D&D General The True Story Behind Mazes & Monsters

[Nebulous]

I don't usually post real life articles, but this was a 7000 word essay I thought some of you might enjoy. If you like the essay, please let me know. Any feedback is appreciated!.

The True Story Behind Mazes & Monsters

The Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III

vocal.media

 

[Stormonu]

Yikes! What a roller-coaster. I had heard of the initial incident, and that he'd been found, but that was about it. The whole story is rather insane, and quite tragic.

 

[Charlaquin]

The actual story would make a much better movie than the Tom Hanks movie.

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah I read that book when I saw it at my public library as a young lad, thinking it was about D&D. Which it...sort of was, but not in the way I expected.

 

[overgeeked]

I’ve read that book. It’s a self-aggrandizing sensational bit of writing. Part fiction, part fact.

 

[Nebulous]

The actual story would make a much better movie than the Tom Hanks movie.

I agree, it would have been better than the Hanks movie if they had made it a crime investigation story.

 

[James Gasik]

Even if it veers off into a completely random direction.

EDIT: I think it would be a perfect Nick Cage movie. As brutal as the subject matter was, I was blown away by his performance in 8mm.

 

[Mannahnin]

Interesting piece so far! First question:

In Rona Jaffe's book Mazes and Monsters (and the subsequent TV show), a system of labyrinthine caves offered college students a visceral setting to carry out their in person D&D games. At MSU, and other college campuses, this actually happened to some extent in very twisty (and horrifying) steam tunnels built as part of the college infrastructures. Why anyone would go there willingly is beyond me, but maybe the appeal of a setting that replicated an actual D&D dungeon overpowered their common sense. Rats, mold, slime, cockroaches, stifling heat and steam jets all contributed to an extremely hazardous and disgusting underground lair. The obviously on-set cave system of Mazes and Monsters was a paradise compared to the real hellhole under MSU. The most glaring catch though is that Michigan State University officially denied that the tunnels could be accessed. They claimed they were sealed, locked, bricked and mortared. Maybe an occasional engineer could enter for maintenance purposes, but that was all.

What convinces you that "At MSU, and other college campuses, this actually happened to some extent"? As far as I'm aware there's never been any evidence that anyone actually did that.

Edit: Having finished the article, it looks like you're taking Dear's entire story at face value, and the article is mostly a synopsis of his book. Which is pretty interesting, but I'm not sure all the details of his account are credible. It was a nice summary and provided more details from Dear's story than I had previously read.

 

[Nebulous]

Even if it veers off into a completely random direction.

EDIT: I think it would be a perfect Nick Cage movie. As brutal as the subject matter was, I was blown away by his performance in 8mm.

He was AWESOME in 8mm. That is such an underrated film.

 

[Nebulous]

Edit: Having finished the article, it looks like you're taking Dear's entire story at face value, and the article is mostly a synopsis of his book. Which is pretty interesting, but I'm not sure all the details of his account are credible. It was a nice summary and provided more details from Dear's story than I had previously read.

Right, it is just a summary. I had to leave out tons of stuff, like how his men combed an early GenCon searching for the kid, and all the problems Dear had with campus police. I have no idea what was real or not in the book, it was just a good story. It reads like fiction for sure. Maybe parts are fiction.