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!

 

[slobster]

This is all interesting.

So how does the Puzzle & Dragons Magic the Gathering collaboration fit into the M:TG multiverse? I'm pretty certain that when I reached Nicol Bolas at the end of the Collab Dungeon he went "I smell... Planeswalker!"... so the PuzzDra player is canonically a Planeswalker? (EDIT: no wait, I think it was Lord of the Pit who was the boss)

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what that is. My guess is that the explanation is "it's not canon, it was just for fun," but I really have no idea.

Like there is a new mobile game that uses MtG brand stuff for basically a tower defense game called Manastrike. It's framing device is that it's sort of a "Danger Room" simulation that the big bad genius dragon Nicol Bolas runs in his prison (of course he was imprisoned, big bads don't die permanently!) that lets him run through scenarios to plot his inevitable return. That lets the game use units from all across the planes and characters from throughout MtG, but not have to deal with the lore implications of them all being in the same place and alive at the same time.

I imagine we'll see more and more kludges like that as they cross-promote MtG into other media and with other IPs.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

But the Phlogiston functions as a pretty good way of seperating worlds within the Material Plane, and can be diverse enough to hide worlds like Theros or Eberron from the eyes of D&D gods.

"The planet of Eberron is the heart of its own Material Plane." - E:RftLW pg 228

 

[Undrave]

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what that is. My guess is that the explanation is "it's not canon, it was just for fun," but I really have no idea.

Like there is a new mobile game that uses MtG brand stuff for basically a tower defense game called Manastrike. It's framing device is that it's sort of a "Danger Room" simulation that the big bad genius dragon Nicol Bolas runs in his prison (of course he was imprisoned, big bads don't die permanently!) that lets him run through scenarios to plot his inevitable return. That lets the game use units from all across the planes and characters from throughout MtG, but not have to deal with the lore implications of them all being in the same place and alive at the same time.

I imagine we'll see more and more kludges like that as they cross-promote MtG into other media and with other IPs.

Hahaha probably. Puzzle & Dragons is a popular Match 3 puzzle/RPG hybrid by Japanese company GungHo. The game has a ton of collaboration event, including one with Magic the Gathering. Just to give you an exemple my Monster Box (playable units) includes characters M:TG (I have a Serra Angel!), Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, DC Comics, DC movies, Netflix' Voltron, Hello Kitty, Slayers, Monster Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, Final Fantasy, King of Fighters and I might have a Yu-gi-oh! character too... and I skipped some collabs too and some never made it outside of Japan.

And that's not counting the PuzzDra original characters, with a large amount of them based on various mythologies (Japanese gods, Greek gods, Roman gods, Celtic gods, Mesopotamian gods, Christian angels, Demons, Nordic gods, Chinese legendary figures, Egyptian gods, legendary samurai etc).

So it was for fun, but it's funny to imagine a Planewalker stepping into the world of Hello Kitty or something or fighting alongside Voltron, Seto Kaiba and Batman.

Also note that PuzzDra also has five 'colours' : Water, Fire, Wood, Dark and Light (aka Blue, Red, Green, Purple/Black, Yellow/Light) + Heart orbs for healing.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Unfortunately I never got into 2e lore (skiped 2e and 3e). I don't quite understand what the Phlogiston is other than it is very flammable and the word always reminds me of Phlegm.

It's time for a lesson... in Spelljammer!

Essentially, each main world in D&D has its own solar system. But unlike in real life, where space just keeps going until you hit another solar system, a D&D solar system is enclosed in a sphere. Beyond that sphere is the phogiston, which unlike space has this flammable substance that can be used as a river or road to other spheres by Spelljammer.

In the Spelljammer module Under the Dark Fist, the Vodoni Empire travels a fleet of ships across the Phlogiston in an attempt to conquer Krynn, Greyhawk and Realmspace. The three united and the Emperor Vulkaran was killed.

Anyway, Crawford (and Keith Baker himself reiterated this on the forum here) that Eberron exists on the Prime Material Plane. My assumption is that it is located somewhere in the Phlogiston, but not in close enough proximity to another sphere to ever be noticed by a Spelljamming craft.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

"The planet of Eberron is the heart of its own Material Plane." - E:RftLW pg 228

From that same page;

Eberron is part of the Great Wheel of the multiverse, as described in the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Ma ster's Guide. At the same time, it is fundamentally apart from the rest of the Great Wheel, sealed off from the other planes even while it's encircled by its own wheeling cosmology. Eberron's unique station in the multiverse is an important aspect of the world: its planes have profound and shifting influences on the Material Plane, and it is sheltered from the influences and machinations of gods and other powers elsewhere on the Great Wheel.

