What is Ptolus?

I may be asking a really stupid question, but what in the world is Ptolus?

From what I have been able to pick up off the various message boards I'm on, it seems to be a large setting book of some sort that takes place in a city.

Does anyone have any links to reviews on EN World or anywhere else that I can read? I looked in the review section of EN World and there's a six month gap between the end of 2005 and June 2006 where there's no reviews. Did Ptolus come out during that time and EN World did not have any reviews of it or lost it because of some sort of computer crash?

I found one review on RPG.net, but it lacks any description of the flavor of the setting.

How about comparisions to Worlds Largest City [WLC]? Is WLC even out yet? Amazon has WLC on sale for 37% off but you will have to wait 4-6 weeks to get it shipped.

Ptolus looks like it might be a good setting to run characters in, but at $120 that's quite a hefty price to pay.

Have any of you played in either Ptolus and/or Worlds Lagest City? What's it like?

As an aspiring DM, I like to make my adventures more urban based. I've never been in a Dungeon Crawl the times I've played D&D 3.0/3.5 as a PC had lots of city intregue though.

Thanks in advance.

Mr. Beef

Mr. Beef said:

Does anyone have any links to reviews on EN World or anywhere else that I can read?

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Try here:
http://www.therpgsite.com/node/405

Edit: As for me, I think it's a great Product, but haven't had much of a chance to use it, and feel that some of its setting assumptions are fairly non-portable, which is unfortunate if you intend to use Ptolus in other worlds vice as a stand-alone city.

If your just aspiring I think you would be better of starting with City State of the Invincible Overlord, Bard's Gate, Mithril, Geneveauve, Freeport, etc... before spending around a $100.00 for one book. Malhavoc is the company that made Ptolus, printed through White Wolf. Their two sites have all the info you could want. Especially Malhavoc.

Enjoy and btw it is worth the money! I consider it an instant classic.

here are some threads on Enworld:

To buy PDFs of Ptolus


Reviews

Thank you for all the responses.

I've only looked at one link provided so far and it added a little, but not much to my knowledge of Ptolus. I'll have to look at the EN World post links.

Maybe I'll start with something small and move on once I get 10 games with players down.

Thank you,

Mr. Beef

Ptolus is a port city that rests below a place so vile, so evil, that the very planet it sat upon rejected it so violently that it produced the Spire, beneath whose shadow the city lays.

As an RPG product Ptolus is perhaps the most fully realized project of any single author and editor, ever, and it is easily the largest single product ever written by one author.

As a setting, Ptolus was one of the birthing grounds of 3e D&D, as well as many aspects of Arcana Unearthed/Evolved.

It is a city of intrigue that rests above layers upon layers of tunnels, dungeons, and unseen menace, upon whose streets angels & demons tread.

Be it urban adventure, dungeon crawls, cloak and dagger intrigue, or criminal drama, Ptolus offers most any kind of adventure within it's 600+ book pages and bonus materials.

Personally I could see Ptolus being just as useful to a first time DM, as to an experience one, but it is, obviously, all about the financial commitment. However, it does come close to what someone would put into running any campaign setting, since there is normally a few books purchased, et ceteras.

In my opinion, so your mileage may vary, it is one of the best products I have ever purchased and is well worth the dollar investment - heck, it was my birthday AND Christmas present all rolled into one and I still say it was worth it.

Friadoc said:

As a setting, Ptolus was one of the birthing grounds of 3e D&D, as well as many aspects of Arcana Unearthed/Evolved.

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I'm not a big fan of Arcana Unearthed and never heard of Arcana Evolved. AU just seems to take D&D traditions like Hit Points and replace them with Vitality/Wound Points. I tried VP/WP in SW D20 and did not like it at all. Then there's the replacement of the Magic System. I played in an AD&D 2nd edition game and found nothing wrong with the magic system there and nothing wrong with 3.0/3.5 D&D magic system either.

Friadoc said:

Personally I could see Ptolus being just as useful to a first time DM, as to an experience one, but it is, obviously, all about the financial commitment. However, it does come close to what someone would put into running any campaign setting, since there is normally a few books purchased, et ceteras.

