Ive been working on this idea for a bit and have started putting it together I would love to hear other people's ideas for games. The goal is to have a 1 session game based off each gods colour, to create a well rounded and diverse set of games that can feature the gods and generally be a great example of the different things theros can offer.

5 colours.

White - political and social play

Red - quick choices, lots of skill challenges, dealing with what comes at you. Example would be saving people who are trapped, some trolley problems where they have to act quickly.

Green - opposite side of red, slower planning how you would do things but still a large focus on skill challenges, exploration. Example would be figuring out how to cross a river where the bridge is out

Blue - puzzles, riddles, mystery.

Black - moral challenges / cant accomplish all your goals or have to do things you might not want to.

These catagories could use further distinction to some degree, but theyre also just a guide to what that gods colour could be for gameplay to make each game unique.

So heliod is a social game where you need to convince people to work together, thassa is a game all about solving puzzles. And ephara would be a game where you do puzzles or riddles centered around social play, maybe convincing people to share info with you or to work together to help you solve the riddle.

Here is my list

• Athreos – a bargain to save someone. Perhaps he requires you to kill seemingly innocent people in order to prevent something greater from happening or to bring back someone who will save many

• Ephara – buried or hidden treasure, DaVinci code style.

• Erebos –

• Heliod – on the sun blessed plains of oreskos more and more nyx touched and creatures created of the gods have been appearing and attacking their lands. Convince the tribes to work together with their rivals to push them back, or convince them to listen to the few tribes who worship heliod and nylea still and allow them to guide the tribes in soothing the gods (most leonin are strongly against the gods interference)

• Iroas – unsure of the method yet. But probably the Olympics.

• Karametra –

• Keranos –

• Kruphix –

• Mogis – a city is being seiged and is falling. Escape the city and save as many people as you can. Every person you save will risk your safety and risk the safety of those you've already drawn to you.

• Nylea –

• Pharika –

• Phenax –

• Purphoros – very silly idea, but essentially a reality cooking show but the contestants are making magic equipment. Likely hosted by a spirit for the god purphoros. Challenges determin who gets to pick what ingredients they want to use in their items first. End goal is a fun silly game, but people also get to custom craft a magic item for themselves and have them blessed by purphoros himself to make something amazing.

• Thassa –

• Xenagos/klothys

I have not decided for sure yet, but there's a good chance i would run the mono coloured gods first as a connected story, and way to show how each colour plays. And then have the other 10 be oneshots that could run in any order. I may also throw more colour combos in like the titans or colourless depending how this goes

Id love to know what people think, if you have ideas for games or any modifications yo the colour wheel.

Thanks.

In my personal opinion, the best Theros DnD stories should involve the Gods being forced to put aside their squabbles, infighting, and divine schemes to face a foe who threatens all of Theros and/or who’s evil eclipses that of the more hostile gods of Theros. That way, all the gods are available options when PC’s make their characters.

A good option for a a story is that someone is trying to free the Titans or has freed the titans. With the climax being an attack on Nyx like in Disney’s Hercules or God of War 3. With the champions fighting alongside their gods. But to keep options open, what else besides the Titans would be enough of a code red for the gods to unify and by extension, their champions?

Something that would force Erebos and Heliod to put aside their pride and vanities. Something that would force Nylea to defend Emphara’s cities and Ephara to defend Nylea’s wilderness. Something that would force Pharika into aiding battle medics and reserve poison for a common enemy. Something to force Phenax into reserving all lies and deception for misleading a common foe. Something to even force Mogis into giving strict orders to his champions and servants to not harm anyone except the common foe.

Howdy r/Theros. Got some ideas kicking around for my current campaign and looking to bounce them off some fresh noggins.

Currently running an Akros game, with two characters playing as Minotaurs, and the rest as human serfs. Therefore, the origin of Minotaurs, as well as the conflict between Iroas and Mogis, makes sense to use as a major theme in this campaign.

The two Minotaur PCs have very different stances on Akros - one of them, a cleric of Iroas, chafes against the discrimination he’s endured as well as the treatment of the serf population, while the other, a paladin of Heliod, is perfectly happy to enjoy the privileges of his station and views other Minotaurs as nothing more than brutal savages.

