Elon Musk, the owner of the formerly financial success app once known as Twitter, is calling on Wizards of the Coast and its parent company Hasbro to “burn in hell” for the publication of “The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977.”
On November 21st, former gaming executive turned culture warrior Mark Hern posted several passages from the book on social media, criticizing it for providing context about some of the misogyny and cultural insensitivity found in early rulebooks.
These passages were pulled from the foreword written by Jon Peterson, one of the foremost historians about Dungeons & Dragons and who also collaborated with Wizards of the Coast on the book.
Hern stated that these passages, along with the release of the new 2024 Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide 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 fuck is wrong with Hasbro and WoTC?? May they burn in hell.” Assuming Musk has played Dungeons & Dragons, it’s unclear when he last played the game. It seems he is unfamiliar with the numerous evolutions the world and rules of the roleplaying game have undergone in the decades since its inception.
Additionally, “The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons” contains countless correspondences and letters written by both Gygax and Dave Arneson, annotated copies of early D&D rulesets, rule supplements, and excerpts from early Dragon magazines. It seems Musk (and perhaps Hern) are also unfamiliar with the actual content of the publication. In the very least, one cannot honestly characterize one of the most extensive compilations of Gygax’s work as an “erasure.” (Gygax and Arenson are also credited in the latest editions of rulebooks.)
According to Wizards of the Coast, the “Making of” book was created with the help of inclusivity consultants, Wizards of the Coast confirms. In a press event from May 15, senior game designer Jason Tondro says these consultants helped identify “language we would not use today in gaming.”
But the tabletop RPG publisher has not attempted to erase D&D’s fraught history. “We couldn’t change it, because it’s history”, Tondro says. “So, we included this material while calling it out and placing it in a historical context.”
This is not the first time the folks behind D&D have faced controversy. Most recently, in 2020, Wizards of the Coast, made some changes to the game in response to the ongoing protests over racism and police violence. While this included editing some past racist descriptions, as well as adding more diverse writers, the game’s designers are made fundamental changes to the way certain playable characters are portrayed.
While it’s generally up to the player to decide whether their character is good or evil, historically some of non-player characters were depicted in a villainous simply based on their race. Orcs were brutish savages. The Drow, the elves that live underground, were dark skinned and inherently evil.
Additionally, 2021 saw the son of Gygax, Ernie Gygax Jr. (and prior guest of 1980s Now), make racist remarks about Native Americans, blasted Wizards of the Coast for addressing D&D’s history of racism, saying it was a call to “join the pack of lemmings.” At the time, Gygax, Jr. also suggested that his TSR (there are two independent companies laying claim to the brand name TSR) was comfortable supporting writers and artists with anti-trans views.
While Gygax, Jr. apologized for some of his remarks, he notably did not express regret for any criticism he made regarding gender and gender roles.
