D&D 5E (2014) D&D Mythic Odysseys of Theros Previews!

Mythic Odysseys of Theros may have been delayed until the end of July for most of us, but Fantasy Grounds has revealed some (undoubtedly specially approved) previews for us to look at in the meantime!

 

[Urriak Uruk]

• Level 1: Will definitely see again
• Level 2: Will definitely see again, but not necessarily right away
• Level 3: Will most likely do again, probably many times
• Level 4: Will most likely do again, but they have issues that make them less of a guarantee
• Level 5: We need to find the right place to bring it back, but I'm optimistic
• Level 6: We need to find the right place to bring it back, but I'm a little less optimistic
• Level 7: It's unlikely to return, but possible if the right environment comes along
• Level 8: It's unlikely to return, but possible if the stars align
• Level 9: I never say never, but this would require a minor miracle
• Level 10: I never say never, but this would require a major miracle

I didn't actually know this was the format for what each number actually means what... it's quite helpful.

If we say the true "will eventually return in some form" threshold is actually 5, then when we look at the historical releases, the actual return schedule may look like this (with new planes released likely on rotation);

1. Lorwyn/Shadowmoor
2. Alara
3. New Phyrexia
4. Tarkir
5. Innistrad
6. Kaladesh
7. Amonkhet
8. Dominaria
9. Ravnica
10. Eldraine
11. Theros
12. Ikoria
13. Zendikar

It's actually just a repeat of all the planes they've done since Shadowmoor, with the exception of Ixalan, the only plane in the last few years to have a 6. Apparently some MtG fans are not fond of it, and that holds it as a 6 instead of 5.

 

[Parmandur]

A little unrelated, but I just love revisiting the Rabiah scale and want an excuse to mention it again... it's the tool that MtG uses to gauge how likely they are to return to a plane in a future block.

The first time I've seen the Rabiah scale mentioned was November 2016, a little after the Kaladesh set was released. Since that set, and the future Ravnica sets, the MtG team released two new planes (Eldraine and Ikoria) and revisited the plane Theros, and will revisit Zendikar soon.

Interestingly enough, Theros actually doesn't have a perfect Rabiah score; it has a 3 (1 is the best, 10 is the worst), and Zendikar has a 2. Now the scores change as time passes so planes have fluctuated up and done, but Theros has never gotten lower than a 3, meaning that for now having a 3 means a plane is in the running for return.

Also considering how far away the last block from that plane has been, and the planes most likely to return (and get setting books) are in this order;

1. Innistrad
2. Dominaria
3. Ravnica

These three all have a revised Rabiah score that is dated after they last got a set, so they'll likely all eventually return. Interesting how no one else (beyond Theros/Zendikar) get a better score than 4.

Alright, the baby is asleep in my arms, and the afternoon is lazy, so I decided to bust out the Magic Settings into a five point Tier system using the Rabiah rankings:

Tier 1, the Core Magic Planes:

- Dominaria, the OG Magic world: Magic will come back here, and I'd say a D&D campaign book is likely.

- Ravnica, we already have it for D&D.

- Innistrad, the High Concept Gothic Horror world that is widely loves. Magic will come back here, and I think a D&D book would work very well.

- Zendikar, the D&D style exploration and Adventure Plane. There is a Magic set coming out here in Q4 2020, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a full D&D Setting book in the not too distant future.

Tier 2, the Major Magic Planes:

- Eldraine, the High Concept Fairy Tale Plane: Magic just went there, but they are currently bullish about going back. A D&D tie in here, with Adventure generation material based on Fairy Tale tropes? Killer.

- Ikoria, Kaijupalooza. They are currently bullish about going back. I could see a tie-in having cool monster potential.

- Theros, Greek Epic Fantasy, Magic just went here and now D&D is too.

Tier 3, the middle of the road Magic Planes:

- Alara, a mechanically driven multi-color Plane with some far-out shenanigans. I could see Magic going back here someday, and a D&D interpretation would be fun, and a trip.

- Amonkhet, the Egyptian Mythology stand-in Plane: there are some narrative issues with returning here, but Maro is optimistic, and the theme is strong. A D&D pseudo-Egypt book would be HOT, so I hope to see that.

- Fiora, a Rennisance Italy style Plane. May or may not ever be focused on by Magic, might work for D&D...but needs more fleshing out.

- Ixalan, Dinosaur and Pirates and Aztecs. Would be fun, but time will tell if it ever comes back.

- Kaladesh, steampunk and MAGIC SCIENCE. I wouldn't be surprised if this never comes back, honestly.

- Lorwyn-Shadowmoor, a Celtic-y Get world. It would sure be a different D&D experience, since there are no Humans at all...

- New Phyrexia, a world conquered and terraformed by Demons. It was super .etal before that, but it would sure be interesting for D&D after the conquest...

- Regatha, a pretty undefined Plane. Might get defined more in the future, bit we'll see..

- Tarkir, a mechanically driven multi-color Plane with strong Central Asian flavor. Honorable mention for formerly being Tier 2. If Magic comes back here, it would make a very strong D&D Setting.