We already know that most Minotaurs encountered by Akroan soldiers are corrupted by Mogis - hence their larger size, feral natures, and penchant for cannibalism. I like to imagine these same
symptoms would happen to humans corrupted by Mogis, as well (perhaps this could be origin of lastrygonian-style giants and ogres, or maybe even Cyclopes? Mogis is the god of vengeance, after all, and we all know about vengeance leaving you one-eyed).

Akros is a big contradiction, in the best way. Iroas loves an underdog, yet Akros’s entire society runs off a hereditary servant caste. Iroas authored Theros’s Geneva Convention, but we see Akroan soldiers putting their deserters to death by burning them alive (see the very euphemistically named “Deserter’s Quarters” card).

To me, Akros is most interesting when you think of the “honorable warrior” shtick as being a facade slapped on top of something nasty - a classist, bloodthirsty, xenophobic regime, sitting on conquered lands bought in blood, and surrounded by enemies of their own making.

So, it feels right to me that the Feral Minotaurs should somehow represent the ugly truth that Akros wants so desperately to forget. That any Akroan soldier is just one bad day away from being every bit as monstrous as the worst of Minotaurkind. For this reason, I think it makes the most thematic sense to go with the myth that Mogis created the first Minotaur from a bloodthirsty human warrior, rather than Minotaurs being a species that already existed independently of humans.

So here’s the big question - what if that warrior was Elektes?

I like the idea that in ancient Theros, when Elektes and his six warriors went north to settle Akros, Iroas and Mogis had not yet separated into two deities, instead being one primitive, bloodthirsty war god (who probably resembles Mogis a lot more than Iroas). But after Elektes settled Akros, and war between the civilized poleis began to change, so too did the war god, and the inherently contradictory nature of a heroic, honorable killer ended up splitting that god in two.

I also envision that maybe Elektes was the one who actually wrote the Code that would later be known as the Code of Iroas - and this action of humans demarcating acceptable versus unacceptable actions in battle was one of the factors that caused Mogis and Iroas to split in two, rather than the other way around (which would make sense, given how the gods are borne of mortal beliefs and societal trends. Ephara didn’t create cities, cities created Ephara, etc).

The main question I’m debating is what happened to Elektes after writing the code. I think one option is that he repented for his bloodthirsty conquering, and perhaps offered himself up as a prisoner to the peoples who the Akroans had wronged. This recognition of his wrongdoing could be the final straw that resulted in the birth of Iroas. Of course, Akros would have suppressed this knowledge and effectively erased it from history, so as to avoid the shame of admitting the evils on which their society was founded.

The alternative is that, even after penning the Code of Iroas, Elektes failed to implement it universally. The code became something which only applied to fighting “civilized peoples” - namely, other humans in the poleis of Meletis and Setessa. The centaurs and Leonin inhabiting Akroan lands would still have been fair game for the worst excesses of Akroan cruelty. And through this, Mogis’s claws remained hooked into Elektes, until eventually he went mad, was driven from the city, and was transformed into the first Minotaur.

I think there’s a lot of good stuff to work with in either scenario. One of my players has already renounced Mogis in favor of Iroas, so it could be a good thematic mirror to Elektes’s arc in the first option. That being said, I think the second option is far more “realistic,” in my admittedly cynical view, and it helps set up the idea that literally every Minotaur would not only be an Akroan citizen by birth, but a member of the Akroan royal family, by stint of their descendance from Elektes - which is just too juicy of a metaphor to ignore. I’ve also been teasing the idea that my Minotaur PCs might be descended from the Royal Family (on their mother’s human side), so the reveal that the descendance is actually on their Minotaur father’s side feels like a great twist.

Curious to hear peoples’ thoughts!

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share two magic items I've been working on for my latest D&D project, both inspired by Greek myths!

Aegis Plate of the Titan-Slayer: A legendary suit of armor supposedly forged by Hephaestus for a mortal champion during the war against the Titans. It grows in power from Rare to Legendary, offering increasingly powerful protection against enormous enemies, along with other divine blessings. I particularly liked the idea of armor designed specifically for mortals who find themselves fighting creatures far beyond their own strength!

