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!

 

[Parmandur]

What about the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer?

Pretty natural Blue Mana Sorcerer (I'm pretty sure Crawford was equivocating on the fluff much of the time, like the weird magic Barbarian can easily be a Red Mana Greek heroic type), and seaborne monstrosities are very developed in Theros:

 

[gyor]

Kraken aren't Aberrants, and the subclass is Psionic, which I don't think fits Theros.

Unless Eldrazi get mentioned even though they've not been to Theros yet.

 

[slobster]

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

The problem with Eldraine is that it's really boring to always have to play in parties consisting entirely of level 3 elk.

 

[Parmandur]

Kraken aren't Aberrants, and the subclass is Psionic, which I don't think fits Theros.

Unless Eldrazi get mentioned even though they've not been to Theros yet.

Blue Mana Sorcerer, calling it now (technically, I called it in September, and they called me MAD, MAD I TELL YOU, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA).

 

[gyor]

Blue Mana Sorcerer, calling it now (technically, I called it in September, and they called me MAD, MAD I TELL YOU, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA).

They are not going to call it blue mana sorcerer, mana is a behind the scenes thing.

 

[Parmandur]

They are not going to call it blue mana sorcerer, mana is a behind the scenes thing.

True, but it will be tied to the Ocean, where aberrant things dwell. As I noted at the time of the UA, everything about that Subclass in terms of powers and spells fit the Blue Mana portfolio to a Tee. Calling it.

 

[Garthanos]

OK I am intrigued the last MTG themed one i bought for my son....

 

[cbwjm]

That ship has already sailed the minute they made Skophos a Minotaur city, with massive temples, ect...

But they may seperate the Skophos Minotaurs and Monsterous Minotaurs the lore.

Maybe adding them as a playable race is a foregone conclusion but I can still remove them and keep the city. I can have it inhabited by the monstrous minotaurs as a labyrinthine area. Even in the original sets some of them were shaman. Have the temples dedicated to the god of slaughter and I'm good to go.

 

[univoxs]

This is cool. I don't particularly care that it was MtG or 5e for that matter. I have never run a greek myth themed game. The idea of playing in an ancient time is interesting. I always wanted to do the ancient Rome setting for Vampire Requiem but have found that it takes too much teaching on my part for the players to understand things in the historical context.

Are there sourcebooks for the older versions of D&D for anceint roman or greek fantasy settings? I'm guessing there are but I don't know of any.

Edit: Answered my own question, Sword and Sorcerery made one called Olympus.

 

[cbwjm]

This is cool. I don't particularly care that it was MtG or 5e for that matter. I have never run a greek myth themed game. The idea of playing in an ancient time is interesting. I always wanted to do the ancient Rome setting for Vampire Requiem but have found that it takes too much teaching on my part for the players to understand things in the historical context.

Are there sourcebooks for the older versions of D&D for anceint roman or greek fantasy settings? I'm guessing there are but I don't know of any.

Edit: Answered my own question, Sword and Sorcerery made one called Olympus.

2e had some books for running in Greece, Viking age, and the era of Charlemagne (I think). They were quite cool from memory.