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]

she did call him a sexist, and I am not sure the daughter of someone is the sole source or arbiter of the truth

I didn't say she didn't. I just said she rejected the misogyny label and that her take the sexism was pretty nuanced IMO

Also I am not saying she the final arbiter here, no one is. It is just an additional perspective on him and what he said. The reason I posted both her and Mentzer, wasn't to say people have to agree with one particular interpretation. It was just to illustrate there isn't one reading of these things. People can see his quotes, assess them differently, and assess the man differently as well. Like I said earlier, if you find him sexist, or the language of the books objectionable, fair enough. But people who don't share that view aren't bad people. They just are interpreting things differently

 

[Jahydin]

I saw nothing there that was in support of or shows that it was in reaction to Musk's tweet. I saw nothing that even addressed sexism or misogyny one way or the other, so no, I do not see that as a clear endorsement of 'Gygax was not a misogynist'. Not sure what sentiment they were referring to

They responded to Musk's Tweet with:

Love seeing this sentiment ["WotC can burn in hell"]. Worked with Gary Gygax for 8 years and are working with his legacy now! Troll Lord Games continues to carry the torch for one of the Fathers of RPGs.

Hope that clears up the confusion.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

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

Musk's genuine achievement is the persuading of investors to ignore the trail of exploding booster rockets and burning teslas, I think he has some genuine achievements under his belt and those centre around his ability to attract an investor following.
I agree that the engineering is being done by others, but SpaceX has dropped the launch cost per kg by a couple of orders of magnitude. If Lockheed Martin or similar companies had as many booster failures their share price would have long since evaporated.
I think that Musk really wants to go to Mars and realised early on that this needed good batteries and cheap and plentyful launch capacity. Cheap and reliable small modular nuclear reactors would be very useful also but I reckon even Musk realises that a trail of burning and exploding nuclear reactors would not fly.

This has made him stupidly rich and the hubris is now unchecked.

 

[Bedrockgames]

it is the closest you will get though


he did not pick fights, he accurately mentioned some historical facts

It's the history and quite frankly reality deniers that are objecting to this

I think even if we consider it a history book, history books often have different takes on teh same source material. Part of what you do when you train in history is learn how to engage with primary sources, what questions to ask about them, etc. And there are different schools of thought on how to interrogate primary sources. One historian might read a journal entry and take it at face value, another might be more skeptical and have more questions about who the intended audience was and what the intents of the speaker were. That is the nature of working with primary sources. You are always using your personal judgment, and it isn't a science it is more of a craft or an art, so there is a lot of room for differing interpretations. Eventually you end up with a consensus or a series of arguments that are generally considered more plausible than others. But I don't think we are anywhere near approaching that with RPG history

 

[mamba]

if you find him sexist, or the language of the books objectionable, fair enough. But people who don't share that view aren't bad people

no one said they are

 

[Bedrockgames]

no one said they are

There have been posts like this. When I first weighed in it was statements of this kind that I was responding to

 

[Vaalingrade]

Another thing people are missing with this is: Time Exists.

Maybe people do remember Gary fondly. Maybe he got better. But there was a point where he said some out of pocket stuff and it did find its way into his works.

You know what? Same thing happens to me. I grew up in the 90's where being loud and proud about being terrible was at a zenith that wouldn't be seen again until this past decade. I used the R-word as a slur. I used 'gay' as an insult. and in some of my early stuff I put in gay jokes and in one of my later works I used a trope I didn't know was harmful but looking back now was really pretty hurtful to some communities.

And oh boy, when social media first came online, was a I champ at clapping back by saying the most vile crap possible even if I didn't actually believe it because I knew it would do harm and I was trying to do harm.

These days, I know better. I've moved on and evolved my behavior and worldview. Even then sometimes I'll quote something or reference something awful without thinking and have to reel it back.

But. BUT-- it is still accurate to go back to things I wrote back then and say 'yeah, that was pretty homophobic, that was ablest and Vaal was being homophobic and ableist in those works. Interviewing my friends and family now or especially after I die and it becomes less comfortable to throw shade my way, is not going to have them think back twenty years to think of the bad things I thought and did, but it's not going to change them either. And if a historian went back to tell the true story of my works, then they would be correct in pointing those things they find out no matter how sad or angry my fans might be. It's telling the truth, not picking a fight.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Ben has a right to publish his book, but if it picks fights with people, then he has to deal with that.

There's something deeply asymmetrical in this statement. The author has to deal with the consequences for publishing the truth (which some folks don't want to hear), but there's no consequences for doing sexist things. That if you're loudly and proudly sexist, you get called a sexist when people look at what you have said and done. That's consequences. That's calling a duck a duck. This is also one of the consequences of that - that your legacy is not one of unvarnished good, that people can hold you accountable posthumously, that ideologues pushing an agenda defend you so that they can earn points in a culture war.

Why is it necessary for the author to face consequences, but if Gygax's legacy faces consequences, it's too much, its' picking fights, it's not necessary? That's looking like a double-standard.

If the foreword wrote something to that effect I think there would be less of an issue. You know, like, "Despite Gygax championing women in the gaming industry, there were many insensitive missteps in his work that could be seen today as misogynistic, such as... ".

It's not that "they COULD be seen TODAY as misogynistic."

That's snowflake treatment, couched in soft language and plausible deniability to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of enablers invested in not seeing reality. It's false.

There's a simple truth that language like this dodges. Gygax was sexist because he did sexist things. We don't need to coddle the precious little feelings of flat earthers who'd deny that.

a smug attack on their heroes

This gets at something, too.

Smug. As if discussing relevant facts in a history book is somehow arrogant. As if being honest and factual is elitist. But hiding the legacy? Covering up sexism? Avoiding talking about it? That's somehow humble. And not simply a dodge of accountability.

ATTACK! As if facts are aggressive, as if reality is hostile. As if the world and the people in it don't live up to who we'd often wish they would be, and admitting that...that's painful.

Heroes. As if actual human beings aren't complicated, with heroic elements and admirable traits and also painful and awful ones. As if we can't respect good people and their accomplishments without containing their complexity. As if a human being is only ever a Bad Person or a Good Person in some sort of Calvanistic predestined way that either excuses or condemns all their actions (while the reality is that people are both bad and good).

None of it is true. It's not a smug attack on heroes. It's a historical statement of fact. But when one is invested in having the world be a certain way that it just isn't, facts can trigger some big feelings. I bet the flat earth people go through this every day.

 

[mamba]

They responded to Musk's Tweet

Which, just to reiterate, was

"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."

with: "Love seeing this sentiment. Worked with Gary Gygax for 8 years and are working with his legacy now! Troll Lord Games continues to carry the torch for one of the Fathers of RPGs."


Hope that clears up the confusion.

yes, it means I disagree with them about liking the sentiment. People get to criticize other people, even if those other people are the co-creators of D&D. I do not need this BS hero worship, and it does not address misogyny or sexism at all, all it does is say 'how dare you mention it, this is Gary', so the Trolls can eff right off

 

[DarkCrisis]

Always funny when a bunch of randos think they know someone (like Gygax) better then his actual friends and family because they read a book or saw some old articles.