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.

 

[briggart]

Okay. Gygax thus intentionally chose to include such things as mockery of "women's lib" in his text. He also, at other times, explicitly laid claim to the label of "sexist" when asked about some of what he had said. For example:

“I have been accused of being a nasty old sexist-male-Chauvinist-pig, for the wording in D&D isn’t what it should be. There should be more emphasis on the female role, more non-gendered names, and so forth. I thought perhaps these folks were right and considered adding women in the ‘Raping and Pillaging[’] section, in the ‘Whores and Tavern Wenches’ chapter, the special magical part dealing with ‘Hags and Crones’, and thought perhaps of adding an appendix on ‘Medieval Harems, Slave Girls, and Going Viking’. Damn right I am sexist. It doesn’t matter to me if women get paid as much as men, get jobs traditionally male, and shower in the men’s locker room. They can jolly well stay away from wargaming in droves for all I care. I’ve seen many a good wargame and wargamer spoiled thanks to the fair sex. I’ll detail that if anyone wishes.” — Gary Gygax, EUROPA 10/11 August-September 1975
I don't think there's much room for opinion here. The man himself agreed to the label in an interview, and went rather far to double down on believing that if he included women to his liking, it would be either as sex workers, slaves, victims, temptresses, or evil hags. He explicitly wanted a wargaming environment where women did not ever participate, and based on these comments, he clearly believes that women were especially destructive to gaming, such that any and all disruptions caused by men somehow paled in comparison to the mere presence of one woman at the table.

You may decide for yourself if this is offensive or not. That's your prerogative (though as with all moral choices, you should be ready for others to disagree with you, regardless of your choice. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from all possible consequences of that speech.) But it seems impossible to argue that the work was not sexist, and further, given Gygax explicitly claimed the label himself, it seems difficult at best to argue that the words does not then reflect to some degree on the writer.

As noted above, nobody sane is defined by a single character trait, good, bad, or indifferent. That should be remembered, but it cannot be used as an excuse or a dodge.

There's probably some misunderstanding going on here.

I've seen a few posts that claim that the foreword to the Making of Original D&D is discussing only the works not the authors, so people who are taking this as an attack on the authors are overreacting.

My original post, to which you replied, was exactly in response to somebody who had just repeated that: the book is accusing the original text, not the authors. I pointed out that the foreword states the content reflects the authors beliefs ("conscious choice") and it is not accurate to say that any criticism is not also directed at the authors.

And you seem to agree that OD&D books reflect Gygax & co. ideas, so I'm not sure where we are going with this?

 

[Hussar]

ROTFLMAO

I'm sorry, but how much evidence do people actually need? This would be laughable if it wasn't so freaking depressing.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

There's probably some misunderstanding going on here.

I've seen a few posts that claim that the foreword to the Making of Original D&D is discussing only the works not the authors, so people who are taking this as an attack on the authors are overreacting.

My original post, to which you replied, was exactly in response to somebody who had just repeated that: the book is accusing the original text, not the authors. I pointed out that the foreword states the content reflects the authors beliefs ("conscious choice") and it is not accurate to say that any criticism is not also directed at the authors.

And you seem to agree that OD&D books reflect Gygax & co. ideas, so I'm not sure where we are going with this?

I am recognizing that there are two things here. One is the question of whether the text makes sexist claims or presents sexist beliefs. That question has, as evidence, both the text itself, and the responses Gygax had in his own words to criticism of that text.

The other is the question of whether the text demonstrates anything about the people who wrote it. For that, the text is only weak evidence, but Gygax's responses are pretty conclusive evidence.

Just because a text contains sexist statements or evinces sexist beliefs, does not mean that the author definitely also shared that, but it is partial evidence toward it. (Substitute any other negative behaviors/beliefs you like, same logic applies.) When coupled with his own explicit statements in an interview that he knew would be published, it is essentially impossible to argue that the text isn't sexist, because Gygax specifically spoke of making it so with at least a passive desire to make women dislike it, and thus avoid it. That interview is then also, separately but relatedly, very good evidence that Gygax really did hold these beliefs, at least at that point in his life and likely for some time thereafter. Whether they changed or not, I've no idea.

More or less, I am addressing your valid critique (that the fact that a work contains sexist elements does not guarantee that the creator thereof holds sexist beliefs), by showing that we have both evidence that the text really was sexist...and that Gygax himself explicitly laid claim to being sexist/having sexist beliefs.

 

[TravDoc42]

Elon "Pay attention to me!!!!!" Musk's antics are incredibly tiring

 

[Tbiafore]

Good for Musk! We need more people to speak out like this. It's a shame that WotC/Hasbro has made this political shift. They should just have kept "political correctness" out of this and focus on just making damn games.

Read rules. Follow rules. You'd think gamers would be better at that. You won't be posting in this thread again.

 

[delericho]

Elon vs WotC is basically Alien versus Predator - you can pick a side, but neither of them is exactly benign. And, frankly, by this point in the series they've both had better showings in the past.

 

[mamba]

Gary created something special and deserves respect and acknowledgement for doing so.

doesn’t mean nothing negative may be said about the man

Elon a very smart and intelligent man who also deserves respect.

for what he accomplished, maybe, for his nutjob views and troll postings, definitely not. I consider him a net negative to society

 

[mamba]

An example of Gary clearly being more progressive than his peers. Why couldn't this story be in the forward instead of the nit-picking nonsense (comparatively, IMO)?

because the foreword discussed the OD&D text and the fact that it contains some stuff that is questionable, and no, hiring a woman does not mean you cannot be sexist

“Damn right I am sexist. It doesn’t matter to me if women get paid as much as men, get jobs traditionally male, and shower in the men’s locker room.”
Gary, 1975

 

[mamba]

Seems like another point for Gygax by people who actually knew him...

that in no way addresses the misogyny. So we have his daughter confirming his sexism and the Trolls saying they liked working with him and look forward to making money off him.

If these are your best character witnesses, the defense has a problem

 

[mamba]

It's a shame that WotC/Hasbro has made this political shift. They should just have kept "political correctness" out of this and focus on just making damn games.

the real shame is that this needs to be a shift at all, rather than the accepted norm.

How hard is it to be inclusive rather than racist and misogynistic? Given the outcry and the state of things, apparently incredibly hard