I will provide brief and very cursory glances at the individual quadrants. It should also be noted that the final levels skirt the boundaries of gonzo and horrific in the most admirable manner, and make, like most quadrants herein, for a great scavenging ground.Īll right, this is as far as I can go without diving into SPOILERS regarding the levels of Stonehell. Judges and fans of DCC are more likely to enjoy this book, as are those GMs that prefer the deeper levels to become progressively weird. As a consequence, there is a strong science-fantasy vibe in many of these levels, and a general feeling that predicts the DCC-aesthetic. Stonehell #2 is very much based on the notion of being a kind of graveyard of empires, where different civilizations have come and gone. A switch in theme accompanies this - Stonehell #1 was a pretty gritty low fantasy dungeon in the vein you'd expect in some regions of Greyhawk etc., with a bit of weird sprinkled in. There is another significant change that you should be aware of: Where Stonehell #1 really embraced the notion of a claustrophobic, prison-like dungeon, this book starts off with the end of the prison-levels instead, we are diving into the underdark, as hinted already by the presence of a certain malevolent race in the lowest level of book #1. This is intentional, for the Majusek Sulcus, a ginormous chasm, allows PCs capable of flight (or adept at rappelling) the means to change levels pretty fluently, rendering the levels 6 to 8 significantly easier to traverse and switch between. This broadening of scope for the upper levels has a curious effect - it changes the ambiance of Stonehell, negating the very claustrophobic subtle characteristic of the upper levels of Stonehell. There is an important change for the second half of Stonehell: Level 6, 7 and 8 actually consist of 6 quadrants (sub-levels), while level 9 and 10 consist of the usual 4 quadrants we've come to expect. The information presentation for the respective keyed locales is as terse, concise and minimalist as we've come to expect at this point. There are a couple of things to note before we get into the details of the respective levels: The minimalist presentation of Stonehell remains as you have come to recognize it: The presentation is still provides an overview map of the level, and then notes complex features/items and creatures before providing all the information for a quadrant on two pages, which also feature the map of the quadrant. As before, there is no read-aloud text within this tome. More so than even the first part of this massive mega-dungeon, this book requires a well-rounded group of PCs to succeed, and it should be noted that this, in particular regarding some of the quadrants featured, amps up the difficulty to really harsh levels in some, admittedly optional sections. I assume familiarity with my review of the first part of Stonehell in this review rules-wise, this is designed for Labyrinth Lord, but conversion to other OSR rules is pretty simple. It's time to also get the second part done, and once more dive deeply into this massive complex. The Stonehell dungeon books were donated by one of my patreon supporters for my edification, with the note that I can review them, if I'd like to. The second part of the massive Stonehell mega-dungeon clocks in at 162 pages, not counting covers, editorial and index.
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