The planet of Eberron is the heart of its own Material Plane. It is surrounded by the Ring of Siberys. Beyond this band of dragonshards, thirteen moons orbit the world. To date, no creature from Eberron has explored the moons, and none can say whether they are lifeless rocks or thriving worlds. Some sages believe that the moons are connected to the planes, or that they might even be physical extensions of the planes, but the truth of these assertions remains unknown.

No other planets have been discovered within Eberron's Material Plane. The underworld of Khyber, however, contains a host of demiplanes, tiny pockets of altered reality. As such, venturing beneath the surface of Eberron can lead you to a network of caverns and passages, and if you find the right passage, it can take you to fantastic and deadly places inhabited by fiends, aberrations, and other children of Khyber.

What it sounds like to me is that Eberron is in a smaller Material Plane, that is still located within the Prime Material Plane, but is cut off. The text leaves open the possibility of there being other worlds within Eberron's cosmology, but none are detailed. It is however quite explicit that Eberron does fall under the Great Wheel, but that being cut off makes the Wheel have no impact on it in practical terms.

 

[dave2008]

It's time for a lesson... in Spelljammer!

Essentially, each main world in D&D has its own solar system. But unlike in real life, where space just keeps going until you hit another solar system, a D&D solar system is enclosed in a sphere. Beyond that sphere is the phogiston, which unlike space has this flammable substance that can be used as a river or road to other spheres by Spelljammer.

In the Spelljammer module Under the Dark Fist, the Vodoni Empire travels a fleet of ships across the Phlogiston in an attempt to conquer Krynn, Greyhawk and Realmspace. The three united and the Emperor Vulkaran was killed.

View attachment 119097

Anyway, Crawford (and Keith Baker himself reiterated this on the forum here) that Eberron exists on the Prime Material Plane. My assumption is that it is located somewhere in the Phlogiston, but not in close enough proximity to another sphere to ever be noticed by a Spelljamming craft.

Thanks for the tune up, I recall reading something like that before. Not how I would do personally. Was there reason to create the Phogiston and crystal spheres and not just use the void of space? Every time I hear it I ask myself: why? I guess that is the reason I never quite remember as I can't think of a reason to do it that way. I mean you can have magic flying ships in space just as well can't you?

 

[Beleriphon]

What it sounds like to me is that Eberron is in a smaller Material Plane, that is still located within the Prime Material Plane, but is cut off. The text leaves open the possibility of there being other worlds within Eberron's cosmology, but none are detailed. It is however quite explicit that Eberron does fall under the Great Wheel, but that being cut off makes the Wheel have no impact on it in practical terms.

It Rising also has some stuff about planar travel, in theory it is possible but the default assumption is that it is not possible and has never been done without the GM choosing to do so.

 

[dave2008]

It Rising also has some stuff about planar travel, in theory it is possible but the default assumption is that it is not possible and has never been done without the GM choosing to do so.

I believe that canonically someone from Eberron is living in Sigil. I remember that being mentioned somewhere.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Thanks for the tune up, I recall reading something like that before. Not how I would do personally. Was there reason to create the Phogiston and crystal spheres and not just use the void of space? Every time I hear it I ask myself: why? I guess that is the reason I never quite remember as I can't think of a reason to do it that way. I mean you can have magic flying ships in space just as well can't you?

There isn't an exact reason why phlogiston was chosen instead of just space... but it has a lot to do with D&D trying to differentiate itself from normal sci-fi with spaceships, and instead by a much more fantasy Ptolemaic-inspired space travel. It's got a lot of parallels to Discworld, and tries to be different than just "you can breathe in space."

The phlogiston practically is just a river of liquid making travel between some spheres easier. So I assume in Eberron's case, there simply isn't a phlogiston path to its sphere.

I believe that canonically someone from Eberron is living in Sigil. I remember that being mentioned somewhere.

Yeah there seem to be some very isolated instances of people getting out, like Crawford's gnome. But the "discovery" of worlds beyond Eberron has certainly not reached wide knowledge in Eberron, which I believe it has at least among the knowledgeable in a world like FR.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Anyway, Crawford (and Keith Baker himself reiterated this on the forum here) that Eberron exists on the Prime Material Plane. My assumption is that it is located somewhere in the Phlogiston, but not in close enough proximity to another sphere to ever be noticed by a Spelljamming craft.

Sure, you could play it that way, or it could be one of the Alternate Prime Material Planes that have been a part of the game since the 1e Manual of the Planes.