D&D 1E L3 Deep Dwarven Delve released in POD format on DriveThruRPG!

[Alzrius]

Wizards of the Coast has just released a print-on-demand option for L3 Deep Dwarven Delve ($9.99) over on DriveThruRPG!

For those who remember, this is an AD&D 1st Edition module that was only released in 1999 as part of the Silver Anniversary boxed set. Part of Len Lakofka's series of Lendore Isles adventures (including L1 The Secret of Bone Hill and L2 The Assassin's Knot), this was commissioned around 1980, needing almost twenty years to be published. According to Shannon Appelcline's product history:

The Found Adventure. Though the book itself reports that the adventure had "lain unseen and forgotten in the TSR design vault," in July 1999 Sean K. Reynolds reported a different story. He said that all of TSR's copies of the adventure had been "lost or destroyed" over the years. The adventure (apparently) resurfaced only when Lakofka found a copy around his house and sent it to Roger E. Moore in 1997 - possibly due to the changing political tides at TSR, for Wizards of the Coast was at that time involved in buying out Lorraine Williams. Moore then passed the adventure on to Reynolds in 1998.

Wizards of the Coast decided to publish "Delve," but the editors thought it needed "depth and clarification" to bring it up to modern AD&D standards. Lakofka was happy to oblige and produced a new version of his adventure… which Wizards again lost. Lakofka says that that he didn't hear about the loss until after "Delve" was published, by which time a number of Wizards developers had stepped in to do the required expansion for the adventure.

In the end, Lakofka says that "Delve" is about 80% comprised of material he'd turned in two decades earlier. Though L3 was published as part of the Silver Anniversary Collector's Edition, Wizards had also considered releasing it as a free PDF or publishing it in Dragon magazine.

This is the latest book to be given a print on demand option from WotC, following A Guide to the Ethereal Plane (Planescape), DLR3 Unsung Heroes (Dragonlance 2E), Dungeon Master's Guide 2 (4E), Monster Manual 3 (4E), and Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale (4E), and City of the Spider Queen (Forgotten Realms 3.5).

Other recent releases include X4 Master of the Desert Nomads (B/X), B7 Rahasia (BECMI) and DLT2 Book of Lairs (Dragonlance 2E), DLS4 Wild Elves (Dragonlance 2E), Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (Greyhawk 2E), WGM1 Border Watch (Greyhawk 2E), The Book of Lairs (Forgotten Realms 2E), AC10 Bestiary of Dragons & Giants (BECMI), Halls of Undermountain (4E), the War Captain's Companion (Spelljammer), PC3 Creature Crucible: The Sea People (BECMI), Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast (Forgotten Realms 2E), Volo's Guide to Waterdeep (Forgotten Realms 2E), Volo's Guide to Cormyr (Forgotten Realms 2E), the Dark Sun Boxed Set (the original one for AD&D 2E), Campaign Option: Council of Wyrms, and the Planescape Campaign Setting.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I loved L1 in the day, but by the time L2 came out, I had largely moved on from the Lendore Isles. (We got a lot of use out of L1, though, before that.) L3 came back when I wasn't really playing and was hard to mentally square with my vision of the Lendore Isles, although I guess there's plenty of room for dwarven constructions there.

I would kind of love to see someone knit all the Lendore Isles stuff into a single book, up to modern standards. Obviously, it's not going to be the late Lekofka. Did he ever put out any more Lendore Isles material, separately from TSR/WotC?

 

[Alzrius]

Did he ever put out any more Lendore Isles material, separately from TSR/WotC?

Over on Dragonsfoot, Lakofka released the following:

• L4 Devilspawn
• L4C The Lendore Isle Companion
• L5A The Kroten Campaign Guide
• L5B The Kroten Adventures
• L5C The Kroten Campaign Companion
• L5 Map Pack

 

[Sithlord]

Over on Dragonsfoot, Lakofka released the following:

• L4 Devilspawn
• L4C The Lendore Isle Companion
• L5A The Kroten Campaign Guide
• L5B The Kroten Adventures
• L5C The Kroten Campaign Companion
• L5 Map Pack

Even if u never want to play1E, they are a wonderful resource to read for expanding an adventure or setting

 

[David Howery]

I still have the whole Silver Anniversary boxed set, so I don't need this one... but I'm liking the increased pace of new PODs here. L1 and 2 are a couple of the few old 1E modules that I don't think we ever ran through back in the day, for some reason....

 

[David Howery]

whoops, double post

 

[David Howery]

crud, this message repeated three times... any way to delete the extras?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

"When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build L3 Deep Dwarven Delve on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest module in all of Lendore."

The Found Adventure. Though the book itself reports that the adventure had "lain unseen and forgotten in the TSR design vault," in July 1999 Sean K. Reynolds reported a different story. He said that all of TSR's copies of the adventure had been "lost or destroyed" over the years. The adventure (apparently) resurfaced only when Lakofka found a copy around his house and sent it to Roger E. Moore in 1997 - possibly due to the changing political tides at TSR, for Wizards of the Coast was at that time involved in buying out Lorraine Williams. Moore then passed the adventure on to Reynolds in 1998.

Wizards of the Coast decided to publish "Delve," but the editors thought it needed "depth and clarification" to bring it up to modern AD&D standards. Lakofka was happy to oblige and produced a new version of his adventure… which Wizards again lost. Lakofka says that that he didn't hear about the loss until after "Delve" was published, by which time a number of Wizards developers had stepped in to do the required expansion for the adventure.

In the end, Lakofka says that "Delve" is about 80% comprised of material he'd turned in two decades earlier. Though L3 was published as part of the Silver Anniversary Collector's Edition, Wizards had also considered releasing it as a free PDF or publishing it in Dragon magazine.

But seriously, I'll be curious to check this one out. L1 and L2 were solid adventures, with L2 definitely ahead of its time.

 

[Mannahnin]

I really should read through the rest of Len's stuff.

I have L1 and L2. L2 I don't love, but have made minor use of. L1 I've based a whole campaign around; Restenford and the surrounding area is a great little starting town and sandbox area.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I really should read through the rest of Len's stuff.

I have L1 and L2. L2 I don't love, but have made minor use of. L1 I've based a whole campaign around; Restenford and the surrounding area is a great little starting town and sandbox area.

I think if L1 had somehow beaten T1 to the market, it would have been the module that launched a thousand campaigns. In many ways, as good as the Moathouse is, L1 did it better, by providing more than one thing for player characters to do in the area, as well as giving more structure to the community than Homlett.