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.

 

[Clint_L]

Calling someone a misogynist - a hater of women - is certainly an attack in my book. Likewise calling their writing misogynistic.

FWIW I'd say the text, and Gygax himself, is sometimes sexist, but nowhere near misogynistic. If Gygax was actually a misogynist he'd never have hired eg Jean Wells in a creative role. I thought his daughter Heidi's appraisal was fair.

You seem to be relying on a literal translation of the word "misogyny," but that is not how it is normally applied. In general, sexism refers to beliefs and practices that discriminate against women. Misogyny generally refers to an attitude that women are by nature lesser than men.

c.f. Gygax's claim that women can't enjoy RPGs the way men do because of how their brains are wired - that is classic misogyny.

The two terms are related, but calling someone a misogynist does not necessarily or even typically mean that you are claiming they hate all women. You can be a misogynist and still deeply love your daughters, for example. In fact, Gygax both clearly loved his daughters and used them as an example of how men and women see RPGs differently, which is misogynist.

 

[Velderan]

I say pick the option that loses you the least customers and doesn’t further divide the hobby: don’t get into it. Leave that to more objective third parties

Did you ever consider that WotC understands their audience much better than you do and just maybe they did pick the option that loses them the least amount of customers?

 

[S'mon]

Did you ever consider that WotC understands their audience much better than you do and just maybe they did pick the option that loses them the least amount of customers?

Going by WoTC's track record I find that highly unlikely.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Well there are genuine misogynists out there, and they are often very dangerous to women. I guess it's something I feel quite strongly about.

Now that attitude I understand. Yes, there can be a danger in "painting all crimes with one brush". And real, violent misogynists are something we should all feel very strongly about.

But I think that part of the issue is this: Some of the words that Gygax used over the years are likely to embolden those sort of people, to act on their impulses or to consider their positions to be shared and/or to be okay. Whether that happens or not, it certainly doesn't help to espouse those ideals.

Which is one of the reasons you see folks on here come down so hard on it. Perhaps Gygax wasn't "so bad" (I don't think he was all that bad, either) but I think that it's okay - important even - to occasionally point out when and where he crossed that line.

I don't think saying that he made mistakes - sometimes potentially harmful mistakes - is insulting his legacy. His legacy is intact, and it's what the rest of the book in question was celebrating. I really don't think that WotC or the foreword author (why am I blanking on who wrote it?) meant to tarnish any of his legacy, and I don't think that they did.

 

[S'mon]

You seem to be relying on a literal translation of the word "misogyny," but that is not how it is normally applied. In general, sexism refers to beliefs and practices that discriminate against women. Misogyny generally refers to an attitude that women are by nature lesser than men.

c.f. Gygax's claim that women can't enjoy RPGs the way men do because of how their brains are wired - that is classic misogyny.

The two terms are related, but calling someone a misogynist does not necessarily or even typically mean that you are claiming they hate all women. You can be a misogynist and still deeply love your daughters, for example. In fact, Gygax both clearly loved his daughters and used them as an example of how men and women see RPGs differently, which is misogynist.

So from my reading of this, sexist & misogynist mean the same thing to you, and your definition of misogynist "an attitude that women are by nature lesser than men" is a good definition of sexism, the kind you would typically see in a dictionary. Using miso- indicates at least a strong dislike, just as -phobe indicates at least a strong fear (but is wrongly used to mean hate, which is what miso- means). People choose to use stronger words for weaker concepts because the strong word carries in more baggage from its original meaning. I dislike this practice but I understand why it's done.

I feel this is starting to get off topic so I'll try not to get further into semantics.

 

[S'mon]

c.f. Gygax's claim that women can't enjoy RPGs the way men do because of how their brains are wired - that is classic misogyny.

Honestly, if I believe that hardly any women like Traveller, or hex & chit wargames, but a lot more like Settlers of Catan, Vampire, 4e D&D, especially 5e D&D - I don't think I'm being sexist, never mind misogynistic. But if sexism = any belief in sex differences, then I'm being sexist. I'm still not being misogynist though!

 

[polyhedral man]

Did you ever consider that WotC understands their audience much better than you do and just maybe they did pick the option that loses them the least amount of customers?

I think it's very likely that they published these "caveats" for the reason you cited. If that's the case, it makes it even worse to attack the character and legacy of Gygax in that way: it makes it morally bankrupt and I would argue, cowardly.

 

[Umbran]

That doesn't make it appropriate to call him a sexist (& several other things) in the intro to a celebration book.

I think it important to note, again - They don't call him any such thing in the intro.

The section that has raised the dust-up doesn't even use his name! It says that there is problematic material, and gives a few examples of the issues. At one point is says that one bit of misogyny is "intentional", but doesn't call anyone anything for that.

Spoiler: the passage in question

 

[S'mon]

But I think that part of the issue is this: Some of the words that Gygax used over the years are likely to embolden those sort of people, to act on their impulses

I don't believe that in the specific case of Gygax & everything I've seen him write. I don't believe his kind of "benevolent" sexism inspires violence against women.

Unlike more Libertarian types, I would not totally dismiss your argument though - I do actually think some fiction material can normalise and even encourage hostile attitudes & behaviour towards women. This thought struck me as I was reading some very sexist 1970s comics recently ("1984" - basically a Heavy Metal style comic magazine, Richard Corben & such). I just don't think Gygax's sexism comes anywhere near that level.

Edit: Reading Sea of Death as a teenager, I remember the Gord/Leda romance, and I suppose it made me want to know love like that, so more the opposite effect really. I'm sure some fellow academic could explain why EGG's writing of the love affair is actually toxic & misogynist, but to me it seemed very sweet.

 

[Remathilis]

I keep seeing Jean Wells being brought up as proof there was no sexism there. I think you folks doing that should really go and look at what actually happened.

Yeah, she was hired. Was a great editor. And wrote exactly one project: The original Palace of the Silver Princess. Many folks know how it was recalled due to art, but that wasn't the only reason. Gary had Tom Moldvay rewrite much of the module. Why? Because as Frank Mentzer put it, her talent was "mediocre" and "meager". He called her, "...large, insecure, brashly outgoing and outspoken."

Jean never designed another project. She was made a...wait for it...secretary.


On a side note, I went back and looked at the letters sections of the early Dragon magazines. Several women complained about inclusion and how women were portrayed (and things like strength caps). Every single person at Dragon handwaved away the complaints, and Kim Mohan defended the strength cap as "realistic and can't be argued against". He later responded to another complaint about discussing these issues as "at the risk of devoting more words to this oft-debated subject than it warrants."

Except one person. Roger E Moore. He was the only one who responded to these complaints with sincere thought and promised to do better.

I'm starting to think that the references to sexism in content but not naming Gary by name has less to do with Defending Gary and more to do with sexism being a common belief in Lake Geneva...