Ptolus, where's the grab?

[LatreyaSena]

Hi all,

I must say Eberron floats my boat. And it doesn’t take long for it to grab me. I mean: D&D magic system made real with magitech, Dragonshards, Airships, Golem class, Noir themes etc. etc.

I can’t say the same for Ptolus. I’m not bagging it here; I’m intrigued by it and considering a purchase. I thought, hey cool I can just plop that down in Eberron somewhere. But other than the sheer size of it I can’t find any compelling reason to like it.

I’ve perused the Ptolus website, read the reviews and players feedback in forums but I still can’t find anything that really grabs me. It just doesn’t seem to be anything different than any other fantasy setting released in the past few decades.

What is compelling about Ptolus? Have you played it yet? What sets it apart from any of the other settings I have on my bookshelf?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Look at Monte's preview about the organization of the book. You won't find another D20 book that's as usable and useful as Ptolus.

If the flavor doesn't do it for you, though, it's not for you. The flavor presses all my buttons; I was actually working on a similar homebrew idea when I heard about Ptolus and decided to let Monte do the work for me.

 

[hewligan]

I had the same thought as the original poster. I read the website, read the reviews, read the free player PDF, and I thought: well written, but no real flavour that I could discern. It just felt like another big fantasy city. Another waterdeep, and unfortunately not another Lankhmar or similar (meaning different feel). In fact, it felt a lot like waterdeep: Big, everything goes, massive dungeon beneath it, free city state, mix of races, etc.

I must admit I was also disappointed by the Arcana Evolved book by Monte. I spent money on that and some PDFs to support it, and while it felt incredibly well executed, it also felt a little cold and unloved, if that makes sense. Perhaps a little too clinical???

Still, the production values of the book look amazing.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention that the skull king guy reminded me too much of Skeletor from He-Man, and I almost laughed when I thought of that the first time.

 

[LatreyaSena]

Yes, well this is exactly my point. Whizbang says, "...look at the organization of the book..." and hewligan says, "...Still, the production values of the book look amazing..."

They are the two reasons you both give and they are exaclty the reasons why I would not buy a setting - style over substance.

Perhaps you are right whizbang; it's about the flavour. I'm getting the impression that because I dig Eberron so much I probably won't be too fussed by Ptolus.

Thinking about it more, the other thing that grabs me is the fact that it's a city. City adventures do it for me. Perhaps Sharn, city of towers will suffice.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

You won't find another D20 book that's as usable and useful as Ptolus.

I'll second that. The organization and cross-referencing is amazing. (Good thing, too, because it's almost essential for something as massive as Ptolus.)

If the flavor doesn't do it for you, though, it's not for you. The flavor presses all my buttons

Completely agree. I don't think Ptolus introduces any earth-shattering new concepts, as far as fantasy worlds go, so if you're looking for something "unique and different," you'd do well to keep looking. That, said, Ptolus is a really good "D&D fantasy" world. To me, the great thing about Ptolus is that it is a quintessentially 3E setting. Monte started with the 3E rules and then designed a setting that would spring from those default rules/assumptions. It fits 3E hand-in-glove, which is really nice, IMO. Right now I'm running C&C and other games, but the more I read Ptolus, the more I'd like to run a 3E game, there.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ptolus isn't a free city, for what it's worth. It's got more in common with Sanctuary than Waterdeep, although it does have The Dungeon as a primary component, but given more rationale than it has in Waterdeep.

I think the feeling's conveyed in the Player's Guide, but it may not be your sort of flavor: This is a city on the edge of an empire that's five minutes from the beginning of the dark ages. But this isn't just the death of a golden age, it's also the time of apocalyptic prophecies coming true. There's a whole lot of decay, in every sense, in the city, and while it's not quite as dark as Midnight, it's a world where the good guys are definitely about to leave stage, probably forever.

 

[Modoc]

I recently purchased the Ptolus book. I was mighty impressed by the way the book was organized. I found the book to give just enough flavor that I can tweak it so that I can mold the city into what I want without ruining the total flavor of the city.

I was impressed enough with the content and the ability to mold it into what i want to do with it that I just started running a Ptolus PbP game at another site.

 

[The Lost Muse]

If you're running Eberron, love Eberron, AND Ptolus doesn't grab you - I would suggest that you download the Player's Guide to Ptolus (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=49_554&products_id=11959) and if you still don't like it get Sharn: City of Towers. Sharn is an excellent book also.

FWIW - I put Ptolus in the Mournlands, but my pc's haven't gone there yet.

 

[Desdichado]

First thing: I don't think plopping Ptolus down into Eberron makes a whole lot of sense, frankly. Ptolus isn't just a city that fits into another setting, it's an entire setting by itself.

Secondly--no flavor?! It may not have a really unique, new or edgy flavor, but it certainly has a lot of flavor. The whole integrated D&D paradigm, for instance, is pretty unusual, and is a flavor that few settings have ever even attempted to pull off, ironically. It's got a sense of brooding epic struggles that are just about to break out--granted, that's not new, but like I said, it never claims that.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

It certainly has flavor, if by that term we mean things like colorful characters, interesting locales, gripping adventure hooks, etc. It's got all that stuff in spades. It seems like what you're really saying is that it doesn't have a strong theme or even genre. The idea behind Ptolus (much like my Dawning Star setting) is that it can be used for any number of different types of campaigns. You can run a campaign about chaos cults trying to bring about the end of the world, or political intrigue among the numerous factions, or running or overthrowing a vast criminal network. I could go on and on. Because Ptolus supports all these varied types of campaigns, it does not have a strongly unified feel. However, depending on what kind of campaign you want to run, you can do that yourself by tweaking the things the PCs encounter and what types of adventures you run. My 2cp.