanks all for the call outs. While CD isn't specifically feminist per se, it is designed to be representative of all gamers, and to feel welcoming of all gamers.

*funny aside, on Wesley's youtube review of it a couple years ago, one commentor said old school D&D was always inclusive and welcoming because everyone was welcome, then immediately followed it up with "There isn't a white male on the cover, so it doesn't feel like the game is for me." He was soooo close to getting it...

As for GEAS, here is the cover for the CRUX (basic) version, and yes, I do find this adorable

 

[MichaelSomething]

Hence why myself and others have deactivated our X accounts and moved to Bluesky

There's also Spoutible!

 

[Remathilis]

If Muskrat ever did play D&D, I reckon he played a worm that crawled up the backside of the Orange of Coot.

He's the kind of guy who played a fighter, dumped strength, maxed Int, and then argued Intelligence should control his to hit, damage and AC.

 

[Sacrosanct]

He's the kind of guy who played a fighter, dumped strength, maxed Int, and then argued Intelligence should control his to hit, damage and AC.

Oh, no. He's the kind of guy that argues katanas should do 2d12 damage because they can gut through the barrel of an M-60*

*kudos if you get this reference