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.

 

[Parmandur]

Okay, so I read some Piers Anthony when I was younger. I think Xanth 1-9. I don't recall anything absolutely terrible in that series...per se...but if the comments are correct in this thread...maybe I shouldn't revisit it...ever?

Is there anything bad in those first 9 or 10 Xanth Books (those would be the ones I'd revisit to read if I read anything by Anthony).

It's actually mostly pretty subtle in Xanth...I realized there was something off when I explained the setup for the series to my wife decades later and she was fairly horrified because she had been through professional safe spaces training to identify abusive behaviors like grooming.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Yep.

@Parmandur Said the quiet part out loud.

Once you read the books when you're older, it's not subtext. It's pretty much in your face. In some of the books it's ... it's smacking you over the head with a brick.

When you're younger, you might think, "Hey, this author isn't treating me like a kid. He has adult stuff in there. Cool! And also, he doesn't treat his younger characters like kids! That must mean he respects my agency and awesomeness!"

But when you're older, you see it for what it is.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Is there anything bad in those first 9 or 10 Xanth \[b\]ooks

The very first one is a glorification of rape.

 

[Jahydin]

Not sure if it's been posted, but I think Kuntz's response to the forward is worth sharing too.

“You know I have to take a break from posting. This whole attack upon OleTSR has really tripped my trigger. A 50th year celebration and this is it: Of the original D&D authors and its supplements Gary, Dave, Jim Ward and Brian Blume are gone; and that leaves me alone as the last man standing, the last author. It really is a burden watching this slanderous episode unfold. And it was done without one bat of the eyelash, a WoTC fate accompli, done in such as assumptive manner as if they wield the holy articles on morality which they enact with their reprehensible judge, jury and executioner demeanor. They are probably wincing and wonder: Us? The Saints of Truth? More like Snakes.”

He continued, “Anyone who would until the majority of authors who created the game were gone to stick it to them in this manner is a vile snake; and just to complete the deed do it on the 50th, show their admirers who’s in charge, show them who’s in control of the IP. They fear those times, times they had no hand in creating; and they especially fear Gary Gygax. His name sends shivers up and down their crooked spines; and if it wasn’t enough to have hounded him in life, let’s do a Houdini and trample on his grave. Disgusting slime.”

Next, Kuntz wrote, “But it’s not just Gary or Dave and us others. It’s also about wanting to wipe out that success and claim it as their own; and in order to do that the fandom must be attacked as well as that history. All of it must be purged and never again allowed to exist. These people are the epitome of evil robber barons parading as the good guys. Sleight of hand bulls**t from gold-hobbled prestidigitators who don’t know Fantasy or how to summon it.”

“What they know how to push down on their little man syndromes by stepping on those whose shoes they can never walk in, that and preaching righteous indignation while counting their bottom lines, taking their vacations, and dreaming about their next cafe latte. Posers, one and all,” he added.

He concluded, “We fought these establishment pukes back in the mid seventies as they gathered about a fledgling TSR to bring it down. Now it’s the second round. Robilar may be a little aged but he’s not dead yet. You have made a permanent enemy of many you stupid Coastal Wizards. Let’s see how many real magic cards you hold besides illusory ones; for this battle, neither sought after nor wanted by me and others, is just beginning. You’ll get sick of hearing my name soon enough. It’s spelled Kuntz!”

 

[Parmandur]

Yep.

@Parmandur Said the quiet part out loud.

Once you read the books when you're older, it's not subtext. It's pretty much in your face. In some of the books it's ... it's smacking you over the head with a brick.

When you're younger, you might think, "Hey, this author isn't treating me like a kid. He has adult stuff in there. Cool! And also, he doesn't treat his younger characters like kids! That must mean he respects my agency and awesomeness!"

But when you're older, you see it for what it is.

In retrospect, the really haunting bit is the afterword to each novel where Anthony would respond to fanmail from kids, insisting all along the way that these are adult books, but some kids [like you Dear Reader] are oh so smart and special...weaponizing parazocial fan reactions in retroactively very uncomfortable ways...

 

[GreyLord]

Not sure if it's been posted, but I think Kuntz's response to the forward is worth sharing too.

Interesting piece. That said, I bought the book and haul it around (took off the dust jacket though). It has all the OD&D stuff in one place. It means I don't have to haul my other OD&D books around (the original printings, which are worth waaaay too much these days, so I figured I wouldn't haul them around anymore, so I bought a 2013 anniversary set...and now that set is worth crazy money as well...will it never end) and have all the rules I like. In addition, it has the SR articles and that is a major bonus. All in one book.

Yes, if I can get a new group together to play it, I some day plan to run a new game of OD&D with this book.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

And then he wonders why rpg publishers are leaving twitter for bluesky. Nobody asked his opinion anyway.

 

[Chaltab]

Not sure if it's been posted, but I think Kuntz's response to the forward is worth sharing too.

God he sounds like he's the one with the little man syndrome. He's not even defending the unsavory elements as depiction sans endorsement or pointing out the positives. He's just ascribing a nonsensical sinister motive to what any honest evaluation must conclude: there are unfortunate, poorly aged aspects to many old D&D products.

 

[Longspeak]

You burn in hell Musk, you smelly taint. You're not good enough to be part of my hobby. Or the human race.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not sure if it's been posted, but I think Kuntz's response to the forward is worth sharing too.

Yes, it was very cunning of WotC to wait to celebrate the 50th anniversary of D&D until 50 years had passed. So crafty, so snake-like.