The Golden Age of D&D

Apart from my happy delvings into playing D&D and DDM, I also have a fond devotion for Magic: the Gathering. One of the really good things about MTG is the website, which has many excellent articles.

Here's one, which is applicable to D&D - both in the game and the artwork:
Honeymoon in Dominaria - The Golden Age Theory

For me, I'm as happy as I've ever been playing D&D now. I'm playing more than ever; I've got many good friends I see to play the game; and I'm known and respected across the world. (Yes, by about three people in the USA. But that's enough to give me warm, tingly feelings ;-)).

However, I can't look back at the time I was introduced to D&D without thinking, "They had it right, then". Let's face it: 1982-5 was pretty much a good time to be starting. AD&D was fully out. The GDQ adventures were available, the Basic set was at it's height, Dragonlance was just around the corner, and the classic Desert of Desolation adventures were there as well.

Heck, even the graphic design on the adventures was brilliant!

I look at D&D art today and I know that, technically, it's very good. But it isn't Elmore or Parkinson. (Heck, Lockwood is too late for me!)

I look at D&D adventures today... and wonder where they are. (Yes, I know they're coming back. And the ones I do have, although fine books, aren't as great as I3-5).

Oh, just a note: Fane of the Drow reminds me vividly of my very first AD&D module: D3. Not of the final section (the Vault), but of the encounters faced on the way there. It was always the Descent that grabbed me, never the final location...