D&D 5E Official D&D Greek-Themed 'Mythic Odysseys of Theros' Setting Coming In May

My inbox just exploded! It looks like Penguin Random House accidentally leaked an upcoming book listing for D&D, before removing the entry. It's dated for May 19th, and it's called Mythic Odysseys of Theros.

What's Theros? It's a Greek(ish) themed Magic: the Gathering world! This will make it the second, after Ravnica, to make it to an official D&D campaign setting. Here's what the MTG wiki says about it:

"Theros is a plane governed by the gods of Nyx, where heroes face monsters, the sea rages, people offer burnt offerings and adventures take place. It is defined by mankind's struggle against the primal forces of the world, and mankind's conflict with the many other sapient races that populate the world."

In ancient times, the archons of Theros held a massive empire, tyrannizing the world in the belief that they were imposing a strict justice. The most notable of these Archon tyrants was Agnomakhos, who used the leonin as an army. Eventually, the Archon empire fell, being instead replaced by the poleis, and the remaining Archons now lash at these, slighting the "honor" they feel was stripped from them.

There's an enormous list of races, too -- though how many of those will translate from MtG to D&D, I don't know. Some of these are clearly 'monsters' in the D&D sense rather than 'races'. It includes cats, centaurs, gorgons, merfolk, minotaurs, satyrs, spirits, zombies, archons, basilisks, chimeras, cyclopses, demons, dragons, giants, hags, harpies, hounds, hydras, krakens, lamias, manticores, pegasi, phoenixes, spines, and sirens.

There's a whole bunch of Greek-themed or inspired D&D settings, including:

• Arkadia by Arcana Games. "Arkadia is a combined setting and players handbook for 5e - inspired by the history and myths of Ancient Greece. The book contains 100 pages of densely packed all new Greek themed content for both Players and GMs."
• Hellenistika from Handiwork Games. "From the Pillars of Herakles in the West to the Silken Cities of the East, from the isle of Hyperborea in the North to the Mountains of the Moon in the South, the world spreads before you, alive with gods and marvels."
• Odyssey of the Dragonlords from Arcanum Worlds. "Odyssey of the Dragonlords is an epic fantasy campaign for the fifth edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. The Player’s Guide is a 28-page companion booklet that will provide you with everything you need to begin your career as a prospective hero in the forgotten land of Thylea."
• Land of Myth by Seven Thebes. "A Fantasy Setting in Mythical Ancient Greece.A world of Heroes, right after the end of
  the Trojan War, steeped in myth and conflict."

Of course, this all assumes this isn't come kind of epic troll on WotC's part -- they have recently started putting placeholder names on products on Amazon and then changing them at the most minute, although with limited success. This could be a more elaborate attempt at that!

 

[jayoungr]

It could almost be an add on to a Greek-themed book.

Sure--I'd actually be fine with that. I've been eyeing Lex Arcana, but it's a whole new system rather than being 5E-based.

 

[Zarithar]

Sure--I'd actually be fine with that. I've been eyeing Lex Arcana, but it's a whole new system rather than being 5E-based.

Yes that does look good, but I passed on it for the same reasons you stated. The artwork is amazing though.

 

[Blazestudios23]

That would be cool, but as you know, Rome had a major infatuation with all things Greek, and they umm... "borrowed" so many elements of classical Hellenistic culture. It could almost be an add on to a Greek-themed book.

Yeah, they will probably do a completely different style of magic setting next. But like I said early, they need to bring D&D settings into MTG, and have them release at the same time. Have Dark Sun in both. Have Al-Qadim in both. Have Kara-Tur in both. Same with Malatra and Maztica.


Planescape fits in pretty well with Plainswalkers and seems like a perfect MTG expansion like Battlebond and Conspiracy. Plus would provide very interesting art for MTG.

 

[Zarithar]

Yeah, they will probably do a completely different style of magic setting next. But like I said early, they need to bring D&D settings into MTG, and have them release at the same time. Have Dark Sun in both. Have Al-Qadim in both. Have Kara-Tur in both. Same with Malatra and Maztica.

I really would love to see a return to Al-Qadim and Kara-Tur (Maztica to a lesser extent).

 

[slobster]

Planescape fits in pretty well with Plainswalkers and seems like a perfect MTG expansion like Battlebond and Conspiracy. Plus would provide very interesting art for MTG.

I'm getting super nerdy again...

But in MtG, it's established lore that nothing living can cross the planes, except for planeswalkers. Anything that tries is erased from existence. Plane-jumping D&D style is basically a massive violation of MtG's basic setup...though I wouldn't mind them loosening that up a bit (let the Weatherlight plane-hop again!). But they've said on the record before that they won't be loosening that up, so D&D style plane crossing is probably a no-go for the foreseeable future.

I'm sorry to keep going deep in Magic nerdery here, but people ask, so I feel compelled to be THAT GUY!

 

[Zarithar]

I'm getting super nerdy again...

But in MtG, it's established lore that nothing living can cross the planes, except for planeswalkers.

Unless you are a gnome with a chrono hopper played by Jeremy Crawford apparently!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The basic thing is that every "official" MtG set takes place in a single multiverse setting, which includes within it a number of setting constants like planeswalkers, the nature of travelling between planes, and mana (how magic works). Bringing in a D&D setting would clash with that lore, requiring one of the two properties to retcon how planes and magic and so on work in their world. Imagine how annoyed Great Wheel fans would be if it was retconned that, nope, the Great Wheel isn't the metaphysical foundation the world works on, it is just one more world in a sea of endless worlds, and the actual foundation of reality in the realms is 5 colors of mana that just haven't been noticed by anyone up until now.

D&D planar lore has changed in 4E and 5E and, arguably, during 2E when there was tons of new planar lore generated, along with Spelljammer reworking the model of how the Prime Material Plane works.

It wouldn't be hard to say that both models of the planes are correct and that accessing things the MTG way requires using MTG metaphysics, while more traditional D&D metaphysics mean you travel the planes and find yourself on the Great Wheel or World Axis.

And D&D has had multiple systems of supernatural power as far back as psionics. The system is hardly going to break if it turns out there are even more systems of magic out there.

It's doable. It's just a matter of whether or not WotC wants to do it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

No publicity is bad publicity..

I feel like Harvey Weinstein might disagree.

 

[slobster]

It's doable. It's just a matter of whether or not WotC wants to do it.

Yeah, I definitely think it boils down to that. My discussion was just relating what, as a person who really follows MtG, are the things keeping WotC from wanting to do it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why Theros?

Like, from what I understand (and MTG players please chime in to tell me I'm right or wrong here), isn't Theros as a setting and the sets that came out featuring it not even close to the most popular MTG settings? Seems like more of a mandated brand synergy thing that got handed down from on high because Theros stuff is coming out on the MTG side.

Because D&D hasn't had anything resembling official support for Greek myths since a little green book in the 2E era, despite Greek myth being incredibly popular and rich with possibilities. (The same reason we're seeing a ton of third party Greek myth stuff, too.)