Ptolus: The Dark Project?

[Hawkshere]

I've been in serious need of inspiration for a new D&D game to run. My group and I are a bit jaded, being old farts such as we are. As much as I dig new dirt such as Eberron, I'm not currently interested in a huge, expansive fantasy setting, and I sure don't have the time for it.

For the time being, my group is in hiatus, while I regroup after our last campaign fizzled out (a sci-fi game, and totally off-topic). Recently engaded in a single-player computer gaming binge, I decide to finally get around to playing Thief: Deadly Shadows. Now, I am a huge fan of the Thief series, and despite the issues which plague the third and last installment, I still find it a very satisfying experience.

The setting fiction of the Thief games is very strong in my mind, and I turn my thoughts to harnessing the style and/or particulars of that fiction to a multiplayer tabletop game with a rogue-themed campaign. However, I am stymied by a number of factors, not the least which is the fiction is designed for a single-protagonist story, and lacks the required level fleshy details to accompany player-characters not resembling a certain ex-Keeper thief possibly named Garrett.

Still, the City is an inspirational setting, and has me considering the idea of running an urban game set entirely within a detailed and compelling cityscape. Since I've been in a non-d20 mode for a while (SR4 & Traveller instead), I'm feeling a bit out of the loop. So I check on my favorite D&D sites ("Hi everyone!" ), and what is the very first thing I read about? Ptolus.

Shazzam!

Okay, so maybe I am on to something. I intend to look at Ptolus as soon as it hits my FLGS this week, and if I find it sufficiently compelling, I may convince my group to give it a go. Time (and it's fickle handmaiden, Preparation), as always, is in short supply, and an urban campaign of this kind demands the level of detail which seems to be promised by this book.

Since I haven't been following Monte's Every Word on this project, I'm inviting comments from you, valued readers. Any comments regarding running a rogue-oriented "street level" Ptolus campaign, or adding/mixing fiction elements from the Thief game series are welcome.

For those without experience with, or time to play the Thief games, there are a number of websites containing summaries of Thief fiction, starting with Wikipedia:

Overview
The Dark Project
The Metal Age
Deadly Shadows

Some starter questions I need to look into include:

How much story and hook support does Ptolus specifically provide for rogue-based adventuring?

Which fiction elements from the City can or should I attempt to graft into Ptolus? For example, is there already a logical place in the cosmology for a creature like the Trickster? Does the city of Ptolus already have some means of public lighting, and what are the implications of adding tesla-style magical broadcast power providing city-wide technology services? The Keepers are a powerful group in the City; is there room for another secret powergroup in Ptolus' already crowded politics? Likewise, the Hammer's natural habitat has already been filled; is there another way of interpreting both them and the Pagans to fill different niches? The sealed off section of Old Quarter overrun with undead was brilliant in the City, but with the warrens and the spire already present, is a cataclysmically haunted neighborhood one cliche too many?

Out of all the universe of d20 crunch, both OEM and aftermarket, which best bits support fantasy weird-tech noir urban gameplay?

I'll have to find my own answers if I pursue this project, but I'm interested in any comments or input. I'll share any answers I find if there is sufficient interest.

 

[Shades of Green]

I don't know much about ptolus (other than everyone getting excited about it) and I don't have the money to buy it (I've spent too much on other books earlier in this decade), but I have all three Thief games and I love them very much - in fact, they have greatly inspired my D&D campaigns.

Anyway, for a Thief: The Dark Project atmosphere, your game should focus more on networking (i.e. talking with contacts and fences, interacting with underworld elements, building a reputation etc) and stealth rather than combat; adventuring and exploration would be welcome, but these would deal less with killing monsters and more with exploration, tricking monsters, circumventing monsters, traps, puzzles and non-combat obstacles. You might want to make modifications to the CR/EL system to reflect the challange of circumventing a monster (by stealth and/or trickery and/or deception) rather than going toe-to-toe with it.

Legends & Lairs: Sorcery & Steam, by Fantasy Flight Games, is IMHO a relatively good source for D&D steampunk material, though Thief technology would be a little bit different, especially as it (mostly) lacks gunpowder weapons (but has gunpowder), and since Thief technology is somewhat magical in nature. Still, a good resource for skills, feats, prestige classes, and a few clockwork items.

 

[Mazlo]

The Keepers

The Keepers are an ancient sect of expert observers, dedicated to preserving balance in the world. Garrett once belonged to the organization and still makes use of the skills learned as a Keeper for his own clandestine purposes. Even though Garrett refuses further involvement with the Keepers, they inevitably manipulate him into acting out their prophecies and obscure designs in all three games.

The closest organization in Ptolus I can think of is the Knights of the Shadow: "a secret group
bent on bettering society at large through enlightenment." The organization consists of many "common" people: merchants, bakers, tradespeople, and artisans (although a small number of powerful warriors and wizards are likely members too.) The group is split into two sub-organizations, one that supports the Empire and one that seeks its end.

The Order of the Hammer

The Order of the Hammer is a group of technocratic religious fanatics, also known as the Hammerites. They seek to carry out the vision of the Master Builder, their architect god, and are the burning force of progress in the Thief world. They represent Order and Orthodox religion (which has many similarities to the medieval Catholic Church).

