D&D General Theros Reforged

[Zardnaar]

Been rereading Theros again and an opportunity for a Greek themed campaign has come up.

Anyway it's a bit bare boned for what i think of as a Greek themed game. You have not Athens not Sparta and that's about it.

I'm thinking of using perhaps real map of Greece bit not setting it on Earth or perhaps a demiplabe. R16 type game if it happens in a history book it may be present here.

Basic idea I have do far us a fate of Atlantis campaign drawing heavily on the Assassins Creed Odyssey game.

Big bads are Titanspawn (Giants) and Titans The Atlanteans are the precursors while a lot of ruins will be Not Mycenean (Milenians?).

Other human cultures will exist eg Not Egypt (Nithia?), Not Carthage and not Persia.

More human centric traditional demi near humans are fine monster type races not so much.

Twist the gods may be a lie/ascended Atlanteans and the primordial Titans want to escape and they're pissed. Throw an asteroid at the planet type pissed.

 

[jgsugden]

I don't know if it will help you or not, but there is a decent 3rd party adventure called Odyssey of the Dragonlords. It is Game of Thrones meets Clash of the Titans. The design echoes some of your thoughts. I'm not a fan of adventure paths as I find they're too constraining, but I think the setting and elements of this path are interesting and could be mined to create a great sandbox setting - and it was one of the least constrained adventure paths I've played.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't know if it will help you or not, but there is a decent 3rd party adventure called Odyssey of the Dragonlords. It is Game of Thrones meets Clash of the Titans. The design echoes some of your thoughts. I'm not a fan of adventure paths as I find they're too constraining, but I think the setting and elements of this path are interesting and could be mined to create a great sandbox setting - and it was one of the least constrained adventure paths I've played.

I've heard mixed things about that one and my budget is around $0.

Basically I have to use what I've got or can write. Theros, 2E Age of Heroes book, many many adventures etc.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't think the Theros book really has enough to run any sort of campaign!

And Dragonlords is very much it's own thing.

Sorry, not very helpful. I think I would be inclined to start from scratch, using real world maps and the actual Greek myths as source material.

 

[Sulicius]

Been rereading Theros again and an opportunity for a Greek themed campaign has come up.

Anyway it's a bit bare boned for what i think of as a Greek themed game. You have not Athens not Sparta and that's about it.

I'm thinking of using perhaps real map of Greece bit not setting it on Earth or perhaps a demiplabe. R16 type game if it happens in a history book it may be present here.

Basic idea I have do far us a fate of Atlantis campaign drawing heavily on the Assassins Creed Odyssey game.

Big bads are Titanspawn (Giants) and Titans The Atlanteans are the precursors while a lot of ruins will be Not Mycenean (Milenians?).

Other human cultures will exist eg Not Egypt (Nithia?), Not Carthage and not Persia.

More human centric traditional demi near humans are fine monster type races not so much.

Twist the gods may be a lie/ascended Atlanteans and the primordial Titans want to escape and they're pissed. Throw an asteroid at the planet type pissed.

As someone who has had a great time using the Theros book, I am surprised you haven’t seen much potential in it. The book is filled with great advice, DM tools, hooks, myths and monsters.

What do you want help with?

Do you want the campaign to be a heroic myth? Or more grounded?

Do you want to have it set in Theros, or in our own ancient Greece?

Do you want the players to be chosen champions of the gods? Demigods?

What level are you planning on running? Starting at level 3 can give the players a good start for being heroes, while ending in tier 4 might break the setting’s power level.

 

[Sulicius]

I don't think the Theros book really has enough to run any sort of campaign!

And Dragonlords is very much it's own thing.

Sorry, not very helpful. I think I would be inclined to start from scratch, using real world maps and the actual Greek myths as source material.

Have you read Mythic odyssey’s of Theros? It’s one of the best setting books WotC had made. It had enough to run many campaigns.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Have you read Mythic odyssey’s of Theros?

Yes. It's the worst, most useless, WotC book, and setting book by anyone, I own.

 

[Sulicius]

Yes. It's the worst, most useless, WotC book, and setting book by anyone, I own.

To each their own, of course! What makes you say that?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

To each their own, of course! What makes you say that?

It has practically no "setting"! Just a couple of dull cities, without maps or adventure-relevant detail; there is no attempt to represent ancient world technology; The gods are less interesting detached from their real world inspirations. The mythic monsters are okay, but there are too few of them.

 

[Li Shenron]

Basically I have to use what I've got or can write. Theros, 2E Age of Heroes book, many many adventures etc.

