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.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I didn't know Musk played D&D, I mean he'd have to be a hardcore player to have any reason to have an opinion about this. But with this CEO of 6 companies, talks about working 100 hours a week, oh and trying to top the leaderboards on League how does he have time to play D&D /s

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

He's an oligarch billionaire who p*ss on working people and spend his days at Maralago playing Game of Thrones. This dude getting real power that affects us all is scary. But I couldn't care less about his opinion on our elf games.

 

[Remathilis]

This right here. These tactics aren't new. The people pushing this stuff are not acting in good faith, or out of love for the game.

Exactly. Neither Grummz nor Musk actually give a fig about Gygax's legacy. Everyone here and on SM are falling into their trap. We're fighting with ourselves over whether someone has to right to be offended over something produced 50 years ago. They want you mad, isolated and defending the idea that things were better before women and minorities came in. They are telling you "your hobby has abandoned you, called you names, shamed your heroes and neutered your power. They don't understand you, but I do." And once you're isolated from the community, you become bitter and angry and willing to lash out at those who wronged you: the "libs", the "woke", the people who infiltrated your space and told you to clean your room and wash your ass. That's how the right wing pipeline started with "Let's Play" streamers on Twitch and ends with Andrew Tate's University convincing you the women shouldn't be allowed to vote.

This isn't about Gygax or the foreward, it's about angering you into radicalization.

 

[Vaalingrade]

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

Purchasing the work of actually intelligent people with Daddy's money?

 

[Vaalingrade]

I like how last time this topic came around, we had to let it go because 'Gary was a product of his time' and now it's 'he was actually progressive'. And it's always, ALWAYS ignoring what the man actually says.

You can tell a narrative is true when it evolves to fit the situation.

 

[Parmandur]

"the misogyny is revealed as a conscious choice"

Everyone will have their own opinion whether this is an attack or a matter-of-fact statement, but it clearly refers to the authors not just to the content.

Sure, but it is a bland statement facts on the ground, not an accusation of total depravity.

 

[mamba]

Purchasing the work of actually intelligent people with Daddy's money?

I put a maybe there for a reason, maybe you can credit him for pushing Tesla to where it is now and getting the funding to get there, but he certainly is not the brains of the operation, he is the hype man, and maybe had a vision he acted on before others had it

It’s certainly more than Donald accomplished who actually did squander what he inherited from daddy and just in time lucked into playing a smart businessman on TV

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

'Gary was a product of his time'

" He was, in the end, merely a man of his times."

 

[Henadic Theologian]

People are conflating two totally separate things. Heidi's response here is to Ben Rigg's article entitled "...Gary Gygax was Sexist".

Elon Musk is tweeting (X-ing?) about the forward to a book that doesn't call Gary a sexist. It talks about the work itself, and says that some of the things that a reader might find in it might look objectionable by today's standards. It IN NO WAY suggests that anyone should think less of any of the authors involved.

Two different things.

Some points can be read between the lines without the writer outright saying it, the foreward, which I have read is dripping with condensation and Gygax fans and fans of the other creators don't like it. Honestly the very fact that an WotC employee did the Forward of the hacket piece of a book is a Quasi WotC endorsement of the book.

WotC & Tondo should apologize to the Fandom of Gygax and make better choices in the future. Try to make peace.

 

[Parmandur]

Some points can be read between the lines without the writer outright saying it, the foreward, which I have read is dripping with condensation and Gygax fans and fans of the other creators don't like it. Honestly the very fact that an WotC employee did the Forward of the hacket piece of a book is a Quasi WotC endorsement of the book.

WotC & Tondo should apologize to the Fandom of Gygax and make better choices in the future. Try to make peace.

I am a fan of Gygax and these other creators (warts ans all), and I have read tge while book. It is a love letter to Gygax's work and legacy...just an honest and historically complete one.