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.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Whew! It took me hours to catch up on this thread! Hours that I could have been doing something much, much more useful. But I couldn't break free!

And now, here, I find... I don't think I can add anything useful to the conversation. I don't think that there IS anything useful to be said.

Other than maybe, that I think that a "Harlot Table" can be both somewhat amusing from a word-play perspective (and also in a naughty 12-year old sort of way), and still be 100% extremely sexist.

Like many other aspects of this discussion - a thing being one thing does not make it not the other.

 

[Staffan]

My only answer to anyone who wants me to comment on Musk is that "I don't have a favorite billionare."

I mean, Taylor Swift certainly isn't perfect (what with pumping out huge amounts of CO2 travelling all over the place in a private plane to watch her boyfriend play sportsball), but if I had to choose one to keep it'd probably be her.

Trash usually doesn't talk back. If it does, you might need to see a therapist about hallucinations.

I see someone didn't grow up watching Fraggle Rock.

 

[overgeeked]

I see someone didn't grow up watching Fraggle Rock.

I loved that show.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Gygax invented Karens?

....look, I, of all people, am not going to rake Gygax over the coals for this. Or continue disparaging the 1e DMG (my favorite RPG book of all time). I would even say that what is there is sadly reflective of the time (I mean, you can go later ... Revenge of the Nerds? John Hughes movies? it wasn't exactly uncommon... and, again, Benny Mardones and Into the Night... go watch that video.... that charted twice in the top 20... 1980, and ... 1989 ?!?).

But no, that's not just "Karen." I would like to think that we are past the point of saying that a regular woman (in this, case a goodwife) is undisguisable from other women, when the two examples used are a MU and a harlot. And that a woman that you give mere offense to is likely to falsely report you for crimes like rape. That particular one has a very long and bad history. Given that it's one of the four listed examples, and ESPECIALLY given that rape isn't exactly commonly mentioned in AD&D, I have issues with that.

I love the 1e DMG, but I know that some parts have to be viewed with a critical eye.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Other than maybe, that I think that a "Harlot Table" can be both somewhat amusing from a word-play perspective (and also in a naughty 12-year old sort of way), and still be 100% extremely sexist.

Like many other aspects of this discussion - a thing being one thing does not make it not the other.

Those random tables would hit very differently if it was a female comedian like Nikki Glaser writing them. For one thing, they'd be genuinely funny, but more importantly, they'd be written with some understanding that this stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Those random tables would hit very differently if it was a female comedian like Nikki Glaser was writing them. For one thing, they'd be genuinely funny, but more importantly, they'd be written with some understanding that this stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Nothing to add, other than I love Nikki Glaser. Her standup special was amazing, and her roast of Tom Brady? chef's kiss

 

[Zardnaar]

That only recently became legal in my state (maybe not in the police station but I've seen it done in the grocery store)

One area USA sorta beats us on is pot smoking. Still illegal but not really enforced at least locally.

Spent the last month or so talking to American family moving into tbe neighborhood. Refugees.

 

[Steampunkette]

It's easy to make funny jokes about difficult stuff or marginalized groups -without- being bigoted.

The punchline just needs to not be "Haha minority!" or "Heeee! Insult!"

What's a Trans woman's favorite candy?

Breast Mints. Or maybe Titty Skittles. Fem&Ms. Tit Tacs. Chicklets. Smartitties. Her/She's Kisses.

How about medicines?

Iboobprofen. Antiboyotics. Anticistamines. Meth-in-Feminines. Chickotine Patches. Femtanyl.

 

[grankless]

Oh hey, this thread wasn't nuked by the time I got home.

I wonder if Metzger saw Gygax's posting history.

I highly doubt it. He pretends this is all one-off events or single off the cuff jokes when other people in his life (notably women who met him) say something different. I wonder if, somehow, maybe, and this might be a little out there... He wasn't as much of a sexist around the guys in his life as he was to the women, and maybe guys in his life were more tolerant or willing to ignore his sexism.

Big if true.

Meanwhile his daughter, Heidi, outright says he was a sexist. She couches it in a bunch of "He was also" and does her best to paint him as a product of his times... but she's his -child-. Even as a married adult there's gonna be some desire to protect him. (It's also kinda ridiculous because he got called out by people in his time who weren't sexist sooooo...)

Anyway. Yeah. It ain't that deep: Gary Gygax was a sexist. He made it clear over and over again throughout his life.

Fun fact: the Frank Mentzer (how curious that he misspelled his name in a way that may make it inconvenient to google him!) mentioned by Now-Banned-Guy is an infamous serial sexual harasser who would wield the fact he was buds with Gygax as a weapon to try and force people to do things and threaten to blacklist them from the industry.

So... you know, if that's the kind of person defending Gygax...

 

[Gradine]

It's easy to make funny jokes about difficult stuff or marginalized groups -without- being bigoted.

The punchline just needs to not be "Haha minority!" or "Heeee! Insult!"

What's a Trans woman's favorite candy?

Breast Mints. Or maybe Titty Skittles. Fem&Ms. Tit Tacs. Chicklets. Smartitties. Her/She's Kisses.

How about medicines?

Iboobprofen. Antiboyotics. Anticistamines. Meth-in-Feminines. Chickotine Patches. Femtanyl.

Hell, we had one of our jokes turned into a movie!

Q: How does a nonbinary serial killer murder their victims
A: They/Them