Close
Close
Advanced Search

L2 The Assassin's Knot (1e)Click to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/17060.xml&w=500&h=328
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/17060-sample.pdf

L2 The Assassin's Knot (1e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >
"If you want someone murdered, go to Garrotten" is a common saying in Restenford. The small, peaceful town of Garrotten is rumored to be the headquarters of a deadly band of assassins. Perhaps there is nothing to this talk. Perhaps it is true. There has never been any reason to find out. Until now.

The Baron of Restenford is dead.

The first day following his death, Restenford was a hornet's nest of activity. No one was allowed to enter or leave. The castle itself was sealed t outsiders as soon as the murder was discovered. Wild rumors hinted that the body was left in a condition that made magical restoration impossible. That evening came an urgent summons from the reclusive sorceror, Pelltar, whose council continued late into the night.

By midmorning of the next day, you were well on your way to Garrotten. Three slender clues are all that remain - three possible chances to unravel the tangled web of intrigue that doomed the Baron of Restenford. The sun is warm, and the land around your is full of life. By nightfall, you will arrive.

For characters levels 2 through 5.

Product History
 
L2: "The Assassin's Knot" (1983) is the second adventure in the Lendore Isle trilogy and the last one that would be published by TSR. It was commissioned and delivered at the same time as L1: "The Secret of Bone Hill" (1981) - probably in 1980 - and released in 1983.
 
Towns & Mysteries. "The Assassin's Knot" is unique among early AD&D adventures. Like its predecessor "Bone Hill," it focuses on the description of a town. Unlike its predecessor, that's the whole adventure. The actual plot of the adventure focuses on a murder mystery: The players have to figure out who killed the Baron of Restenford and why. To do so, the players will explore a really open sandbox in the nearby town of Garrotten.
 
Entirely town-based adventures were just coming into their own at this time, with the few other examples being B6: "The Veiled Society" (1984) and to a lesser extent N1: "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" (1982). They would have been entirely unprecedented when Lakofka originally wrote this adventure. Meanwhile, the idea of an adventure that focused on solving a mystery was almost entirely unknown - though U1: "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh" (1981) and "Cult of the Reptile God" had moved somewhat in that direction.
 
Expanding Greyhawk. L2 details the town of Garrotten, adding more background to Lendore Isle and thus making it one of the best described locales in all of Greyhawk at the time. Meanwhile, Lakofka's biggest Lendore Isle-related expansion would appear in the pages of Dragon magazine rather than in the L-series adventures themselves. Lakofka had already decided, based on Gary Gygax's migration charts of early Greyhawk peoples, that Lendore Isle had been settled by the ancient Suel people.
 
Thus, Lakofka was the best person to describe the gods of the Suels, which he did in six articles from Dragon #86 (June 1984) to Dragon #92 (December 1984). The information is a great expansion to the L-series adventures in particular (and continued to make Lendore Isle the best best-described corner of Greyhawk).
 
The Original Campaign. Like L1, "The Assassin's Knot" was derived from Lakofka's own Lendore Isle campaign. Rather uniquely, the murder that players investigate is actually the murder of one of the PCs from Lakofka's game.
 
Future Histories. An adventure on Lendore Isle following the events of L2 can be found in Dungeon #71 (November/December 1998). It's called "Priestly Secrets."
 
About the Creators. Lakofka continued penning columns for Dragon until April 1986. After that, he stopped working with TSR, apparently because he was very close with Gygax, and the new TSR management was trying to purge all connections to him. This probably was what caused Lakofka's third "L" adventure to never see print at TSR. In fact, Lakofka's corrected text was lost at some point, which would cause problems when Wizards of the Coast finally decided to publish "L3" in 1999.
 
About the Product Historian
 
The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (3)
Discussions (24)
Customer avatar
Emil G February 04, 2024 10:59 am UTC
POD would be great
Customer avatar
January 28, 2024 8:37 pm UTC
This really needs to become Print on Demand.
Customer avatar
Jonathan G January 24, 2024 1:58 pm UTC
POD PLS
Customer avatar
Jens R March 09, 2023 11:49 am UTC
POD Please
Customer avatar
MIKE C December 30, 2022 10:16 pm UTC
I would buy this as a POD today... POD please.
Customer avatar
Jamie B December 17, 2022 9:40 pm UTC
POD, please!
Customer avatar
Mark W December 02, 2022 5:27 am UTC
PURCHASER
I would love to buy a POD version.
Customer avatar
Alexander L July 02, 2022 11:40 pm UTC
POD, please. :)
Customer avatar
Stephen T June 18, 2022 7:13 am UTC
POD Please! Thank you!
Customer avatar
Colby G April 25, 2022 2:59 pm UTC
POD please!
Customer avatar
Ilias L April 18, 2022 7:47 am UTC
pod please
Customer avatar
Alexander L April 18, 2022 1:07 am UTC
POD Please :)
Customer avatar
Brian S March 13, 2022 11:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The fact that the first and third modules in this series is POD and not this just showcases the problems this company has.
Reply
Customer avatar
CD S March 15, 2022 8:39 pm UTC
Yep
Reply
Customer avatar
Fabio R June 07, 2023 10:09 pm UTC
Yep. Makes you wonder why. I'd buy it right away if they gave me the choice.
Customer avatar
david W March 03, 2022 8:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Why has Bone Hill been available for POD for years and this has not? Come on, POD Please!
Customer avatar
Andrew C February 19, 2022 8:35 pm UTC
POD please
See 16 more
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!
 Recent History















Product Information
Platinum seller
Author(s)
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
32
Edition
1.0
Publisher Stock #
TSR 9057
File Size:
7.48 MB
Format
Scanned image Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
February 20, 2013
This title was added to our catalog on February 19, 2013.