It’s official! Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire is off to the printer! Both versions (5e and Cypher System) of this massive book, plus A Player’s Guide to Ptolus, went to press this week.
Ptolus is legendary for its ease of use, but the features that make it so useful—the heavy cross-referencing, for example—also make the final layout and proofing process an undertaking as vast as this monumental city itself. And that’s on top of the normal effort that goes into laying out and proofing two 672-page tomes! Getting these books finalized has been a herculean job for Teri, Shanna, Bear, Bruce, Sean, Seamus, Tammie, and Monte over the past two months, but they’ve risen to the challenge!
Of course, those were just the final stages. It’s been almost a year since the Kickstarter closed, and at that point we had already rolled up our sleeves on design work, ordering new art, project planning, and organizing the hundreds of files from the original edition. The months that followed were equally busy. It’s been a long road!
Assuming no unforeseen delays (and one must be careful with assumptions these days!), it will take about four weeks for Ptolus to move through the production process, and then another week or so to move it to our warehouses. In the meantime, we’re already working on the massive job of hyperlinking and bookmarking the PDF versions.
We can’t wait to begin fulfilling these to you!
If you know anyone who regrets missing the Kickstarter, remind them that preorders are open now!
Monte is never one to sit still, so while many of us have been heads-down on the production phases of Ptolus, he’s been working on his next big thing. And it’s something you can use with your Ptolus campaign—or any game you’re currently running.
That house on the outskirts of town, sitting empty behind a crumbling wall. The one people whisper about. The one that has goneunlived in for years. Sometimes a few hearty souls creep in, it is said, to see what treasures or secrets they can find. Most find nothing—just an empty old house. Some return shaken. A few don’t return at all.
You’ve seen this house before. If not in this city, then in some other. You’ve heard the rumors—and if not, well, someday they’ll find you.
What happens to a house when it sits alone for so many long years? What jealousies and hatreds does it quietly nurture? What whispers echo through its empty hallways? What waits, crouched within its dark rooms, hungering for the return of life?
For you.
The Darkest House is built from the ground up for online play, with unique features that take advantage of the online environment for an awesome experience. It's compatible with the game you're playing now. In fact, it's made for it, and it will make your characters—those who come out alive—better.
The Darkest House is a really innovative product in an entirely new format. And it’s coming soon! You can find out more here.
Dice, Maps, and Proofing: Ptolus Is Getting Close!
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Feb 03, 2021 at 11:49:24 AM
Greetings, delver—
We have some cool things to show you!
Ptolus dice from our good friends at Q-Workshop. Aren’t they gorgeous?
The ginormous vinyl map of Ptolus. Teenagers shown for scale!
Ptolus dice (both Cypher System and 5e sets) and vinyl maps (in huge and ginormous sizes) are now made! It was our intention to fulfill these two items together sometime in mid-February. However, the dice are already in hand (a couple weeks ahead of schedule), whereas the maps are still on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. (The photo above is a sample FedExed to us from the factory.) International freight is a chaotic mess right now, with overbooked vessels and severely backed up ports. The maps avoided any delays departing China, but their US destination harbor—Long Beach—currently has 62 ships anchored offshore, awaiting their turn at dock. We don’t think the maps will make it to us as we’d originally scheduled.
The upshot? No reason to hold the dice back while we’re waiting on the maps! We’ll go ahead and fulfill them in the next week or so. If they’re among your rewards, look forward to seeing a fulfillment email from us soon.
Ships waiting to enter port at Long Beach, California. The COVID-19 era has been rough on international shipping, and this is the worst yet.
We’re Headed to Press Soon!
Ptolus is in the proofing process right now, and it’s only a matter of weeks before it heads to press!
Bear, our extraordinary Art Director, completed layout of Ptolus in December. The book (books, really, because there are two complete versions!) then went into the laborious process of building the many, many cross-references and ease-of-use features for which Ptolus is justifiably famous. This was a very long process—we put in scores of hours to save you time and effort at the game table. But we know you’ll think it was worth it!
