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.

 

[mamba]

Let me ask you this. Eric and Lyle Menendez. Do you think their sentence should be modified? Is what the father did to them relevant or circumstances surrounding a bad act never matter?

tell me how you are not using the circumstances as a defense right now…

 

[Umbran]

I see barely any likes on your posts and a lot more on mine…

Maybe you get likes from people who blocked me, but then I will disregard their like too

Mod Note:

Really, folks? If you are reduced to "like-sizing" to resolve your discussions, it is time to just find something more valuable to do with your time. Like watching grass grow. In November.

 

[S'mon]

What about reprinting Oriental Adventures without comment? Orcs of Thar?

Would you consider the same with old WW2 Superman comics? The Song of the South? Birth of a Nation or Triumph of the Will? Lovecraft's writing? Uncle Tom's Cabin? Othello or Merchant of Venice?

At what point is there a difference between reprinting something because it's a historical document and because you endorse the beliefs inside it?

I guess I wouldn't have any problem reprinting any of those that I'm familiar with without comment. A nuanced comment might add helpful context, but a crude comment attacking eg Shakespeare for anti-Semitism would have negative value.

We often use To Kill A Mockingbird (film version) at my work and the students are set to read an academic article about how awful it is because Southerners are such awful people yet this film valorises Atticus Finch. The article IMO is so crude simplistic and misleading as to have significant negative value. I feel that way to a lesser extent about this introduction text.

 

[S'mon]

Presented without comment.

Re-presented without comment.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I have over 22 notifications and a busy day so if I don’t reply to anyone, not ignoring your points. I just don’t know how much time I have to get to them

 

[Umbran]

To be clear I wasn’t posting to impugn anyone. I was just commenting on the musk post and what gets traction on Twitter. It didn’t have to do with anyone here or in the hobby sphere

Mod note:
Moderation posts are not opportunities for argument, comment or explanation.

 

[Remathilis]

I guess I wouldn't have any problem reprinting any of those that I'm familiar with without comment. A nuanced comment might add helpful context, but a crude comment attacking eg Shakespeare for anti-Semitism would have negative value.

We often use To Kill A Mockingbird (film version) at my work and the students are set to read an academic article about how awful it is because Southerners are such awful people yet this film valorises Atticus Finch. The article IMO is so crude simplistic and misleading as to have significant negative value. I feel that way to a lesser extent about this introduction text.

And you don't feel reprinting any of those things without comment could be viewed as endorsing the views within?

 

[Mannahnin]

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?

Let's walk through this.

The tweet analogy is less an analogy than another example of republishing another person's content and thoughts.

While you argue that republishing another person's thoughts without comment is not an implicit endorsement, because there MAY be additional context the ENTIRE (or vast majority of) audience is aware of to the effect that the republisher actually holds opposed views, how is that applicable in this case?

If I republish a historical document including bigoted material, absent any such prior context, how is the audience to take it any way other than as an endorsement? If I publish a big fancy coffee table book celebrating a hobby and its creators, and I make no comment on any particular content within it, if there happens to be a passage in there mocking "women's libbers", how is the audience supposed to guess that THAT PART isn't something I agree with or find totally innocuous?

I guess I wouldn't have any problem reprinting any of those that I'm familiar with without comment. A nuanced comment might add helpful context, but a crude comment attacking eg Shakespeare for anti-Semitism would have negative value..

Ok, so like the foreword to this book. Which doesn't name or attack anyone.

Certainly in right wing X I see people repost left wing stuff without comment on the assumption everyone will know they are mocking its stupidity not agreeing with it.

Ok, so you're giving as an example "right wing X", ie: a community where everyone has a unified position that they all disagree with and enjoy mocking people of the opposite political persuasion. So where the prior context DOES exist, that if I'm a member of this community, and I share a post by someone this community hates, of course I'm mocking it.

 

[S'mon]

I do think people are split off into political echo chambers far more now than even 10 years ago. It's easy to think something is a matter of general consensus when everyone you know agrees with you. I think people attacking Bedrock Brendan should consider that (a) he's a nice left liberal probably not that different from you 15 years ago, and (b) by being willing to engage with you, at least you can see that other viewpoints exist. I do appreciate the joy of dogpiling and I certainly see the right wingers on theRPGSite (a much smaller site than ENW) do it just as much. I generally think it's a good impulse to resist.

 

[Remathilis]

Anyone who wants to know about Grummz and what he does, here is a too long video about him and the game Stellar Blade. It's purely supplementary material.