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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GVDammerung" data-source="post: 2398569" data-attributes="member: 33060">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.I am a fan of city campaigns going back to the original City State, Chaosium’s Thieves’ World (Sanctuary), maybe peaking with Lankhmar, City of Adventure by Ken Rolston, Doug Niles and Bruce Nesmith, continuing through Waterdeep, Carl Sargent’s Middenheim, Huzuz (Al-Qadim, City of Delights) and most recently Shadizar for the Conan RPG and Sharn (Eberron), plus a number of other, IMO, lesser lights. So, I have interest in Ptolus just because it is an urban setting, I think. I find it hard to immediately fathom, however, how Ptolus is going to outdo or join the above roll call of great urban campaign settings. It seems easier to imagine Monte is "bronzing" his home game and selling it as "the 3rd Edition campaign shaped by the rules, where the rules were shaped." Mona is, of course, just using the Dragon/Dungeon, again, to shamelessly pimp his favorites’ rides. Nepotism by any other name - "Downer" etc.I will give Ptolus a chance. I will hope at its whopping size it will be mapped to the Nth degree - city street plan (every city), city roof plan (Sanctuary), city sewers (City State), block geomorphs (Lankhmar), important buildings (Sanctuary/City Books) etc.. Beyond taking the best of what has gone before and putting it at the service of a single urban environment, I will hope Monte has something new to say about urban campaign settings. I hope it is not a "world" setting, as I was completely unimpressed with the Diamond Throne world and would have no interest in a 640 page Diamond Throne for nearly $100 or so. Time will tell.</blockquote>

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