We get a new assistant editor for The Dragon with this issue, and that is a good thing as the magazine is getting larger and covering a wider range of subjects which means that Tim Kask definitely needed the help, so the issue starts off by welcoming Gary Jaquet  (although he is amusingly credited as Gay Jaquet on the credits). 

The issue itself starts off with a long article on Napoleon 7, a Napoleonic wargame, but it fits plenty of D&D information and articles elsewhere. A new column called Giants of the Earth starts where they pick sword and sorcery fictional characters and make a little stat block and power listing for them, in this issue we get Vance’s Cugel, Wagner’s Kane and Mundy’s Tros. Another article covers Chinese Undead and we get yet another take on the alignment system. There’s an article on a magical item which is essentially a Tarot based Deck of Many Things. 

This issue is really packed with content, with more articles on computer use in D&D, hirelings, DMing, Social Status, how to make a Lich, relative strength of monsters, thieves and a bit on how to put together a party on the spur of the moment which comes straight from he DMG. We also get a return of the “monster of the week” column, now entitled Dragon’s Bestiary and covering the Barghest. We get a note explaining that all monsters appearing here will be official monsters for D&D. The most interesting article here is, however, Gygax’s column on The Sorcerer’s Scroll where he goes on for 3 pages on how D&D and AD&D are completely different games and how superior AD&D is. This signals the way in which the two games will become more and more separate entities which is part of the business side of D&D and jockeying for royalties as well as the triangle of court cases between Gygax, Arneson and Carr that you can read about in Jon Peterson’s Game Wizards.