I5: Lost Tomb of Martek - Review

[@TheUnsafeKing]

I am sad that I am just now finding this channel. I hope you resume uploading I really like your breakdowns and am about to deep dive your archive.

[@CraigMRyan]

All great points in this review - thanks for doing it up! I've been DM'ing a long time, and so know to not necessarily take any module 'as written', but to adapt to what my players (hopefully) will love. With that in mind, I've been taking one of my groups thru "the classics" that I remember from the 80's hobby store shelves but never played myself (updated to 5e rules). So far we're done 'B7 Rahasia' (great), 'B4 The Lost City' (amazing, especially after your expand out the undercity), and into 'X8 Drums on Fire Mountain'. After that I pushed them deeper into the desert and we played 'I3 Pharoah' (the desert exploration was probably better than the pyramid itself) and 'I4 Oasis of the White Palm' (this was the module I was least 'sure' about, but it turned out to be a highlight -loads of role-playing intrigue!). We just started 'I5 Lost Tomb of Martek' this week: the bones are all there for a great adventure only, like you said, it all requires some additional work by the DM to make it run best. The Skysea "special encounter table" in the module has a number of great 'starter' ideas (pirates, ghosts, and ghost-pirates!), and when they reach the 'Garden of the Cursed' section I have some old 'bad guys that got away earlier in the campaign' that are going to show up again (including an old friendly NPC that they 'lost' back at level 4). Oh, and you can be sure it'll be the PCs who take down the Efreet at the end-game, not Martek! ;)

[@mouserr]

i played the set in its original print way back in the day and always thought the glass sea was under played

[@wbbartlett]

Hickman = railroad. Not a good designer imo.

[@biffstrong1079]

I still have a great feeling for these three modules. I definitely try to avoid the railroad with my players. Loads of fun. Interesting dungeons. Some clever magic items. Loved the Skysea and enjoyed the adventures through the three realms. Time Chaos and Death? The third one was generally the weakest and felt like a rehash of what we'd seen before in the first two modules. Black abyss is a disappointing resolution though I love the travel through the abyss. We killed the NPC's while chasing them through the abyss. I will want my players to defeat the evenly balanced giant monsters. More time there? Is that a joke? Harsh.

[@enoa4]

Thanks for the review. I have inserted this series into my current campaign, and the group is halfway through Oasis of the White Palm. I've also wrapped part of my larger campaign story into this series, which is helping. I remember running these in the early 80's with great fondness. I have been eager to re-run them. Funny, when I was young, I think I enjoyed I3 and I5 the most, struggling with I4, and now 30+ years later, that's flipped, and I4 is definitely the best of the bunch. Although there are good role-playing opportunities in the garden in I5, I find it a bit far-fetched, and keep looking for ways to accelerate it. I've done digital maps for the whole series and posted them on DMs Guild. www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?keywords=Ernie+Noa&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto= Check them out if you are curious. Thank you again for the review of a series I have a real soft spot for.

[@d4Dungeon]

I would have to agree with the different perceptions of various modules when we were younger to now as adults. I'm not sure if it's better or not, that we can now see the flaws that our younger eyes missed.