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]

I suspect, unfortunately, it's also part of an effort to keep American history associated with a certain kind of person. The founding fathers, the father of rock and roll, the father of D&D... All these people tend to fit into a certain category of human being. And when you look at the true history, it's rarely one person, or one perspective, that's actually responsible for starting something.

The father of Rock n Roll is Chuck Berry

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, unimportant question here, do we think that Musk's tweet will catch the eye of any of the late night host? I could maybe see Colbert mentioning it or Tomlinson making a bit about it.

I was delighted when she confessed to being a DADHAT superfan a few weeks ago.

I suspect this may be too nerdy for either show, though. For the sake of the moderators, I hope this will be it.

 

[Steampunkette]

I hope not! There's been a 'certainty of righteousness' to your recent posts that intimate otherwise.

I get certain topics setting one off though... been there myself. I have read your other posts in this thread, and am not ignoring what you've said.

We're good. * fist bump *

Don't get me wrong. I'm incredibly certain of my positions. And I can see how that might come across as righteousness masquerading as certainty. But I'm as much of a screw up as the next person. I -wrote- something that was pretty antisemitic without even realizing it. Thankfully I had access to people who didn't tolerate intolerance and called me out on it.

Once I understood, I changed my direction in my writing, entirely. Which is, of course, the appropriate response.

But I also can't and won't be held responsible for the version of me that other people create in their minds. No matter how close or far from the mark that version is.

We're good.

 

[Morrus]

Well, one of the big gate shows (I refuse to call carpetbagger joints cons) is associated with something calling itself the Roddenberry Foundation.

So, I had to look that term up. I'd never heard of it before. Apparently it's a pejorative term which originates in America's civil war. It really doesn't seem appropriate here. Please don't use it again.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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.

Maybe, but you've got a bunch of folks occupying a similar role in the royal family. Most of us find them completely baffling.

Ugh, maybe our celebration of "great men" is filling some deep-seated psychological need for kings and such. If so, not a great look for humanity.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Do I look like a cultural historian? I have no idea!

All I know is that Americans like to venerate 'fathers' and 'founders' and that's not language I ever hear from anybody but Americans. Who do you imagine we might venerate? Maybe we learned the hard way that those people were never anything special. That Henry VIII, right? What a cool dude! William the Conqueror?

I guess we just don't do that. I can't picture anybody who might hold a venerational place in British culture. The idea of it just seems weird.

Well, I don't know... your profile pic has you holding your chin in a thoughtful manner. Kind of screams cultural historian frankly.

So I'm a Canadian, not an American. I'm not familiar with that pattern of thought either. Canadians in general aren't burdened with ancestral luggage... year of foundation was 1867! It's unusual (in my experience anyway) to meet anyone who's beyond a generation or two removed from a different homeland. Although on my mother's side, the ancestry goes back to the 16th century in this country... some dope who skipped out of the Île de Ré and hobo-ed is way to the New World.

In time, that will change, as people peg their tents here and that lasts over generations. For now, though, it is a true melting pot of cultures. It's a pretty great place to live honestly.

Maybe it is an American concept. Seems like a veneration of what came before, which strikes me as noble. Maybe some dirty Yank can speak up and give their opinion.

 

[Nord Ronnoc]

Oh yeah, Elon Musk? Good luck with that. Also, missed opportunity to say something along the lines of "May you burn in Baator, the Nine Hells!" C'mon, where's your nerd cred, man? Did you even read the book?

 

[Morrus]

Maybe, but you've got a bunch of folks occupying a similar role in the royal family. Most of us find them completely baffling.

Not really. It's more about offloading the pointless ceremonial part of government so the government can actually work. You guys have as much or more of a hereditary wealth culture (with families who have 10 times the wealth the royals do) and as much or more pomp and ceremony, just more 'modern' themed. But that's waaaay off topic for here, so I think it's best left there. Not an EN World topic.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've no idea. Maybe it's an Italian thing? You guys do also refer to places as like the "World Capital of Cheese Strings" and stuff, which we really do not do, and find really cringey. I think you just like pedestals and we really don't like them.

I dunno. I've been to the UK, and got told a lot of "on this spot, 600 years ago, some lord you've never heard of stubbed his toe on some saint's day and this is the chapel he sat in and took off his boot."

I think the details are different but it's a similar impulse. The US is, in comparison to the UK, a much younger place, so the impulse is channeled into different things. I think both versions are pretty silly, when it comes down to it.

 

[Morrus]

Well, I don't know... your profile pic has you holding your chin in a thoughtful manner. Kind of screams cultural historian frankly.

Or a sore chin. My dog had just headbutted me.