Once that was complete, the books went into proofing. With over 1,300 pages of the main books themselves—that’s before you count in the packets, the digital extras, and A Player’s Guide to Ptolus—this is also a huge process. We’ll be working on that, and then making the necessary changes, for another month.
In the meantime, here’s a quick look inside. These are unproofed spreads—they give you an idea of what Ptolus looks like inside, but may still be subject to a few tweaks. We also have a few remaining pieces of new art to show off—see the bottom of this update.
Some page spreads. It’s looking great! (Not final product.)
Ptolus Preorders Are Now Open
We recently opened preorders for Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire at the MCG Shop. If you know anyone who missed the Kickstarter, but would love Ptolus, please let them know. Preorder customers can grab an exclusive deal and get their books ahead of street date, so anyone who wants Ptolus really shouldn’t miss it.
Ptolus in Game Trade Magazine
Do you read Game Trade Magazine? January’s issue features an article by Monte about Ptolus. If you’re interested in Monte’s recollections about his own Ptolus campaign, thoughts on what makes Ptolus unique, and inspirations that led to its development, check out the issue online now or grab a copy from your Friendly Local Game Store.
Keep your eyes peeled for other articles from Monte about Ptolus in upcoming issues of Meeple Monthly and Around the Table!
Dire creatures take to the streets of Ptolus.
Inside the cruciform prison.
Shigma Urasta, leader of the Forsaken.
More Art, More Layout, More News!
over 5 years ago
– Sat, Dec 05, 2020 at 01:27:07 AM
Greetings, delver!
We have some cool art and other news to share with you—but first, this:
But those are just the extras. At the center of the campaign, of course, are heroes. Superheroes, and real-world heroes. We could all use a bit more heroism in our lives these days, right?
Our vinyl maps have completed production and will board a ship soon. We expect them to reach us next month. Dice, too, are not terribly far away—production is supposed to be complete next week!
Layout Moves Forward
Layout for Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire (in two versions, no less) is a monumental task. Fortunately, Bear Weiter, our Art Director, is really talented, and the process is moving along. We expect the book(s) to transition into the proofing stage at the end of the month—right on schedule.
Not that he needs it, but Bear has lots of help.
Feline help. Actual helpfulness may vary.
More Art!
Here are a few more pieces of the new Ptolus art you funded though this campaign. These spectacular pieces are by Federico Musetti. What do you think?
Interesting events at Cloud Theater!
Gustav's Chapel. What atmosphere!
Maystra and Fesamere.
Loads of Ptolus News
over 5 years ago
– Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 05:09:54 PM
Greetings, delver!
We have all kinds of stuff to show you in this update, as the process of bringing you Ptolus moves into an exciting phase. Here’s what we have to share:
Ptolus is heading into layout.
We have new art to show off.
Dice and maps are moving into production!
Let’s Start With Layout
We have this report from Bear Weiter, our Art Director:
Layout on Ptolus has begun in earnest, and the first step on any of our books is planning—the bigger the book, the more critical this is, and Ptolus is massive. It's a challenge to get a layout to fit a specific page count, and at 672 pages spread across nearly 40 chapters, it's a complex puzzle to figure out. Compounding all of this is that we're laying out two versions of the book simultaneously (the 5e and Cypher System versions).
I've been building my pagination plan for both versions of the books, comparing the length of each of the chapters to the original text and to each other, so I can calculate an expected page count for each part and chapter of the books. Our goal here is to have parity between the two books as much as possible, with a significant number of the chapters working the same (except for system-specific callouts, boxed text, and some styling details).
Beyond the pagination planning, there has also been work on setting up the template files in InDesign, making use of layers and style sheets to carry much of the weight for edition-specific differences. Getting all of this right early on—or as much right as possible—should help ensure a more consistent product in the end. It should also help me keep what little hair that I have left on my head.
Bear’s spreadsheet for pagination planning, along with some InDesign pallets showing the structural elements of the book coming together.
