#Gunderholfen

[vintagerpg]

Gunderholfen (2019) is another print-on-demand megadungeon (this is probably the most economical way to go about publishing a megadungeon — this one runs just over 400 pages). Ostensibly a dwarven fortress, then the fastness of an archmage, the complex is something like 900 rooms spread across ten levels, several sub-levels and a floating pocket dimension where the demonic Abyss is leaking in. And, if that isn’t enough, the introductory section says material exists for a whole second volume. If that isn’t impressive enough, apparently the whole thing is a one-person project — design, layout, art and cartography all done by author G. Hawkins. And it is their first published design outing.

I will say, Gunderholfen isn’t quite as vibrant as the other megadungeons I’ve talked about this week. It’s done in a much older style and even then is more Keep on the Borderlands than Dark Tower. There are modern flourishes — I appreciate the tactics for monsters and the social direction for NPCs and factions. But this is ultimately a pretty meat and potatoes old school dungeon crawl, just on a truly massive scale. Expect terse room descriptions of two to three sentences, dominated by monster attribute blocks and some small pieces of advice. It definitely lacks a lot of the weird stuff that gives so much OSR material its zestiness (no cornstalk warriors here). I appreciate that, though, it leaves some room for me (compare to Completely Unfathomable, which has so much energetic personality I dunno how I could ever hope to run it).

Zesty or not, it’s still a massive accomplishment. I really love Hawkins’ art, too. What he lacks in verbal descriptions he often makes up for in the accompanying illustrations that depict strange and atmospheric spaces. I’d pick up volume two, if it manifests.