100 dollar dungeon

[Ed Zachary]

I'm guessing that's your editorial on the product underneath Ed?

No, not my opinion. It was the only product review listed.

Hit the link on top of my post, then scroll down. You'll find that review.

[Skunkape]

No, not my opinion. It was the only product review listed.

Hit the link on top of my post, then scroll down. You'll find that review.

Oh, you mean the underlined text Worlds Largest City?! That link!

Following the link, I see the review. That doesn't speak well for the product, does it? Though I probably wasn't going to buy it, I had thought the product might have had some good information in it that you could use for inspiration for your own campaign's cities, but with a review like that, I'll have to wait till I can flip through the book in a local store before I spend my money!

Heck, I've seen free websites out there that give me really good inspiration, and the main thing there is that they're FREE! Yeah, I'll be making sure to check this product out before I buy!

[Ed Zachary]

Like any product, if you want to do more than hack-n-slash followed by the looting treasure, the DM will have to add alot to turn it into something really interesting. It's probably not a bad product, it would probably serve very well as a building block for a large campaign if the DM and players are willing to add their own finishing touches to it.

[LRPG]

.... It has a lot to offer and enough open endedness that a DM can really go to town with it...

Can we classify that as a pun?

[Nillic]

Wow, I didn't think it was that bad, but then again I only played in it and never actually read the book. But oh well, to each his own. I had fun while I was playing it.

[TheYeti1775]

I picked up the WLD, awhile back. It is a hack-n-slash dream. You can add some roleplaying to it, but many of the things are like playing a CRPG. Why are ogres here starving when 2 rooms away are a well fed goblin tribe..... type deal.

[Moritz]

But that's the nature of the Hack and Slash. It's just a big dungeon with lots of things to kill, treasure to get, places to explore and XP to earn. It doesn't have to make sense.

I always loved the party opening a door and a giant head lurching out to eat the one at the door.

[Argent]

isn't gary gygax like george lucas? original creation great, but anything afterwards is just nutso?

No, actually. That is exactly how Gygax is different from Lucas. When he has put out new material for D&D it continues to have very high quality. And I think Gygax still likes D&D; I get the feeling Lucas has not liked Star Wars for a very long time now...

[Argent]

Since it was mentioned, I thought I would give my preliminary two cents. Ptolus is hands-down the best designed gaming sourcebook I have ever seen. The way it is laid out makes it incredibly easy to use for a DM needing, say, a quick and interesting inn to drop into the night's game. And it is also a very beautiful book, with a very smooth blend of crunch and fluff.

Having said that, due to life I have not had a chance to crack it open and read it cover to cover yet, so I can't tell you if it is useful as a setting in and of itself. But I like pretty much everything Monte Cook has ever done, so I don't think I will be sorry I got this. And the price was right, just $85 Cd.

I'll pop in with a proper review when I do manage to read through it.

[TheYeti1775]

I'm definitely might have to give Potlus a try. Everything I've heard about it, has been postive.

[Moritz]

No, actually. That is exactly how Gygax is different from Lucas. When he has put out new material for D&D it continues to have very high quality. And I think Gygax still likes D&D; I get the feeling Lucas has not liked Star Wars for a very long time now...

Oh, well sweet then. Perhaps looking it over may be a viable option. Though I'm more inclined on dungeon over city adventures.

[Argent]

Oh, well sweet then. Perhaps looking it over may be a viable option. Though I'm more inclined on dungeon over city adventures.

If worries about Gygax being crazy were keeping you away from Ptolus, then worry not; he didn't write it. It is actually written by Monte Cook. In the same vein as Gygax (with Greyhawk) and Ed Greenwood (with the Forgotten Realms), Mr. Cook has pretty much published the setting he used for a great many of his home games, as well as all the play-testing work he did at Wizards. That is one of the things I'm noticing as I read through it now, that there is a lot of lovingly crafted detail present that you could only find in a well-used and loved setting.

And if you miss the days of the old TSR box sets, Ptolus will scratch that itch as well. It has an envelope at the back filled with full colour maps and hand-outs, as well as a cd-rom. The cd is packed with even more stuff, in case 800 pages of book weren't enough for you. And by stuff I mean 400+ pages of supplemental material in pdf format. And if dungeon-based adventure is what you want, you don't even have to leave Ptolus; the city is situated right over an ancient network of caves and crypts. Adventurers make trips to Ptolus specifically to delve the dungeon there.

I need to go hold my copy for a while. Excuse me.

[Argent]

Okay, so I have been reading into Ptolus a bit more, and I have to say...

Ho. Ly. Crap.

This book is awesome! The re-playability of this setting is phenomenal, and you would never have to use the same path twice. It is so densely packed with possible adventure hooks, one group could never possibly get to them all. And they are, in some cases, intertwined, so that if you affect one hook another changes.

I'm reading this thing through to the end. Today. Bye!