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.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

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 im a conversation instead of hyperbole. Literally all I am saying.

Peace out.

Actually, I can be bothered. I tell you what... you find these posts where these villainous things have occurred. You and I can go knock on these doors and get to the bottom of this. I'll do the talking, and you can be the ominous muscle looming behind me. You may have to do some talking though, to justify why we're there.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Mom was born in 1944. Dad was born in 1952. Grandpa missed -one- Christmas 'cause he said something out of pocket at Thanksgiving and my parents refused to invite him over for Christmas. He cleaned his act up after that, and was (By the Way) old enough to be Gary Gygax's Dad. (Well. Not -really-. He was only 15 when Gygax was born)

I have an aunt and uncle I -barely- remember because they wouldn't moderate themselves around my family and were never invited back for Holidays and were even -turned away- twice on "Surprise Visits".

Everyone's family is different so I would never pass judgment on people who have different family experiences. I think this is a separate issue from is Gygax sexist, but I grew up in a household where family is the most important thing in the world. We loved one another even when folks fought or disagreed. My dad and his father had serious disagreements over big issues, like Vietnam for example. But they never would have disallowed him to see his grandchildren or miss being among family on the holidays. I think kindness and understanding are important even when people disagree over things

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

I do not know enough about Musk to make that call with that one Tweet.
I'm happy to critique him on allowing his emotions to override his better judgment to investigate the matter before making his first reaction/thought public.
We can agree to disagree.

If you care to use some critical thinking, simply google "Offensive things that elon musk has said," and you will find dozens of articles and his words are rampant with sexism over and over and over again. And that's only the tip of his offensiveness. He also has said his own child was "killed by the woke mind virus" because she is transgender.

 

[Steampunkette]

Everyone's family is different so I would never pass judgment on people who have different family experiences. I think this is a separate issue from is Gygax sexist, but I grew up in a household where family is the most important thing in the world. We loved one another even when folks fought or disagreed. My dad and his father had serious disagreements over big issues, like Vietnam for example. But they never would have disallowed him to see his grandchildren or miss being among family on the holidays. I think kindness and understanding are important even when people disagree over things

My grandfather fought Nazis. And taught my father about the Paradox of Tolerance.

And when he was intolerant my father took the lessons he was taught to heart and told his father he wouldn't accept that.

"Kindness and Understanding" does not apply to bigotry.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I do not know enough about Musk to make that call with that one Tweet.

Is this the first time you've heard of him?

 

[SlyFlourish]

Somebody definitely needs to write a "What did that foreword [FORWARD!] actually say?" article because I feel like 99% of the discussion about it is about what people who don't have the book imagine it says. Because it makes some observations about a work; it doesn't call people names or 'slander' anybody or call anybody a misogynist. And it doesn't, as Musk seems to have imagined--he clearly hasn't read the book, just saw a tweet about it--"trash" Gary Gygax. It certainly doesn't, as some people have feverishly imagined, call the fanbase bad for liking older editions of D&D.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

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.

I would have thought the opposite from a citizen of a civilisation that evolved under a long-standing monarchy. Is this a UK Gen X thing or something more deeply inherent? Honestly, I think the pattern of thought you're describing is culture-agnostic, even within societies that are more jingoistic.

 

[Bedrockgames]

My grandfather fought Nazis. And taught my father about the Paradox of Tolerance.

And when he was intolerant my father took the lessons he was taught to heart and told his father he wouldn't accept that.

"Kindness and Understanding" does not apply to bigotry.

I don't know the nature of your grandfather's issue he had with your father and it isn't my business to weigh in on your family's concerns. Most of us had grandparents in WWII if you are our age. My mom's father was at the battle of the bulge, my dad's father was in the pacific theater (I doubt either knew who Karl Popper was, but they were both pretty forward thinking in terms of race). Generally my approach to family is to never cut them off or reject them. If someone had ideas I didn't like, I would try to persuade them but still always love them.

 

[dbolack]

It’s always weird to see this puritan nonsense. You get 8 hours of sleep at a different time than I do, therefore you must be lazy and have no work ethic.

Not defending Musk, at all, rather the millions of people who don’t work 9-5 jobs.

When I was a federal contractor for a Major US Department of Justice, there were a number of people who would give me grief about coming in at 9 to 10 when they came in at 5 when ALMOST NONE OF THEIR COWORKERS WERE AROUND TO CATCH THEM DOING NOTHING and would go home at 8 hours meaning they were thoroughly unavailable to assist anyone if they were needed for up to half of the daytime coverage hours on site.

The hell with that fake "work" ethic.

 

[CleverNickName]

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.

Yeah, I think it's mostly an American thing. The near-deification of our country's founders is pretty disturbing in certain places on the Internet. It's like Bioshock Infinite, except not satire.

It's only gotten worse since that term was coopted by a certain brand of Nationalists, who use it as shorthand for the ideal "kind of person" suited for leadership. After all, our Founding Fathers all fit a certain mold (they were all white, they were all male, they were all wealthy landowners, I'll let you extrapolate from there.)