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.

 

[Some Dude]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in the "Gary put a prospective female employee up at his house" posts: Gary's second wife, Gail, was a former assistant of his. An employee or co-worker, I'm not sure which. And I'm not clear on the timeline. But between this and the fact that in WG7 Castle Greyhawk, Mordenkainen is encountered in a hot tub with his secretary, it's possible that Gary was known for a bit of workplace lechery. I certainly don't know that this was the case, nor am I stating it outright. But it would seem an odd thing to include otherwise, for a character so clearly and unflatteringly based on Gary. And it likely wouldn't have been as uncommon or frowned upon as it is today. Who knows, though?

 

[Steampunkette]

Ignore is something that people can use for any reason they feel is appropriate. It's up to the individual. It allows people here to disengage from others that they don't want to interact with, and doesn't require moderators to intervene.

I use ignore somewhat sparingly, and for various reasons, and sometimes I use it temporarily to give myself a timeout when I think I am getting too heated with someone else. It could be them, or it could be me. But it's a way to disengage. But if a person chooses to not ignore anyone, that's a valid choice. If a person uses ignore to protect themselves from people that say things that they find abusive, that's also a valid choice.

This isn't the town square. It's more like a cocktail party at Morrus's house. Morrus sets the rules and he (and the mods) and make sure we are all following them and not peeing in his sink. But if you don't want to talk to someone, "ignore" lets you walk away.

That's how I view it. I do think that in a perfect world, we'd all be able to talk through issues and by that exposure, you'd be able to convince others that viewpoints that in any way make you feel lesser are not acceptable. But we don't live in that perfect world. So yes, if you feel that someone is saying things that make you feel unsafe or that make you uncomfortable, you can choose to ignore them. There is no requirement that you engage with others at your own expense.

Oh, Snarf! I appreciate you and your perspectives and I largely agree with them!

That post isn't actually looking for assurance that I'm doing the right thing by ignoring someone who has espoused support for transphobia, though. It's trying to see if Ulorian has learned from us about the ignore function's important utility, or if he thinks no one should be able to disengage except by completely skipping the party and leaving the forums, entirely.

'Cause that's kinda the alternative for some of this stuff!

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in the "Gary put a prospective female employee up at his house" posts: Gary's second wife, Gail, was a former assistant of his. An employee or co-worker, I'm not sure which. And I'm not clear on the timeline. But between this and the fact that in WG7 Castle Greyhawk, Mordenkainen is encountered in a hot tub with his secretary, it's possible that Gary was known for a bit of workplace lechery. I certainly don't know that this was the case, nor am I stating it outright.

There were issues during the Hollywood time.

Which included putting people on the payroll that he was involved with.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Well I see you guys are having a good time.

The Prof DM video that came out today was very good & fits my views pretty well.

I just saw that one and he made some good points

 

[Zardnaar]

There were issues during the Hollywood time.

Which included putting people on the payroll that he was involved with.

Sounds like early WotC.

 

[Gradine]

You don't need to agree with it but I think you need to figure out why people support it. Bit of a failure there.

No, I absolutely do not. It is not incumbent on me or on anyone to build bridges with bigots to find "common ground". Because, frankly, there isn't any, not really. I don't care about the politics or the power of it, because that is absolutely none of my responsibility at all.

No, all I have to do, all that it is my moral imperative, is to make bigots feel unwelcome and unwanted. They have a worldview that is completely detrimental to and contradictory of the betterment of humanity, and the more unacceptable it is for them to espouse their views in public the less actual power they get to hold.


"B-b-b-but then they'll just dig underground-"

Let them rot there.

 

[Azzy]

I'm not out to change the world he'll right now I woukd settle for not making it worse.

And that's exactly why the world doesn't get better.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Oh, Snarf! I appreciate you and your perspectives and I largely agree with them!

That post isn't actually looking for assurance that I'm doing the right thing by ignoring someone who has espoused support for transphobia, though. It's trying to see if Ulorian has learned from us about the ignore function's important utility, or if he thinks no one should be able to disengage except by completely skipping the party and leaving the forums, entirely.

'Cause that's kinda the alternative for some of this stuff!

I can't speak for the other poster, but I think the poster means well. It can be hard to understand other perspectives when you haven't lived them, and when you haven't, the idea that things can be talked through can be appealing. Perfect world and all that.

But it does tend to have a problem with the reality of what we see, and doesn't take into account everything ... ugh ... going on right now. This is a place where all of us should feel welcome, and we can talk about our hobby without all that other stuff.

In closing- to heck with Elon Musk, and dang him for stirring up this stuff again.

 

[Steampunkette]

No, I absolutely do not. It is not incumbent on me or on anyone to build bridges with bigots to find "common ground". Because, frankly, there isn't any, not really. I don't care about the politics or the power of it, because that is absolutely none of my responsibility at all.

No, all I have to do, all that it is my moral imperative, is to make bigots feel unwelcome and unwanted. They have a worldview that is completely detrimental to and contradictory of the betterment of humanity, and the more unacceptable it is for them to espouse their views in public the less actual power they get to hold.


"B-b-b-but then they'll just dig underground-"

Let them rot there.

I just want you to know that I adore you, so very much!

And as a general note for everyone else: You don't debate bigots. Bigots don't care about logic or empathy. They are entirely and exclusively motivated by one of two things:

A desire for power over others who dislike minority groups.
A disgust for things that are not the norm.

That's it. It's either one of those two things. The cynically selfish or the purely emotional. The latter of which can sometimes be reached by upsetting their norm so drastically that they have no choice but to adapt, but you're never gonna do that in a single conversation. That's -years- of effort.

They do not have principles for their hate, and will shift their argument faster and with greater efficacy than sand in a desert wind. Why? Because at best their argument is indefensible bigotry. The most they can do is make it mildly palatable to the masses through euphemism and rephrasing.

For example Transgender people are a poor target for most, but "Transgender Ideology" creates an imaginary separation that allows people to dive in with both feet while claiming not to hate trans people, just the ideology. What is the ideology? They can't define it, but they're -against- it!

Because it's all disgust and no substance.

Arguing with a bigot is like grabbing handfuls of applesauce in a hurricane: You're never going to accomplish anything useful and you're putting yourself in danger.

 

[GreyLord]

This thread is still going this quickly. Over 20 pages a day!

Nothing breeds interaction as much as controversial topics!

Is this what we call...Rage bait??

Back to the Original Post. Perhaps half of what Musk posts (though with some of his recent actions, I'm sure much of it is not) is simply to cause a similar thing...rage bait. His hope would be to get people to interact with comments that are designed to get people upset or enraged so that they respond and interact about it?

Then, again, this is ENworld. We'd argue about the length of a cat's claw and see it as controversial if it came up, and whether or not that could actually kill a commoner (much less a wizard or other) or not.