Those who followed
Greyhawkery recently may have seen my post last week on old
classic Greyhawk modules that I need for my collection. Quick to answer was prolific blogger and fellow Midwesterner,
Timothy Brannan of
The Other Side blog. Thanks to the trade we worked out, I am now in possession of an amazingly good copy of
L2 The Assassin's Knot by
Len Lakofka.
The Assassin's Knot is the second in the
Lendore Isle series which began with the better known
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill. I got my copy of
Bone Hill at
GenCon a few years ago but have never ran it (there's many I haven't). Now with both L1 and L2 I have a pretty complete story line at my disposal that is set in a remote area of Greyhawk which I'm pretty sure I've never used in my own campaigns.
Interestingly I discovered there is more to the Lendore series.
L3 Deep Dwarven Delve was published as part of the D&D silver anniversary collection. I assume it's a continuation of whatever Bone Hill started but this is another adventure I do not possess (great). Len Lakofka also put out another sequel called
Devilspawn through
Dragonsfoot which I can't count for my collection since it's not in print technically.
The Assassin's Knot will do for now though. I believe collecting is a gradual process so no rush to get them all. I'm very pleased with the RPG trade process. Thanks again to Mr. Brannan and I'm sure we'll stay in touch.
Update 06/08/2021: RIP Lenard. I'm glad to have met him years after this post. His influence will last in the community will be felt forever.
Len has a few different apocryphal Lendore 'products' over at Dragonsfoot.
ReplyDeleteL4 Devilspawn Adventure
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=278&watchfile=0
L4 Lendore Isles Campaign Companion
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=279&watchfile=0
L5 Kroten Adventures
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=380&watchfile=
L5 Kroten Campaign Guide
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=381&watchfile=
L5 Kroten Campaign Companion
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=379&watchfile=
L5 Kroten Campaign Map Pack
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=378&watchfile=
Honestly, IMO they are not up to the standards of L1 or L2, but the lendore campaign enthusiast or Lakofka fan will surely find them interesting.
Deep Dwarven Delve has issues.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=40635
WotC lost the final draft that Len Lakofka submitted and they had someone else rewrite about 20% of the adventure without telling him.
My pleasure to help!
ReplyDeleteRich: I forgot about the Kroten campaign, thanks for the DF links!
ReplyDeleteArmitage: That's disconcerting. Were they glaring story inconsistencies or just crunchy bits?
No problem, I still have a habit of collecting and bookmarking somewhat trivial gh related stuff online.
ReplyDeleteI did want to clarify that my comment about the L4 and L5 stuff not being up to par with the earlier stuff is not really about the quality of the material, but more about the production values. Due in part to the material being free, the layout, art and maps are obviously "fan made". Which isn't really a bad thing, but L1 is one of my all time favorite AD&D modules, and I admittedly held the expansion material to a high standard. L2 and L3 are pretty good, even given the factors Armitage mentioned. L4 and L5 explore a wealth of lore about the Lendore Isles too, they just don't have that professional polish TSR put on the 'official' modules.
Oh, and to be a little snarky, ANY alternative to the craptastic Evermeet/Grey Havens rip off "canon" material on the Spindrifts is a good thing. The fate of the Spindrifts is one of my personal most hated bits of latter day GH lore.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification Rich. And yeah I'm not a big fan of the canon Spindrifts either. I'm still currently running a baseline 576-577 Sea Princes campaign and I want all my south seas islands in vintage condition (pre-wars).
ReplyDeleteIf your players venture to Restenford and want to explore the rest of the island, the L4 and L5 stuff is a good source of ideas for fleshing out the realm.
ReplyDeleteMike Bridges: he didn't specify in the interview. he just said that WotC lost his rewrite and the published adventure is about 80% the original manuscript that he wrote in 1979.
ReplyDeleteMy only problem with the Kroten campaign is that it seems like about 90% of the town is retired adventurers. As I recall, there's a pig farmer who's a 3rd or 4th level Fighter and the town potter is a 5th or 6th level Magic-User, for example.
0-level humans are outnumbered by characters with class levels. It really should be the other way around.
FYI I got copy of Demonweb today! In great shape!
ReplyDeleteFYI I got copy of Demonweb today! In great shape!
ReplyDeleteUh-oh, now that Timothy has you hooked on his product, he wants to become your regular supplier!
ReplyDeleteHaha, that's great to hear. Good to have connections in the gaming community for all sorts of reasons. ;)
ReplyDeleteAt least for a while, you could get Deep Dwarven Delve on the WOTC website; it may not still be up.
ReplyDelete