It's a good plan, you also have a good bunch of monsters in the MM itself which are very much inspired by Greek mythology, and don't forget to take stuff straight out of Homer's Iliad and Odissey You can also find plenty of Greek myth information just on wikipedia!

 

[Zardnaar]

It's a good plan, you also have a good bunch of monsters in the MM itself which are very much inspired by Greek mythology, and don't forget to take stuff straight out of Homer's Iliad and Odissey You can also find plenty of Greek myth information just on wikipedia!

That parts fine. It's Greek place names I'm gonna rip off from Theros, Hollow World and real Greece.

Everyone knows Sparta and Athens but locris, phocis etc not so much.

 

[Sulicius]

It has practically no "setting"! Just a couple of dull cities, without maps or adventure-relevant detail; there is no attempt to represent ancient world technology; The gods are less interesting detached from their real world inspirations. The mythic monsters are okay, but there are too few of them.

To me it was all I needed to run my best campaign yet in a distinct setting, even though I agree with your points!

This is the first time I used a published setting instead of homebrewing everything, and it really suited me.

Every time I need some inspiration or some idea I can open the book and find a gem.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

To me it was all I needed to run my best campaign yet in a distinct setting, even though I agree with your points!

This is the first time I used a published setting instead of homebrewing everything, and it really suited me.

Every time I need some inspiration or some idea I can open the book and find a gem.

I don't need inspiration, I have plenty of that myself. I need detail - maps, NPCs, equipment lists, etc.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't need inspiration, I have plenty of that myself. I need detail - maps, NPCs, equipment lists, etc.

I need a map. Currently looking at the Assassins Creed:Odyssey map.

I've found Phoenicians and Greek name generators (with help) and I know a Greek poster elsewhere who has helped with some obscure names. He's disappointed I'm using fantasy names vs historical. Just in case not Athens gets blown up.

Probably gonna set it west of Not Delphi. There's some large towns I can work with, a small city that was a lot bigger then than now.

Oracle of Apollo, Sanctuary of Athena and Titanspawn to the north west.

 

[eyeheartawk]

There's Mazes and Minotaurs.

Here is the link to the complete game, they offer it for free.

 

[GuyBoy]

Just an idea:
Have you thought of setting the game in around (not) 750 BCE. It could even utilise not-Homer as a key NPC.
That way, you’re around 400+ years after the collapse of the Mycenaean civilisation and the ensuing Greek “dark ages” and just at the birth of the Classical Greek era, but not constrained by the Athens and Sparta of the Persian Wars period ( which is still 250 years in the future)
That gives you much more of a blank canvas on which to paint your creativity, with minotaurs lurking in dark caverns, Pegasi flying the skies and dryads in the olive groves.
There was a major seismic event in what is now Israel in c750 BCE, known as Amos’ Earthquake, so they could be played for all sorts of fantasy scenarios.
Trojan War items, such as the bow of Odysseus, would make great quest items, and you could have the early stirrings of a kingdom across the sea to the west founded by two werewolves named Romulus and Remus, which was 753 BCE according to legend.

Anyway, good luck with the game

 

[Zardnaar]

Just an idea:
Have you thought of setting the game in around (not) 750 BCE. It could even utilise not-Homer as a key NPC.
That way, you’re around 400+ years after the collapse of the Mycenaean civilisation and the ensuing Greek “dark ages” and just at the birth of the Classical Greek era, but not constrained by the Athens and Sparta of the Persian Wars period ( which is still 250 years in the future)
That gives you much more of a blank canvas on which to paint your creativity, with minotaurs lurking in dark caverns, Pegasi flying the skies and dryads in the olive groves.
There was a major seismic event in what is now Israel in c750 BCE, known as Amos’ Earthquake, so they could be played for all sorts of fantasy scenarios.
Trojan War items, such as the bow of Odysseus, would make great quest items, and you could have the early stirrings of a kingdom across the sea to the west founded by two werewolves named Romulus and Remus, which was 753 BCE according to legend.

Anyway, good luck with the game

Well I have thought of a side trek to not Rome and have an NPC say something like "barbarians they'll never amount to much".

It's more inspiration atm I'm not planning on fantasy versions of historical events to much beyond 50 odd years after not Persian invasion.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well I have thought of a side trek to not Rome and have an NPC say something like "barbarians they'll never amount to much".

What will they ever do for us?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I ran a short campaign in Theros, and my group loved it! I kinda liked that it was Greco-Roman with the serial numbers filed off. I was free to be inspired by the real world, but not limited by it.

 

[dave2008]

Yes. It's the worst, most useless, WotC book, and setting book by anyone, I own.

I can't really comment on whether or not it is a good "setting" book, but it is one of the WotC books I get the most use out off. I like the take on monsters and champions and gods.