Lendore: The 5(!) L-SERIES AD&D modules of Lenard Lakofka enhance a corner of Greyhawk

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was in its infancy when Lenard Lakofka submitted 3 adventures to TSR. Gary Gygax agreed to place them in his Greyhawk campaign setting. Lendore Isle was placed in the far east of Darlene’s classic poster map set, the largest island in the Spindrift Isles.

“Since Loreltarma (not Lo Reltarma — that was the cartographer’s invention, one of the many things she decided to change without asking anyone) was on a peninsula of land, I saw this island in the south east that could conform to my ongoing campaign. (Darlene also moved the whole city from one the northeast corner of the island to the southwest. Needless to say that made my campaign maps worthless!) I picked the Island and named it Lendore Isle.”

Len Lakofka (Grognardia Interview, 2009)

Be sure to visit James Maliszewski’s Len Lakofka interview series at Grognardia; lots of background info about the early days of TSR. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Lakofka would go on to be an important contributor to Greyhawk, and AD&D in general.

“Gary listed the Suel gods in the World of Greyhawk. I said that, from their migration, that many of the Suloise ended up on my Island. Therefore, the inhabitants of Lendore Isle would have a significant Suel background. When the Suel gods were not fleshed out, I took it upon myself to do it.” (Len Lakofka, Grognardia, link above)

Lakofka is probably best known to today’s gamers as “Leomund” from Leomund’s Tiny Hut and other spells. He had a regular column in Dragon magazine by that name until Gary Gygax was toppled from the TSR throne in the mid-1980s.

Lendore Isle would persist on Greyhawk into later years, as you can see from this snip from the D&D Gazetteer poster map (2000), lending its name to the whole archipelago.

(Alas the “Lo Reltarma” error persists!)

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Len Lakofka passed away in 2020.

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The L-series modules don’t get as much attention as other early AD&D modules (plus there are several follow-on releases that are fairly obscure), so let’s gather them together in one place for our review!

The Secret of Bone Hill (L1)

1981 … Lenard Lakofka … 28 pages (plus 4 unnumbered handout pages in the center) … TSR 9045 … ISBN 0935696326

Check Wayne’s Books Inventory

Amazon | DriveThruRPG (PDF / reprint)

The town of Restenford and the lands surrounding it are filled with adventure for a low-level character party in Secret of Bone Hill. The concept of city adventuring was relatively new at this time.

The Assassin’s Knot (L2)

1983 … Len Lakofka … 32 pages + double cover … TSR 9057 … ISBN 0935696709

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Amazon | DriveThruRPG (PDF)

Assassin’s Knot doubles-down on the urban adventuring of the first module, with a murder mystery. The on-the-nose-named town of “Garrotten” is the setting.

L2 has a 2nd cover. I’ve always had an irrational delight for double-cover modules.

Back in 2018, Lenard Lakofka contacted me with some random items he wanted to sell. Most of it was unremarkable, sci-fi mags, dice, some fiction. He did have some Dragons, so I asked him to sign his articles in them. ~ The crown of the lot was his personal copy of L2 Assassin’s Knot. It wasn’t in great shape, Good+ as I’d term it, but it was his. Took over a year to sell @ $80. Nowdays, it’d sell in 5 minutes at that price I reckon.

Deep Dwarven Delve (L3)

1999 … Len Lakofka … 24 pages … TSR #??

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Noble Knight | Amazon | DriveThruRPG (PDF / Reprint)

The L-Series modules here in Deep Dwarven Delve turn from city adventuring to good ol’ dungeon crawling.

Wizards of the Coast printed the lost L3 module for the first time in 1999, and included it in their limited-release Silver Anniversary set, along with reprints of the classics. L3 was never released separately (though DDD is now available as a reprint at DTRPG). Non-POD L3’s are quite rare.

The Wayne Reynolds art is eye-catching.

A Silver Anniversary set that passed through the shop in 2015.

L3 had a tortured history.

“I sent TSR L3 at same time as L1 and L2. They edited L1 and L2 and we talked back and forth. Then the dark days came and L3 went into a bottom drawer to rot for 20 years.

Of course AD&D had evolved significantly in 20 years. So I went through the laid-out material and updated it. (I don’t recall my editor’s name… sorry). We were on the same page. Then someone lost the whole thing. They did not tell me they lost it of course. So it went to print and someone else edited it and put stuff in. I had no input. Could I tell you what was put in? I don’t think so. I don’t think I have the orginal layout and the changed material either.” (Len Lakofka, Grognardia, link at top)