Deluxe Gaming Products - Lessons from Ptolus

[Jürgen Hubert]

I can understand if some people are not interested in Ptolus - because it is too expensive, has more detail than they need or want, etc..

What I don't get is that some people claim it is overpriced - the jump from the personal "I have no interest in spending that much money on it" to the allegedly objective "the product doesn't give you enough value for the money".

Of course, I preordered it via a German online store, where it cost me the equivalent of $108.72 and also got me the print version of "Night of Dissolution" in the package. But even if I didn't get the latter and would have paid $120 for it it still would have been good value for the money.

 

[resistor]

I'd pay $100 for Planescape done Ptolus-style. Heck, even just Sigil done Ptolus-style.

 

[delericho]

Actually, now that I think about it, I would pay $100 for a book exactly like the "Shackled City Adventure Path" that contained all new material, rather than a compilation of adventures from Dungeon magazines that I already had.

Well, I would if I was sure of the design quality, and I was sure that I would actually use the campaign. I think at the moment the only company I would trust with producing such a book are Paizo, though (and that includes Wizards themselves - they have yet to establish themselves as adventure designers par excellence in the 3.x era).

 

[Christoph the Magus]

For a $100 I expect it to come with a pre-packaged DM so I can play too.

 

[Yeovil Andy]

Take your pick

Rappan Athuk Reloaded for adventurers levels 1-20 $49 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=12529&affiliate_id=17596

Sorry, this is off topic but RARe for characters of level 1? There's absolutely no help for a DM to link RA up to 1st level characters. It's great but the level range should be 5-20.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

For a $100 I expect it to come with a pre-packaged DM so I can play too.

Wow. Slave labor is cheap these days...

 

[DaveMage]

Sorry, this is off topic but RARe for characters of level 1? There's absolutely no help for a DM to link RA up to 1st level characters. It's great but the level range should be 5-20.

Yeah, you could start at level 1 with some of the Wilderness encounters, but even those probably shouldn't start until level 3 or 4.

The dungeon proper is most certainly not going to allow 1st level survivors.

 

[Numion]

I don't really care how many pages I get per dollar. It is the quality that matters. Ptolus is executed in a way I've never seen before. Compared to that it doesn't matter if setting X would net me 1000 pages for Ptolus price. They aren't done like Ptolus.

I don't know how big a money $100 is for people, but here's my POV: I'm going on a vacation next week to asia. My daily budget will be around $100. An hour of my work is priced by the company I work for at $100-130 (short projects are more expensive by the hour)(and obviously I only get a fraction of that). A days worth of nightlife in Helsinki, where I live, might be around $100 if I'm on a roll.

Compared to those, no, Ptolus is not overpriced.

 

[orangefruitbat]

Having totally destroyed by copy of City of the Spider Queen through frequent flipping (maps on 1 page, monsters on another, and the enocounter text on a third), I totally prefer the idea of separate books for maps, monsters and module text. (I actually prefer mosnter stat blocks listed inline in the encounter, but given the size of 3E blocks that doesn't seem practical).

Given the nature of the dungeon, RA doesn't really lend itself to a couple of over-sized folding maps. Pretty much all but 1 level fits neatly on a single page.

(It's also listed at $47 at Amazon and is IN STOCK - this is where i ordered it from).

As an owner of the Hardcopy of this I TOTALLY agree with you about RA:RE though. This easily could have been a $45 - $50 hardcover. At least the Wilderlands box had all of the maps and stuff...

 

[Voadam]

Sorry, this is off topic but RARe for characters of level 1? There's absolutely no help for a DM to link RA up to 1st level characters. It's great but the level range should be 5-20.

Really? I don't have any of the RAs so I can't say, but I thought that was one of the things the 3.5 revision did, expand it to cover from level 1 on up.