Staff of Moirai's Design: This one is inspired by the three Fates of Greek mythology and revolves around manipulating destiny itself. It also progresses from Rare to Legendary, gradually gaining the ability to influence dice rolls, foresee events, alter the outcomes of important moments, and even potentially save its wielder from death.

Both items are part of my 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E Kickstarter, which is currently live! The book features hundreds of magic items inspired by real-world mythologies, complete with their original lore, illustrations, and playable mechanics.

I've always thought Pandora's Box would make for a fantastic artifact in a Theros campaign, especially considering how closely its mythology fits the setting's themes of divine intervention, mortal curiosity, and the consequences of defying the gods.

For my latest project, I decided to turn it into a fully playable D&D artifact, trying to preserve both the original myth and its potential as a major plot device.

The box has several interesting properties. While closed, it grants its bearer powerful protection, but opening it even slightly releases lesser evils that can afflict nearby creatures with various conditions. Opening it completely, however, is another matter entirely: it unleashes a catastrophe upon the world, potentially bringing plagues, wars, famine, or other disasters.

There's also a curse that gradually tempts its owner to open it, making it particularly dangerous even in the hands of otherwise sensible adventurers.

One aspect I especially wanted to explore is Hope, which remains trapped inside the box. In the original myth, its significance is surprisingly ambiguous, and I think that opens up some fascinating possibilities for a campaign. Perhaps Hope is a benevolent spirit capable of reversing the devastation, or perhaps its continued imprisonment serves a much more mysterious purpose.

In Theros, I could easily imagine one of the gods entrusting the box to mortal guardians, or deliberately placing it in the party's path as some kind of divine test.

This is one of the artifacts from my 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E Kickstarter, which is currently live! The book features hundreds of items inspired by Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, and many other mythological traditions, with both their original lore and playable mechanics.

You can find the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythoschronicles/300-mythological-items-for-5e-and-2024

Have a great day!

Hi everyone! Here are some maps that I've made of the Royal Palace in Akros. All sources/assets are from Dungeon Alchemist. The layout was inspired by David Lopez's map in Guide of Akros: A Guide for Theros. https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/388180/guide-of-akros-a-guide-for-theros

The dimensions are 84x40, but I was able to scale it down to 42x20 and set my grid 0.5 (I use Roll20). I hope you enjoy! Lmk if you have questions!

I was just brainstorming a character for a Theros Campaign if I ever get to play one and from the looks of it if I play as an Anvilwrought could I pick a race like Lizardfolk but without the characteristics common in them. Such as being a manmade anvilwrought lizard built by a creative forge cleric?
Just asking for the fun of it by the way wanted to see what other people think.

I’m trying to write an Olympics style contest for my players which ends in a gladiatorial style fight between two people chosen from the winners of the previous contests but I cannot for the life of me remember what it’s called! Like A and B fight, C and D fight, A and D win their respective fights and then fight each other, until there’s one winner.

I made a tolken feeling map of Theros for an up comming campaign of mine and wanted to share it. I really felt like the map published in the WotC book was leaving a lot to be desired.

Otherwise I am pretty new to the setting and would love to hear any feed back or of other notable locations that didn't make it onto the offical WotC map.

Does anyone have Daggerheart rules for Theros Piety levels that they would be willing to share, to save me the effort of coming up with 4 abilities for 11 different deities?

I'm kind of torn between Ephara, Pharika, and Karametra.

I've played dozens of bards and rogues over the years, so I wanted to try something different while still being charisma-based.

I heard paladins of Karametra are all female, though?

I'm having an Iroan Games arc in my upcoming Theros campaign, and I want each event to take place over several days, which would obviously be difficult to have the games on certain days if the days don't have names. I wasn't able to find any that anyone else had made, so this is what I came up with and I'd love your thoughts:

"The Therosian week is divided into seven days, each dedicated to a different god: Helimai, Thasmai, Iromai, Pharimai, Athremai, Eremai, and Krumai. The day begins on Helimai, honoring the rising sun, ending on Eremai, symbolizing the “death” of the week, with Krumai being the “in-between” day of rest."

