Pod Review C3 & C5

I remember some more stocking stuffers of the 80s i had seen on the shelf and couldn't afford then. These are unlike most of the Pods I have read is for AD&D and are con scenarios and not so in any setting. 

Im struggling through Saga of The Shadow Lord and Im finding it a bit harder than some to digest. Also I Have all the blackmoor modules to read. Possibly this Sunday game I will be running a recent kickstart old-style module. Possibly tricky as a lock in scenario and I have extra ppl dropping in. I might add a 300 mile wilderness trip by boat or an extra adventure.

The Lost Island of Castamir 💛💣💣💣 Lv 1-4
So you start at a dungeon door on an island that disappeared in connection with a famous wizard. Now its back. This saves on lots of padding opening scenes. Your go straight in and the rooms in this dungeon are connected by gates so its a map of rooms that indicates where the gates go rather than a traditional map. It's a mad wizard funhouse dungeon. Nice Easly cover and illustrations. Several full-page illustrations. The sample characters take up 8 pages and other pages on scoring in a tournament. Part one is the living areas and then the workshops. New monsters a feral slasher, fremlin and ironman are ok. There are a bunch of weird named gingwatzim spirits I don't want to remember the sub-type names. They feature quite a bit and remind me of basic D&D spirits. None of the monsters are really memorable but some well illustrated.Its pretty much a dungeon crawl and ho hum and the content is less than most. You could play it through in a 3-4 hour session though or slip it into any location you could put an island or a hole.

The Bane of Llwelyn 💛💛💣💣 Lv 4-7

Continuing in the mid-80s tradition of pinup girls for teen boys the cover is all I remember about this despite having read it and played it. I only remembered the hot amazon pterodactyl riders with boomerangs. Every D&D game should have that standard. So your'e helping restores a long-lost king which has a few interesting quests. Once again it's time to help the poor aristocracy and their divine rights to rule. First, go loot some tombs looking for clues for the king. Lots of interesting rulers to learn about. An undead army invades ruins daily also. Next, a tower of weird magic puzzles con games once required. You get a long poem with clues too. Next to the true tomb which is full of undead and has almost a page of turning mods that are tedious and you won't use again. It's another tomb fancier than the early ones. By this stage, they have resolved the prophecy and go to find the king on another plane with dinosaurs and amazons and the king is now a woman for some reason with erased memories, the adventure ends with a legal battle with evidence points which is kind of nice. Maps are good with player ones and the POD process has done a good job - no artefacts or ruined maps. Yes, I like the cover. I must say at least you do a lot and go from like a pseudo Celtic European or several weird magic locations and another world and has an epic aim. I feel its a bit complex at times and wonder if players will get the info the DM has. Maybe a sage could pop up or travel between locations. An old prof type to get in trouble with dinos and amuse amazons might be cute. I would consider running this but might simplify the story. It's the second gender switcheroo plot in a recent module (Castle Caldwell has a reveal that a villain is a woman). Im not sure what to respond to these. I'm guessing some player will try and seduce the woman king and amazons. I would totally adopt an amazon follower if I played this and I feel slightly bad for it.