I just found this channel and wow memory lane! I recall back in college converting these 3 modules into the MERP mechanics. Great memories!

Two videos in one week!! You’re cooking with gas. This is an entertaining and honest review. I’ve never played this campaign so it’s good to hear this review. Keep up the good work.

Never got to play most of these. I enjoy your breakdown of these modules.

Deserts and Arabic fantasy settings in general are underrated.

Nice review, I enjoyed it. I ran the Desert of Desolation series this past year. I agree I4 needed a lot of preparation. I created a simple spreadsheet with key facts about the NPCs including their name, their faction, what they knew or wanted and where they were located. Old modules frequently did a poor job of mapping this out, some of the UK series you've reviewed did a good job of this, but many times the DM had to tease out the plot from walls of text. My simple spreadsheet really helped. I also replaced the Drow with Yuan-Ti, as Yuan-Ti are going to factor into my campaign and I wanted to sprinkle them in. They seemed a better fit than drow. Finally, I wrote a custom ending and mini-dungeon for the city of the Pheonix and they battled the Effreeeti with the Djinni in the ruins of the ancient city. It was very satisfying. The party already had a compelling custom reason to find and explore the Tomb of Martek so propelling them into I5 was not a problem. Thank you again for your reviews!

Appreciate the review, John! I have a 5e game where I'm modding / running several 'classics' that I never got to play before.. So far we've gone from 'Rahasia' to 'The Lost City' to 'Drums on Fire Mountain' and we just finished I3 'Pharoah' the other evening. Love the desert setting, and my group likes the overarching Hickman narrative. Can't wait to tackle I4 next.

Great review. Who'd have thought it was a diamond in the rough? Too bad this series wasn't treated with better art.

I would respectfully disagree on a few (not all, but a few) of your points. I love the Text Format of the I3-I5 Mods. At a glance, you can tell if a room has Traps and/or Monsters. In the Play Sections, anything that the DM needs to keep in mind from other Rooms or previous Mods is written. In my opinion, all D&D Adventures & Modules should follow the Text Format of the I3-I5 Mods. However, this would require extra work from (lazy) authors and editors. Due to wanting to publish works ASAP, WotC would not implement this.

Here we Go . So that's no on the Drow? It was hugely disappointing to have to hope the Efreeti would run from us and sending the Djinni off to fight him for us was lame. Our DM didnt flesh out the Oasis and yes that was needed . I cant remember how we desperately clawed our way up levels. I would say all three modules were fun. But a lack of flesh from our (first time ) DM and our pitiful role play skills made this one the least fun of three for me. Listening to your reviews I've had to rethink my impression of these Modules But Im still sort of a I-3 7.5 / 10 I-4 6/10 I-5 8/10 kind of guy and generally I had fun with all of them. The White Palms is the one I have never gotten to DM. I think the first time we played these we had a different player DM each Module. That is not ideal. The least experienced guy did the middle module and it suffered accordingly from a lack of any expansion of what was on the pages. . Great Content. Thanks

i enjoy the oasis setting as well, but i have one *huge* questionmark regarding the writing: why i anu's name are the dervish cultists all of a sudden described as evil? this makes no fucking sense. in bralizar and around the pyramid the dervishes were an interesting group with beliefs not tolerated by the durpari majority, but with their own rules and customs. why are they now worshiping "evil" deities and following clerics with zombies and all that crap? i couldnt belief what i was reading, after such nice descriptions of the oasis settlement, the temple of set and evil cultists make zero sense.... i am puzzled.