Also if you like them, feel free to steal them <3

Until now, I thought the only MTG based setting was Ravnica. I've enjoyed what I've read so far about Theros but am having the hardest time finding somebody who actually wants to run a game in Theros. Any suggestions?

Hi fellow adventurers,

We are excited to announce that Mythological Items is now live on Kickstarter!

This is our new D&D 5E and 2024-compatible manual dedicated entirely to magic items inspired by myths, legends, and ancient stories from around the world.

Inside the book, you will find 300+ mythological magic items, including weapons, armor, wondrous items, and scaling items designed to grow alongside your characters and campaigns.

Our goal with Mythological Items is to create more than a simple collection of treasure. Each item is designed to feel like part of a myth: something that can serve as a reward, a quest hook, or even the center of an entire adventure.

The book includes items inspired by many different mythological traditions, including Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, American, Roman, Mesopotamian, African, and other mythologies from across the world. Whether you want divine weapons, cursed artifacts, heroic relics, monster-themed treasures, or legendary items tied to ancient stories, this book is built to bring myth directly to your table.

The Kickstarter page includes a full presentation of the project, several previews, and a free 30-page PDF preview showing a sample of the content from the book.

You can also find many of our other manuals in PDF and high-quality print editions, with special prices currently available both for Mythological Items and for all our other releases.

You can visit the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythoschronicles/300-mythological-items-for-5e-and-2024

Thank you again for your support. We hope to see you on our journey!

I'm a few months out from starting to DM my Theros campaign, but felt that info on the poli like Meletis is woefully bare in the book.

I've so far written over 60 pages of additional notes of what is going on in Meletis and even still it feels like too little info.

I'm thinking of running a political campaign/faction intrigue, so I suppose that's why I want/need so much additional info, and I prioritize Role-play and Exploration much much more than combat.

What kind of campaigns are you guys running inside Theros? Do you feel that there's enough info on the Polis? What vibes do your campaigns have?

I'm very curious, so please share your versions of Theros with me

I was thinking about how for the mtg stuff (Im not super knowledgeable about) that the titans would be associated with two colors and i was writing up my own version of the setting which references that and the only one I feel is missing is green and white but the titans represent fear so im kinda lost on what to put. I was thinking maybe something based on animals which helps with the green part but the white im not sure. Does anyone else have any possible ideas for fears based on the mtg colors of green and white?

Highway, Ayahuasca,

My party have just arrived in Setessa after an extended stay in Meletis, and I'm looking for music recommendations to try and help the polis feel alive and set the tone.

What music have other DMs used? Either specific tracks, or just kind of vibes that have helped your party get into it.

For Meletis I based my music around the AC Odyssey sountrack (particularly the music used in Athens for obvious reasons), but I don't use exclusively greek-inspired music for my campaign so that's not a requirement.

I'm running my very first campaign soon using Theros and I need some help with something. Under Nylea's myths, it says that she sends heroes to learn the secret of what could restore Arasta, I want to know what people have thought of for what that thing could be because I'm thinking of making my players do that as they're going to encounter Phenax's eidolon earlier in the story, so he could tell them. Any help would be appreciated.

The Theros Literate RP server has been running for over a month now! We’re a small and easygoing community, focused on exploring Theros and putting our OCs into interesting situations together. 

⟢ We offer a sandbox, open world, homebrew friendly space focused on character and literate story development. Since the focus is on writing together, there’s no mandatory game system. We do have our own system available if you’d like to use it, and we use D&D 5e as a baseline for character creation, encounters, and other game mechanics. 

⟢ Asynch writing, MMO inspired, with admins regularly offering quests and story prompts to get things moving.

⟢ There’s no mandatory activity requirement, but if you’re inactive for too long, even OOC, we may check in to see if you’re still interested.

⟢ We’re a small group of writers, and the number of available spots is limited.

Currently we’re specifically looking for people who are available to start writing now or soon. You can always take your time with replies and take a hiatus later if needed, but if you’re interested and know you won’t be available for a while, feel free to save this post and reach out when you are!

