Who wrote the novel Mazes and Monsters?
Rona Jaffe wrote Mazes and Monsters, published in 1981. The novel is a cautionary tale about the then-new hobby of fantasy role-playing games.
Questions about Mazes and Monsters (novel)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What real event inspired Mazes and Monsters?
Mazes and Monsters draws on the largely apocryphal steam tunnel incidents of the late 1970s. These urban legends grew out of the real disappearance of Michigan State University student James Dallas Egbert III, who had played Dungeons & Dragons and entered his school's steam tunnels intending to end his life.
Who starred in the Mazes and Monsters television movie?
Tom Hanks, then 26 years old, starred in the 1982 television movie Mazes and Monsters, which premiered on CBS. He played a gamer whose obsession with the game leaves him unable to tell fantasy from reality.
Did a psychiatrist cite Mazes and Monsters as proof that Dungeons & Dragons killed people?
Yes. In 1985, psychiatrist Thomas Radecki of the National Coalition on Television Violence cited a fictitious letter written by a character in the novel as proof that the game had caused gamers' deaths.
How does Mazes and Monsters compare to the novel Hobgoblin?
Mazes and Monsters and Hobgoblin are both social problem novels that treat role-playing games as a sign of deep neurotic needs. In each book, the protagonist has a mental health condition and must give up role-playing games to reach mature adulthood.
Did negative publicity about Dungeons & Dragons help sell Mazes and Monsters?
Sales of Mazes and Monsters may have benefited from other negative media coverage of Dungeons & Dragons style games in the early 1980s, including material from the anti-RPG group Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons. That climate, combined with the novel's dramatic fictional events, led CBS to buy the television rights.