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Pat Pulling and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, Part 1: William Dear's dungeon quest

Pat Pulling and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, Part 1: William Dear's dungeon quest

Update: 2025-10-07
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, Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Andy Hunter, and Phil Thomas. We are also joined by a special guest: Matt Shoemaker, who is a game designer, librarian, game historian, and author of the new book Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, which is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). 

In the spirit of his new book, Matt joins us as we talk about the 1980s panic over Dungeons & Dragons, specifically the one-woman moral crusade of Patricia "Pat" Pulling and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons. However, to talk about that, we need to cover the wild 1979 disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, the first major moral panic over D&D.

Content Warning: Discussion of mental health struggles, substance misuse, suicidal ideation, and suicide. (21:06-21:42 , 29:35-29:40 , and 29:49-29:56 )

If you or someone you know is struggling, please check out these resources provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/resources/index.html) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources/). You are not alone.

Topics discussed include: the early history of Gen Con and the development of Dungeons & Dragons, the search for James Dallas Egbert III at Gen Con and beyond, the bombastic private eye who thought he was James Bond (as he went through OJ Simpson's son's garbage), and Mazes & Monsters and other wild D&D inspired movies.

You can view the full TV movie of Mazes & Monsters here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HfU0UjcCeE.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

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Pat Pulling and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, Part 1: William Dear's dungeon quest

Pat Pulling and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, Part 1: William Dear's dungeon quest

Scandalous Games