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.

 

[mamba]

I'm certainly inclined to take the word of those closest to him then those taking snippets and stitching together they're own narrative.

he certainly was more than just a misogynist, people are complex, but if your defense is he was born in 1938 to a traditional father born in 1880, so of course he was sexist, then that is not all that much of a defense.

Saying he also was a loving father does not really negate the former.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Another death blow to the Gygax is sexist narrative.

I don't know, man - I don't think it's a big deal to accept that he said and wrote sexist things, and that's enough to be fair to say that "Gary was sexist". It's NOT okay to decide that saying that means that it's all he was, or that he wasn't still a decent and talented human being. It's absolutely fine for him to have been both.

He also needn't be sexist all the time for it to be true that he was, some of the time.

 

[mamba]

Another death blow to the Gygax is sexist narrative.

sounds an awful lot like the ‘I cannot be racist, I have a black friend’ approach…

 

[FitzTheRuke]

he certainly was more than just a misogynist, people are complex, but if your defense is he was born in 1938 to a traditional father born in 1880, so of course he was sexist, then that is not all that much of a defense.

Saying he also was a loving father does not really negate the former.

I struggle to understand why people feel the need to assume that someone can only be one thing to the point that they can't accept that someone can be a thing - and still be a whole lot of other things. Heck, they can also be the first thing some of the time and not at other times.

It's almost like we're complex!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Please, let's remember we are getlemen and civilized people and let's keep the calm.

Some time in the past I may have joked about Elon Musk would adquire Hasbro to own D&D. Now I think it could happen really, and it shouldn't be because economic reasons.

We should stop and meditate seriously the possible damage to the franchise if this was in the middle of the cultural war. You may dislike Elon Musk or not, but the cultural war is very important for him, and if the brand D&D had got some strategy value, you can bet somebody will want to own it. I suspect some very serious troubles will appear in the entertaiment industry, and this is not only money, but "soft power".

You should think some powerful group could be interested into franchises and IPs from the TTRPG industry because those have got their own value for the "soft power".

Lots of time children can't realize about certain details in the fiction until they watch or read again when they are older.

Some times I notice the change of rules. For example in comic strips from previous decades spank on the butt or other types of physical violence to punish children could be showed, or the racist stereotype of Blackafrican cannibals with a great cauldron cooking Caucasian explorers. Then they didn't notice that could be wrong for the eyes of members of a future generation. Even any things from the sitcom "Friends" aren't wellcome for the current audiences. Today some stereotypes or tropes in the speculative can be allowed now but not any more in the future.

Teorically Elon Musk should be too busy in the next months or even years to say anything again about D&D or WotC.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I struggle to understand why people feel the need to assume that someone can only be one thing to the point that they can't accept that someone can be a thing - and still be a whole lot of other things. Heck, they can also be the first thing some of the time and not at other times.

It's almost like we're complex!

Preach.

I wrote about how I reconciled my love of the many things he made, with some of his ...not great attributes.

Anyone saying Gygax wasn't sexist is just wrong. And he wasn't just of his time, he was a little more.

And, of course, there's his views on certain other things (I don't want to go there, but it has to do with American history, nits make lice, etc.).

There's also the issues with women and drugs in Hollywood. Honestly, that doesn't even measure.

But if you paid attention, there is a sadness to his story. On his way to making it big, he burned a lot bridges. And hubris brought him down. I think that after the fall, a heavy load was lifted, and he became the avuncular figure most people think about now, hanging out at conventions, always ready with a story.

So yes, people are complex. And he put out a lot more good to this world than he took.

 

[Some Dude]

Please, let's remember we are getlemen and civilized people and let's keep the calm.

Some time in the past I may have joked about Elon Musk would adquire Hasbro to own D&D. Now I think it could happen really, and it shouldn't be because economic reasons.

We should stop and meditate seriously the possible damage to the franchise if this was in the middle of the cultural war. You may dislike Elon Musk or not, but the cultural war is very important for him, and if the brand D&D had got some strategy value, you can bet somebody will want to own it. I suspect some very serious troubles will appear in the entertaiment industry, and this is not only money, but "soft power".

You should think some powerful group could be interested into franchises and IPs from the TTRPG industry because those have got their own value for the "soft power".

Lots of time children can't realize about certain details in the fiction until they watch or read again when they are older.

