Today I'm going to go over my thoughts on this megadungeon from Michael Curtis. To do this, I'll break the analysis down into three sections: Construction, GM usefulness, and Player experience. Ramble Start:
Construction
First and foremost, potential customers should be aware that this is a print on demand, paperback, perfect bound book. The physical construction, while appropriate for the price, is quite a step below most other megadungeon sourcebooks printed in hardcover binding. However, what it lacks in physical construction, it more than makes up for with the content's formatting.
The entirety of Stonehell's maps are designed off of the one-page-dungeon format preceded by a page or two of general information about the area. While splitting a megadungeon into a series of smaller quadrant sized one-page dungeons sounds tedious, the layout is such that it is not overwhelming (unlike other 'modern' presentations of megadungeons), and is quite easy to use (more on this in DM usefulness).
This book's layout could have been improved upon with the integration of changes in the typeface to indicate important information (ie. different colors of text/bolding of words to indicate a deadly trap or monster). While this is something that a DM can easily do just by reading through the room descriptions and highlighting (*gasp*) or underlining relevant information the hour or so before a session, many DM's I've met do not write in their books. I did this to mine (just using different colored highlighters for monsters, treasures, traps and secret doors) and it made the book that much more useful. Would highly recommend.
DM usefulness
This book does an amazing job of giving the DM just enough information to run the dungeon, even with minimal preparation, while not binding them to drawn out text boxes. As an example, every time that I've run this dungeon, I've done it with absolutely no prep aside from marking up my book when I got it. Simply glancing over the one line room description of the area the party is approaching is often enough to build tension and start giving clues to vigilant PC's.
The strict adherence to format gives this book a reliability that you won't find in many other adventure sourcebooks. In fact,because of the relative modularity of Stonehell's quadrants, an inspired DM could very well lift any of the quadrants to use in their home game with few alterations. The sheer number of keyed and stocked dungeon maps makes Stonehell Dungeon a perfect resource for anyone looking to run a number of one-shot dungeon crawls (either with friends or an open gaming table).
Because of Stonehell's modularity, creative DM's will find it quite easy to reskin or completely restock levels of the dungeon to fit their campaign needs. Stonehell could just as easily be a dilapidated colony ship floating through the cosmos, as it could be an underground fantasy labyrinth with monsters lurking within.
However, I don't believe a re-imagining of Stonehell is necessary. Another aspect of Stonehell's usefulness to the DM comes from how well thought out the dungeon's past is. Stonehell Dungeon makes sense in a way that not many other dungeons do (within the parameters of fantasy logic that is). Because of Stonehell's compelling story, players are able to engage with the fiction more and immerse themselves in its night-haunted halls.
Player experience
Stonehell Dungeon is an unforgiving, brutal place to be. While the massive amount of rooms and rumored treasure tantalizes greedy characters, the dungeon is quite stingy with the amount of treasure actually attainable. Usually any large amount of gold not hidden in a secret cubby somewhere is paid for with the lives of intrepid adventurers. Players will learn very quickly that if they want to get better loot, they'll have to delve even deeper beneath the surface and defeat the monsters that guard it (consciously or unconsciously).
My own players may not have realized it yet, but at times this dungeon seems almost too stingy with its treasure given. I tried to remedy this by providing NPC's who possess treasure maps for the dungeon (usually stolen off of other adventuring parties) that lead to the larger hauls. To my surprise, the players were so scared of the path that the treasure map took them down, they decided it was better to turn the other way and find their own treasure. This not only caught me off guard, but also sold me on how well this module creates an atmosphere of dread. Keep in mind this was a small army of about 15 characters (2/3 retainers) so they had the numbers to fight most anything on the first level.
Overall, Stonehell is a fantastic example of an old school megadungeon with modern presentation sensibilities. It requires minimal prep and offers hours and hours of engaging gameplay. While the physical quality of the book suffers because of the affordable price point, I would recommend this megadungeon to anyone who wants to try out OSR style play (or just needs a fun Saturday night dungeon crawl).
