Mazes and Monsters
Mazes and Monsters
- Format
- book, TV movie
- Genre
- fantasy, drama
- Date written or started
- September 1981; December 1982
- Credits
- Rona Jaffe (author); Tom Lazarus (teleplay)
- Identifier
- Book ISBN 978-0385286398
Summary
"Mazes and Monsters" is a novel by Rona Jaffe, who wrote a fictional story based on the sensational reports about the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III from Michigan State Univesity in 1979. His disappearance was tied to, in one theory, live-action role-paying in the steam tunnels under the university. While something like that did occur at the University, it turned out to have nothing to do with Egbert's disappearance. However, the sensational coverage and speculation about that theory led to the fictional story of "Mazes and Mosnters". The novel was later made into a made-for-TV movie.
It is noteworthy here only because it is one of the earliest media depictions of live-action role-playing, albeit as an extension of a tabletop role-playing game, and, unfortunately, helped feed negative perception and stereotypes regarding role-playing, live-action and otherwise, in the early 1980s.