Some times I notice the change of rules. For example in comic strips from previous decades spank on the butt or other types of physical violence to punish children could be showed, or the racist stereotype of Blackafrican cannibals with a great cauldron cooking Caucasian explorers. Then they didn't notice that could be wrong for the eyes of members of a future generation. Even any things from the sitcom "Friends" aren't wellcome for the current audiences. Today some stereotypes or tropes in the speculative can be allowed now but not any more in the future.

Teorically Elon Musk should be too busy in the next months or even years to say anything again about D&D or WotC.

Musk is nothing if not impulsive. He is also working closely with somebody who is not known for forming lasting relationships. He may never mention Dungeons & Dragons again, or he may try to buy it next week.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm certainly inclined to take the word of those closest to him then those taking snippets and stitching together they're own narrative.

I know he had a habit of sarcastically doubling down on controversial topics that gets taken out of context all the time, but when it comes to those that have actually interacted with him, I haven't heard anything negative. In fact, if it wasn't for his (and those other "misogynists" at TSR that worked close with him) encouragement, maybe we wouldn't have Shadowdark...

I really hate that questions of sexism become deflected to questions of character.

It's like the racist guy pointing out that his black friends love him.

I don't know Gary's soul. I never met the man. I am not here to judge him as a human. We're all clever apes doing our best in a complicated world.

I am here to call out the garbage he DID, that there's EVIDENCE for, that HURT PEOPLE.

Okay, great, he wasn't a garbage father according to his kid. Wonderful, yipee, and completely irrelevant.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

In the Table Top RPG world WotC has no rivals only mice who feed on the crumbs from its plate.

Honestly the Forward was a huge mistake, it doesn't matter if Gygax had some backwards things, it picked a huge completely unneeded fight with a large part of the fan base that already believes rightly the current day WotC doesn't have enough respect enough for D&D creators of yore or the lore. There was no need to do it and it was a divisive mistake.

It'd be like Paramount putting out a statement that would he certain to be perceived by a large amount of the Trekkies as disrespecting Gene Roddberry, you just don't do it, period. Or Disney putting out an insulting screed about Walt Disney, George Lucas, or Stan Lee. You don't do those things, not if you don't enjoy the bad lash.

I wouldn't care that much if Tondo wasn't WotC employee, he's free to have his own opinions, but in an official capcity working for WotC it was just a bad idea that was needless. Why create all the drama?

it worries me that this is the same man who appears to be in charge of FR Setting Books, can we look forward to a Foreward attacking Ed Greenwood?

WotC needs to pick it's battles better.

Really sounding like you're trying to agree with world's most divorced man without saying you agree with the world's most divorced man.

Also, why shouldn't we examine the people who built the foundations of our nerdy interests and see their flaws? Gygax screwed Dave Arneson of money and once openly quoted John Chivington's "Nits make lice" in a context of arguing a Lawful Good Paladin would murder Kobold babies. You know, the line Chivington said while tryign to weasel his way out of being court-martialed for slaughter of Native American children. Why is this foreword not okay but Gary Gygax's own foreword to Supplement I: Greyhawk, where he throws sexist jabs like claiming Tiamat is somehow fault of Women's Liberation movement, is ok?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Really sounding like you're trying to agree with world's most divorced man without saying you agree with the world's most divorced man.

Also, why shouldn't we examine the people who built the foundations of our nerdy interests and see their flaws? Gygax screwed Dave Arneson of money and once openly quoted John Chivington's "Nits make lice" in a context of arguing a Lawful Good Paladin would murder Kobold babies. You know, the line Chivington said while tryign to weasel his way out of being court-martialed for slaughter of Native American children. Why is this foreword not okay but Gary Gygax's own foreword to Supplement I: Greyhawk, where he throws sexist jabs like claiming Tiamat is somehow fault of Women's Liberation movement, is ok?

I'm going to take a stab at this, actually.

I think that there are people that fall into two camps.

One camp will defend their "heroes" and try to fight any attempt to discuss, you know, the actual facts about them.
Then there are others, unfortunately, who do try to take people down- those who only look at the bad, and forget the good.

I'd like to think that at some point we can realize that people are complicated, and we can both accept that people have done things that we don't like, but they have also done things that we do like, And just because someone has produced something "good" for you- art, music, literature, politics, a winning season for you team, whatever ... you can still not reflexively deny that the person in question may have done other things.

Like a lot of things, there's a lot of gray, and people often only see black and white.

Most things require some nuance. Except bards. They require termination... with extreme prejudice.