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.

 

[Justice and Rule]

It's hard to say. They weren't leaning hard in the early 5e era ca 2014-18, which saw explosive growth. But I don't think they've had the same sort of disaster as befell the recent MCU either - despite similarly lacklustre products! And I think Paizo generally does well, while leaning in pretty hard. Overall I think "Go Woke Go Broke" is a lot less applicable in RPGs than in more mainstream products like films and video games. In some areas such as small press Kickstarters it can be more "Go Woke, Get Rich"

I don't think the MCU's problem was going woke, it was just the tiredness of their stories. AAA seems to have been rather positively received. But I find that people who focus on "going woke" generally aren't the kind of people who examine a topic closely... if at all.

 

[Justice and Rule]

View attachment 387339

Spoiler: CW: Language

 

[BookTenTiger]

I don’t get it?

Culture War isn't a real thing. It's portraying tolerance and intolerance as two "equal sides" and that's just not how it works. There is no war. There are people who are intolerant. That's it.

 

[mamba]

Reading up on the Jean Wells Palace of the Silver Princess affair, and some TSR alumni still attacking her even today, I kinda got the impression that E Gary Gygax was about the least sexist man in Lake Geneva!

being the least awful is not much of a compliment though

 

[S'mon]

I don't think the MCU's problem was going woke, it was just the tiredness of their stories.

I think that's pretty much true. I also think that a well done "woke" story can do well financially. The Captain Marvel film was arguably the first "woke" MCU film, but it was also a pretty good/well made film, and it did well. Barbie was also arguably woke, highly regarded, and did well. But you can't just slap rainbow paint on a bad product and expect it to sell, which I think has happened quite a lot.

 

[Mannahnin]

@Justice and Rule Dril is great, but this tweet DEFINITELY runs afoul of the Eric's Grandma rule.

 

[Clint_L]

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

Their track record of creating by far the most successful and widely played TTRPG in history, with the most diverse player base that D&D has ever seen?

 

[FrogReaver]

Culture War isn't a real thing. It's portraying tolerance and intolerance as two "equal sides" and that's just not how it works. There is no war. There are people who are intolerant. That's it.

Nice to see tribalism is alive and well. ‘My side is tolerant’. ‘Yours is intolerant’.

 

[Justice and Rule]

@Justice and Rule Dril is great, but this tweet DEFINITELY runs afoul of the Eric's Grandma rule.

I... assume that refers to language, so I'll put it in a spoiler.

 

[S'mon]

Culture War isn't a real thing. It's portraying tolerance and intolerance as two "equal sides" and that's just not how it works. There is no war. There are people who are intolerant. That's it.

And there are people who fight to end intolerance, right? Hence, conflict.