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.

 

[BookTenTiger]

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

Thanks, and I completely agree here.

You can't post the former and then a minute later post the latter. You agree with me that the whole idea of "tribalism" and "culture wars" is a made-up conceit promoted by those who are manipulating others' emotions for profit and power? Then show it in your actions. Show it in your posts. Stop using terms coined by reactionaries. Post your own ideas.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I dunno, they've been leaning towards one side pretty decidedly (even if they make mistakes) and it seems to have worked out for them?

It is possible I am wrong. This kind of thing seems to impact things though. I know equal numbers of conservative and liberal gamers, equal numbers who react positively to this and who react negatively to it. It seems like it ends up being death by a thousand cuts over time. In this case not sure what the impact will be (it isn’t a core book and it is largely on the radar of older gamers I think)

"Culture War" is one of those terms that should make you stop and consider if you're actually writing about your own opinions and thoughts, or just repeating the ideas of others.

defjnitely my own opinions. I don’t fit in particularly well on either side of this one

 

[BookTenTiger]

defjnitely my own opinions. I don’t fit in particularly well on either side of this one

The fact that you are using the term "sides" makes me think you're still repeating others' biased ideas. What are these sides???

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

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.

That is plainly true for grifters like Grummz and Musk; how willing one is to stating it outright falls along similar lines as whether one identified as a Sad Puppy or an Angry Puppy, but this has always been a distinction without a meaningful difference.

So so true.

 

[Umbran]

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

Does "conflict" always equate to "war"? I think that's the question here.

 

[Steampunkette]

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.

That's mostly accurate!

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

And this is absolutely inane.

There is conflict. But it's a one-sided conflict. It's a group of attackers and always has been. And the biggest defense against them has always been to do very little other than campaign for camaraderie, understanding, and support in the broader community.

For it to be a culture war, for it to be an actual conflict, people would need to start hunting and attacking bigots like they do minority groups. Lemme know when a bunch of neo-nazis get lynched. Or when someone who argues that trans people should be forcefully detransitioned gets tortured to death, set on fire, cut into chunks, and scattered around dumpsters.

Until then there's no "War". There's a bunch of blatant bigoted monsters attacking minority groups because we're an easy target.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The fact that you are using the term "sides" makes me think you're still repeating others' biased ideas. What are these sides???

honestly don’t know what to say. These are my thoughts after seeing all kinds of discussions here and in the hobby

 

[Parmandur]

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.

Well, be careful: the Kulturkampf was very much a real thing, and pretty bad by modern standards. Bringing it up in current times as an analogy is...fairly silly.

 

[BookTenTiger]

honestly don’t know what to say. These are my thoughts after seeing all kinds of discussions here and in the hobby

I see what you are saying, but unless you are explicitly clear about what you mean by Culture War and "sides," a lot of folks are going to assume you're just repeating the same nonsense ideas being spouted by whatever intolerant person has the spotlight.

 

[FrogReaver]

You can't post the former and then a minute later post the latter.

I stand by both.

You agree with me that the whole idea of "tribalism" and "culture wars" is a made-up conceit promoted by those who are manipulating others' emotions for profit and power?

I don’t believe tribalism is a made up concept. I think it’s a real and unfortunate phenomenon that we repeatedly see play out in history with disastrous consequences.

I think the term culture war carries alot of baggage and I have my own pet peeves about other terms so I deeply sympathize with you wanting to see the term replaced. But it’s also a term that’s been around 50+ years that most everyone understands the meaning of now, even if not all the baggage from it is accepted.

But more importantly I do think people play on those exact things (and others) for profit and power, I just don’t think tribalism and culture war are exclusively that.

Then show it in your actions. Show it in your posts. Stop using terms coined by reactionaries. Post your own ideas.

I think I do.