What are the opinions on Ptolus?

[Ron]

I don't think it is worthy of the money based in what was showed so far. It is a luxurious product and, as such, it justify its price much more in terms of the format than the contents. For a game based in imagination, the luxurious aspect seems of little importance. Also, it is too big. Probably, unless the players are really obssessive about canon, there is too much detail to be fully used in a campaign, which means that most DMs will incorporate just a portion of it, which is not a good benefit for the price asked.

I would rather buy an art book for the art and a good fantasy novel for the reading. But then, I prefer to homebrew and was never particulary impressed by Monte Cook text.

 

[GVDammerung]

I love city adventures. I have enjoyed a number of Monty Cooks’ designs. I was initially very interested in Ptolus - even at $120. I will not, however, be purchasing it.

I will not be purchasing Ptolus for four reasons.

First, for $120, I want the best maps that possibly can be and that means no double siding poster maps. Double siding is useless if the information on each side of the map is important, and it should be important to be placed on a poster map in the first place. Ptolus double sides.

Second, for $120, I do not expect to have to pay another $85 for a “special” Ptolus map that is BIG. I expect a BIG map for a city the size of Ptolus to be included in the basic package. The more readable Ptolus map, however, costs another $85 for an essentially laminated version, as I am given to understand.

Third, I would have wanted more poster maps. Blowups for particular areas of the city.

Fourth, Ptolus is an “in for a penny, in for a pound product.” It is so large it will take a good deal of time to fully digest, let alone use to it full $120 potential. And because there is so much of it, that full potential will only be realized if you devote your game to Ptolus. I can’t say I’ll do that to the tune of $120. I would probably have swallowed this concern if Ptolus had come heavy with the poster maps - more of them and not double sided.

I like what I see of Ptolus but I’m a map junky. Best text and bad maps = bad game product, IMO. YMMV and likely will.

 

[el-remmen]

Well that FAQ taught me one thing with the very first question:

First off, how do you pronounce the name?

Ptolus is "TAW-luss," although "TOL-us" seems to be a popular alternate.

This made me realize I've been pronouncing it as POL-tus in my head (never having heard it aloud) - suddenly TAW-luss seems like a really weird way to say it.

 

[Henry]

I would rather buy an art book for the art and a good fantasy novel for the reading. But then, I prefer to homebrew and was never particulary impressed by Monte Cook text.

That's a lot of the crux. Someone who prefers homebrewing may not get as much use; however, in this instance, the "brewing" is mostly done, and done with lots of eye candy, which is what often attracts players. Truthfully, for over 1000 pages worth (closer to 1200!) of gaming text, it's definitely a bargain in the RPG field. Not even counting art, cartography, and player aids, it's running at around a dime a page?! That's a lot of creative juice. It really comes down to valuing Monte's cerebral fluids as your favorite flavor or not.

(Bruce Cordell ought to enjoy that one... )

 

[Henry]

This made me realize I've been pronouncing it as POL-tus in my head (never having heard it aloud) - suddenly TAW-luss seems like a really weird way to say it.

Actually, "Ptah-luss" is closer than "TAW-luss" in my mind for what I think Monte's trying for - even with phonetics, regional dialects can skew it.

 

[Aaron L]

While I generally like Montes stuff, and I have no doubt that it will be high quality, the flavor of the setting just isnt my style. Races of minotaurs and tons of other anthropomorphic races all over the place just turns me off.

Plus theres no way I can afford 120 dollars.

Im sure it will be worth it to the people who can afford it, though.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Im sure it will be worth it to the people who can afford it, though.

$10 a month seems like a small amount now that the book is about to be released, I can tell you that.

 

[Felon]

$120 is too much. The size ins't a major turn-on. I don't see me or many others reading it cover-to-cover.

I'm just happy to see Monte get his labor of love out of his system. Let's see what he comes up with next.

Heck, maybe he'll even decide Iron Heroes merits some attention. My prayers for a revised edition have too long gone ignored.

 

[Voadam]

Wow, this is a bummer! I was under the impression that I was getting all the PDF's for free, as a result of preordering. I am not sure why I have this understanding; I think I may have been dazed by the list of "freebies" that come along with it, that I assumed that the PDF would be free ala GOO's Game of Throne's Deluxe edition.

Basically Ptolus is going to cost even more than I thought, since I often use PDF and Print together for the copy/paste functionality it a PDF brings to the table.

Aren't the pdfs coming with a CD included with the book? I thought that was one of the deluxe features.

I'm not buying the physical books but I might pick up some of the pdfs from dtrpg

 

[occam]

I've been gaming since 1980 and I gotta tell say, I already have more generic city material than I'll ever use. If this book was released in the early days of 3e, I'd have been more tempted (even if just for all the statted out NPCs). But these are the sunset years for 3e and there's just no hook in it for me. If it was really original (a la Sigil) with loads of unique flavor and concept he mighta' got me, but not for this.

Yeah, could you a imagine a book like this for Sigil? That would be something.