Lenard Lakofka, an influential contributor during the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away October 23 at the age of 76.

Lakofka is best known within the hobby for his participation in the development of Dungeons & Dragons during the Gygax era.  He assisted Gygax and Arneson with playtesting the first D&D and AD&D games, wrote the L1 The Secret of Bone Hill and L2 The Assassin’s Knot adventure modules, and penned the Leomund’s Tiny Hut column for Dragon magazine.

In 1968, Lakofka was the president of the International Federation of Wargamers when the organization was invited to organize and run the first Gen Con game convention in Lake Geneva, WI.  He would return to organize the second Gen Con as well.  Although he was never a formal employee of TSR, he contributed to the early development of the game as a writer and editor and by introducing some of the game's iconic spells to the system.  Many of these spells were named for Lakofka’s own character, Leomund.  His personal campaign setting became the Lendore Islands of the Greyhawk setting.

After Gygax left TSR in 1985, Lakofka’s relationship with the company also ended, but he continued to be part of the D&D community.  In 1997, the planned third “L-series” module, Deep Dwarven Delve was published as part of Wizards of the Coast’s celebration of the game’s 25th Anniversary, and he wrote two additional modules and a campaign guide to continue the series.