Dungeon Masters

Wil Wheaton voices Gary Gygax and Jon Hamm plays private investigator William Dear in this dramatized audio series about the 1979 disappearance of Michigan State student Dallas Egbert. The case became a national sensation because Egbert was a Dungeons & Dragons player, and the media blamed the game -- a moral panic that shaped public perception of D&D for decades. David Kushner (award-winning journalist and author of Rise of the Dungeon Master) created the series, with Hamm also executive producing. The dual-perspective structure bounces between Gygax defending his creation and Dear investigating the disappearance, and both actors bring genuine weight to their roles. The 17 episodes include main story chapters, roundtable discussions, bonus commentary, and archived interviews called "The Lost Gygax Tapes." The 4.5-star rating from about 100 reviews places it well, though some listeners felt the comedic tone occasionally clashed with the seriousness of a real missing person case. That tension between entertainment and true story is inherent to the material. If you are at all interested in D&D history, 1980s moral panics, or the way media narratives can spiral out of control, Dungeon Masters tells this story with production values and voice talent that do it justice.