In Design Diary: DM Friendly, Monte Cook discusses the ways in which his upcoming monster of a setting book, Ptolus, will be put together differently than most setting material.
Even if you’re not into fantasy, his approach is interesting to consider — I wish more setting books did things like this!
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It does sound cool, though I’m not particularly interested in it. [Mostly because it’s d20, which I’ve already got plenty of). Still, if it works, I hope others learn from it.
Multiple indexes sound very good.
I’m excited to look at Ptolus myself, although I’m in a similar boat: I’m not planning on running d20 anytime soon, and I probably don’t “need” it. But I love Monte’s approach.
I will run it, probably starting about this time next year. It happens to fit perfectly for what I want to do then. And having it for a few months before I start should give me some time to digest all that material.
CJ: I’m curious to see how the amount and idea-density of the material in Ptolus stacks up against, say, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting hardcover. I suspect it will measure up quite well.
Holy Lucre Batman! $119.99…leaves me speechless. And yes, I know it’s “672-page deluxe hardcover book with poster, handouts, bookmarks, and CD-Rom” plus other kewl bonuses for preordering. Still 120 smackers in one whack. Hard to Swallow Mr. Cook.
Raphael: I agree, the pricetage will make me think 3 times about Ptolus, instead of just twice — but as you pointed out, it’s setting the bar for page count and content pretty high, as well.
With World’s Largest Dungeon last year, and now Ptolus, I don’t think it will be too long before we see a $150 or $200 gaming book.
I would not buy it on a lark, that is for sure. But then, I seldom buy gaming books without thinking hard about whether or not I will actually use them. Even when the money is available, the shelf space is not. 🙂
When I started making those $10 pre-order payments, it was because I committed to using the thing a year and a half later. I really do plan things that far in advance. And as I said on Monte’s boards, I finally found something worth spending the money I saved by not buying the D&D 3.5 books. 🙂
Martin, I have both the 1st ed. and 3rd ed. FR books. I found the first one more useful–but then I was tired of the Realms by the time the latter came out. From the design diaries and other hints dropped thus far, I think that Ptolus will cover more of the things that I want covered. It’s not just the density, but the relevance and organization.
Ever feel like you missed the boat on something cool for some reason? Maybe you were too young or too old. Or you had other things going on at the time, and it wasn’t so appealing when you got around to it? Well, I’ve had two times when a product was bright and new exactly when I wanted something exactly like it: Arcana Unearthed and Ptolus.
(CJ) It’s not just the density, but the relevance and organization.
Moreso than the actual setting, this is what I’m curious about with this book. I’m really looking forward to seeing how GM-friendly its structure turns out to be.