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.

 

[Gradine]

Mom?

I think you might have me confused for someone else.

That said, clean your room

 

[Sacrosanct]

Look, I'm just asking questions. There's room for disagreement. I'm just going to deny or ignore everything you say and insist you provide evidence, and then I'll tell you your evidence is bad or wrong or biased or incomplete and demand you give me more evidence, while obliquely making dog whistles to needle you into overreacting so you look foolish and this entire discussion gets shut down, which is definitely not what I wanted to have happen in the first place.

I'll give someone the benefit of the doubt that they didn't see something or missed something. We all do. But when I point it out again, and you repeat that it's just one thing and you never saw other examples after you quoted me giving you other examples, I get less generous. After three or four times of this, I figure you're just trolling at that point and good luck. Especially when I see you doing the same thing to other people like Snarf. I won't talk with you again. It's clear you have no desire for a conversation. Don't mistake my appreciation of my own time that leads to my disengagement with you as anger.

 

[Gradine]

I'll give someone the benefit of the doubt that they didn't see something or missed something. We all do. But when I point it out again, and you repeat that it's just one thing and you never saw other examples after you quoted me giving you other examples, I get less generous. After three or four times of this, I figure you're just trolling at that point and good luck. Especially when I see you doing the same thing to other people like Snarf. I won't talk with you again. It's clear you have no desire for a conversation. Don't mistake my appreciation of my own time that leads to my disengagement with you as anger.

The anger is the point. They want us angry. It feeds them, sustains them, drives them until for more.

It's what makes disengagement such an effective tactic. They want us frustrated, banging our heads against our keyboards. Simply taking the oxygen out of the room does wonders.

Incidentally, this is what makes two-way ignore so effective as well.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Because the thing being debated is what is the persons heart and what their actual beliefs were.

This is not the case.

Look, anyone who claims to know what was truly in Gary's heart or what his true beliefs are is just wrong (probably including Gary himself). Whether they think he's sexist or not, no one can read minds or is Literally Anubis*. What's been stated over and over and over again is that people are complicated. People contain good and bad. And we can't be honest with ourselves if we hide or ignore or excuse or normalize the bad.

The claim "Gary was sexist" is not a claim on what was truly in his heart or what his true beliefs were.

It's a description of his actions. Gary was sexist because he did sexist things, just like I am an American 'cuz I'm gonna eat a frankly absurd amount of food on Thursday. That Gary did sexist things (and thus could be accurately called a sexist for having done those things) doesn't seem to me to be in serious debate.

The debate looks to actually be about if a history book was right to talk about some sexist things D&D's creator did, and to accurately label them as sexist.

It's not about Gary's moral character, it's about if a history book should have said something accurate but unflattering about him. Like, in public. Where everyone can see. It's about shame, embarrassment, criticism, accountability, legacy, reputation, history. And not wanting to have to deal with that.

* If you are reading this post and you are, in fact, Literally Anubis, I'm sorry for assuming that the ancient Egyptian god of the Dead, the Black Jackal of the Underworld, who judges the hearts of mortals against the feather of truth, does not spend idle time reading D&D message boards, but I just kind of figured you'd be more of a TikTok girlie. See you at the scales, buddy, and make sure to give Ammit head pats for me.

 

[mamba]

Because the thing being debated is what is the persons heart and what their actual beliefs were.

and what they say is what is in their heart, it is that simple.

If you call someone the n-word when you are drunk, you are a racist who knows better than to be this open about it when sober.

Gary had no ‘excuse’, he wrote a letter to the editor and mailed it. You are not drunk when you do that, you are not angry when you do that. He might exaggerate or try irony but yeah, deep down that still means you are telling what is in your heart, it just is a bit distorted. You are not telling complete fiction that is contrary to your beliefs, you are showing your actual beliefs

 

[mamba]

if you look at her full quote his birth year is a relevant qualifier. She makes it pretty clear I think in her phrasing. So she is saying sexist but qualifying it. Which I think is fair

there were plenty of people born that year who were not sexist. There were plenty sexist people born in 2010. How long do we have to wait until being born that year no longer excuses it?

As far as I am concerned it was no excuse in 2010, and it wasn’t one in 1938 either, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you weren’t one.

 

[Aldarc]

Originally I was told I'd 'Burn in Hell' just for playing D&D.
Now, we're meant to be taking advice on what will get you to Hell, from this guy...?

View attachment 387142

It's weird to see Space Karen in this sort of getup.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Because the thing being debated is what is the persons heart and what their actual beliefs were.

Actually no. That is what you are debating, the original topic was Elon Musk's reaction to a foreword in a book that reproduces texts from early D&D and related documents.

 

[Autumnal]

If you say it in a humorous manner you're not actually a sexist.
If you say it in an angry manner you're not actually a sexist.
If you say it in a frustrated manner you're not actually a sexist.
If you say it in an exasperated manner you're not actually a sexist.

How about hungry? Horny? Depressed?

Which other emotional states automatically excuse sexism, I wonder.

Hmm. Maybe we should work through conditions. Prone? Exhausted? Positioned? Petrified? The answers could be an enormous boon.

 

[Remathilis]

My favorite are the accusations of being paid to defend WOTC... and Soros money.

Your check didn't come yet?