Wasnt sure where but this looks good.
So the question: I don't have it in front of me but this was 3rd party right?
Nope - definitely a Wizards' book. I think it was one of their last 3E products that was never properly updated to 3.5, which is part of the reason it wasn't very popular.
Edit: I ought to say I think the whole thing is great. But then, I've rarely met a campaign setting I didn't like...
Sadly then I guess it cant be used for anything with Pathfinder...that is as in OGL stuff. The reason I asked was because Monte and Seans connection to Paizo now.
Yeah always though the Ghosts as PCs was a neat swing on things.
Another significant flaw with this setting was that they left out the world map. Even ignoring the whole afterlife aspect, the setting was really cool. I also think the awkward timing killed any interest in it.
Are you referring to a city map? Ghostwalk is based in a town/city at the base of a mountain, whose underground tunnels finally connect to "The Portal to the Other Side." I believe it was setup that way so you can drop it into any world.
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Another significant flaw with this setting was that they left out the world map.
I hated this as well. However, I think they did eventually make it available on their website somewhere as a PDF. I'll try to find it again and post a link.
Edit: Found it. It's on page 7 of the download, I think.
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I have been trying to find some adventures outside of the ones in the book, but it doesn't seem that anyone was that interested in it.
IMHO I think it is a great setting, and as stated above, it is great to be able to play a character even after physical death.
I got it a while ago.
It was out there, and then WHAMMO! no support whatsoever. I hate that. It had some neato stuff.
Another significant flaw with this setting was that they left out the world map.I hated this as well. However, I think they did eventually make it available on their website somewhere as a PDF. I'll try to find it again and post a link.
Edit: Found it. It's on page 7 of the download, I think.
I stand corrected.
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Ghostwalk is yet another example of one of the great axioms of d20:
If it has "by Monte Cook" on the cover, you can buy it without any misgiving at all. I find it unfortunate that Monte did this as a WotC product instead of a Malhavoc one, but I'm sure large stacks of money were involved, and I can't fault the guy. WotC was a considerably friendlier entity at that point in gaming history.
Gloves of the Master Strategist are some of my favorite magic items ever, though "gloves of the master assassin" might have been more accurate considering that you can use them to smuggle a halberd into a banquet.
Also, I want that BoVD city book that was ready to print. Makes me wish crosstime trading really existed. Makes me also wish WotC wasn't so opposed to the idea of making games for grown-ups.
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(lol)
There's a whole slew of great crap in their dusty attic that will never be used again.
It blows.
My sole, faint, nearly-lost hope is that some day a company like Paizo will get control of D&D and will release some of these old, forgotten treasures somehow. I imagine that Mephistopheles' skating rink will be doing a brisk business at that time.
Also, I want that BoVD city book that was ready to print.
What book was this?
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Another significant flaw with this setting was that they left out the world map.I hated this as well. However, I think they did eventually make it available on their website somewhere as a PDF. I'll try to find it again and post a link.
Edit: Found it. It's on page 7 of the download, I think.
Thanks so much for posting that link Aber. I never thought about checking Wizards to see if there was a web enhancement.
I always thought that not including a map was a major over-sight, given the detail and flavour that went into the local nations. A 3.5 update is good too.
Maybe now I'll get around to using this ... so, anyone got any good adventures for it?
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I always thought that not including a map was a major over-sight, given the detail and flavour that went into the local nations. A 3.5 update is good too.
And that was Part II of the Ghostwalk Web Enhancement. Here is Part I, though I can't remember if that part is 3.5 updated.
Contributor
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Yeah, thanks for the link! I had downloaded SKR's rougher map from his website, but I missed that one.
Which still makes my point... it should have been in the book, and not having it made the setting harder to run. It's good that it got up on the website eventually, but it made the product less useful and therefore less appealing.
Actually, I'll go even further... Maps appeal to gamers in new products. Even if I wasn't consciously looking for maps, opening a setting book and not finding any would make me less likely to buy the product.
I got my copy as a gift, and I'm glad I did, because for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the quality of the setting, I probably would never have bought it. But when I actually sat and read it, it was awesome!
Ghostwalk is yet another example of one of the great axioms of d20:
If it has "by Monte Cook" on the cover, you can buy it without any misgiving at all. I find it unfortunate that Monte did this as a WotC product instead of a Malhavoc one, but I'm sure large stacks of money were involved, and I can't fault the guy.
Ghostwalk is something Monte and I concepted while he was still working at Wizards. Then he left the company and they let him work on it as a freelance project.
I always thought that not including a map was a major over-sight, given the detail and flavour that went into the local nations. A 3.5 update is good too.
Ghostwalk REALLY suffered at the hands of Wizards. Monte and I finished it and then they decided they weren't going to publish it. Then Monte said, "sell or license it to Malhavoc Press, we'll publish it ourselves." Then Chris Pramas said, "and if you don't sell or license it to Monte, sell or license it to me and Green Ronin will publish it." (I mean, c'mon, why would you NOT publish a complete manuscript from Monte if you had it?) Wizards hemmed and hawed for a long time and finally said, "nah, we're going to break it up into little pieces and salvage it into other game products." And then nothing happened with that for a long long time. And then they said, "Oh crap 3.5 is coming out and we have this entire book of 3.0 material, we'd better publish it," so they did, with little fanfare, about 3 months before the release of 3.5, which meant it was guaranteed to sell about ZERO copies. And they forgot to include the world map.
Then Julia Martin, visionary and savior that she is, tapped me to write the 3.5 conversion web enhancement, and they stuck the map in that.
So, yeah ... good throw by the quarterback, receiver catches, then fumbles, and fumbles, and fumbles, and fumbles, then someone else on the team grabs it and manages to make a first down. But all those fumbles really hurt the book. :/
Oh and I forgot to mention that at the last minute near the end of the design stage Wizards realized the book was solicited to distributors as a bigger book than it actually was, rather than more adventures or world material, they decided I should write up the True Afterlife, even though that was supposed to be a big mystery that most campaigns wouldn't ever touch. Which is why that section is tacked on and doesn't quite feel the same as the rest of the book. :/
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So, yeah ... good throw by the quarterback, receiver catches, then fumbles, and fumbles, and fumbles, and fumbles, then someone else on the team grabs it and manages to make a first down. But all those fumbles really hurt the book. :/
And with all of that, I love the book. I used it as the basis for the FIRST campaign I ever ran as a DM. Yeah, I ran it real Monty Hall style with TONS of loot for the PCs, but I had lots of fun and I still get asked to tie up that adventure. The last time we ran it, the crew had a fight with some big bad vampires. :)
Oooh, web enhancements - mine! That was a great campaign setting, even if I never used it. The weapon naming concept was brilliant and I promptly swiped it for my 3rd Edition Birthright game :)
Heh, the weapon-naming thing is something I've done in my own games for years, finally decided to include it in GW as a bit of official flava. :)
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Man, one of the campaigns I most wanted to run that never took off was a Ghostwalk campaign.
The PCs would have started off with no knowledge of ghosts and whatnot, and would be picked off one by one while pursuing a ritualistic serial killer that passed through their hometown, eventually leaving one very bothered living PC accompanied by ghostly allies he couldn't fully percieve until he died as well or their chase finally led them to their world's version of Manifest.
I did manage to put parts of it to use in my homebrew setting though. Really cool book. (and one of the few Brom covers of the 3.x era!)
