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.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I am sorry, the ‘not dislike each other’ rings pretty hollow these days. Yes, we can disagree, and the opinion on this foreword alone might not be enough for me to dislike someone, but usually it is not just the foreword where people would disagree with each other on…

I am not going to dislike people because they disagree with me about a forward to a D&D book. I am also not going to dislike them if that disagreement signals they stand in opposition to me on other issues. Life is too short, people are too complex to reduce to those things, and at the end of the day we still have to all share the same world

 

[Bedrockgames]

What did Mentzer & Heidi say?

I can't find the original post from Heidi, just other peoples screen shots so I am not comfortable posting it. The gist is she understands some of the criticisms, but also puts them in the context of their times (and she defends his character as a person and father---if I find the original post I will post it). But Mentzer's is here:

 

[Maxperson]

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,

That writing as bad as it is, doesn't hold a candle to Jack Chalker. I read a lot of his book series when I was younger and in every one of them there were women sex slaves/prostitutes, sometimes entire races of them, and often he limited their intelligence as well.

 

[mamba]

If you believe him, he says he sleeps on a couch at Twitter, so that saves him a lot of travel time.

he does know that he does not need to be at Twitter to post tweets, right?

 

[mamba]

I am not going to dislike people because they disagree with me about a forward to a D&D book.

by itself, agreed

I am also not going to dislike them if that disagreement signals they stand in opposition to me on other issues.

very much depends on the issues

at the end of the day we still have to all share the same world

unfortunately that is true, would be so much better if we did not have to

 

[Bedrockgames]

unfortunately that is true, would be so much better if we did not have to

I can't get behind this sentiment at all

 

[Bedrockgames]

very much depends on the issues

Obviously there are some issues that you wouldn't want to ignore or overlook. But at the moment we are just talking about whether people consider Gygax sexist, and whether they think the introduction is accurate in that respect (and in respect to adjacent issues). I can't imagine disliking someone because they disagreed with me over something like that. I would just hope I could make an effort to persuade them, but otherwise live and let live

 

[mamba]

I can't get behind this sentiment at all

no one is asking you to, I just wish I could live without all the disastrous decisions of the people I disagree with. Let them ruin their own lives and planet, but no, we have to share the same one

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I can't find the original post from Heidi, just other peoples screen shots so I am not comfortable posting it. The gist is she understands some of the criticisms, but also puts them in the context of their times (and she defends his character as a person and father---if I find the original post I will post it). But Mentzer's is here:

Ugh, not this again.

As a reminder, it's not just one quote. It's not just the random harlot table (or the good wife table, where you will get gossip, or accused falsely of ... sexual assault). And it's not just in the past.

Just as an FYI-

I have never personally succeeded in converting a female to the hobby, including all three of my daughters. They played and enjoyed it for some weeks or months, but lost interest thereafter.
Gygax, 2005.

As I have often said, I am a biological determinist, and there is no question that male and female brains are different. It is apparent to me that by and large females do not derrive the same inner satisfaction from playing games as a hobby that males do. It isn't that females can't play games well, it is just that it isn't a compelling activity to them as is the case for males.
Gygax, 2004.

That was here, on this website. And it's not out of context- check the links.

People are complicated. And most of us have a lot of good, and some bad. We should cherish the hobby he created, and joy he gave so many.

But that doesn't mean that because he made things that we like, that we reflexively pretend that facts aren't facts. He was complicated, and there are some things that cannot just be excuse as "of his time" since it went through the 2000s.

I love Gygax for what he gave me. But I'm not going to stick my head in the sand. It's always the case that great art is created by imperfect people.

 

[mamba]

Obviously there are some issues that you wouldn't want to ignore or overlook. But at the moment we are just talking about whether people consider Gygax sexist

I already said that this by itself is pretty minor, but it expect that it is pretty close to a litmus test for a lot of other stuff that I consider a lot less minor