This issue starts off with what will be a mixed blessing that will plague D&D for a couple of decades, for the first time there is a national attention focused on D&D for pretty bad reasons, which are not D&D’s fault at all, but which will start to create a certain aura of “danger” around the game. This was the disappearance of James Egbert, a suicidal young man who left a suicide note and disappeared. He was also a player of D&D, the police (as their usual bumbling selves) suspected that this was some part of D&D related ritual behavior and pointed the finger at the game. The media ate this up, of course. Egbert would eventually be found alive, although he would die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound just a year later. 

Why do I call this a mixed blessing? Because while it is tragic and these kinds of stories will plague D&D for years, with the appearance of the whole Satanic Panic narrative as well, this was also the point when D&D will really start exploding as a sales success. Nothing like a little controversy to make people curious and shift units, which is precisely what will happen as we go into the 80s. 

Moving on to more cheerful subjects, we get loads of reports from GenCon, complete with pictures, the first being by future editor of Dragon Kim Mohan. We also get a new feature, Leomund’s Tiny Hut, where Len Lakofka goes in depth into one monster, in this case the Vampire. Gygax brings us an announcement for the upcoming World of Greyhawk, the first campaign setting for AD&D. We also get another take on the Ninja class and the usual Giants of the Earth and Bazaar of the Bizarre and Dragon’s Bestiary.