#ptolus

[rpgnonsense]

DM: "No floor dice."

Players: "Boo!"

[vintagerpg]

So, my pal Clay sent me a box of books. They weren’t a gift, they we more like an extended loan and they amount to perhaps the most direct “please post about these books” I’ve gotten since the feed started. I’ve taken care of a few at this point, but now, well. Ptolus. How the hell do I tackle Ptolus in 300 words?!

Ptolus (2006) is a massive all-in-one setting book for D20 designed by Monte Cook. It consists of a city and two dungeons, one above — the Spire — and a megadungeon below. The book runs 670 pages and features a density of information — maps, cross-sections, various type sizes, sidebars, tabs, cross-references — that I am not sure has ever been achieved before or since. It is truly a monument to a particular moment of BIG DESIGN in RPGs that was fueled by the near universal adaptation of D20. Unlike a lot of other similar projects (World’s Largest Dungeon comes to mind) there is a ton of deep thought and care on display in nearly every design decision I’ve read.

I wanted this book real bad when I learned about it a couple years after release, but it was already scarce. If I had gotten copy back then, it might very well have become my favorite RPG book ever. I’d probably still be playing in it. Because you totally could, there are decades of adventures here. Reading it cover to cove now in 2023 just feels like an impossibility. It’s too big! It works really well as a book to dip into a read a box or two to think about, for inspiration or rumination, but I wouldn’t know where to begin in putting together a cohesive campaign here. I don’t think my brain can fit it all in! I appreciate the painstaking detail, don’t get me wrong, but I would much rather this thing be carved up into a bunch of small books. That’s the main reason I didn’t back the recent re-release on Kickstarter; I knew before Clay ever sent this to me that this book was going to defeat me.

[cat-dragron-arts]

Sketch of Amalthea my beloved lion :]

[whitewingedcrow]

The Sisters of Death (in both black and red versions) for Graylion@WA, from the Ptolus worldsetting!

Can’t take any credit for composition on this one, Gray provided me with a fantastic mockup he’d put together for me to work from. Definitely one of my favorites so far in this ongoing project!

[iambiggest]

Tharmas (5th level monk) #illustration #art #sketch #drawing #penandink #watercolor #dungeonsanddragons #roleplaying #ptolus https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ4d8N9jovn/?igshid=zbaiej4q0azq

[darling-gypsum]

Nethe, deep gnome rogue

"Unlikelyhood" of the Titan Syndicate, speaks softly and carries a big shovel for the Church of Jimmy, loves apple juice, the orphan kids of the Sour Patch, & whispering bedtimes stories into the ears of his enemies (sometimes while IN their ear)

original drawing by @igglespiggles

[fate-archive]

“Hey, bitch.” DREW ART FROM MY OWN PERSONAL CAMPAIGN. My friend Nique’s ranger Equitas did a major badass thing and I LOVE HER. Background used with permission from JoakimOlofsson on deviantART

[whitewingedcrow]

Commission for Graylion@WA of a window to represent Asche, God of Cities from the Ptolus worldsetting!