An Index of the D&D Works of Lenard "Leomund's Tiny Hut" Lakofka

While Lenard Lakofa is perhaps best known to D&D players for his character "Leomund" and his associated "Leomund's Tiny Hut" column in Dragon Magazine (as well as the third-level MU spell of the same name from AD&D), his roots in fantasy gaming run much deeper:

• Lenard attended the inaugural GenCon in 1968, and was contributing to the Spartan and the untitled IFW newsletters in the same year.  See IFW zines at The Tome of Treasures forums by for "lakofka" as keyword:  https://www.tomeoftreasures.com/forum/search.php
  
• Lenard's fantasy miniatures rules were developed and playtested in his Diplomacy zine, Les Liaisons Dangereuses through mid-1975, as well as at GenCon VIII in 1975 and continuing through until at least 1980
  
• Like most TSR and/or TSR-associated tourneys at early GenCons, the titles of the events were very generic like "D&D For Prizes" or "D&D for Novices" or "D&D Adventure" up through about 1979, when event titles began to differentiate:
• 1980 featured "Consort of the Queen" and "The Crypt of Yenoughu" ("A single session game with plenty of hard-and-heavy action for pre-rolled 5th-11th level characters."), "The Town of Grellton" ("An AD&D adventure with pre-diced characters, second through fifth level.) among others
• 1981 featured "Devil’s Spire" ("A party of 8th to 11th level adventurers weather encounters with a Pit Fiend, a Mage and myriads of monsters in an attempt to send Dispater back to the plan of Dis. An AD&D adventure."),  "The Embassy to the Pale" ("Adventurers of 3rd to 5th level are recruited by the Baron Ratik, who seeks to attack the Bone March. The Baron must first obtain the help of the Theocracy of the Pale, and you and your comrades will carry his message to the theocrats."), and "The Lair of the Cloud Giant Feor" ("A vast castle site on the island of Voleax in the Northern Spindrift Isles, Here, a prince of the cloud giants makes his home with an assortment of nasty “pets.” An AD&D adventure with characters from 7th to 11th level.")
• You can explore many of Lenard's GenCon events at http://www.best50yearsingaming.com/programs/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_field=all_fields&q=lakofka

Lakofka in Diplomacy and Chicago Gaming Zines

Les Liaisons Dangereuses:  Les Liaisons Dangereuses was published from 18 May 1969 and up through issue #81 (20 July 1977), and most of the LD issues are archived at http://whiningkentpigs.com/DW/kent/l.htm.   

Les Liaisons Dangereuses contains the following pieces mentioning Gary Gygax, GenCon, and Lenard's D&D rules/variants.  This list is not comprehensive, merely what I've found to date, and obviously doesn't include data on issues missing from the Dippy Zines archive link above:

• LD#44 - 18 May 1973, 4th Anniversary Issue, dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien with a Smaug cover illustration:  page 2 includes "A Short History of Liaisons Dangereuses" which recounts Lenard's introduction to the Diplomacy game via Gary Gygax at GenCon I in 1968
  
• LD#57 - 26 May 1975:  page 2 mentions SR#2, ending with "This zine is from the dynamic GENCON group who have produced so many great conventions and excellent miniatures rules from many historical periods"; page 6 states, "Also in LD 58 will be some notes, if not the beginning of a complete set of rules, on Fantasy Miniatures. The Chicago Wargaming group, whose chief members are Gene Leander, Mark Nyderek, Rich Swies, and myself (with respect to miniatures rules--especially Fantasy miniatures) is now writing an entire set of rules for fantasy miniatures. At this time we doubt if they will be made commercially available as some playtesting etc. is necessary.  Your comments on them will be appreciated."
  
• LD#58 - 18 June 1975: page 7 touches on Lenard's proposed fantasy rules, stating that he'll hold off on including them in LD until they'd been tested further;  page 9 includes "Combat tables for fantasy miniatures--compatible with Dungeons & Dragons" which is a basic attack/resolution matrix based in Chainmail
  
• LD#59 - 9 July 1975:  page 10 (and a little of page 1) includes "Casting a Spell--Fantasy Rules Additions" [with the last few words on page 10 in the title obliterated]
  
• LD#61 - 27 Aug 1975:  page 4 includes a GenCon VIII report, with mention of Ral Partha's premiere fantasy line of minis; pages 7-11 include "Fantasy Rule Additions"
  
• LD#62 - 18 Sept 1975:  pages 5-7 feature "Additional notes on spells"; pages 8-10 include "An expedition played under LD rules" and "Cleric Spells"
  
• LD#64 - 5 Nov 1975:  pages 7-9 feature "A sand table battle" summary/report from a Middle Earth Gondor-Mordor battle, played with with Lenard's minis rules from LD#58-62.
  
