D&D in the Steam Tunnels Beneath MSU - Title of the Book?

[msd]

OK...this might be a really stupid or really bizarre question...here goes.

A couple of people have mentioned "playing dungeons and dragons in the steam tunnels beneath Michigan State" as a response to some of the postings about Jack Chick material.

I assume that this is from a book (which everyone probably knows but me) about a kid who attended Michigan State University as a young teenager, got a little lost, wound up acting out dungeons and dragons in the steam tunnels beneath campus and ended up dead (committed suicide)?

I have absolutely no recollection of the title of the book or even if the events as I have depicted them above are accurate. I would love to know what the title of the book is so I can re-read it.

If you know what I am talking about and remember the title, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
matt

[Psychotic Dreamer]

I beleive it's Monsters and Mazes.

[msd]

Originally Posted by Psychotic Dreamer

I beleive it's Monsters and Mazes.

Thanks! Will look on Amazon!

-matt

[kingpaul]

In the fall 1994 issue of Journal of Popular Culture "Do Role-Playing Games Promote Crime, Satanism and Suicide amont Players as Critics Claim" by Kurt Lancaster, it cited a book by an investigator named William Dear (The Dungeon Master, 1984) that talked about a student named Dallas Egbert who ran away from home and his gaming group that played in the steam tunnels underneath MS.

[Krieg]

Rona Jaffe is the author of Mazes & Monsters. The book is a highly fictionalized version of James Dallas Egbert's disapearances as portrayed by the media.

If you are looking for a truthful depiction of the events surrounding the story of J. Dallas get a copy of The Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III by William Dear. Mr. Dear was the private investigator hired to help find J. Dallas & the book is an account of his efforts to find Dallas.

Mr. Dear is a bit of a self-promoter but his book is far more accurate than Jaffe's garbage.

You might also want to take a look at the link below which is an excellent summary of the whole sad story...

http://home.earthlink.net/~duanevp/dnd/jdegbert.htm

For the record, J. Dallas Egbert and the other students at MSU never played D&D in the steam tunnels.

[Particle_Man]

There was a parody of this in the comic Knights of the Dinner Table.

[The Grumpy Celt]

I believe his mother died a few years ago. I remember seeing a tastefully done obit in Dragon. She remained life-long foe to D&D.

[Krieg]

Do you mean Pat Pulling?

Pat founded BADD (Bothered about Dungeons & Dragons) after her teenage son Irving committed suicide. Apparently Pulling needed someone to "blame" for her son taking his own life and she came to the conclusion that her son killed himself because of a curse he received playing D&D.

Pat Pulling died of Ovarian Cancer in 1997.

Micheal Stackpole wrote an article titled the Pulling Report which was meant as a rebuttal to many of the claims made by Pat Pulling...

http://www.rpg.net/sites/252/quellen...ng_report.html

To the best of my knowedgle James & Anna Eggbert never held any ill will towards roleplaying games, rather they understood that most of their sons problems stemmed from his being thrust into social situations for which he was emotionally unprepared (Eggbert was a 16 y/o college student at the time of his disapearance).

[The Grumpy Celt]

Originally Posted by Krieg

Do you mean Pat Pulling?

That must be her. My bad for getting them confused.

[diaglo]

Originally Posted by Psychotic Dreamer

I beleive it's Monsters and Mazes.

i've got the really bad movie version starring Tom Hanks.

[Rackhir]

From what I understand, part of the reason why D&D got "blamed" for what happened to the kid was that he was gay and having a great deal of trouble adapting to this (the early 80's weren't exactly the most enlightened of times about this sort of thing). So the private investigator shifted most of the attention onto his D&D roleplaying to help hide from his family the kid's emerging homosexuality.

[msd]

Thanks for all the replies. Like I said, I had read this book when I was younger. Now that I am older, I think I will re-read it and probably have a much better appreciation for the story.

Need to find a used book store now...

Thanks again,
matt