Hi folks - looking at these two Greek Mythology inspired settings for D&D, and I'm wonder which one people think is the best...
I know Theros is more of a setting and Dragonlords is more adventure material, but which one do you all think is the best and why...
I vote Dragonlords, myself.
Note that Dragonlords has most of player-oriented stuff - classes, races, etc. available free on Drivethru
here
Both are "Ancient Greece, but not". Both have "The Greek Gods, but not". If you want to run an actual "Ancient Greece" campaign, neither is great, but if you want a campaign loosely inspired by Greek Myth, with Greek Myth-themed stuff going on, both are good.
Both focus on different stuff from Greek Myth. For example, with Theros, piety is an extremely important mechanic. With Dragonlords, piety to the gods matters, but it's not really a mechanic save with certain spells - however, oaths do have potentially massive impacts (something Theros largely ignores), and particularly oath-breaking. The way Dragonlords uses them acts as subtle but extremely effective anti-murderhobo protection. You basically can't be a murderhobo in Dragonlords, because you'll end up cursed in ways that completely screw you.
Mechanics-wise, Theros has
Supernatural Gifts
5 races, 3 of which kind of suck and are distinctly underpowered, and whilst Satyrs are great, they're weirdly un-flavourful, mechanically (but also very strong).
2 subclasses, one of which is really solid, one of which is kind of awful.
Piety
Some magic items
Tons of monsters and the mythic monsters concept
Dragonlords has
Epic Paths
6 races, all of which are good, and none are as underpowered as most Theros ones, or quite as powerful as the Satyr (though Sirens are are flexible in a strong way).
Subclasses for all 12 D&D classes, all of which are at least solid, and some of which are exceptionally well-designed. I was kind of astonished here - the wording isn't perfect in all cases, though it's well above what is normal from 3PP, but the rules land them all as neither rubbish or broken (I'm sure one could find a way to break one or two with multiclassing or similar shenanigans, but I didn't immediately see it - Amazonian Conclave Ranger is probably the most OP compared to the main game, thanks to the Stimfay, but being built on the Ranger chassis makes that less of an issue), leaning slightly towards the solid/powerful. There's some really inspired stuff, too, like basically making Monks have a subclass which "Spartans from the movie 300", which works astonishingly well (and is classy enough to avoid "Sparta Kick", which must have taken some willpower). Or the Epic Poetry Bard, who gets stronger as the party does more memorable stuff. Or the Odysseus-style Rogue. I could go on. As noted if you just want the subclasses, races, and mechanics, they're all free.
Fame
Some magic items
I don't know how many monsters it has, as I've played it rather than DM'd it, but it's got to be quite a few.
A massive 1-15 campaign/adventure.
I think if you wanted to run a really long-term campaign, like many years, the best approach might be to run Theros, but import the Dragonlords subclasses and races, and maybe consider importing the Dragonlords ideas re: oaths, because they're just an amazing way to stomp on murderhoboing without making it entirely obvious.
www.drivethrurpg.com