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When Compared with the two WotC settings, Forgotten Realms [Needs to be updated to 3.5] and Eberron [3.5 and I only like 2 things out of the whole thing anyway], I would be spending $120+ tax/shipping for the books I need and another $10 each minimum for adventures to run in the setting. I have looked at some third party D20 settings but none of them are fully realized like Ptolus.

I don't think I'm going to be able to catch the same magic as I did when I was playing in 3.0/3.5 Forgotten Realms as a player, but I sure can try to come close.

Friadoc said:

In my opinion, so your mileage may vary, it is one of the best products I have ever purchased and is well worth the dollar investment - heck, it was my birthday AND Christmas present all rolled into one and I still say it was worth it.

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I'm going to try to introduce Ptolus to some new gamers if I can get a game going where I'm going to college. Even if I don't I can have some good material for my story hour.

Thanks Friadoc.

Mr. Beef

Mr. Beef said:

I'm not a big fan of Arcana Unearthed and never heard of Arcana Evolved. AU just seems to take D&D traditions like Hit Points and replace them with Vitality/Wound Points. I tried VP/WP in SW D20 and did not like it at all. Then there's the replacement of the Magic System. I played in an AD&D 2nd edition game and found nothing wrong with the magic system there and nothing wrong with 3.0/3.5 D&D magic system either.

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Unearthed Arcana (WotC Book) = Alternative rules and new options

Arcana Unearthed/Evolved (Malhavoc Press) = Monte Cook's Diamond Throne Campaign Setting.

Mr. Beef said:

I'm not a big fan of Arcana Unearthed and never heard of Arcana Evolved. AU just seems to take D&D traditions like Hit Points and replace them with Vitality/Wound Points. I tried VP/WP in SW D20 and did not like it at all. Then there's the replacement of the Magic System. I played in an AD&D 2nd edition game and found nothing wrong with the magic system there and nothing wrong with 3.0/3.5 D&D magic system either.

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Don't worry about influences of AU and Arcana Evolved (which is basically a revised and expanded AU). Ptolus is definitely 3e/3.5e. Unearthed Arcana, which is often confused with AU and AE, is a book of rules options for 3e that Wizards made.

By the way, my review is the one linked to by Psion above (which was a pleasant surprise, with him being the EN World reviewer emeritus and all). Sorry it didn't provide the kind of info you were looking for.

I've seen some dispute whether Ptolus is, as Monte said, "D&D turned up to 11." I think it is, as it really takes many of D&D's core assumptions and runs with them. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't shy away from the implications of magic and monsters existing in the game world. Ptolus is rife with magic and monsters. It's a fun setting, with a ton of potential. It's big, colorful, and has more than a touch of the kind of "wahoo!" feel that made something like the City State of the Invincible Overlord (another fantastic RPG city) so cool. The City State is pretty much THE "wahoo!" RPG city, with all manner of bizarre and outright strange denizens and locations; Ptolus only looks more sedate due to the amount of work Monte put into making the whole thing hang together logically (given the core assumptions of D&D). That's not a knock on the City State; the City State is a classic example of old school RPG city design, where Ptolus is a classic example of new school city design. Both are fun in their own ways.

Here are some bits of coolness I like about Ptolus; this is more a stream-of-consciousness listing: a good-aligned ogre mage who may be the key to saving the world; centaurs running around in armor; a vigilante group that is essentially a bunch of butt-kicking nuns; a big cemetery that's kinda sedate by day, but don't be there when the sun goes down; a "home base" for the PCs that they can be awarded with if they manage to save the city (plenty of hooks for this to happen); a big honkin' dungeon complex beneath the city (the Banewarrens, a great module Monte did a few years back, is included on the CD that comes with the book)...plus tons more stuff. I mean, I was amazed by all the adventure hooks.

Mr. Beef said:

When Compared with the two WotC settings, Forgotten Realms [Needs to be updated to 3.5] and Eberron [3.5 and I only like 2 things out of the whole thing anyway], I would be spending $120+ tax/shipping for the books I need and another $10 each minimum for adventures to run in the setting. I have looked at some third party D20 settings but none of them are fully realized like Ptolus.

I don't think I'm going to be able to catch the same magic as I did when I was playing in 3.0/3.5 Forgotten Realms as a player, but I sure can try to come close.

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In my opinion, Ptolus has the most potential of any city made for d20 to conjure up a magic all its own.