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.

 

[S'mon]

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?

Yeah. I get the impression they had no idea what they were doing, underfunded Mearls & co, and were very surprised by 5e's success.

 

[mamba]

Again, I am asking people to entertain the possibility that the biggest reason why people are objecting to these callouts is that they don't think there was anything wrong them.. It falls directly in line with their own beliefs

exactly, they want to be able to say and do the exact same things today and not be called out for it, and this being called out even for older stuff gets in the way of that

 

[Mannahnin]

You're conflating "their words" with "evidence". Evidence is Gary's text. Not their words.

In the pages of Greyhawk... The misogyny is revealed as a conscious choice.

Passive voice. But we all know Gary wrote Greyhawk. So it's an indirect way to say the same thing.

Leaving aside that it's well known that most of the early D&D products were a team effort, there are even two names credited on the COVER of that book.

You are inferring just as they are. You're also apparently less familiar with the books in question or their contents.

I don't think he treated male staff any better. Did any of them get training & support? But I do think Gygax was often sexist (& if your inference is correct, possibly horny), and I wouldn't be surprised if he had treated a woman differently. His colleagues at TSR seemed very annoyed he had hired a female at all, worked hard to undermine Wells, and complained EGG was "protecting" her. But didn't she do Sage Advice in Dragon? So she was still more than a secretary.

We had a discussion upthread about defining misogyny. Google's Oxford Dictionary "dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women" fits my definition. Or Wikipedia's "hatred & contempt - Misogyny - Wikipedia - by those standards, which are different from Sexism, I don't think Gygax was ever misogynistic, including in his D&D writings.

He also married a later secretary. You're right that Wells also worked on Sage Advice; thanks for that reminder.

I don't think it's a worthwhile endeavor to try to parse sexism vs misogyny here. While maybe Gary primarily only displayed "lesser" sexism later, 1975-era Gary publicly went to a greater extreme. To the extent that calling the examples on offer in those texts misogyny rather than "merely" sexism as Tondro did seems like a judgement call made in good faith.

I do recommend When We Were Wizards to you. It gives some more eye-opening examples of the pervasive sexism or misogyny at TSR. Rose Estes in particular was treated with shocking levels of contempt and disregard, given her massive publishing successes.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Nice to see tribalism is alive and well.

FrogReaver, I think you are an intelligent guy. So it makes me sad to see you fall into this same trap. There are no tribes, dude. That's a made up idea by people who want to gain power. Folks are folks. Some are similar to you and some are not. Anyone who's telling you that you are better than others because of your gender, culture, identity, or race is trying to sell you something.

I mean, look at how easily Musk falls for this trap. His post wasn't based on reality. It was based on someone else's interpretation of the introduction of a history book. And yet he allowed himself to have this huge, overwrought reaction because he's been tricked into thinking it's "us vs them."

Musk's dumb post should be a reminder to all of us to take a step back when we are having a strong reaction to a perceived cultural threat and examine who is benefiting.

 

[Mannahnin]

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

Correct! Sorry, I should have linked.

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[FrogReaver]

FrogReaver, I think you are an intelligent guy. So it makes me sad to see you fall into this same trap. There are no tribes, dude. That's a made up idea by people who want to gain power. Folks are folks. Some are similar to you and some are not. Anyone who's telling you that you are better than others because of your gender, culture, identity, or race is trying to sell you something.

I mean, look at how easily Musk falls for this trap. His post wasn't based on reality. It was based on someone else's interpretation of the introduction of a history book. And yet he allowed himself to have this huge, overwrought reaction because he's been tricked into thinking it's "us vs them."

Musk's dumb post should be a reminder to all of us to take a step back when we are having a strong reaction to a perceived cultural threat and examine who is benefiting.

Thanks, and I completely agree here.

 

[Clint_L]

Yeah. I get the impression they had no idea what they were doing, underfunded Mearls & co, and were very surprised by 5e's success.

Well, I guess that impression is convenient for your thesis.

 

[BookTenTiger]

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

Come on man, think about what you are saying. Give yourself a little more credit than this. A struggle against intolerance is not a war. Anyone calling it a war is trying to escalate the emotions of folks they want something out of: power, money, clicks, etc.

 

[Justice and Rule]

Correct! Sorry, I should have linked.

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Yeah, for a moment I thought this was a reference to an internet rule (Like the Rule of Goats, which I referenced before) and "Eric's Grandma" linked to a bunch of stuff on That 70's Show.

 

[Umbran]

You're conflating "their words" with "evidence". Evidence is Gary's text. Not their words.

No, with respect.

If you were coming to a conclusion that Gary was sexist, you would infer it from Gary's words and the products released under his leadership. Noting that the book refers to authors, plural, and not every word in the early days came from Gary...

But you are coming to a conclusion that "They are making a statement". Your evidence that they make a statement is their words, not Gary's.