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.

 

[Steampunkette]

Want a great example of the ignore feature working well?

I can't see who Mamba or Ruin Explorer are talking to, not because I ignored them, but because they ignored me.

But seeing the responses Mamba and Ruin Explorer are giving them, and extrapolating their position based on that I can deduce that I don't -wanna- know.

And also that they might've been the other person whose post I couldn't see where Russ specifically called out their old timey civil war vintage racist terminology and gave them a warning!

I'm -so- happy I don't have to deal with that, y'all don't even -know-!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm not so sure people always speak what is in their heart when they are drunk. In my experience it seems to be a mixed bag. Sometimes the truth comes out, sometimes people just say a bunch of nonsense.

I would actually agree that "in vino veritas" is only a half-truth (when drunk, even blackout drunk, I reportedly become very kind and friendly and just generally docile, for example, not sure that's really the core of my being lol), but if the n-word is coming out, if it's not because it seems natural to them (in which case they're definitely racist), it's probably because they were raised by and/or hang around with a lot of people who use that word regularly. If someone I knew hadn't been raised that way came out with it that would definitely raise an eyebrow pretty steeply. Also if someone hangs around voluntarily with people who say the n-word, maybe they shouldn't?

Alcohol though has such differential effects on people that I don't think it's a particularly reliable test.

What is a better test is online gaming, I'd say. People often get really aggro and stressed whilst playing PvP games, and what they do then is a better test of character, because they're generally not drunk nor high. Some people start swearing and some people escalate that to racist and homophobic epithets, and I'm pretty sure any guy who deploys the n-word just because he's mad with you is probably pretty racist lol.

 

[FrozenNorth]

My experience with people is things often aren’t this simple

I’m sorry, but I just don’t give your experience of these matters as much weight as I give my own.

 

[Emerikol]

View attachment 387154
<snip>

It does seem though as if this statement is deliberately intended to make his critics angry. I agree that Gygax didn't care if he made people mad for sure or if people thought he was an old sexist male chauvinist pig. It does seem like this was spouted off in anger.

This is Frank Mentzger's take.
Gygax: A Staunch Defense
Gary-bashing has been trending.
So I've got something to say.
(TLDR: Quotes taken out of context & fake news)
I think Gary's morals and ethics were notably superior. He worked to be fair, regardless of age sex beliefs or whatever.
frex I recall him hiring and defending Jean Wells, and later acquiring Barima Obong-Ubusu (sic) for VP Finance at TSR.
Yes he fell victim to substance abuse for one brief period in his west-coast life. He kicked it all quickly, fyi.
Sometimes he got mad, sure.
Sometimes he said things he regretted, sure.
. . .
As to 'infamous' quotes now being widely publicized...
All taken out of context and milked for clicks.
You ever exaggerate to make a point, or play the clown to amuse others?
Back off and look at the whole package, the patterns of behavior.
You find many humourous bits, and some are ill-advised (oft traces of his first 30 years). Many subtleties don't arise until re-reading.
You find grudges (Rick Loomis, the Blumes, more).
His was a normal, smart, deep human mind, kind and considerate, a Jehovah's Witness, and flawed.
In the DMG we find a 'harlots' table. That was a joke.
One quote 'damn right I'm sexist' was a deliberate poke to get a response. NOT a sexist in reality, in behavior or belief -- another ill-considered humorous angry jab.
I knew him well, friends for 25+ years. You can see the truths in the above.


