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I’ve been running adventures in Monte Cook’s Ptolus for over twenty years, including my long-running D&D 3E campaign In the Shadow of the Spire.
The Ptolus sourcebook — originally published D&D 3E, but since released in edition for D&D 5E and Cypher — is one of the best RPG setting sourcebooks ever published. It describes a rich and marvelous city perched upon the coast and filled with the wonder: The impossible, terrifying heights of the Spire tower above it; beneath it endless, overlapping warrens, dungeons, and caverns worm their way through the earth. The book itself is nearly 700 pages long, and every single one is packed to the gills with practical, gameable material. And while I typically find such huge tomes to be overwhelming and difficult to use, Ptolus is incredibly well-organized, with bountiful cross-references and a sidebar reference system that makes it easy to navigate the book and find the information you need, whether during prep or at the table.
Over the years I’ve remixed a variety of published Ptolus adventures and created new ones. Some are entirely idiosyncratic to my group. Others I’ve shared below, with plans for more.
REMIXES
Ptolus Remix: Banewarrens
Ptolus Remix: The Mrathrach Agenda
Ptolus Remix: The Quaan
Ptolus Remix: The Vladaam Affair
ADVENTURES
The False Tomb
Complex of Zombies (3E)
Laboratory of the Beast (3E)
Lost Laboratories of the Arn (3E)
CAMPAIGN JOURNAL
RESOURCES
Chaos Lorebooks
Dreaming Arts (3E)
Kaostech (3E)
REVIEWS
Review: Ptolus – City of Adventure
COLLECTED EDITIONS
Patrons of the Alexandrian can download collected PDF editions for most of the material above, and I’ll be adding PDF collections for the older material soon!