• LD#65 - 5 Dec 1975:  page 4 includes a letter from Gary Gygax re: GenCon withdrawing its bid to host DipCon 1976, and will shift their hosting bid to GenCon 1977; also states, "Meanwhile, plans for a fantasy battle at GenCon can now proceed. Let us know what day will suit you best, times, etc." and Len adds "for all of you D&D fans he also promises a hobby shop opening soon and knowing Gary it will [be] a great effort" as well as this longer comment:  "I will be gamemastering a fantasy battle (or two) at Gen Con using variable success Spell Rules as outlined in LD.  Since I will be spending most of the week in Lake Geneva I will try a separate game for each of the conventions scheduled days.  I have suggested to Gary a team event using a single elimination system---as we did in 1971 at Gen Con for an armor team game.  The plan for this event will firm up before Christmas once Gary and I have crossed a few letters in the mails."  This seems similar to the scoring system used in the December 1976 Tsojconth tourney from WinterCon V.
  
• LD#66 - 21 Jan 1976:  page 8 mentions SR#5 contents and Len's "Highly recommended!" summary, which Lenard concludes with a note "if it only had a demonstration game of Diplomacy or perhaps a Fantasy Variant-- Gary? I'll GM such a game if you would like to include it.)"
  
• LD#68 - 3 March 1976:  page 1 mentions GenCon 9; page 6 Len writes a play summary/mini-review of Dungeon!; page 7 has an ad for Origins II
  
• LD#70 - 18 May 1976, 7th Anniversary issue:  includes the letter "Dunned for a Dragon Article" by Gary Gygax on pages 11-12 talking about D&D and it shistory
  
• LD#71 - 1? June 1976, Fantasy Special issue:  page 1 mentions GenCon IX and Origins II, pages 5-9 "Fantasy Rule Additions" (dated 16 May 1976, and related to (build on?) those Lenard published in TD#1)
  
• LD#72 - 17 July 1976, the Dungeons & Dragon Special Women & Magic issue:  "Women & Magic" by Lenard W. Lakofka and E. Gary Gygax on pages 2-4, 8-11
  
• LD#73 - 16 Aug 1976:  "Expanding the Combat Table in Dungeons & Dragons" on pages 3; something about Doors on pages 4-5; something about Blackmoor's combat system on page 6
  
• LD#74 - 14 Sept 1976:  "The Pyrologist - A Study in Fire Use:  A New Dungeons & Dragons Subclass" by Lenard Lakofka and E. Gary Gygax; and a review of Lankhmar (TSR 1976)
• LD#75 - 17 Nov 1976:  "Skrying in Dungeons & Dragons" by Lenard Lakofka & E. Gary Gygax
• LD#76 - 14 Dec 1976:  "Dwarves & Hobbits & Magic" by L. W. Lakofka & E. Gary Gygax on pages 3-5
• LD#77:  pages 2-3 = something by LL & EGG about combat and MA at Winter Fantasy (a game report it seems?); page 4 MA review; ad for "A Chicagoland Game Club! The Dragon Seekers" on page 5 (2 Feb 1977)
  
• LD#79 - 25 April 1977:  mentions "Big Anniversary Issue Next Time! D&D and Diplomacy."
• LD#80 - presumed May or June 1977:  "Manufacture of Magic Items in Dungeons & Dragons" by Lenard W. Lakofka in association with E. Gary Gygax on pages 3-18 plus 21, which includes enchanment and guidlines for all types of magic items, and a short section on the identification of magic items ; "Regaining Spell Levels" by Lenard W. Lakofka in association with E. Gary Gygax on pages 18 and 21
  

The Wizard newsletters (1977):  Lenard edited this Chicago newsletter for the Dragon Seekers club (although there may have been another newsletter entitled "DragonSeekers" too?), and articles penned by Lenard appear in issues #3 and #4:

• Issue #3 (1077):  
• "The Pyrologist, a new Dungeons & Dragons subclass:  A Study in Fire Use":  9 pages of codified and cleanly-presented class details and new spells, clearly built from the year-earlier article in LD#74
• "The Gods and Dungeons & Dragons":  I believe that this is the first mention of the gods from the "island of Lendore" pantheons (although not named Sueloise in nature as such at this time---these first gods of Lendore were from the Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythoi), and lays out Lenard's approach to defining the rules that bound deities and their interactions in the campaign setting---including a gods-level saving throw chart! 
  
