Dragon 334, Malhavoc's Surprise = Ptolus

[Kae'Yoss]

I think this has great potential, for several reasons:

As has been stated, this setting was shaped directyl by 3rd edition rules (and the making thereof), and the rules were shaped in part by the setting.

It is created by one of the big desingers behind 3e, and many of the other big designers were playin in the campaign, which means that they've helped shaping it.

The campaign was not only created by one of the designers of 3e, it will also be published by said designer, who has his own company. This means that there is little outside influence. Look at the FR (my favourite Vanilla-D&D Setting): There is a debate about the current WotC FR and Ed Greenwoods "real" FR that has been going on longer than the blood war. These misunderstandings and unclearness will not occur here.


We will have to see how the whole thing will actually turn out (I understand that it will be quite some time before the release), but I say that it has great potential.

 

[Morpheus]

I, for one, can't wait to see this. Actually playing it, however, will be a different story...

 

[Monte At Home]

Really, setting designers gotta get it in their heads one of these days that it's all good and well to sell an ultra-detailed setting book for a DM to pore over, but the players who come to the table knowing nothing about the world need a primer that answers all their basic questions--in particular, "what's cool or fun about playing in this particular world"?

Agree 100%. You could not be more correct. (In fact, I wrote an upcoming Dungeoncraft article about this very topic.)

Ptolus may or may not work, may or may not be any good, but I think it will be undeniable that it's not like other books. Like I posted earlier, I'm looking forward to the upcoming months.

 

[Simplicity]

Well, one benefit would be that it's already a setting supported by a 3e adventure (The Banewarrens) and there's probably more to come... WotC had almost dropped adventures entirely (except Ebberon, Kalamar, and the upcoming Sons of Gruumsh).

 

[bolen]

Monte,

What will you have at gen con to promo Ptolus?

I have another idea for you: Collect all your Dungeoncraft articles into a paperback I have the magazines but would pay to get them in one place

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, I'm looking forward to it.

I hope that there's a nice big appendix to cover conversions to Arcana Evolved and that the product itself is not core Arcana Evolved with an appendix for D&D stats.

I look forward to seeing how he weaves the various elements of his event books into it and how he icorporates other elements, like the revisied psionics of Bruce Cordel into it.

Thumbs up.

 

[Morte]

640 pages sounds like a pair of 320 page hardbacks. Does the article happen to mention anthing like that?

If so, does it mention what the split is? Overground + underground, gazetteer + everything else, setting + level 1-20 campaign, pink toothbrush + blue toothbrush?

 

[LeaderDesslok]

Meh. I'll be playing Midnight until it runs dry. Sorry Monte, it just doesn't appeal to me right now. Of course, it is a year away, and I have been tempted to the Dark Side before...

 

[JohnSnow]

Jeez! I've got to be one of the biggest Monte fanboys out there (if buying and loving everything he writes qualifies for that status), but still, what is up with this, JohnSnow? We all know he's a genius, but I'm amazed at how much faith you put in him with this. You make it sound like he's developing the Second Coming of the RPG hobby. And based on what? A few months of obscure hints (Monte's a master of many things, including building anticipation) and a product announcement for a really big city book?

I don't intend this to be a rant or a put-down (and I apologize in advance if I come across that way), but I would like to caution us all against creating unreasonable expectations for this project.

Ah, I think you misunderstood (or didn't notice the heavy caveats in what I wrote). I'll clarify - I am NOT the biggest fan of Monte's work. I was intrigued enough by Arcana Unearthed to buy it, largely because of its new take on the magic system, but not to run it. I certainly didn't buy Diamond Throne or Arcana Evolved. I am looking forward to Iron Heroes, but that's more faith in Mike Mearls. And it's based on Mike's comments that Iron Heroes is his attempt to recreate the same feel that he had from the same early gaming experiences as me. That lends me faith - the same kind of faith I got when Keith Baker and I were swapping Micronauts jokes and Song of Ice and Fire speculations on the WotC boards before Eberron came out. I was pretty sure that if we shared those two frames of reference, our tastes were pretty much in line. Not terribly scientific, but capturing a feel is a pretty nebulous thing.

So all that said, I do have faith that Monte is a good enough designer that I don't think he'd bother releasing his homebrew campaign world just to do it. That means he's got something else up his sleeve. I was then speculating wildly as to what might qualify as a "breakthrough" product. Obviously anything that solved the "20 minutes of fun in 4 hours" problem would qualify.

D&D used to be about adventures. That's what got most of us playing. But somewhere along the way, companies concluded that adventures didn't make money. So they stopped making them, and left it up to individual DMs who may or may not be very good at it. I think it's only mild hyperbole to say that someone showing the industry how to make money selling adventures that bring people into gaming would revitalize the RPG industry. Will Ptolus be the product to do that? I don't even know if that's Monte's intention for it.

But IF it did, it would sure be impressive, and unlike anything we've seen before. And that's all I was saying - IF it did.

Now we'll just have to see what it does.

 

[Ozmar]

D&D used to be about adventures. That's what got most of us playing. But somewhere along the way, companies concluded that adventures didn't make money. So they stopped making them, and left it up to individual DMs who may or may not be very good at it. I think it's only mild hyperbole to say that someone showing the industry how to make money selling adventures that bring people into gaming would revitalize the RPG industry. Will Ptolus be the product to do that? I don't even know if that's Monte's intention for it.

But IF it did, it would sure be impressive, and unlike anything we've seen before. And that's all I was saying - IF it did.

Now we'll just have to see what it does.

Agreed! It is true that I get more enjoyment and satisfaction out of each monthly issue of Dungeon than out of any other D&D-related product that has been spawned these past few years. (Although I, too, am eagerly anticipating Iron Heroes.)

In that case I join you in hoping that Ptolus will walk on water. I do not expect it, but I hope that it will exceed my expectations.

Thanks!
Ozmar the Hopeful