Dragon 334, Malhavoc's Surprise = Ptolus

[DaveMage]

What I'm more interested in is what's in Dragon #334 and could ya tell me what the previews for Dragon #335 is please? Thanks.

I'm sure you'll see a thread on it soon...

There always seems to be one.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I’ve been reading along with this thread. When people were speculating as to the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, I jokingly said to myself, "Monte is going to announce that he is having himself bronzed, and Mona is going to then announce that he is sewing his head to the carpet." Turns out, I was closer to the truth than I imagined.

Ptolus. Big city. Big magic. Big Dungeon. Big deal. Whuppty ding dong doo. Pimped in the Dragon. Surprise. Surprise.

I have never been a "fan" of Monte’s designs in the sense that I do not think he is head and shoulders above other designers. He is a good designer, and there are a number of those, but not the best. His prose can too often be torpid and his designs overly cautious in their execution, IMO.

What he said.


The world is forever changed.

"Monte Cook presents Monte Cook's City of Ptolus by Monte Cook, the original Monte Cookian homebrew where the D&D 3rd edition rules, by Monte Cook, were created and tested, by Monte Cook, in a series of adventures by Monte Cook.

 

[Waldorf]

If Monte is willing to sink a year of his life into this one (and I assume it will be 3.5), could we not take from that the notion that 4e is farther away than some of the doomsayers have suggested?

 

[scadgrad]

If Monte is willing to sink a year of his life into this one (and I assume it will be 3.5), could we not take from that the notion that 4e is farther away than some of the doomsayers have suggested?

You know, just because Monte's throwing a year of his time at it, that alone will probably give me enough reason to want to take a look at it.

I have to concur that my reaction is basically meh..., but Monte seems to prefer a Star Wars Cantina-like setting rather than anything that resembles OD&D or the Sword and Sorcery genre. I'm sure there are a lot of folks who like that, sort of dozens upon dozens of sentient races approach, and I admit that I enjoy that type of setting for Planescape myself, but if it's anything like what I've seen of Ptolus to date, I'll probably give it a miss.

I suspected that we'd see Ptolus in print at some point. It was almost inevetible that he'd want to publish it at some point. I mean, it's his baby after all isn't it?

 

[Campbell]

What he said.


The world is forever changed.

"Monte Cook presents Monte Cook's City of Ptolus by Monte Cook, the original Monte Cookian homebrew where the D&D 3rd edition rules, by Monte Cook, were created and tested, by Monte Cook, in a series of adventures by Monte Cook.

You know I'm not particularly interested in this right now, but I can't understand the hate that's going on in this thread.

 

[Wormwood]

I don't see so much hate as a level of rudeness reminiscent of other forums...not ENWorld.

 

[Vocenoctum]

You know I'm not particularly interested in this right now, but I can't understand the hate that's going on in this thread.

It's just backlash, when the fan's scream too loudly, it draws out detractors in equal measure. For instance, in this thread Monte was compared to Christ, and people suggested his secret project was that Malhavoc was producing 4e.

So, on both sides, the issue is silly.

 

[BryonD]

Obviously there is much to be revealed over a lot of time.

But, in the most general of information, would it be accurate to say that this is ultimately a campaign setting? Or is Ptolus the setting being used as a vehicle for something far more than just another setting?

 

[Masquerade]

I'm looking forward to Ptolus. Reading about Monte's campaign on his website not only reignited my desire to DM, but I often used Ptolus as a reference point in designing my present homebrew setting. I'll be buying the Ptolus book. Even if I never use the setting in a game, it'll be a good read and my money will be supporting a brilliant designer.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Based on a couple of Monte's comments here on this thread about the product, my interest level has increased a bit. I was in full agreement with this comment by another poster:

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"?

Durn tootin.' Necromancer put out a player's guide to the Wilderlands in anticipation of the release of the massive boxed set that is coming, and Lock and Load was put out for the Iron Kingdoms. Both do a fine job of being primers for their respective worlds, and could also be used by a DM to run a campaign with just the info in those books, if said DM preferred to have a very loose framework within which to set up his own campaign. This is also true of the old Greyhawk folio, which I still find to be a great inspiration. So when I hear about huge setting books, I have to say that I'm a bit put off. Ultra-detailed settings tend to discourage me from making the world my own - I know others enjoy that kind of detail, so I want to emphasize that I'm just expressing my own personal taste here. That's why my initial reaction was very noncommittal. But then, Monte replied to Felon thusly:

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.

Now this intrigued me. This kind of acknowledgment gives some insight into the product that I find encouraging.

Now, I'll admit that I hate secretiveness about game upcoming products. In some cases, I understand - designers want to pique interest but not give away enough info that someone could take it and get the jump on a new concept. But it still bugs me to no end. I'll give Monte the benefit of the doubt on this one, though, simply for the stuff I quoted above. Well, that, and the fact that I think most of his stuff is great - When the Sky Falls and Requiem for a God are, in my opinion, two of the finest RPG books ever published. So I'm more interested in Ptolus, now.