• Issue #4 (January 1978):   
• "Animals & Monsters: Attack Modes" by Lenard Lakofka and W. John Wheeler (later known as a co-founder of The Companions) on pages 2-5
  
• "Climbing and Falling" by Lenard Lakofka on page 6
•  "Damage and Special Damage" table by L. W. Lakofka in assocation with E. Gary Gygax on page 7
  
• "Dungeonmastering - A Soliloquoy" by Lenard Lakofka on pages 8-9
  
• "Lycanthropy" by Lenard Lakofka on pages 10-11, 14
  
• "A Miniatures battle for up to 12 players - Played on August 20 1977 @ GenCon X" by Lenard Lakofka on pages 12-14
  

Leomund in Dragon and with The Companions

 

From the DragonDex, an extract of all of Lenard's articles from The Strategic Review, The Dragon, and Dragon Magazine:

Lakofka, Len            

                 "Action In the Melee Round"                43(26)        D&D1
                 "Adding Depth To the Flanaess"                52(18)        D&D1
                 "All Good Things Must End..."                31(30)        D&D1
                 "Beefing Up the Cleric"                            58(5)        D&D1
                 "Blueprint For a Lich"                            26(36)        D&D1
                 "Bureaucrats and Politicians"                74(8)        D&D1
                 "Cloistered Cleric, The"                            68(30)        D&D1
                 "Creating Tailor-Made Monsters"                108(9)        D&D1
                 "Experience: By Doing and Learning"            35(14)        D&D1
                 "For NPC's Only: The Death Master"            76(10)        D&D1
                 "Gods of the Suel Pantheon"                87(23)        D&D1
                 "Gods of the Suel Pantheon"                88(8)        D&D1
                 "Gods of the Suel Pantheon"                89(20)        D&D1
                 "Gods of the Suel Pantheon"                90(24)        D&D1
                 "Gods of the Suel Pantheon"                92(22)        D&D1
                 "Good Evening: Are You Wild About Vampires?..."        30(7)        D&D1
                 "How To Make a Pantheon You Can Have Faith In!"        36(17)        D&D1
                 "If You Meet These Monsters, Don't Let Them Bug You"     32(16)        D&D1
                 "Inner Planes, The"                    42(24)        D&D1
                 "Just a Door? Not Any More"                53(56)        D&D1
                 "Keep Track of Quality"                    65(13)        D&D1
                 "Len Lakofka's Fantasy Miniatures Rules"        1(13)        --
                 "Leomund's In a Rut"                    36(29)        D&D1
                 "Let Them Entertain You"                69(54)        D&D1
                 "Magic For Merchants"                    62(56)        D&D1
                 "Make Charisma Count For More"                63(19)        D&D1
                 "Missile Fire and the Archer Subclass"            45(32)        D&D1
                 "Mission Control"                    48(63)        D&D1
                 "Monsters: How Strong Is Strong?"            44(28)        D&D1
                 "New Charts, Using the '5%' Principle"            80(48)        D&D1
                 "New Monsters For Low Levels"                66(54)        D&D1
                 "Notes On Women & Magic"                3(7)        OD&D
                 "Presenting...The Monties"                37(16)        D&D1
                 "Presenting the Suel Pantheon"                86(30)        D&D1
                 "Rearranging and Redefining the Mighty Dragon"        38(10)        D&D1
                 "Recipe For the Alchemist, A"                49(56)        D&D1
                 "'Segment of Action' System..."                34(34)        D&D1
                 "Shield and Weapon Skills"                57(10)        D&D1
                 "Smoothing Out Some Snags In the AD&D Spell Structure"    33(16)        D&D1
                 "Specialization and Game Balance"            104(28)        D&D1
                 "Starting From Scratch"                    39(20)        D&D1
                 "Thief: A Special Look, The"                47(20)        D&D1
                 "Tone Down the Demi-Humans"                105(10)        D&D1
                 "Working Your Way Up To First Level"            51(22)        D&D1

