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!

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Awesome, thanks for the link!

I would note that this is basically the "how D&D sees things" explanation. Within the canon of MtG (so coming at it from the other side), the planeshift spell is flatly impossible (right now, retcons notwithstanding) as confirmed by official word of Rosewater several times. So no method of travelling the planes other than planeswalking can exist in Magic lore (well Eldrazi...and the planar bridge...look it's like comic book physics, things get complicated). Any person who tried to planeshift, other than a planeswalker, would according to established MtG lore be unmade by the Blind Eternities.

That's all solid MtG canon, basically as solid as it gets in a fiction primarily depicted through cards and sharing dozens of authors down several decades. But a lot of the things taken for granted in D&D plane lore, like the simple ability of literally anything to cross the planes without the direct involvement of a planeswalker spark, would break the whole MtG setting on a pretty basic level (see nerd rage about a planeswalker taking his dog for a walk).

Now all that said, it would be fine by me if they relaxed all those restrictions in Magic and went with what Crawford is saying here! At the very least, it would mean we could the Weatherlight back and travelling the planes.

And of course GMs are free to do whatever they want in their own games.

Oooo I didn't know this! That has interesting lore implications. I'd like to read that statement if you still know where it is.

I think the way I'd interpret this, is that the Planes of MtG must have a similar "disconnect" to the Great Wheel that Eberron has, but instead of the Crystal Sphere it is the Blind Eternities. So like Eberron, although the Great Wheel exists, its rules have no impact on MtG planes as they are cut off by the Blind Eternities.

Of course, the DM can break the rules however they want for their game. Crawford specifically mentions how a god like Asmodeus would be excited by the prospect of more souls from a cut off world like Eberron. I'm sure he or some other god would love to pierce the Blind Eternities to get a foothold in worlds like Ravnica or Theros.

 

[dave2008]

Oooo I didn't know this! That has interesting lore implications. I'd like to read that statement if you still know where it is.

It is in this post up thread. It is not a written statement, it is J. Crawford's explanation in a Dragon Talk video.

 

[dave2008]

Awesome, thanks for the link!

I would note that this is basically the "how D&D sees things" explanation. Within the canon of MtG (so coming at it from the other side), the planeshift spell is flatly impossible (right now, retcons notwithstanding) as confirmed by official word of Rosewater several times. So no method of travelling the planes other than planeswalking can exist in Magic lore (well Eldrazi...and the planar bridge...look it's like comic book physics, things get complicated). Any person who tried to planeshift, other than a planeswalker, would according to established MtG lore be unmade by the Blind Eternities.

That's all solid MtG canon, basically as solid as it gets in a fiction primarily depicted through cards and sharing dozens of authors down several decades. But a lot of the things taken for granted in D&D plane lore, like the simple ability of literally anything to cross the planes without the direct involvement of a planeswalker spark, would break the whole MtG setting on a pretty basic level (see nerd rage about a planeswalker taking his dog for a walk).

Now all that said, it would be fine by me if they relaxed all those restrictions in Magic and went with what Crawford is saying here! At the very least, it would mean we could the Weatherlight back and travelling the planes.

And of course GMs are free to do whatever they want in their own games.

From a MtG wiki it seems powerful beings can survive the Blind Eterneties:
"Only planeswalkers, and the most powerful, godlike beings can enter the Blind Eternities and survive its rough environment. The planeswalker Jaya Ballard recalls that even ghosts may die in the Blind Eternities."

The canon assumption is not quite so air-tight it seems. I could see a lot of ways to manipulate that from the D&D side at least.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I'll add that Eberron (which is also mentioned in this video) provides good explanations for how Theros/Ravnica fall under the Great Wheel in practice. Essentially, setting like the Forgotten Realms have residents that fully understand how the Great Wheel works, and how to move from world to world, and plane to plane. Other settings like Eberron (and Theros) don't; they either think there world is the only world, and can't comprehend leaving it (in the case of Eberron), or they think that their world has limited options of exiting (in the case of Planeswalkers from Theros).

In the case of Eberron, Crawford explained that although Eberron is a world in the Great Wheel, because it is cut off there is no interaction with it. But the possibility of it reconnecting always exists, and the dangers/opportunities that go with that. Same goes with Theros/Ravnica, though I don't think they're actually cut off and more likely just world that are too small or remote to be noticed by the deities of the Great Wheel.

