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Message: <blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 2911141" data-attributes="member: 16574">For me it's the 50s-80s (c. 1981-84), when D&D and rpgs were at the height of their popularity, Gygax was writing regular columns (which formed the bulk of what was later republished in the Monster Manual 2 ("Creature Features"), 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set ("Greyhawk's World" and "Deities and Demigods of the World of Greyhawk"), and Unearthed Arcana ("From the Sorcerer's Scroll")), "Wormy" and "What's New?" were the main comics (joined late in the era by "Snarfquest"), and there was still lots of material and reviews for non-TSR systems (I discovered RuneQuest, for instance, through the rave reviews in Dragon of modules like Griffin Mountain and Borderlands). These issues were slightly before my time (the first issue I ever bought was #84; my subscription started somewhere around #120) but I was able to pick them up second-hand, and even then had the feeling that the Golden Age was over and I'd just barely missed it...Further before my time were the issues of the 20s-40s (c. 1978-81) when AD&D was being released and TSR was entering its first major growth phase, and you can feel the tangible excitement and enthusiasm. Except for a couple strays, I didn't have many issues this era until much later (when I got the CD Archive c. 2003) so I don't know it as well as the later era(s), but I can see a strong case being made for this as the Golden Age of (The) Dragon as well as the above.The early issues (1976-78) by comparison seem a little thin on content (quality content, at least -- Best of The Dragon vol. I (covering material from The Strategic Review and issues 1-14 of The Dragon) includes literally almost every worthwhile article from that era). In this regard, The Strategic Review (1975-76) seems a little stronger than the early issues of The Dragon -- with a smaller page-count and more material written in-house (mostly by Gary Gygax) there was less room/need for filler and therefore the quality seems generally higher in TSR than in the first 20 issues or so of The Dragon.Shortly after issue 100 Dragon began a long, slow slide into mediocrity and irrelevence that never remitted until at least until c. issue 200 (when I finally gave up my subscription).</blockquote>

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