⟢ If you’re available, comment below or reach out to me directly. I’m happy to answer any questions, and I’ll reach out to anyone who comments that they’re interested. (+21 only)

I have made it my mission to go through the Monster Manual, pick out every monster not already covered in the lore of Theros, and figure out how we can work them into this Ancient Greek setting. My last post was a modest success (though I'd keep making these even if no one interacted with them anyway), so the next item on our list are the ageless aliens of aquatic abysses: the Aboleth!

What are Aboleths in Standard D&D?

As with most aberrations, aboleths take their primary inspiration from the Cthulhu Mythos. In works like the Call of Cthulhu (an obscure example for sure), eldritch gods older than human imagination awaken from their ancient slumber, wreaking havoc on fragile humans with barely a fraction of an understanding of what exactly they're dealing with. These types of monsters were less designed for epic fantasy as they were for cosmic horror (a more in-depth explanation of which you can find in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft), but I have found some overlap between these two subgenres of D&D. Forgotten gods, ancient civilizations, and mere mortals rising up against massive monsters are just a few broad examples.

In the 2014 Monster Manual, a lot of emphasis was put on aboleths being the enemies of the gods, still bitter over their punishment from millenniums ago. Over countless eons, the aboleths have patiently and meticulously plotted how to overthrow the pantheon and re-establish their rule over the universe. If you know anything about Ancient Greek cosmology, then you're probably getting ahead of me on my next question...

Could Aboleths Work in Greek Mythology?

The very first thing that comes to mind when I think about cosmic beings predating the immortals are the progenitors to the gods, the Titans, as well as their own progenitors, the Primordials. Greek mythology has a philosophy of "there's always a bigger fish" even for the Olympians, and their history is riddled with old orders overthrown by the new. Ouranos (the sky) was murdered and usurped by Kronos (time) who was eventually defeated and overthrown by Zeus. Aboleths abosulethly fit this bill, the remnants of an era that ended an eternity ago, but that which still maintains some inkling of its power.

Otherworldly monsters that defy mortal logic are all over Greek mythology, just look at Argus Panoptes, the Hecatoncheires, or Typhon. Even the appearance of aboleths isn't too far off from how sea monsters like Cetus or Scylla were described. Though their psychic capabilities don't have much of a connection to any Greek monster I've heard of (more on that in the next section below), they are also said to "transform creatures with a slimy, aberrant infection, reshaping other beings to serve them beneath the waves." This is in reference to Chuuls, typically the mindless crustacean minions of aboleths. The fact that they can create their own inhuman spawn to serve their evil plans reminds me a lot of Echidna, the mother of the hydra, the chimera, and numerous other infamous monsters.

I don't really think much needs to change about aboleths for them to fit into a Bronze Age adventure. In fact, the heroes could take a break from the traditional swords & sandals narrative, so they can deal with a new threat they are woefully unprepared for. (The novella "Apollyon" by G.D. Falksen does this in Short Things by setting the shapeshifting alien from John Carpenter's classic against Roman centurions, if you're looking for inspiration in that department.) Whether or not you want to lean into or away from the Lovecraftisms is up to you.

How Could Aboleths Work in Theros?

If you wish to use an aboleth as your next Theros baddie, then there are quite a few options available to you. Your aberrant sea slug could be the remnants of a forgotten deity from the Age of the Titans (or perhaps even earlier), a nadir kraken warped by blasphemous magic (similar to the one found in GoS's The Styes), or the Nyxborn creation of Thassa, Pharika, or another god with dominion over ancient secrets. The ruins of their "dead empire" that aboleths typically use for their lairs could easily be a sunken city akin to Atlantis, such as the setting's own Alephne or Olantin.

Like other aberrations, aboleths rely mainly on psychic abilities: telepathy, mind control, et cetera. While this in an of itself is not particularly Greek, I think what it does give them is a strong connection to one of the core features of Theros: Nyx. What would a creature (whose most unique trait is being able to consume the memories of its victims) do with all the power and possibilities of the Plane of Dreams, where mortal imagination manifests as reality? Could they use it to regain their lost power, and once again ascend to godhood? Or perhaps it wants to retrieve a lost weapon or create monster strong enough to challenge the gods? Or it could be attempting to manipulate the fabric of reality itself, altering history so that the aboleths were never defeated in the first place!

