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.

 

[Maxperson]

clearly you are not getting what I wrote, at all. Everyone in this discussion but you gets it, have fun continuing not understanding what you are doing, I am not going to try to help you understand it beyond this point

Me and the several who have agreed with me and/or liked my posts you mean. What I don't get is why you are against understanding the whole issue.

 

[Bedrockgames]

This is a bad argument.

You don't think it is obvious if you follow someone who likes marshmallow fluff, but retweets an attack on marshmallow fluff, that they probably don't agree with the attack?

 

[Bedrockgames]

No, the tweet analogy basically exposed the contradiction here: when you see an empty retweet, you simply look for context. Fair, I suppose. But in this case, you are arguing against Wizards putting in context to create clarity. Those two views are contradictory.

No because these two things: a tweet expressing a viewpoint and an old D&D book, are not the same thing at all. I don't ever assume reprinting an old D&D book is them agreeing with everything in it

 

[Remathilis]

Okay but that poem is about the holocaust. We are talking about a book that comments on potentially sexist language in a book. These things are miles apart. No one is accusing Gary of genocide

Perhaps John Stuart Mill is more to your liking?

“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

Or the quote falsely attributed to Edmund Burke?

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Or perhaps the rock band Rush?

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"

Point being, silence favors the opposer. And WotC not commenting on it while presenting these views in a product they are selling for profit is to say they are completely accepting of those views when it comes to making money.

Not a good look.

 

[FrogReaver]

Yes. A large portion of Americans today are sexist. In other news, water is wet.

Kind of elides the whole stated point of me bringing that up, but okay, I agree.

Prevalence in the past may explain how he became sexist, but it is not a valid excuse.

Okay, but im not treating it as an excuse.

Let me try this way. I tend to have greater respect for abolitionists 200ish years ago than an American in 2024 that believes slavery is wrong. Do you? If so, how do you explain that? The culture around them at the time shouldn’t impact your judgment about them, right?

 

[S'mon]

so it is ok for you to think he was sexist, but to say that he wrote some sexist stuff in the D&D texts reproduced in the book, that goes too far?

I was more concerned that it said he promoted slavery. But yes it was wholly inappropriate to have it in the foreword like that. Me being mean to EGG here is not comparable.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

What, a fake torture device made up by Victorians to make the middle ages look less civilized?

Are you saying Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure lied to me? Bogus!

 

[S'mon]

Grummz and co thought "hmmm, this will whip the followers into a froth" and sure enough, it did. All he does is look for wedges to shove into the geek community. He honestly probably couldn't care less, except for that the controversy helps him spread his own bigoted views to people who will react and spread them.

Here's a hint: Grummz doesn't think Gary said anything wrong. I don't know if he is even aware of Gary's words in Europa, but if he is, he agrees with every part of it. That women have no place in gaming. That females in games should present for the male gaze. That they have no role in the world except victim, reward, or whore. That they are the prizes for strong aggressive males who win them by force. Grummz wants to go back to a world where females have strength penalties and the hobby is predominantly white, male, straight and European based with just enough Asian exoticism to make it exciting.

But Grummz doesn't care about Gary's legacy. He cares about ideas Gary had and wants them to return to being the norm. It's not a question if Gary was a good or bad person despite what he said, he thinks Gary Did Nothing Wrong.

Keep that in mind when you look at who is defending this and ask if they reflect your (editorial you) values.

EGG didn't say what you just said he said.

 

[mamba]

All I can say is I would urge you to consider the possibly that you are wrong about me

I mean, the other option is you are part of the misogynists attacking this, and just more stealth about it… I do not consider what I wrote a condemnation at all.

Maybe you should consider that I had a point with what I wrote

 

[mamba]

I was more concerned that it said he promoted slavery.

huh? where does it say that?