I think his daughter gave a statement that reflects the basic reality.
Originally posted by Heidi Gygax Garland from Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/786...wh6LQDEYpyn7saw0RWRG6OQl4g&[B]tn[/B]=<<,P-y-R
Regarding the post by Ben Riggs “D&D Co-Creator Gary Gygax was Sexist” IMO much seems to be taken out of context and pieced together. I cannot verify the sources, although I truly believe they are incomplete and/or incorrect. I think Frank Mentzer states his insights on this eloquently. As for my perspective, I do not believe my father was racist or misogynistic. Was he sexist? He was born in 1938 to a father born in the 1880’s and a mother born in 1906. He was raised in a traditional Anglo-Saxon Protestant family with traditional biblical family values where the male was the head of the household. In my adult opinion, yes, this is sexist and doesn’t hold up to our more enlightened standards today. Yet, he was a loving father and husband who valued all of his children and his wife. All 3 of his daughters played D&D with him at some point, but I happen to be the only one who still plays. In short, he wasn’t perfect, but he was far from all of the negative accusations that are (re) surfacing, and I’m extremely proud - as a strong, independent female - to have E. Gary Gygax as my father and my family legacy.

 

[FrogReaver]

I think it's worth noting some of them had views and behaviours which were out-of-line even in that era, though, even if you attempt to contextualize them this way.

Right, like Lovecraft, Sure. But in general I don't think we are ever going to agree on what the line was for prior era's. It probably even depends just as much on U.S. region as it does on decade.

Gygax had very odd views which were not normative for the era he operated in, in a number of ways. I think it's fair to say his attitudes towards women,

Very much in dispute about what was normative in those decades.

and his ideas re: the acceptability of genocide towards "inferior" races made him a bigot in his lifetime, not only beyond.

First I'm hearing Gygax said this. Care to share any more info on it?

Your statement reminds of inept-yet-common defences of/apologia for Columbus, where people try to claim "Well he wasn't bad by the standards of that era! Stop judging him unfairly!", despite the fact that a guy literally on the same ship as him was busily writing that he'd never come across anyone as evil, depraved, and un-Christian as Columbus.

I don't think that analogy works because saying someone is the most bad they've ever met is a contemporaneous statement explicitly placing that person as worse than normal in their times. We don't have anything like that for Gygax.

Plus, this cuts both ways - Gygax was a weird bigot it some ways, but doesn't seem to have been nasty or rape-y or the like in his actual behaviour, unlike a lot of men of his era. So I don't why it's wrong to acknowledge his actual views and say "Yo even for that era that was messed up".

The question keeps coming back to what his actual views were though. I'm all for condemning his views as whatever 'ist' provided they are being properly attributed to him.

 

[Morrus]

I’m sorry, but I just don’t give your experience of these matters as much weight as I give my own.

I'm Batman.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I suspect some of this difference of opinion here may be a regional thing. South vs Northeast. West vs Midwest. Etc.

I grew up in the north east but spent time out west as a kid. I think Gygax is also on the cusp age wise but still before the war. My dad was born in 1946 and very progressive. And my mothers parents were born in the 20s and progressive on issues of race but had very old fashioned views of men and women (which seems the norms). With older people born in the 20s and 30s my experience was outdated views on men and women were quite normal. Even when they didn’t subscribe to outdated views, their language often was (and often more blunt). It was also the norm growing up to treat older people with understanding (you didn’t expect that your 85 year old grandfather would have the same kind of worldview as your 20 year old cousin). The norms I encountered out west were much more conservative but I am not really referencing those in this discussion.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I’m sorry, but I just don’t give your experience of these matters as much weight as I give my own.

Same and fair. But this is why people are naturally going to see the same words from a man and have different reactions to them

 

[Bedrockgames]

I would actually agree that "in vino veritas" is only a half-truth (when drunk, even blackout drunk, I reportedly become very kind and friendly and just generally docile, for example, not sure that's really the core of my being lol), but if the n-word is coming out, if it's not because it seems natural to them (in which case they're definitely racist), it's probably because they were raised by and/or hang around with a lot of people who use that word regularly. If someone I knew hadn't been raised that way came out with it that would definitely raise an eyebrow pretty steeply. Also if someone hangs around voluntarily with people who say the n-word, maybe they shouldn't?

and I made a similar point about the n word. I think that isn’t a word that easily rolls off the tongue unless you are used to saying it. So I think it isn’t an example that translates well into other things a person might say when they are drunk

 

[FrogReaver]

maybe, doesn’t change who he was or that it was wrong

But it does relate to what we were just discussing, what was normal back then.