The most popular of a series of “role-playing” games first released widely in the mid-1970s, Dungeons and Dragons is particularly appealing to teenage boys who seek an outlet for their creativity as well as a means of escape from the travails of adolescence.

Moderated by a “Dungeon Master” with access to the game’s detailed rules and reference books, Dungeons and Dragons creates a portrayal of middle Earth populated by warriors and wizards, in which players play the parts of heroes of their own imaginings. The complexity of the game and its level of realism sometimes inspires players to act out their parts, and leads to accounts, some themselves more hysterical than authentic, of young people who have become entranced by the game.