Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
This may be the best indirect advocacy for a campaign setting that I have yet read.
D&D 3E/3.5 I've been running a Ptolus campaign since 2006. Here's what I've done with the setting.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The fact that it's also a refutation of 14 years of me listening to people claim that there's nothing to do in Praemal outside Ptolus probably helps. The stuff with Kem, Tarsis and Dohrinthas is more or less either straight from the book or easily inferred from it.
Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
I hear you. I run the 4E version of the Realms. Most people online think that cannot be done.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
FYI, there are five hours left to back this Kickstarter campaign. In addition to getting nearly everything created for Ptolus under 3E (there's other bits and bobs in Malhavoc's stuff, but it was almost all things about Praemal in general, not Ptolus itself), there are now three new adventures (the third one is currently part of a stretch goal to combine the three into a single paperback), and the Banewarrens adventure is also being updated to 5E, although only in PDF at the moment.
For those facing financial uncertainties right now, either because of their work outlook thanks to COVID-19, or because their exchange rate to the dollar has cratered for the same reason, MCG has confirmed that supporting even for a dollar will allow people to buy in via BackerKit later on.
For those facing financial uncertainties right now, either because of their work outlook thanks to COVID-19, or because their exchange rate to the dollar has cratered for the same reason, MCG has confirmed that supporting even for a dollar will allow people to buy in via BackerKit later on.
BSF
Explorer
Casts Raise Thread
Coming to this late. I was backer 574 from the original. Backer in the newer kickstarter too.
Definitely enjoying your story, very cool jump into the game before the books were even released. I have run a few campaigns in Ptolus, including 2 ongoing campaigns right now. It is a fun setting and I highly recommend it!
Really just adding a comment from your following statement.
"Ptolus in Perspective
In the world at large, there
are no “dungeons” to explore.
“Adventurer” is not a common
career choice."
Obviously, this does not eliminate all adventuring locales. But if your primary interpretation of an adventuring locale is a "dungeon", then it is an easy extrapolation to make So, I can see where some people might make that assumption.
That aside...
The book is an excellent value! I take stuff from the book and modify it to better suit my vision of the games I want to run. I pull stuff completely unchanged from the book. I have played it in 3.0, 3.5, & pathfinder. I have even changed everything over to 13th Age with Icons representing the Organizations I am planning to use in a campaign. The book gives me an entire reference of NPCs (with and without stats) that my players have loved interacting with and loved hating.
I don't love everything about the book and setting, but I love having an extensive reference that lets me pick out details and drop them into the game in a very consistent manner. I have had groups adventure outside the city. I have had groups never leave the city. The sheer value I have gotten over 14 years with anywhere from 4-9 players at different times is so cheap. By my estimate, I have gotten ~156 gaming hours of time in Ptolus just this year. I have 7 players, plus myself. 14 years ago, Ptolus cost me $120? I think that much? If I do cost per man hour of just this year alone, it cost me $.09/hour. But, I have several other years of playing in there too. It is a chunk of change in one shot. But the usability has made it a very worthwhile investment for me.
Sorry I wasn't here back in March to add my $.02.
Coming to this late. I was backer 574 from the original. Backer in the newer kickstarter too.
Definitely enjoying your story, very cool jump into the game before the books were even released. I have run a few campaigns in Ptolus, including 2 ongoing campaigns right now. It is a fun setting and I highly recommend it!
Really just adding a comment from your following statement.
I suspect that this comes the sidebar of Page 44 of the Ptolus book.
"Ptolus in Perspective
In the world at large, there
are no “dungeons” to explore.
“Adventurer” is not a common
career choice."
Obviously, this does not eliminate all adventuring locales. But if your primary interpretation of an adventuring locale is a "dungeon", then it is an easy extrapolation to make So, I can see where some people might make that assumption.
That aside...
The book is an excellent value! I take stuff from the book and modify it to better suit my vision of the games I want to run. I pull stuff completely unchanged from the book. I have played it in 3.0, 3.5, & pathfinder. I have even changed everything over to 13th Age with Icons representing the Organizations I am planning to use in a campaign. The book gives me an entire reference of NPCs (with and without stats) that my players have loved interacting with and loved hating.
I don't love everything about the book and setting, but I love having an extensive reference that lets me pick out details and drop them into the game in a very consistent manner. I have had groups adventure outside the city. I have had groups never leave the city. The sheer value I have gotten over 14 years with anywhere from 4-9 players at different times is so cheap. By my estimate, I have gotten ~156 gaming hours of time in Ptolus just this year. I have 7 players, plus myself. 14 years ago, Ptolus cost me $120? I think that much? If I do cost per man hour of just this year alone, it cost me $.09/hour. But, I have several other years of playing in there too. It is a chunk of change in one shot. But the usability has made it a very worthwhile investment for me.