New Art!
As we move into layout, more and more of the new art you funded for the book is rolling in. Here are a couple of the new pieces!
Dice and Vinyl Maps Are Going Into Production
Have a look:
That’s the final design for the Ptolus dice, which are being produced by our good friends at Q-Workshop. The dice are moving into production now. We’ve also sent the vinyl maps (in huge and ginormous sizes) to the factory for production as well. Assuming no unforeseen pandemic-related delays, we expect to have these in-hand in February—a month or two ahead of the main book’s release. These are relatively small items in the grand scheme of everything you funded, but it’s exciting to see Ptolus products take that final step from idea to reality!
We Can Be Heroes
When things are at their worst, the best among us rises to the fore. When disaster strikes or menace looms, they don’t run from the danger, they run toward it. Whether they claim supernatural abilities or just plain courage, there's a single word that describes such people:
In a world that could use a few heroes nowmore than ever, you can join their ranks—using theflexible TTRPG mechanics of the Cypher System.
Imagine, for a moment, that you find yourself imbued with powers well beyond those of mere mortals. With great might, you leap into dark and daunting dangers. You stand before the forces of injustice with confidence. You slip the grasp of gravity and soar. You Claim the Sky itself.
But what about on the other end of the scale, where we’re all a bit more earth-bound? We can still be heroes. Saving lives amid natural disasters, man-made cataclysms, pandemics, or crises of any sort, we can take on the role of First Responders.
These two new Cypher System sourcebooks focus on heroes of all kinds—and they’re on Kickstarter now, where they’re already racking up heroic stretch goals. Check out the Kickstarter now!
Awesome New Ptolus Art—and a Design Update
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 02:38:22 AM
Greetings, delver!
Work on Ptolus continues apace. We thought you might enjoy a little progress update—and we have some new artwork to show off. First, though, a bit of news for fans of Monte’s 3e worldbuilding:
Diamond Throne Is Coming for the Cypher System!
Our friends at Here Be Dragons Games have licensed the Diamond Throne setting (from Monte’s Arcana Unearthed and Arcana Evolved lines of 3e products) from Monte, and are publishing it as a new RPG powered by the Cypher System!
Ptolus fans will recognize a lot of things, from game elements such as the leonine litorians and diminutive faen peoples, to cultural commonalities like the emphasis on ritual in daily life. The city of Ptolus is not set in the Diamond Throne world, but the two are highly compatible, and anyone playing a Ptolus campaign in the Cypher System will find tons of useful stuff in the Iron Throne books—and vice versa!
The Diamond Throne RPG is on Kickstarter now. Check it out!
Progress on Ptolus
The design team continues its work on Ptolus. There’s lots to do, and new sections and chapters are being wrapped up every week. Bruce Cordell has this to say about the work he’s been doing this week:
I've been having a great time converting the spells in Ptolus into Cypher System special abilities. The same is true for the Ptolus prestige classes, some of which may become new Cypher System foci (and thus create even more material for the aforementioned catalog of new abilities).
Meanwhile, here’s what Sean Reynolds is up to:
5e cleric domains are radically different from 3e cleric domains, and converting them is an interesting challenge. It’s definitely fun to adjust 3e high-level spells to fit 5e’s design paradigm of letting spells scale up by using higher-level spell slots, which means some high-level 3e Ptolus spells that rarely saw any gameplay should become available to 5e PCs much sooner than they have been before.
Bear Weiter, MCG's Art Director, has been taking input from the design team to commission the new artwork you funded through the Kickstarter. A total of eight pages of new art were unlocked. Two half-page pieces were commissioned and completed during the Kickstarter, and the rest are in various stages of the pipeline now. We’ll leave you with a few pieces Bear recently received from the incredible Jason Engle. Jason was one of the illustrators for the original edition of Ptolus, so it’s really cool to have him among the artists providing this new artwork. In the third piece below, you get a glimpse of Dweomer Street in the background—a great touch, Jason!
