Stonehell: First Impressions
Posted: June 24, 2011 Filed under: blogs, books, Dungeons and Dragons, Mines of Khunmar, OSR 5 Comments
OK, I know it’s already been out forever but I finally got around to ordering Stonehell Dungeon by Michael Curtis after having read about his campaigns on his blogs (one blog is Torch, Pole and Rope; the other is Rotted Moon). 134 pages for $13.00 seems like a bargain to me.
I’ve only read the first couple of pages and skimmed through the rest, but so far am very happy about my purchase and feel inspired to hopefully get off my butt and do something with Khunmar once I get some of my other backlog of projects squared away.
Likes: Brief entries for room descriptions, lots of options, map on one page and key on the facing page to prevent lots of flipping of pages during play. Lots of charts for random stuff and suggestions on how to make Stonehell your own.
Dislikes: Almost no art (sad face) but I suppose that makes the compact layout possible. Not all of the info for a given location is in one place (i.e.: the description of an area on the surface near the entrance is partially in the introduction to that ‘level’ in one place and partially in the key. I guess that’s needed to keep the key compact enough to fit on one page but I’d be worried that I would forget something important if I was referencing only the key.
This is apparently just the first volume; more levels are to come!
Those adventurers have no business going up against the Hydra and Cyclops Brothers. Love it.
It really is an impressive product. The green house level in particular is a fave of mine.
I'm excited for my group to get down there–they're still dilly-dallying about on the first level despite half the group being second level already!
But yeah, overall a very impressive product, though I do have small quibbles myself. I'm definitely excited about the second volume.
Erin: If it matters, that pic is not from Stonehell. I just thought it was thematically appropriate.
@Limpey: That's OK, I just think it's a killer pic. The cyclops seems really jazzed about squashing that dude with his club.
I've been on the fence about Stonehell – I don't play LL, but think it would still be a great read.