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!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Its also important to note that while Hellenistika is heavily Greek themed, its a later more global multicultural era of Greek history, not the classical Greece of Theros, Chessenta, Odyssey of the Dragonlords, Arkadia, ect...

So it has alot more cultures and cultural interactions and religious diversity then Theros including Asia, Middle East, Africa, European cultures and mythologies mixing with the Greek ruling class.

Also, it's a lot more over the top, with bronze golem battlemechs and the like, as well as the classic Ken Hite ability to connect the dots in unusual ways.

 

[vecna00]

I felt a disturbance in the force, like 1,000,000 Dark Sun fans crying out in anger...

I've been waiting for it, but I'm not mad about this announcement!

 

[Aaron L]

Clash of the Titans setting sounds good to me.

 

[Parmandur]

Theros is a setting in Magic the Gathering I believe. It's the Greek Myths inspired one.

Might be where we get that Paladin of Heroism??

I've long been speculating that the first batch of UA Subclasses last year fit Magic pretty well.

 

[Parmandur]

So am I just being skeptical and suspect that this release was not accidental? I mean what a way to garner hype that you can simply ignore so that in a month or two when you make the official announcement it builds on an already building fan exceitement.

No publicity is bad publicity..


Yea, DS5E is not going to happen this decade. Not directly from WotC.

Considering they've talked openly about how to do Dark Sun, I think it is fairly probable we'll see it by 2030.

 

[Parmandur]

So, from November 2018 till May 2020, we'll have 4-6 official setting books in 18 months (depending on how you look at Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Acquisitions Incorporated).

Much of last year's UA output was clearly for this now, and I wonder if we'll get some more Setting material later?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Wow, that's pretty cool.
I'd like to see a "Hellenic Adventures" or "Olympian Adventures" Appendix or Web Enhancement that outlines how the Theros setting can be adapted to the quasi-Greek settings of the (other) worlds of the D&D Multiverse. With at least a paragraph for:

• Chessenta of Forgotten Realms
• In the World of Mystara: Minaeans (Minoans) near Skothar; Milenian colonies of the Grass Coast; Cathos and Vacros; Milenians and Traldar of Hollow World. (The Thyatians are medieval quasi-Orthodox Christian Byzantine Greeks and Romans though, not classical pagan Greeks.)
• Bacchar = "D&D Hellenic Earth", the source of Ancient Greek facets in Ravenloft. Bacchar could be a world which is entirely shaped according to Ancient Greek perspective. Even other cultures would be portrayed according to that perspective. See the maps: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/gr-history-ancient-geography-maps.htm
• Tharquish Empire in western Oerth, based on how it's portrayed in the Black Moon Chronicles. (The Tharquish IP is owned by Francois Froidival though.)

For more "Oriental Adventures"-style "culture books" see:

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I would definitely like to see a part going over how to adapt it for Chessenta. The Old Empires are one of my favorite areas of the setting and they get so little love. I'm not sure if they would do it officially, but I'm sure it would take fairly minimal work to homebrew it...

 

[Dire Bare]

Also, Theros is probably one of the settings with the greatest potential for extra player-facing crunch. I've recently been studying Ixalan, for example, and most of the races are identical or very similar to The Ravnica book was mostly aimed at DMs, so they probably wanted a more player-oriented book for their next outing.

I was having similar thoughts. I'm a fan of Magic's various planes and would probably happily buy a D&D book based on any of them. But . . .

Ixalan is a lot like Chult in the Realms. Zendikar is a lot like standard D&D, with floating islands and "hedrons", adding in some cosmic Cthulu horror with the Eldrazi. Kamigawa is Kara-tur or Rokugan. Innistrad is Ravenloft.

Theros is probably one of the more distinct Magic settings from standard epic fantasy alonside Ravnica.

The next Magic expansion is set on the plane of Ikoria, which is a brand-new setting for Magic . . . wonder if we'll get a D&D port this year some time?

 

[gyor]

So, from November 2018 till May 2020, we'll have 4-6 official setting books in 18 months (depending on how you look at Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Acquisitions Incorporated).

Much of last year's UA output was clearly for this now, and I wonder if we'll get some more Setting material later?

I think Eldraine and Zendikar are strong likely hoods for campaign settings.

 

[gyor]

I was having similar thoughts. I'm a fan of Magic's various planes and would probably happily buy a D&D book based on any of them. But . . .

Ixalan is a lot like Chult in the Realms. Zendikar is a lot like standard D&D, with floating islands and "hedrons", adding in some cosmic Cthulu horror with the Eldrazi. Kamigawa is Kara-tur or Rokugan. Innistrad is Ravenloft.

Theros is probably one of the more distinct Magic settings from standard epic fantasy alonside Ravnica.

The next Magic expansion is set on the plane of Ikoria, which is a brand-new setting for Magic . . . wonder if we'll get a D&D port this year some time?

There are many greek themed regions in D&D, like Chessenta for example plays to Greek themes and has like 10 to 100 times the lore of Theros alone.