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.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Goodness, who are the people who don't find social oppression infuriating?

The ones doing it?

 

[AnotherGuy]

Well, Elon Musk, evidently.

Cute smear.

My thinking is more in line with @Morrus's post #547
Musk was likely a buffoon, didn't do the research and responded from the hip. Much of social media is about that.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

People who are using "he was a man of his time" defence are missing the point. Even if it was true that he was no more sexist than is typical for a man of his age (which I don't think is true, especially as he seemingly held those beliefs for the rest of his life) the foreword (I have never typed a word this carefully) would have still been perfectly warranted. This is a book that reprints in verbatim a lot of stuff from decades past, and a lot of modern readers will look some of that and go "uh huh, isn't that rather sexist?" So it makes perfect sense for the authors to acknowledge that, warn about that, and remind people that that was then and things have improved since.

 

[StarkMaximum]

Musk had played Dungeons & Dragons at some point in his youth, but it's unclear when the last time he ever played the game.

You know, sometimes I do love the journalism on this website.

 

[Morrus]

the foreword (I have never typed a word this carefully)

And I thank you for it!

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

Cute smear.

My thinking is more in line with @Morrus's post #547
Musk was likely a buffoon, didn't do the research and responded from the hip. Much of social media is about that.

Cute and accurate, at the same time. Musk can be a buffoon and didn't do research and responded from the hip and yet is still uncivil, wrathful and lacking in nuance all at once! I'm not sure how being hateful off the cuff is more excusable than being hateful in a deeply pre-meditated fashion.

 

[Libertad]

Look at his own words. See the quote in post 495 of this thread:

View attachment 386991

This is something I wanted to touch, as while I have browsed this thread there is a deeper problem related to the sexism conversation I feel bears focus.

The talk of "slave girls," "raping and pillaging," and similar quoted stuff in the text are pretty much him saying "you wanna see misogyny? I'll give you some real misogyny!" with the thread of adding explicit elements of sexual assault into gaming sessions.

We've all heard horror stories over the decades of this hobby in creepy gamers springing such content unwarranted and unwanted onto their fellow players, which has sadly contributed to many people (women especially) of leaving this hobby or even not bothering with it to begin with.

Real harm has been done by these toxic gamers, and it's also why in relatively recent times there's been so much influence placed on Session 0, safety tools, and the like to try and weed these kinds of people out.

But here, we have one of the fathers of tabletop gaming as we know it, exemplifying the very traits of the kinds of gamers countless people have had to kick out of their tables and ruined the hobby for everyone else.

I cannot say for certain how many of these gamers were aware of or knew of this Gygax quote, but given the fondness and even hero-worship that surrounds the man in RPG circles, I have to wonder how many saw this as a defense and reinforcement of their own negative behavior?

That, to me, underlines the true cost of choosing to downplay and ignore the toxic behaviors and attitudes of luminaries in our space.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Have you not seen people:

• Flat-out denying that Gygax ever said these things
• Claiming that, whatever he actually said, it wasn't as bad as people say it is
• Claiming that, even if he actually did say it, it wasn't unusual for his time/age group/etc.
• Ascribing any bad things he said to his age, upbringing, or religion/ethnic group/etc.
• Claiming that, whatever he actually said, he surely didn't mean it, it was hyperbole, or a mere fit of pique, etc.
• Dismissing anyone that takes the criticism seriously and wishes to talk about it (this being the thing darjr would have added to the list)

Because I've seen literally every single one of those things in this thread. Sometimes repeatedly. The only thing on the list that hasn't actually happened is the "then they deserved it" line. (Any speculation I could make as to why that is would be casting aspersions at the very least, but it doesn't surprise me that that line is the one people haven't been willing to cross.)

I... can't even be bothered at this point.

Is that what I said? Is that what everyone who doesn't 100% agree with you has said?

I am on your side of this argument, believe it or not. What I object to, though, is the stridency and playing to the crowd (which is what your post here is doing IMO) to win points. Enter an argument where you treat the other side of the table as a human being. Engage in a conversation instead of hyperbole. Literally all I am saying.

Peace out.

 

[Morrus]

one of the fathers of tabletop gaming

I feel like it's a very foreign thing to me and those around me--I assume UK generally, but I can't speak for anybody else. The concept of venerating 'founders' or 'fathers' is very alien; the very words feel alien. I wonder if it's more an American phenomenon, but I kinda cringe whenever I see terms like that.

 

[Bedrockgames]

It really just seems like no matter what evidence is presented you're just gonna keep saying it's all irrelevant 'cause you grew up surrounded by bigots and got the idea that that was "Normal" and not "Freaking Weird".

I want to be clear: I am not saying I was surrounded by bigots. I was saying that it was pretty common to encounter people who were born in the 20s and 30s who had views about men and women that were close to Gygax's views.