Seeing as it’s October we have a special Halloween issue of Dragon Magazine. this is immediately apparent from the cover, but we also get several thematic articles inside, particularly a linked series of articles under the title “Things to tease, tempt and terrify”. This article starts out with a really cool drawing of Orcus in his throne in the underworld and goes on to give details for new types of demons, devils and spirits, gives us a new category of Possessors, ghost-like entities who move from person to person and gives us the idea of Patron Demons for characters that would have a deal with the devil. Much later Warlocks would have a kind of similar idea but here we have much more intrusive and interventive entities. 

Gygax brings us his column with ideas to make monsters meaningful, so they aren’t too easy and act more realistically than just being punching bags for players. Sage Advice is back after being absent in the last issue as is Leomund’s Tiny Hut, this time covering The Inner Planes. The Dragon’s Bestiary brings us the creepy Quatsch as well as a bunch of other creatures. 

The special supplement to this issue is “The Mansion of Mad Professor Ludlow”, a haunted house adventure module by James M. Ward written specifically for Dragon magazine, set during the present day with a spooky theme, it’s a cool take on AD&D, showing how the system can work with all kinds of settings.