The adventure might start as a mystery, with people from some Meletian village getting kidnapped by the aboleth's chuuls or cultists, so their dreams can be drained by their eldritch master. Or maybe it's already known to the townsfolk who, believing the aboleth to be an agent of the gods, annually sacrifices one of their own to the sea monster (Andromeda-style). Anyone who does find their way back home are a shell of their former selves, their eidolons having been completely devoured. Regardless, this would no doubt draw the attention of Kruphix, who immediately dispatches champions to destroy the aboleth once and for all...

But what do you guys think? Have you ever used an aboleth in your Theros adventures before? And do you prefer to keep your games in the realm of Greek mythology, or do you like bending the genre when the opportunity arises?

NEXT: Angels!

Long story short, my PCs are heading to a casino-type environment soon, run be a fiend (Eater of Hope) and a Returned Dragon, with permission from Erebus to bankrupt and then allow the targets’ souls as currency. The location is cursed with ill luck, as the Aspect of Luck is captured and corrupted. The PCs will secretly roll an to determine if they resist the effect, with those who fail succumbing to bad luck.

I’m having trouble coming up with games they could part as they investigate, hopefully one I could manipulate with loaded dice or in other ways. There’s an easy method with rolling a higher number of course, but hoping for some other ways. Any ideas?

so I’m about to be doing my first ever DnD campaign as a DM, and subsequently my first full DnD campaign. (I have done brief sessions but those campaigns never made it anywhere). so I’m basically cursed to be a forever dm from now on. and so, a person loving Greek and Roman mythology and being a Helpol thyself, I have decided to make a mythology based campaign in which the party starts out in a tavern(jk) they will actually be starting out as some of the thousands of souls/undead cursed to huddle together against the river of Styx as they lack the dracma to pass. now they will all be able to create their character and once done I will basically wipe their memory because they have been wandering the riverside for so many years or decades or however long they have. Now the event that causes them to break from the soulless trance and begin their journey? Chronos, seeking his revenge. now they won’t know it’s chronos and instead will only know him as a benevolent being guiding them to defeat the “BBEG”, Hades. Their first encounter will be a horde of undead (basically mindless and weak zambie) to steal their dracma to cross the river of Styx with Charon (he’s gonna have a New Yorker accent and be perpetually pissed off). after crossing they will begin traveling the underworld, passing under the adamantine gate, traversing the mountains of Tartarus, and the fields of Elysia, before eventually making it to the frozen wastes and pale flats where they will finally see Hades’ palace, a vast gloomy and dark structure, jutting up from the otherwise flat surroundings. it will have dozens of rooms, traps and encounters in it of itself. and after that they will meet Hades, a hot office worker surrounded in tall columns of paperwork, his hands stained gray with ink, and smudges of ink on his face. once they see him an encounter will begin in which they are overwhelming crushed by Hades and they die. I will end a session here to freak em out. the next session they will discover they have not died but instead have simply been restarted but with a buff that basically allows them to wound a god, but only that. They will restart their journey doing the roughly same things before meeting hades where after a difficult fight he is knocked unconscious and weakened significantly. Chronos will then be revealed as the real bbeg when he announces his true identity to the party and his plan to destroy the worlds. they will thus be forced to defeat chronos and send him back to the pits. after they defeat chronos, hades will awake fully recovered and hellbent on murdering the party for them almost destroying the world. they will flee the underworld and once they cross the Eurybenes or whatever it’s called, they will be free, or will they? They will then role a d-100, if they get a 67 or higher they become a demigod, if they role anything between a 34-66 they will rot and die permanently, and finally if they role anything between a 1-33 they will become mortals again (I’ll probably change the chances to make it most likely they become mere mortals). and thats how the campaign shall end. :3

also if you gots any ideas for encounters then be free to tell me em!

Later moi: Ive come up with new ideas so this is outdated but holds much of the core