Books - Mazes and Monsters

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Mazes and Monsters is a made-for-TV movie about a group of college students and their interest in the eponymous role-playing game (RPG). It was adapted from a novel by Rona Jaffe. She based her 1981 novel on newspaper stories about the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III from Michigan State University in 1979. Media accounts differed substantially from Egbert's actual story. William Dear, the private investigator on the case, explained actual events and the reasons behind the media myth in his 1984 book Dungeon Master. Jaffe wrote her novel at a breakneck pace in a matter of days because of a fear that another author might also be fictionalizing the Egbert investigation.

The film premiered on CBS in 1982. It stars Tom Hanks, Wendy Crewson, David Wallace and Chris Makepeace. The movie is currently available on VHS tape and DVD.

Mazes and Monsters came out in the heyday of the RPG Dungeons & Dragons (the movie's title is a thinly veiled reference to the game) and was seen by some as a warning to parents about the dangers of RPGs. It came out at a time when Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) was starting to be attacked by Christian groups who alleged that it promoted Satanism and other forms of occult activities (much like video games and the Harry Potter series of books are being attacked today).

Plot

Robbie Wheeling (Hanks) starts college at the fictional "Grant University" and soon develops a group of friends. They are fans of a game called "Mazes and Monsters," a game which he used to play but gave up for some reason. Though he is reluctant, they convince him to start playing again with them.

After playing the game for some time, the friends decide to explore a nearby series of caves in an effort to "live out their fantasy." During the spelunking, Wheeling experiences a psychotic episode, where he hallucinates that he has slain a monster. Wheeling then slips into a fantasy realm where monsters, elves and magic are real to him. Unable to control his game-imposed schizophrenic hallucinations, Wheeling attempts suicide, but is rescued by his friends.

The movie ends with the friends visiting Wheeling at his parents' estate. He calls them by their RPG character's names. His mother explains that Wheeling is permanently mentally damaged and that there is little hope of his recovery. It is implied that Wheeling lives out the rest of his life trapped in his imaginary world believing that he is living at an Inn (actually his parents' home) and paying for his boarding with a magic coin.

Reaction

Though few parents heeded the "warning" espoused by this film, it generated angry reactions from fans of RPG games, especially fans of D&D, seeing it as a direct attack on their hobby. They claimed that the movie misrepresented the RPG-genre in a number of ways:

Depicting RPG players as mentally unstable
To players, playing the game is "living out their fantasy," and few feel a desire for a real-life acting out of the elements found in the game
The implication that RPGs are an occult activity and played in occult settings
Most of the elements of an RPG are depicted inaccurately and are almost laughable in their portrayal

Despite their reaction, many non-players of the game believed it portrayed an accurate depiction of RPG games and their players. Since RPGs were a new genre of games in the early 1980s, most viewers had little else to base their opinions on.

Trivia

In the episode "D & DD" of the cartoon Dexter's Laboratory, the characters enjoy a role-playing game called "Monsters and Mazes" no doubt influenced by this movie.

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