The L-series modules are curious. They’re written by Lenard Lakofka, adapted from adventures from his own Lendore Isles, which Gary Gygax included in the World of Greyhawk folio (1980), presumably for the express purpose of Lakofka writing scenarios set there. The first one, L1: The Secret of Bone Hill, came out in 1981 and was pretty unusual, focusing on a town and a wilderness to explore rather than a central dungeon crawl. The wilderness was new territory in 1981, with Isle of Dread and the Expert Box only recently establishing the possibility of that sort of adventure. Not a whole lot of town-based adventuring at this point in TSR stuff outside of the Village of Hommlet (1979), though Judges Guild had several examples by now.

The result is kind of all over the place. The Bone Hill dungeon is perfectly fine. The wilderness seems overstuffed. The town is a bit of both, though having several small dungeons in the town is a nice touch.

Great Willingham cover. The back cover illustration, by Erol Otus, is a weirdly cropped mess though — Lawrence Schick, in Heroic Worlds, says this was on purpose, because Otus didn’t like the adventure. I’m kind of with Erol on this one.

The front cover also declares L1 “First of a Campaign Series.” While not quite so bad as the Volume I curse, it is still a bad omen.