The schismatic Mechanist sect of the Hammerites plays a dominant role in Thief II: The Metal Age

The Church of Lothian is the official and dominant faith of the Empire, it also has many similarities to the medieval Catholic Church. The Church of Lothian has little ties to technology however.

Teun, the Mother of All Machines, has a large following in Ptolus (though not as large as Lothian's.) Teun's followers not surprisingly work with machinery.

The Shuul are a secretive organization focused on bringing technology back to the world (technology is in decline with the Empire's slow decay.) The Shuul often use the Temple of Teun as a gathering place.

A sect of the Shuul / Teun followers could very well be religious fanatics.

Does the city of Ptolus already have some means of public lighting, and what are the implications of adding tesla-style magical broadcast power providing city-wide technology services?

I do believe that there is some public lighting on the major streets but the side streets and alleyways are dark. Many people hire a lantern carrier. The Shuul have some fantastic technology but on the whole, technology is in the decline. I would stay away from " tesla-style magical broadcast power providing city-wide technology services" because it would change the feel of the setting and would likely create several headache-inducing complications.

The Pagans

Finally, the Pagans represent the forces of nature and chaos in the Thief world. Nature worshippers who live in the deep forests away from the City, the Pagans shun technology and live in harmony with wild, supernatural creatures. They despise the ordinary people of the City, and are completely inimical to Hammerites and Mechanists.

The Pagan's deity, the Trickster, and the facts surrounding their resurgence are central to the plot of Thief: The Dark Project

The Circle of Green was a group of druids that dissapeared years ago. Perhaps a small number of them survive in secret.

Trickster into his otherworldly realm, the Maw of Chaos, which is occupied by apebeasts, craybeasts, bug beasts, spider beasts, frog beasts and fire elementals.

If you've read Monte's latest journal, I'd think that Ravann the Beast God would make a good match for the Trickster. They seem to have similar goals. Although you're certainly free to add the Trickster into Ptolus cosmology - the setting specifically says there's room for any minor god you'd like (although many of the gods don't tend to be as active in openly promoting their agendas as say the gods in the Forgotten Realms.)

The sealed off section of Old Quarter overrun with undead was brilliant in the City, but with the warrens and the spire already present, is a cataclysmically haunted neighborhood one cliche too many?

The Warrens is an extremely poor and violent neighborhood. Sometimes vampires hide there (as well as other unsavory characters) but it has little to do with haunting.

The Necropolis is a mass cemetary that is over run with undead at night. Monte has compared the undead problem in the Necropolis to current day toxic waste disposal. Within the Necropolis quarter, a strange building known as the Dark Reliquary houses demons and their allies. At the wall that separates the Necropolis from the rest of the city, the Keepers of the Veil (knights sworn to combat the undead) maintain their headquarters known as the Siege Castle. I think the Necropolis fits the "Old Quarter overrun with undead" bill nicely.

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I think the elements of Ptolus and the Thief games match up nicely.

Monte has also said that he would like to run a "street campaign" in Ptolus where the characters interacted with and worked their way up through the two or three criminal organizations in the city.

--Mazlo

 

[Mazlo]

Also,

Ptolus has technology - guns, the rare suit of steam armor, an elevator. The Shuul are tinkering with a hot air balloon.

Weird Technology - the Galchutt (Cthulian beings) created and inspire others to create "Chaositech" - machinery powered by raw chaos. The machinery if weird and often has strange effects.

Chaositech is a book from Malhavoc and is included on the Ptolus CD. Several of the devices could easily be ported over into "magic tech."

--Mazlo

 

[Jaws]

To let y'all know, I think Mazlo is the sage of Ptolus. He is the most organized person on the subject.

The Player’s Guide to Ptolus is a free pdf download.

You can also spends days going over everything at http://www.ptolus.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?ptolusnews. Scroll to the bottom and work your way up.


Peace and smiles

j.

 

[Piratecat]

This is a fantastic idea. I like! I'm a huge fan of city-based games, and Ptolus has a whole lot of potential for a thieves guild-based adventuring group, where the gang gets tied up in the machiniations of cults and Gods.

It's also worth mentioning that many of the architects of Thief 1 & 2 are active here at EN World, including the designers (Sagiro, Blackjack and Dr. Rictus).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Ptolus would be an excellent setting for a thief-based game, both on and below the streets. In addition to the book and its CD, make sure you check out the technology PDF download at Malhavoc.com (although much of it is reprinted in the book), to add even more flavor.

The Shuul are specifically designed, according to Monte in the book, as a group that players don't know whether to trust or avoid, and they have made some moral compromises in their quest to bring back technology and advance it. They'd fit like a glove into this sort of game, as would chaositechnicians.

The Church of Lothian has many sects, including several that are quite reactionary. One of the Imperial regions to the southwest is almost entirely fundementalist, and you could easily have a community of them in Ptolus and make that particular accent something to fear for your players.

 

[Hawkshere]

I have the book now (yesss, my preeecioussss...), and it will take time to digest. However, I already have a new word to ponder:

Aelectricity

Food for thought! I am definitely toying with the idea of introducing a heavily Mechanist-flavored version of the Hammers as a Lothian splinter-sect...