What is Ptolus anyway?

[Scribble]

Civil? Here?!

Anyway Whiz, I was curious, I was hoping to get clarification: Ratmen in Ptolus, are they like were-rats or Slitheren/Ratmen in Creature Collection?

Man... I need to spend some time typing up the stats of the ratmen and a few other monsters from the CC1 and 2 books... I miss using them, now that I've gone to PDF!

(And yes I realize I can get the PDFs of those books, but they're scanned image books which makes them HUGE. )

 

[Valmiras]

The complete list of the pdfs are a little ways down on this page:

http://www.ptolus.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Ptolus

 

[HighPriest of Syrinx]

Ptolus is billed as the most deluxe RPG product ever released, a claim which it delivers on in spades. The packaging and price of the Ptolus product is probably overkill if the DM's intent is simply to mine the book for some campaign ideas, but that's an issue of product format rather than a case of the Ptolus package being overpriced. The pdfs would be a much better format (and value) for a DM who just wants to incorporate some Ptolus ideas into his existing campaign, but go to your hobby shop and take a look at the book anyway. It's amazing, and you might just decide (like I did) to scrap other campaign ideas to run a Ptolus campaign.

 

[Banshee16]

I haven't heard anything about the book only being available at GenCon before.....maybe the signed copy or something, but stores seem to be ordering it.....whether locally, Amazon, or even EBay or online vendors.

I'm partly interested, just because it's Monte Cook....but $120 U.S. is like $160 CDN, which is a heck of a lot for a game book. I'd prefer to find a local place that has it, so I can flip through the thing, and have a look at it before making a decision. The Players Guide I downloaded from DriveThruRPG last night just wasn't enough information.

Banshee

 

[RigaMortus2]

Yeah, you're right. I guess I'll send mine back and whip up 700 pages of campaign material this evening, after dinner.

You seriously use 700 pages of material? I've gotten the Forgotten Realms CS when it first came out in 3.0 and can honestly say I don't think I've used more than 25% of the info in there (mainly got it for the feats, prcs and race info).

When I design a setting, I don't write up 700 pages at a time, because I don't need it all at once. I add to the world as things progress. I find it's a lot more fun and satisfying that way, rather than "borrowing" someone elses work. YMMV.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You seriously use 700 pages of material? I've gotten the Forgotten Realms CS when it first came out in 3.0 and can honestly say I don't think I've used more than 25% of the info in there (mainly got it for the feats, prcs and race info).

When I design a setting, I don't write up 700 pages at a time, because I don't need it all at once. I add to the world as things progress. I find it's a lot more fun and satisfying that way, rather than "borrowing" someone elses work. YMMV.

I'm with you, but I'll end up using more of Ptolus than that, if only because there are quite a few chapters that are generally applicable to the whole city (and world) and also because player characters are likely to move between districts of town.

Initially, though, I'm just reading the general info and the Docks quarter info in-depth.

 

[DM-Rocco]

I think it is pronounced TOE-LUSS

I have also heard some people say TAW-LUSS

I fear some player may turn it into TOE-LESS, so I'll probably go with TAW-LUSS just to be safe...

Well, when I first saw it, I pronounced the P and the T, which sounded very odd indeed

 

[DM-Rocco]

Okay, I have viewed the free player's guide and I can say that this seems to be something I already do, in terms of cities and such. I have a lot of magic in the cities that I make and wing defenses and such against magic, like he suggests in the intro. Still not convinced about $120 for the product, but I am getting closer as it would give me rules for thing I already do.

Maybe if the pdf isn't too much.

 

[Voadam]

Okay, I have viewed the free player's guide and I can say that this seems to be something I already do, in terms of cities and such. I have a lot of magic in the cities that I make and wing defenses and such against magic, like he suggests in the intro. Still not convinced about $120 for the product, but I am getting closer as it would give me rules for thing I already do.

Maybe if the pdf isn't too much.

Its not coming out as one pdf but as broken down into several different ones, essentially by chapter.

Beginning of each month Monte has it scheduled to release another chapter of the book.

So far we've got organizations and the world guide from the main book.

From my posting before:

It comes as several pdfs, some of which have been released already.

The 34 page player's guide is free http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

The 57 page world guide is $6 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

The 55 page book on orgainizations in the city is $6 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

Two tie ins are 112 page chaositech $6 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596 and banewarrens module 136 page $6.67 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

As well as other company tie ins such as Fiery dragon $9 counter set of NPCs http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

And Skeleton Key games' maps such as the $10 full city map http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

 

[DM-Rocco]

Its not coming out as one pdf but as broken down into several different ones, essentially by chapter.

Beginning of each month Monte has it scheduled to release another chapter of the book.

So far we've got organizations and the world guide from the main book.

From my posting before:

It comes as several pdfs, some of which have been released already.

The 34 page player's guide is free http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

The 57 page world guide is $6 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

The 55 page book on orgainizations in the city is $6 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

Two tie ins are 112 page chaositech $6 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596 and banewarrens module 136 page $6.67 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

As well as other company tie ins such as Fiery dragon $9 counter set of NPCs http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

And Skeleton Key games' maps such as the $10 full city map http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

*sigh* nothing is every easy

Okay, someone mentioned that it was sold on amazon.com at this link:
Ptolus on Amazon

Is this the full version, including the CD and everything?

If this is so, with the $25 bonus for opening a charge account the price comes down to around $40, which I would jump at. I like supporting local shops, but this book is just too pricy for me otherwise.

Does the Amazon version contain everything that it would otherwise contain?

Anyone know?