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!

 

[gyor]

Things we could expect from this.

1. Ordeals of the Gods (there are 15 gods in this setting, not counting Xenagos).
2. Satyrs, gorgons, minotaurs, leonins, merfolks.
3. A couple of thematic subclasses.
4. Realm of Nyx (gods and Nyxborn realm)
5. Underworld realm (returned, titans)
6. Greek tragedy.
7. Three main cities (Athenas based, Sparta based, Amazon based).
8. Hydras and other greek monsters.

I will pay attention for the kind of content this adds.

They rescently added a few more cities including a hidden Minotaur city.

 

[cbwjm]

Things we could expect from this.

1. Ordeals of the Gods (there are 15 gods in this setting, not counting Xenagos).
2. Satyrs, gorgons, minotaurs, leonins, merfolks.
3. A couple of thematic subclasses.
4. Realm of Nyx (gods and Nyxborn realm)
5. Underworld realm (returned, titans)
6. Greek tragedy.
7. Three main cities (Athenas based, Sparta based, Amazon based).
8. Hydras and other greek monsters.

I will pay attention for the kind of content this adds.

One thing I'm not sure of is minotaurs as a playable race. In the lore for Theros they're bestial cannibalistic monsters, not really part of the societies living in Theros. I do wonder if they will make returned as a playable race, perhaps with modifiers based on the original race.

 

[slobster]

One thing I'm not sure of is minotaurs as a playable race. In the lore for Theros they're bestial cannibalistic monsters, not really part of the societies living in Theros. I do wonder if they will make returned as a playable race, perhaps with modifiers based on the original race.

They'll follow the drow trajectory: a race of bestial person-eating monsters with barely any society in the lore, that seems to be made up entirely of good-hearted iconoclasts seeking to conquer their nature and endure the prejudices of other races when you look at actual PC portrayals of them.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Sign me up for this and a Kamigawa book, too.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

It kinda looks like Arkadia.

Like, the cover looks HEAVILY based on the Arkadia cover.


Maybe Wizards needs to have a conversation with their art director, and the cover artist.

 

[vpuigdoller]

It's funny we got this leaked. With the latest UA there was a second survey about the state of the game, in that survey I got a question if I wanted more Ravnica style MGT books and one for Crossover material like Rick and Morty or Stranger Things.

 

[Gradine]

It kinda looks like Arkadia.

Like, the cover looks HEAVILY based on the Arkadia cover.


Maybe Wizards needs to have a conversation with their art director, and the cover artist.

I mean, who would ever think of putting a hoplite fighting a hydra on a Greek-inspired fantasy RPG book

 

[Dire Bare]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that if I wanted to experience a MTG setting, I would play MTG.

That's cool. But WotC isn't making this for you.

Why Theros?

Like, from what I understand (and MTG players please chime in to tell me I'm right or wrong here), isn't Theros as a setting and the sets that came out featuring it not even close to the most popular MTG settings? Seems like more of a mandated brand synergy thing that got handed down from on high because Theros stuff is coming out on the MTG side.

Why Theros? Why not?

Theros is awesome! A wonderful Greek-inspired fantasy setting.

Theros is the setting for the current Magic expansion. Just picked up some boosters earlier today.

Ravnica is the most popular Magic setting, and we've already got that. Is Theros the 2nd most popular, or the 100th most popular? Who cares, it's a great setting that Magic fans clearly enjoy, as the current set is the fourth one in the setting.

Greek-inspired D&D seems to be all the rage right now with Arkadia, Hellenistika, and Odyssey of the Dragonlonrds. Bring it on!

 

[JPL]

I’m gonna Steve Reeves this thing. No armor, no pants, everyone has to talk in a rich baritone.

 

[jayoungr]

Why Theros?

Like, from what I understand (and MTG players please chime in to tell me I'm right or wrong here), isn't Theros as a setting and the sets that came out featuring it not even close to the most popular MTG settings?

In addition to the ideas listed above, I would guess that part of it is that some of the more popular MTG settings have already been done as "Plane Shift" documents. In fact, I wonder if it is the popularity of those documents that convinced Wizards to try a full book for the next one.

Also, Theros is probably one of the settings with the greatest potential for extra player-facing crunch. I've recently been studying Ixalan, for example, and most of the races are identical or very similar to stuff in the PHB. The Ravnica book was mostly aimed at DMs, so they probably wanted a more player-oriented book for their next outing.