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From: nt11777@scgvaxd.UUCP (Neal Thompson)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: suicides (spoiler for Dears _The D_M_)
Message-ID: <422@scgvaxd.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Oct-85 16:36:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: scgvaxd.422
Posted: Wed Oct  9 16:36:54 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 05:07:20 EDT
References: <271@pedsgd.UUCP> <535@tymix.UUCP> <1972@hcrvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: nt11777@scgvaxd.UUCP      Neal Thompson
Distribution: net.games.frp
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA
Lines: 38

In article <1972@hcrvax.UUCP> jims@hcrvax.UUCP (Jim Sullivan) writes:
>. . .
>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.
>. . .  William Dear was a private investigator hired to find young Dallas.
>
>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.
>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



i agree that Dear's _The_Dungeon_Master_ is an excellent example of how
D+D takes the blame for a bad homelife leading to suicide.  if i may spoil
a bit:  at the beginning of the book you're convinced JDE is lost in
those sub-UofM tunnels, but after the 'plot thickens' a few times, you arent
sure if he's been kidnapped by some drug dealer (JDE knows how to manufacture
many common and some custom drugs) or by gays (although under-age, JDE
knows and frequents several tough-sounding gay hangouts), or has just run
away (as he has several times in the past).  throughout the book, JDE's
mother is portrayed as a real mother-hen/high-pressure type who doesnt know
about his drug-use, homosexuality, depressive lonliness, etc.  needless to
say, D+D was the least of JDE's problems yet it took most of the heat for his
disappearance and later suicide.


neal thompson