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]

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.”

Or, you know, the myth could be wrong and it's 50 children, and the Spartan jackass, or whoever, who popularized it just assumed that Hercules' mega-sperm could only produce bro quasi-deities.

The basic idea is still incredibly sound, though. You could do anything from traditional Greek mythic tales to Highlander to superhero comics with this starting point.

 

[JPL]

And I guess this particular setting may not have Hercules as such, but yeah, lots of angles you could do. I figure anyone walking around at first level with any ability score of 17-18 will be at least rumored to be the Mighty Son/Daughter of SOMEONE Divine/Demidivine.

 

[Zardnaar]

I had the Celts one. They were all bound in faux green leather.

We had the Age of Heroes one which was Ancient Greece.

I've only now started running historical themed games. Currently doing Egypt, but I'll put Vikings and Greece up for options next.

 

[Bupp]

I do like some Magic flavor in my D&D. I'm pulling elements of Magic cards in my home brew world. My 19 year old daughter runs a game for her friends. She describes it as the Twilight Saga set in Innistrad.

5e-card-a-day creates D&D 5E stat blocks of Magic cards. It's a fun resource.

 

[slobster]

I'll probably repurpose a stack of draft chaff creatures (common and uncommon cards worth pennies) as a random encounter deck for a Theros dungeon I'm planning once the setting comes out. Let the party draw every time they enter a new area, and then put the accompanying miniatures down on the table and start up the next fight! Might mix in some spells for random traps as well.

I also know some people make creature tokens by punching 1 inch circles out of chaff cards. Looking forward to other ways to use my magic stuff in my D&D hobbies!

 

[gyor]

Alternate alternate approach: Dwayne Johnson this thing. His recent Hercules movie had a pretty impressive party of adventures. I don’t know how this setting will address the prevalence of demigods, but this movie had one angle: some people may be rumored to be demigods, and may actively spread those rumors, and once they hit 15th level or so, who’s gonna disagree?

"The Demigods of Theros are beings with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank.

The five known Demigods are:

• Anax
• Callaphe
• Daxos
• Renata
• Tymaret

"

 

[slobster]

"The Demigods of Theros are beings with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank.*

* or a dead mortal restored to sentience and hired to wave Heliod's (Zeus) banner to troll Elspeth.

 

[Bupp]

Heliod also has a touch of Pelor the Burning Hate vibe.

 

[gyor]

Minotaurs and Centaurs are already in Guildmaster's Guild to Ravnica as PC races, so I can see them as definitely getting reprinted for such a setting. I think Satyrs are a reasonable assumption as a new PC race.

It doesn't surprise me that this would be a D&D setting based on all of the Unearthed Arcana subclasses we've been getting in the past year. The Wildemount subclasses have been unexpected as I don't think any of those ever appeared in an Unearthed Arcana.

Tritons are also a thing in Theros so a reprint of the VGTM Tritons is very likely. Stats are very compatible.

 

[gyor]

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.

There are 3 major human cities, 3 smaller Undead cities, 1 Major secret Minotaur city, Leonin Den (Leonin city), and a couple of Sunken cities that might be inhabited by Tritons.

Plus two major Centaur Bands, Satyr tribes, ect....