Leaked: Mythic Odysseys of Theros D&D Campaign Setting Book

(Edit: fixed the title. Obviously, it's Mythic, not Mystical.)

It looks as if, in addition to Wildemount, another setting is coming to 5th Edition D&D, and it's Magic: the Gathering's Theros. There has been a leak from, I believe, Penguin Publishing, that suggests that's what we're getting next.

Replicating the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, this book looks as if it will take the Magic plane and translate it into a setting for Dungeons & Dragons.

Theros is Magic's "Greek Mythology" plane, and one that I am far less familiar with than Ravnica, having never played during its sets. However, given the recent release of Theros: Beyond Death, it makes sense that they'd be looking at this now.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that they're going with Theros given that it's far less original of a world than Ravnica - I'd have expected them to do something more like Zendikar (which was, itself, built to be an "adventure world" that replicated some RPG-like mechanics on its cards.) Still, I'm not one to complain when cool stuff happens, though I can imagine some of the old-school purists are frustrated that they aren't announcing a Spelljammer or Planescape book (that being said, it looks like they're really ramping up on campaign setting books, so I'm holding out hope.)

Here's my basic understanding of Theros:

The world has two sides to it: there is the ordinary, mundane world with its humans, minotaurs, and merfolk, as well as beasts like hydras and griffins and such. But then there is also the world of Nyx, which is the realm of the supernatural and the gods.

Very unlike Ravnica, Gods play a big role in Theros, and like the Greek Pantheon, they have their own agendas and potentially selfish motivations. In Magic, Gods and other sort of inherently supernatural creatures are represented by making them both Enchantments and Creatures (in Magic, an Enchantment is like a permanent spell that stays in play after you play it and tends to have an ongoing effect.)

It remains to be seen what major mechanical concepts they'll bring in for Theros. Ravnica, of course, was built around the ten guilds and the ways that membership in a guild could drive your character. I know less about Theros, but I believe a couple things can be taken into account:

For one, much like Classical Greece, the place is not a united nation, but rather a group of rival city-states (or polises) and I could see being from one place or another having an effect on your character.

In terms of playable races, I suspect we might see the Leonin (a race of lion-people found in many Magic planes) as well as reprinting Centaurs and Minotaurs from Ravnica. Merfolk could be playable (maybe as re-skinned Tritons, which is how I'm approaching them in my Ravnica game.) We could also possibly see Satyrs (perhaps, like Centaurs, giving them a Fey creature type.) It might be a stretch, but Gorgons as a playable race might also work (though probably renamed "Medusas" for D&D, as they were in the Ravnica book.)

Gods, of course, often play a role in D&D, but Theros is a place with very active gods, which could be exciting, and I imagine they might come up with some new rules surrounding the gods.

There are two ways I see this book making a big impact on my home games.

First, our regular Sunday game DM'd by a friend has had a strong Greek myth theme to it, given that our Paladin worships Athena, despite being from the Forgotten Realms. While I doubt we'll just go to Theros (that would require travel through the Far Realm to bridge continuities) it could give our DM some inspiration.

For me, I'm literally starting my (official) first session of a Ravnica campaign, and I have a mechanism in place to allow for Planeswalker character (I'm also using Oldwalker rules to allow them to eventually learn to summon allies with them) and Theros just became a much more likely plane for us to visit.