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From: jims@hcrvax.UUCP (Jim Sullivan)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: D & D : 60 Minutes 9/15
Message-ID: <1972@hcrvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 09:39:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: hcrvax.1972
Posted: Thu Sep 26 09:39:57 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Sep-85 01:22:21 EDT
References: <271@pedsgd.UUCP> <535@tymix.UUCP>
Distribution: net.games.frp
Organization: Human Computing Resources, Toronto
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All this talk about D&D, teenage suicide, and fundamentalists brings
to mind a book I read over the summer (well over two days, over the summer :-).
The book is called _The_Dungeon_Master, by William Dear, and is about the
disappearance of one James Dallas Eggert (could have spelt that wrong).
JDE, you may remember, was the University of Michigan student who went
missing back in the late '70's.  He was an avid AD&D player, and many
people blamed AD&D for his disappearance.  William Dear was a private
investigator hired to find young Dallas.

I'm sure we all remember the details, since JDE has gone down into the
annals of D&D lore.  But the book (which TSR would have no part of),
shows that although JDE played D&D, it was not a factor in his disappearance.
JDE was depressed, a genius without someone to love, and was also heavily
into drugs.  He originally disappeared to kill himself, failed, and then 
was 'rescued' by some gay friends (refered to in the book as a chicken hawk)
Dear eventually finds JDE (read the book, or mail me if you what to know),
although a year or so later, Dallas tries to kill himself again, and this
time succedes.

I mention all this because not enough people know the real story.  JDE
is a legend in D&D, a person who actually played the game, or so we thought.
When he disappeared, the D&D angle was heavily boosted, and everyone
thought the JDE disappeared due to D&D.  According to the book, not so.
This is the best example of D&D taking the fall when parents, teachers,
and friends fail.

Jim Sullivan

p.s.	anyone out there that actually played in the tunnels beneath
	UofM ?  care to tell us about those games ? - jrs