 

With The Companions:  While Lenard contributed to a few of their products, as well as participating in some seminars with them at GenCons in the 1980s, their collaboration began in the late 1970s, as seen in The Wizard issue #4 piece above:

• Treasure Trove I: Cards of Power (1982)
  
• Plague of Terror (1983)
• I'm pretty sure that Lenard wrote for some additional products from The Companions, will pull them out to confirm and add here
  

 

Lenard's More-Recent Work

• The Oerth Journal Issue 1 - May 1995):  "The History of Oerth (Oerik)" written with Steven "Tamarlane" Wilson, et al
  
• The Oerth Journal Issue 10 - Jul 1999):  "Leomund’s Life"
  
• The Oerth Journal Issue 11 - May 2000):  "A History and Timeline of the Suloise"
• Footprints (Issue 5 - Aug 2005)
• Footprints (Issue 6 - Dec 2005)
• Footprints (Issue 7 - Apr 2006)
• Footprints (Issue 7 - Apr 2006)
• Footprints (Issue 8 - Aug 2006)
• Footprints (Issue 9 - Dec 2006) 
• Footprints (Issue 12 - Mar 2008)  
• Footprints (Issue 14 - Jan 2009)
• Footprints (Issue 15 - Jun 2009)
• Footprints (Issue 17 - Mar 2011)
  
• & (Issue 3 - Winter 2012)
• Gygax Magazine (Issue 1 - Feb 2013) 
  
• & (Issue 4 - Spring 2013)
• & (Issue 5 - Summer 2013)
• Gygax Magazine (Issue 2 - Autumn 2013)
  
• & (Issue 6 - Fall 2013)
• & (Issue 7 - Winter 2013)
  
• & (Issue 8 - Spring 2014)
• Gygax Magazine (Issue 4 - Summer 2014) 
  
• & (Issue 9 - Summer 2014)
• & (Issue 10 - Fall 2014)
• Gygax Magazine (Issue 5 - Winter 2014-2015) 
  
• & (Issue 11 - Summer 2015)
• Gygax Magazine (Issue 6 - Sep 2015): Leomund's Secure Shelter  - "Telepathy in First Edition AD&D" 
  
• & (Issue 12 - Fall 2015)
• & (Issue 13 - Fall 2016)
• Dragon+ (Issue 14 - Jun 2017)
  
• Dragon+ (Issue 28 - Nov 2019)  
  

Lenard's RPGgeek entries also highlight some contributions to early D&D-related Netbooks, which I'll dig up and add here too.

Interviews and Livestreams with Lenard

For some basic information about Lenard, see his Wikipedia and RPGgeek entries.

 

I helped James Malizewski contact Lenard in 2008 to conduct this three-part interview series:

• https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-len-lakofka-part-i.html
• https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-len-lakofka-part-ii.html
• https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-len-lakofka-part-iii.html

 

And of course Lenard has been a frequent guest on Jay Scott's LordGosumba Greyhawk-focused livestream on twitch.tv.  I haven't built an index of all of Lenard's appearances on Jay's show yet, but will continue to work on that:

• Lenard Lakofka Q & A !!! - Legends & Lore #47 - This was the first time that Lenard and I "spoke" live together, after corresponding for about 15 years or so
• More to come, but here's a quick search for Lakofka episodes in the meanwhile:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpVZnHGQTqjVDJptDRSW7xA/search?query=lakofka
  

 

Research Thank Yous!

My thanks to Mark Petrick for scans of The Wizard newsletters; to Andrew "Fid" Weist, Bryan Fazekas, Andreas Claren, David Prata, and the many L4 and L5 organizers and editors at Dragonsfoot who brought those projects to published completion; and to Fid again for the LD#80 articles.

 

Of course my greatest appreciation goes out to Lenard Lakofka, for sharing his works with us over the decades---our Greyhawk and AD&D gaming has been a far richer experience thanks to your myriad and substantive contributions!  You are missed!

Allan.