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...

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.

Screen Shot 2020-02-28 at 4.41.15 PM.png


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."

Meletis.jpg


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!
 

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Weiley31

Legend
Astral Monk
Wild-Soul Barbarian
Aberrant Sorcerer
Lurker-in-deep warlock
Heroic Paladin
Orrator Bard
Truenamer Wizard
Rune Knight Fighter
Swarmkeeper Ranger
Revived Rogue
Wildfire Druid
Twilight Cleric

Plus the Three Psionic subclasses and class variants.
Thank you! I have it all saved on my phone but it's a pain to search thru all the files.

Well the Slumbering Isle Kraken can have a Lurker in The Deep Warlock, Orrator Bard is Athenian, The Truenamer is the gods Swearing by The River Styx, the Revived seems like Charon the Boatman made a mistake and dropped a poor sap off too early.

Hmm, when I get this book, I have to see which of the 2019 UA classes made it in.
 

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Parmandur

Book-Friend, he/him
Thank you! I have it all saved on my phone but it's a pain to search thru all the files.

Well the Slumbering Isle Kraken can have a Lurker in The Deep Warlock, Orrator Bard is Athenian, The Truenamer is the gods Swearing by The River Styx, the Revived seems like Charon the Boatman made a mistake and dropped a poor sap off too early.

Hmm, when I get this book, I have to see which of the 2019 UA classes made it in.

Beyond the Greek myth link, the Magic: the Gathering archetypes need to be kept in mind. Like so:

travelingphilosopher.jpg
fabledhero (1).jpg

Image (7).png

Image (4).jpeg
Image.jpeg
Image (1).jpeg
Image (3).png
 

Aldarc

Legend
OK, one more idea: The Mighty Sons of Hercules. Legends say that Hercules begat 50 sons upon the fifty daughters of Thespius. For game purposes, I would assume that this seemed like a good idea at the time, but then a prophecy pointed out that having 50 quarter-divine boys come of age in close proximity could cause trouble. They were fostered out far and wide, to kings and peasants alike. One or more of the PCs discovers their lineage, and mighty deeds ensue.
Just sons? :cautious:
 


dave2008

Legend
Taking a look through the current Magic set for Theros, I suspect that maybe some resources were used to double as art for cards and character concepts for this book.
I haven't seen the cards, but that would be my guess as well. Magic Cards have great art and it would look in a D&D format.
 




JPL

Adventurer
Just sons, according to the version of the myth I read. No reason that has to be the case for adapting the myth for this purpose. 49 brothers and one PC sister would be interesting, as would be a Son of Hercules who was just a surprisingly jacked philosopher, like Chidi on “The Good Place.”
 

The term for Heracles's children is "Heracleidae".

I miss the pantheons of pre-islamic Middle East (Sumerian, Babilonians,...) as potential antagonists of th Olympians.

Theros needs more state-cities as factions.

The plane of Tarkir was changed by a time-traveler. This means this could happen again, allowing some retcon in the crossover multiverse.
 

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