The first thing that strikes me about Dragon #67 is the cover, which is a bit of a divergence from the standard stuff people were growing used to from Dragon. Instead of the basic adventure fantasy and S&S images, we are greeted with a fantasy dinner party complete with sword-wielding Viking slicing a turkey down the center.
What exactly does this mean? I guess you’d have to ask the artist, Jack Crane, or perhaps the Kim Mohan who was the Editor-in-Chief. Whatever the case, I’ll accept it for face value, a bit of old school tongue-in-cheek humor for the November [thus Thanksgiving] issue in 1982.
Inside, however, we find a simply brilliant magazine. We start out with ‘Spy’s Advice’ for the Top Secret setting, and then get info on deadly spiders with ‘Souping up the spider’ and finally tumbling into a fully illustrated section on the Deities & Demigods of the World of Greyhawk [which of course were never illustrated in the campaign boxed set].
Then, when you think it can get no better, we are given a fully functional AD&D adventure set in the Astral Plane! The intro, written by Gygax, and the setting, by Roger Moore, is a great lead into the adventure by Allen Rogers with art by Roger Raupp. Simply put, if I can’t get this adventure played this year, I’m going to be most put out!
The artwork for the issue is also gifted, with Raupp doing his usual fine work, and Jim Holloway contributing to the World of Greyhawk gods. There are also contributions by Jim Roslof who does a bestiary on Elves which is sublime, and of course comics by Phil Foglio and Dave Trampier.
In all, it is a gifted issue that I suggest any DM find a way to get a hold of.
Artistic Rating: 3 [out of 5]
