What are the opinions on Ptolus?
- Thread starter Ravensblood
- Start date
I've ran a Ptolus campaign for the last 2 years, just off the information on Monte's website. When I was coming up with my homebrew I realized that Ptolus already had a lot of ideas that I was intrested in: A Warhammer like dark automosphere, a Chaos/Cthulu bad guys, lots of room for political intrigue, a aging failing Byzantine like Empire, a large central church.
Since Monte is much better at naming things then I am, why reinvent the wheel.
It was a great decision. The Organizations I think are the wonderous thing about the setting. I knew I had stumbled onto a blessed thing when my players had a 30 minute in character discussion regarding what to tell their Lothian Ally regarding an encounter they had with Helmut Istlestein, the leader of the Ptolian independece movement.
Playing in a city is great. Often times the enemies have power beyond stats, and the groups enemies and friends are close. The illusion of player choice is easy to maintain, especially when you can count on droping a clue, and reasonably expect the players to come up with going to see their Allies to flesh out the needed information.
I look forward to the book, even though I know already my campaign from 2 years of playing, will probably deviate from the book by quite a bit. Banewarrens and the Chaositech alone are almost worth getting it. Given the Night of Dissolution adventure, and all the adventure seeds in the book, I expect 3 full campaigns can arise pretty easily out of it.
Since Monte is much better at naming things then I am, why reinvent the wheel.
It was a great decision. The Organizations I think are the wonderous thing about the setting. I knew I had stumbled onto a blessed thing when my players had a 30 minute in character discussion regarding what to tell their Lothian Ally regarding an encounter they had with Helmut Istlestein, the leader of the Ptolian independece movement.
Playing in a city is great. Often times the enemies have power beyond stats, and the groups enemies and friends are close. The illusion of player choice is easy to maintain, especially when you can count on droping a clue, and reasonably expect the players to come up with going to see their Allies to flesh out the needed information.
I look forward to the book, even though I know already my campaign from 2 years of playing, will probably deviate from the book by quite a bit. Banewarrens and the Chaositech alone are almost worth getting it. Given the Night of Dissolution adventure, and all the adventure seeds in the book, I expect 3 full campaigns can arise pretty easily out of it.
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ChristianW
First Post
It looks amazing. I have worked with Ed Bourelle on projects and I'd really like to see his work. Sadly, I just can't justify the expense. I don't game much anymore, so there's no way I can justify $120 for what will essentially be reading material for me.
But my oh my, it would be fun to game in that setting!
But my oh my, it would be fun to game in that setting!
catsclaw227
First Post
I'm VERY excited about this. I like most of Malhavoc's stuff, but I don't buy it all (Iron Heroes, or example). The items released so far, including the recent PDFs, maps and tiles by skeleton key, the delver's guild site on White Wolf for the pre-order gang, and the ongoing posts on the website have been really getting me geared up.
Now, where to place it in the wilderlands?
Now, where to place it in the wilderlands?
DethStryke
Explorer
The limited run is one of the clinchers for me, aside from the glowing praise echoed by almost everyone else who have already pre-ordered above. I was not very impressed or intrigued by Eberron at all... but I still really want a new world. Home-brew is great fun, but time-consuming to do correctly and I just get tired of Greyhawk & Forgotten Realms after the 14th to 15th year of it... 
The only question for me is whether I want to run it as DM or experience it as a player first, as at least two of my friends who DM are buying it too!
The only question for me is whether I want to run it as DM or experience it as a player first, as at least two of my friends who DM are buying it too!
Yair
Community Supporter
Not interested. I generally don't like Monte Cook's work, although I do like Iron Heroes. But beyond that, it's just not worth it IMO. I don't want a 672-page book, that's a lot to read! I don't want all the detail and all the bells and whistels. I don't really need such a huge book about a fantasy city.
It just doesn't interest me enough. I prefer to save the big purchases to things like The Shackled City or The Drow War - whole campaigns in a box. Or to spread the money between sourcebooks on issues that interest me more (Dynasties and Demagauges, Midnight 2e, Wildwood... there are lots of things I want to purchase I haven't yet).
It just doesn't interest me enough. I prefer to save the big purchases to things like The Shackled City or The Drow War - whole campaigns in a box. Or to spread the money between sourcebooks on issues that interest me more (Dynasties and Demagauges, Midnight 2e, Wildwood... there are lots of things I want to purchase I haven't yet).
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I preordered and have been running a campaign set in the world of Ptolus since January and love the flavor of the world. The two PDFs taken from the book that folks who preordered have gotten have just confirmed everything I thought to be true about the book.
Since there is enough material in it to go from 1-20 (and more, since some of the material on the CD is in the same level range as the stuff in the book), I'd say it looks to stack up well against books like the Drow War, etc., but make sure it's the kind of flavor you like.
You have a strong quasi-monotheistic faith (there are other religions in the world, for those who like standard D&D polytheism), technology (but in decline), a powerful empire on the verge of civil war and an incipent dark ages. You also have an interesting twist on a planar campaign (which I don't want to spoil here) and a setting that literally everything from the core books can be plugged into somewhere, since it's sort of like the reverse Eberron: A setting from which much of 3E sprang. (Heck, the original Dwarven Defender lives under Ptolus.)
Since there is enough material in it to go from 1-20 (and more, since some of the material on the CD is in the same level range as the stuff in the book), I'd say it looks to stack up well against books like the Drow War, etc., but make sure it's the kind of flavor you like.
You have a strong quasi-monotheistic faith (there are other religions in the world, for those who like standard D&D polytheism), technology (but in decline), a powerful empire on the verge of civil war and an incipent dark ages. You also have an interesting twist on a planar campaign (which I don't want to spoil here) and a setting that literally everything from the core books can be plugged into somewhere, since it's sort of like the reverse Eberron: A setting from which much of 3E sprang. (Heck, the original Dwarven Defender lives under Ptolus.)
Numion
First Post
Obviously I think it to be worth $134,99, because I already paid for it that much. PT1 seems to be good quality. The art and layouts are really nice.
My first contact with Ptolus was playing through the Banewarrens module. The idea for the city really rocks. Very rich setting for adventures. The NPC were really interesting, not least because everyone seemed to have his / her own agenda. While the real badguys do exist, there are also shades of grey.
My first contact with Ptolus was playing through the Banewarrens module. The idea for the city really rocks. Very rich setting for adventures. The NPC were really interesting, not least because everyone seemed to have his / her own agenda. While the real badguys do exist, there are also shades of grey.
DethStryke
Explorer
I have to ask... Do you realize that the Ptolus book IS a whole campaign in a book?Yair said:
To each their own though! All of the reasons you listed for things you don't want are things I *do* want!
The adage, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" definitely holds true there.
