Source of "huge ruined pile" quotation?

[paulg]

Men & Magic includes this often quoted passage:

When this task is completed the participants can then be allowed to make their first descent into the dungeons beneath the "huge ruined pile, a vast castle built by generations of mad wizards and insane geniuses".

Why the quotation marks? Is it actually a quotation from some other source? What?

Sorry if this has been previously discussed, but Google failed to turn-up anything. Thanks.

[Falconer]

It's not a quote from an external source, I don't think. I've noticed that Gary sometimes used quotes as a way to transition from a matter-of-fact style of addressing the reader into an immersive or in-character style where he is describing something fictional. Here he is going from discussing the needed materials (graph paper, pencils, etc.) into an illustrative definition of a dungeon.

[coffee]

That's the way I've always read it.

[murquhart72]

Same here. Still, it's one of my favorite quotes in The Game. Very evocative and helpful to new Referees ;D

[paulg]

That's what I figured, but thought I'd double-check. It certainly has become one of the most frequently quoted passages. Very evocative indeed.

[Falconer]

Strange, I noticed James M. referenced it within the past few days, but otherwise I wasn’t aware of it being quoted.

[blackbarn]

There's also a blog named after it.

hugeruinedpile.blogspot.com/