Eh, that explanation seems a bit parochial. Eberron is cut off from the Great Wheel in the same sense that the worlds of the Radiant Triangle (Oerth, Toril, and Krynn) are cut off from the Great Orrery. Eberron exists on its own Prime Material Plane so, theoretically, there may be other worlds that share its cosmology.

 

[dave2008]

Didn't they say in the blurb that Volo is in this new book? A book about a Magic setting? It seems pretty obvious to me that the two are crossing streams. That could lead to "total protonic reversal. But crossing streams is like Russian Roulette, protonic reversal may never happen."

This the internet, I am sure that it will piss some folks off and cause gnashing of the teeth. WotC owns the IP, they will make that decision on what is profitable. You can bet Hasbro is encouraging it. They live and die by the all mighty dollar.

We don't know for sure it Volo is actually in the book, or just part of the marketing effort. So it remains to be seen. But as noted earlier in this thread (or another on of the threads on the subject), Crawford explained that the MtG worlds exist in the D&D multiverse, they just don't know it. They are so remote or cut off (like Eberron) that they have no real contact with the Great Wheel.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

It is in this post up thread. It is not a written statement, it is J. Crawford's explanation in a Dragon Talk video.

I think you just linked me to my original post? I was more curious about Mark Rosewater's statement on the Plane Shift spell.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Eh, that explanation seems a bit parochial. Eberron is cut off from the Great Wheel in the same sense that the worlds of the Radiant Triangle (Oerth, Toril, and Krynn) are cut off from the Great Orrery. Eberron exists on its own Prime Material Plane so, theoretically, there may be other worlds that share its cosmology.

I mean, one could interpret it that way. But I think Crawford is much more heavily implying that Eberron's cosmology is unique to Eberron, and that it is essentially a much smaller "cosmology within a cosmology." The Great Wheel in his explanation is always the default cosmology, and why it is so heavily centered in the PHB and DMG.

 

[dave2008]

I think you just linked me to my original post? I was more curious about Mark Rosewater's statement on the Plane Shift spell.

Yep, I figured that out to late.

 

[slobster]

From a MtG wiki it seems powerful beings can survive the Blind Eterneties:
"Only planeswalkers, and the most powerful, godlike beings can enter the Blind Eternities and survive its rough environment. The planeswalker Jaya Ballard recalls that even ghosts may die in the Blind Eternities."

The canon assumption is not quite so air-tight it seems. I could see a lot of ways to manipulate that from the D&D side at least.

"The most powerful godlike beings" in this case refers specifically to the Eldrazi, a group of beings that are basically the Cthulu old ones of the setting, beyond time, beyond space, living in the spaces between the spaces of pure madness, etc.

Keep in mind you are reading a wiki, which has some tolerance for error. As an example, funnily enough the wiki uses the term "godlike", but in MtG gods are specifically and explicitly unable to cross the planes! So take that entry with a grain of salt.

As to not being air-tight from the D&D perspective, oh yeah totally. You could fluff whatever you want in D&D, up to and including that planeswalkers are just people able to naturally planeswalk, but all the normal planeshifting type magic works fine on Ravnica, Theros, etc. I'm just talking here about official Magic canon and how it has treated planeswalking up to this point.

 

[dave2008]

"The most powerful godlike beings" in this case refers specifically to the Eldrazi, a group of beings that are basically the Cthulu old ones of the setting, beyond time, beyond space, living in the spaces between the spaces of pure madness, etc.

Keep in mind you are reading a wiki, which has some tolerance for error. As an example, funnily enough the wiki uses the term "godlike", but in MtG gods are specifically and explicitly unable to cross the planes! So take that entry with a grain of salt.

As to not being air-tight from the D&D perspective, oh yeah totally. You could fluff whatever you want in D&D, up to and including that planeswalkers are just people able to naturally planeswalk, but all the normal planeshifting type magic works fine on Ravnica, Theros, etc. I'm just talking here about official Magic canon and how it has treated planeswalking up to this point.

No, I much prefer the spells don't work, I just would allow "my" versions of gods to pass through the BE. I like the idea of the BE separating the MtG planes from the rest of the "wheel."

Heck, I might even add that to my cosmological map. It makes for a great place for the far realm (more so with the Eldrazi connection). I could see it, conceptually, as one side Great Wheel : BE/Far Realm : MtG Planes on the other side. Rosewater's explanation of the BE jives with my view of the Far Realm pretty well too.