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.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

My point is just when a point of view is the norm for a time when someone grew up, that should shape your expectations a bit. My grandparents were born in the 10s and 20s. They had views on men and women that were old fashioned. Did it make them monsters? Not in my view. I don't think it made them misogynistic either. Their views on race were generally ahead of their times (but that I think largely came down to their personal experiences and backgrounds). I do think it is important to be understanding of the context of the times your elders grew up in. Doesn't excuse everything but it does excuse some things in my view. You can't expect a person born in the 30s to have the same worldview on these issues as someone born in the early 2000s

I refuse to give a pass for crappy behavior just because it was normalized and accepted at the time.

I don't give anyone this room, not even myself. Although I never said such things online (because even as a child I understood the permanence of the internet), I did use the word "retarded" as a child, and I made a conscious effort to stop using it as an adult. It was a long, slow process; it took several years. But eventually, I succeeded, and I am proud of having done so.

Calling out crappy behavior is one of the steps on the journey to doing better. It also helps humble us, by showing that even people we think of as great, important, heroic, can still be flawed and imperfect, and that we should learn both from their positive example AND their negative example. We can learn both from Gygax's great qualities AND his bad ones.

 

[SlyFlourish]

A lot of the arguments I see on this post follow the Narcissist's Prayer by Dayna Craig (changing some of the pronouns):

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not his fault.
And if it was, he didn't mean it.
And if he did, they deserved it.

The only one I'd add is "and the people who said it, they should be quiet".

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I would recommend getting it. My point is how shallow the complaints are, focusing on some careful and nuanced commentary in the foreword, rather than really engaging with what the foreword is trying to contextualize and justify reprinting when it would get kicked off the DMsGuild in 2024.

I see you working. The likelihood of me actually buying this book is slim to none, which is why I was hoping for your help here. But I'll carry the thoughts you've dropped here with me when/if I get my hands on a copy.

 

[SlyFlourish]

because of the conscious misogyny comment

Which is true.

 

[SlyFlourish]

just because it was normalized and accepted at the time

It wasn't normalized at the time. It was a big problem of the time. If it was truly normal, he wouldn't have had to defend himself being sexist and bioessentialist. He was defending his point of view because it wasn't being accepted and continued to defend it up through 2004.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Calling out crappy behavior is one of the steps on the journey to doing better. It also helps humble us, by showing that even people we think of as great, important, heroic, can still be flawed and imperfect, and that we should learn both from their positive example AND their negative example. We can learn both from Gygax's great qualities AND his bad ones.

I think it is laudable to stand up for people when they are bullied, and to defend people who need to be defended. But I also think justified anger can easily turn into wrath and is reason to be cautious when we respond to these things. I have seen a lot of internet debates, a lot of arguments in gaming circles turn very dark, very quickly because people feel justified in labeling someone as a bad person or toxic because of something they said. I tend to take an approach of keeping communication open with people, being charitable in my interpretation of their behavior and trying to see the good. Obviously if someone is doing something atrocious that is fair. But I think this quest for purity can lead us down a very dark path when we are not careful (which is one of the reasons I initially commented on how we aren't in a good place as a hobby and overly divided IMO).

 

[Sacrosanct]

Seems like this discussion happens every couple of months. Not to speak for the Gygax kids, but I’m pretty sure they are tired of seeing it over and over and over. Which they can’t avoid unless they get out of gaming, which isn’t fair to them. I think everyone has made up their minds by now.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

My honest assessment of it, is it is most likely 2, because he had been receiving this criticism of his writing and blew up about it. People blow up all the time in angry letters and interviews. We see people blow up in forum threads like this all the time. It certainly strikes me as a highly provocative way of stating it. I am not saying none of this reflected his real beliefs, I am saying I think most of it was probably stuff he said in anger or to provoke a reaction because he was fed up with the criticism. Possible I am wrong for sure. I tend to take more charitable and forgiving views of people. And I often attribute highly inflammatory statements to rage rather than deeply held worldviews

So, what of Heidi Gygax's comments on the subject? Where (after explaining that he was born in the late 30s to parents from the late 19th century/early 20th century) she explicitly said that these beliefs were, in fact, sexist and deplorable by modern standards?

Because that would seem to be quite relevant here. It rather severely challenges the idea that this is something other than what a plain reading of the text would indicate.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I refuse to give a pass for crappy behavior just because it was normalized and accepted at the time.

I mean, I think you need to be realistic about people. Someone born in 1926 or 1938 is simply not going to have the same attitudes towards men and women as someone born in 1996. Does that mean we say everything they do is fine? No. But there is also room for us to be understanding of generational differences.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I think it is laudable to stand up for people when they are bullied, and to defend people who need to be defended. But I also think justified anger can easily turn into wrath and is reason to be cautious when we respond to these things. I have seen a lot of internet debates, a lot of arguments in gaming circles turn very dark, very quickly because people feel justified in labeling someone as a bad person or toxic because of something they said. I tend to take an approach of keeping communication open with people, being charitable in my interpretation of their behavior and trying to see the good. Obviously if someone is doing something atrocious that is fair. But I think this quest for purity can lead us down a very dark path when we are not careful (which is one of the reasons I initially commented on how we aren't in a good place as a hobby and overly divided IMO).

Do you really believe that folks saying, "Wow, Gygax said some pretty sexist stuff, and early D&D has some pretty sexist rules and text in it" are engaging in some sort of hyper-purity, no-dissent-allowed dystopia?

Because I can tell you right now who I think is engaging in a hyper-purity, no-dissent-allowed dystopia. It's the people who try to silence criticism. Y'know, like Elon Musk, who wants WotC to "burn in hell"--as the title says--for....admitting that some of the writing in early D&D is Pretty Dang Bad, and that WotC today does not support that stuff.

I mean, I think you need to be realistic about people. Someone born in 1926 or 1938 is simply not going to have the same attitudes towards men and women as someone born in 1996. Does that mean we say everything they do is fine? No. But there is also room for us to be understanding of generational differences.

Okay.

Does that mean anyone who sees the problematic behavior must be silent? Because that's the message we're getting here. "He was a good man." "He was a good father." "He was a good husband." So....that means...what? He couldn't have done anything bad if he was also those good things?

Your pleas for "understanding" would be a lot easier to accept if the climate of the discussion weren't "anyone who besmirches our heroes must BURN IN HELL." Y'know. As Elon Musk explicitly said.