The D&D campaign that eventually helped shape Skyrim has been unearthed, as The Elder Scrolls legend's lost RPG notes are archived

The Elder Scrolls Online — (Image credit: Bethesda)

Original RPG notes that helped shape the lore of The Elder Scrolls series have been uncovered and archived, offering a look at how the world of Tamriel was brought to life by its creators.

In a joint effort, two Elder Scrolls archival projects - the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP) and The Imperial Library - have shared campaign notes from games of D&D played inside the world of Tamriel. These notes come from the estate of Julian LeFay, the Bethesda veteran described as "father of The Elder Scrolls" who died in July 2025, and detail two campaigns he ran during the development of The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall.

It's the first campaign, however, that's more interesting. The Dwynnen campaign was better known because parts of its story contributed to Daggerfall, but the other campaign was not known until the discovery of LeFay's notes. Across more than 8,000 words, LeFay describes characters, religions, and the Sumurset (Summerset) Isles, home of the High Elves. One of the player characters in this campaign was Vanus Galerion, who still features as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls Online.

The Imperial Library notes that a longstanding community myth suggests that the devs' D&D campaigns actively established the setting for The Elder Scrolls. That's not true - these notes stem from the Daggerfall era, and don't predate Arena - but tabletop roleplaying clearly made a substantial mark on The Elder Scrolls, with LeFay's original maps shaping the entire world of Tamriel. Thousands of words of notes mean it might be a little while until we realize just how important these documents were to the rest of the series - including The Elder Scrolls 6 - but it's clear this is a T(r)E(a)Sure trove.

TOPICS

CATEGORIES

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.