Sorry I wasn't here back in March to add my $.02.
This is how I feel about Ptolus, too. I love urban adventuring...but I don't love all the creative decisions that Monte made. Waaaay too many knightly orders. I could go on. But there's just so much material, much of it good, some of it great. Ptolus is a good value for any working DM.
Voadam
Legend
I have really liked the Ptolus setting since The Banewarrens back in 3.0. The decaying ascended paladin based theocratic empire on the verge of civil war provides a great D&D not-Catholic church to riff off of, with a standard D&D polytheism Old Gods pantheon allowing whatever pantheon you want to incorporate as background. A civil war of succession means government forces are off fighting the war so lots of opportunity for adventuring groups to be needed.
Banewarrens was my first 3e game I played in and three of us kept switching off DMing the same group in the world, each building off different elements. One friend built it out as the future of Greyhawk with the Old Gods being the Greyhawk pantheons so there was a temple to St. Cuthbert and Iuz cultists running around. My brother eventually had it as a precursor to Eberron with Lord Canith starting up warforged manufacturing based on stuff from the Banewarrens. I built out the ancient period of Danar Rotansin and the Banewarrens prisoners with other modules like Lord of the Iron Fortress and Demon God's Fane.
Later after joining new groups stuff diverged, my brother incorporated a homebrew cosmology a friend of his made that he like a lot, I went a different direction incorporating stuff from Golarion, Spiros Blaak, Midgard, Nyambe, some real world pantheons so a bunch of other modules could fit, and other stuff. The Holy Lothian empire has been pretty central as the backdrop though, and it is easy to jump into conceptually for people not familiar with the setting.
I too ran a couple games of the Freeport Trilogy in my version of the Ptolus world, though I went with the Freeport canon of the island city state being independent of the continental empire. I had Drac betray Adares and say the succession was contested so Freeport privateers could be hired by either side of the succession war. The Freeport and Ptolus background history sync up well, particularly the imperial arcane magic inquisition period matching up roughly to the start of the Freeport wizard's guild. Ancient Uraq and Kem from Ptolus are easy to weave in too.
My latest 5e campaign I DM'd was a Ptolus world based Carrion Crown adventure path conversion.
Lots of ways to go with the Ptolus setting.
Banewarrens was my first 3e game I played in and three of us kept switching off DMing the same group in the world, each building off different elements. One friend built it out as the future of Greyhawk with the Old Gods being the Greyhawk pantheons so there was a temple to St. Cuthbert and Iuz cultists running around. My brother eventually had it as a precursor to Eberron with Lord Canith starting up warforged manufacturing based on stuff from the Banewarrens. I built out the ancient period of Danar Rotansin and the Banewarrens prisoners with other modules like Lord of the Iron Fortress and Demon God's Fane.
Later after joining new groups stuff diverged, my brother incorporated a homebrew cosmology a friend of his made that he like a lot, I went a different direction incorporating stuff from Golarion, Spiros Blaak, Midgard, Nyambe, some real world pantheons so a bunch of other modules could fit, and other stuff. The Holy Lothian empire has been pretty central as the backdrop though, and it is easy to jump into conceptually for people not familiar with the setting.
I too ran a couple games of the Freeport Trilogy in my version of the Ptolus world, though I went with the Freeport canon of the island city state being independent of the continental empire. I had Drac betray Adares and say the succession was contested so Freeport privateers could be hired by either side of the succession war. The Freeport and Ptolus background history sync up well, particularly the imperial arcane magic inquisition period matching up roughly to the start of the Freeport wizard's guild. Ancient Uraq and Kem from Ptolus are easy to weave in too.
My latest 5e campaign I DM'd was a Ptolus world based Carrion Crown adventure path conversion.
Lots of ways to go with the Ptolus setting.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I actually had to create another one. While there are knightly orders for heavy hitter characters, a low level chivalrous paladin, as I had in my campaign, had no real options. In real life, knights often belonged to multiple orders, so I made a default one for knights of the Tarsisian Empire that doesn't bring any particular prestige, but allows one to be a knight. (And, eventually, of course, he was knighted by his baron and had a chance to join the Knights of Dawn.)
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
My characters will be going through that imminently. Ironically, I'll have to adapt the 3E version, since the 5E version won't arrive in time. (Although, since we're playing by post, it's certainly possible the new version will catch up to us.)