- Vryn, a largely unexplored Plane, bit one of the main Magic characters comes from here. Maybe someday, but we wouldn't know what to expect from this now...

Honestly, Tier 4 and 5 are pretty much out of the picture entirely...

 

[Parmandur]

I didn't actually know this was the format for what each number actually means what... it's quite helpful.

If we say the true "will eventually return in some form" threshold is actually 5, then when we look at the historical releases, the actual return schedule may look like this (with new planes released likely on rotation);

1. Lorwyn/Shadowmoor
2. Alara
3. New Phyrexia
4. Tarkir
5. Innistrad
6. Kaladesh
7. Amonkhet
8. Dominaria
9. Ravnica
10. Eldraine
11. Theros
12. Ikoria
13. Zendikar

It's actually just a repeat of all the planes they've done since Shadowmoor, with the exception of Ixalan, the only plane in the last few years to have a 6. Apparently some MtG fans are not fond of it, and that holds it as a 6 instead of 5.

Not too surprising, considering that for much of Magic's history, Dominaria was the World as such, and that list includes all the post-Dominaria Settings that gained traction. The amount of stalled IP from Magic is actually pretty impressive.

 

[slobster]

I think a Llorwyn/Shadowmoor return is pretty unlikely, especially given that they now have a home for almost any faerie tale type stuff in the newly created and successful Eldraine. Ravnica is probably going to be rested for a while as well, given that we just had 3 sets in a row there. Still will probably see a return to it before we return to a lot of the planes on that list. I also tend to think Alara is probably gonna be awhile before we return, but that one is mostly just because I've never been able to muster much enthusiasm for Alara.

Some of the MtG planes would be really cool to see as a full D&D book, except that I'd be worried some of them overlap existing D&D IP too much for comfort. I think fans of Ravenloft would be pretty miffed to see a 5E Innistrad book before they got one, for instance, and Zendikar was literally conceived as a "D&D-type adventure world", so not sure if a campaign setting book would be cool or just redundant.

A New Phyrexia book would be metal AF.

I think it would be sweet to have an adventure path released that put the players as some sort of minor planeswalkers, not in control of their own shifts but taken on a tour of the multiverse to fight off a Phyrexian plot or something over the course of 20 levels. Start on Dominaria, get sucked into Ravnica during the War of the Spark, shift over to Ixalan to help Azor regain his Spark, fight off a Phyrexian attempt to compleat Emrakul on Innistrad, gather an ancient artifact on Kamigawa...

Heck as long as I'm completely dreaming let the PCs cruise around on the repaired Weatherlight.

Rosewater, if you are reading this, get this done and then take my damn money. Like, all of it.

 

[Ravenbrook]

The names of the deities are rather weird. Luckily, they can be easily converted back to their real Greek versions, e.g. Helios instead of Heliod (ugh!) and Thalassa instead of Thassa.

 

[Dire Bare]

That has the nice effect of limiting the possibility of offending anyone who is invested in the Olympians.

Really doubt that was a concern.

I could be ignorant, but I've never heard of any modern groups revering the Greek pantheon. We've got Norse Neo-Pagans, but Greek Neo-Pagans? Besides, the pagan revival community is, at least in my experience, pretty chill with literary and fantastic interpretations of their deities. It's the monotheists who tend to get upset when you adopt their religions into fiction and aren't really careful about it.

 

[dave2008]

Really doubt that was a concern.

I could be ignorant, but I've never heard of any modern groups revering the Greek pantheon. We've got Norse Neo-Pagans, but Greek Neo-Pagans? Besides, the pagan revival community is, at least in my experience, pretty chill with literary and fantastic interpretations of their deities. It's the monotheists who tend to get upset when you adopt their religions into fiction and aren't really careful about it.

Some people still worship Hekate in some fashion

 

[Aldarc]

Really doubt that was a concern.

I could be ignorant, but I've never heard of any modern groups revering the Greek pantheon. We've got Norse Neo-Pagans, but Greek Neo-Pagans? Besides, the pagan revival community is, at least in my experience, pretty chill with literary and fantastic interpretations of their deities. It's the monotheists who tend to get upset when you adopt their religions into fiction and aren't really careful about it.

Most definitely. There are a lot of varieties of paganism out there, worshipping a variety of deities, including Greco-Roman, Celtic, Germanic-Norse, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian.

 

[cbwjm]

Really doubt that was a concern.

I could be ignorant, but I've never heard of any modern groups revering the Greek pantheon. We've got Norse Neo-Pagans, but Greek Neo-Pagans? Besides, the pagan revival community is, at least in my experience, pretty chill with literary and fantastic interpretations of their deities. It's the monotheists who tend to get upset when you adopt their religions into fiction and aren't really careful about it.

I doubt that was a concern either. I think they wanted to be inspired by Greek myth but not beholden to it so that they could tell their own stories without being locked into the Greek myths. Also the IP thing people have mentioned.

 

[slobster]

Look we all know the Romans took the Greek gods and changed the names so that they could own the IP and do their own merchandising.

Wizards was just following in their illustrious footsteps.