WIR: Odyssey of the Dragonlords 5e - Completed

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

OHT

Reviewer
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Messages
684
Reaction score
1,639

WIR: Odyssey of the Dragonlords 5e


I'm going to need some discipline in order to get through this massive 460 page 5e campaign book. I'm certainly going to run it in the future, so what better way to get to know it and inform the board at the same time than a 'where I read' thread?

I'm torn whether to go through it in the traditional front to back way or start with the Appendices (which go to K!), which run to over a hundred pages and have all the world and character information, bestiary etc in them.
 
I'm going to need some discipline in order to get through this massive 460 page 5e campaign book. I'm certainly going to run it in the future, so what better way to get to know it and inform the board at the same time than a 'where I read' thread?

I'm torn whether to go through it in the traditional front to back way or start with the Appendices (which go to K!), which run to over a hundred pages and have all the world and character information, bestiary etc in them.

Should be getting mine in a few days- wir should be very useful thanks!
 
Totally out of sequence, but I've just noticed in the Fame chart (oh yes, you get to be a rock star) that when you get very famous, the Gods get jealous and start to plot against you. :hehe:

Right, first off, i'm going to create a character that uses the resources in this book, so we can look at how the background helps at character generation before we know much about the world or adventure. I'm going to make them as Greek mythy as I can, so it's going to be a 3rd level character (where every class has chosen a sub-class). More later.
 
Appendix A: Creating Heroes.

This is a guide to creating heroes that fit the world of Thylea (ancient Greek analogue). It starts off with a section on Thylean natives and typical names. My sample character is ignoring these names as i'm going to go exotic with my race later. The human names have the expected Greek slant to them. Then there is a brief section on outsiders to Thylea. Playing someone who has ship-wrecked on this 'lost' continent is possible but it will be a culture shock to discover all these Gods and powerful beings walking about as if they own the place, so I think it's better to go native.

You then get a couple of backstory ideas for each class (which we haven't even got to yet, so i'll leave that), a paragraph saying that arms and armour here are all bronze but that has no in-game effect because smithing is better, arm-wave, arm-wave.

Next up is Fame. A very brief paragraph which doesn't really help in describing when or how it's increased other than the typical exploits or deeds. (Jumping forward a bit, you need Fame 20 before you can God yourself up). The chart of 'Fame Rewards' is quite amusing, running from 1 to 20. When you get to Fame 8 you are lionised in plays that are regularly performed in Estoria and Mytros (2 of the big cities in the setting). If you attend the play the audience demand you take a bow at the end - at Fame 9 you're showered with small change too. At 15 , you have several shrines devoted to you, and at 16 these shrines have golden statues of you sitting on a throne and 7 cultists guard them. You can summon these cultists to your side when you are nearby...It's good fun.

Right. Now onto what i meant to start with, Epic Paths. Your character is Fated to play a roll in the wars to come and indeed your part in it is at least somewhat foretold. There are 8 Epic Paths to chose from, ranging from The Demi-God, to The Lost One (which requires your character to be non-native and lost on Thylea).

For my character i'm chosing The Dragonslayer. In my past my childhood was destroyed and i know a dragon was responsible (i can fill in the what of it later as i flesh out my background). The hook to get my feet on the adventure path is that The Oracle knows how to find the dragon responsible.

Now then, each Epic Path requires you to perform a set list of heroic tasks. You must perform all of these tasks in order to gain a Divine Blessing. The dragonslayer tasks are 1. To kill the dragon responsible for my tragedy. 2. To find items that are key to killing dragons. I have to pick 1 minor item and 1 greater item from a list. I chose Ring of Fire Resistance and a Dragonslaying weapon (i'll figure out which type of weapon once i've finished my character).

So, in order to get my Divine Blessing and fulfill my fate i must kill the dragon and gain a Ring of Fire Resistance and a dragon-slaying weapon- not necessarily in that order. Succeed with that and my blessing is i have advantage on all attacks against creatures with the dragon subtype and they have disadvantage on saving throws against my spells, should i have any.

That'll do for now, but i will say that dragons are quite important to the adventure with the usual split between goodies and baddies, so this Epic Path might be a bit of a double-edged sword. Oh well.

Next time i'll chose my race and i'm going native and exotic.
 
Appendix B: Playable Races

Next up, the book presents new races that you can play in Thylea. Elves, halflings, gnomes and dwarves are all present and available. Tielflings are exceedingly rare and Dragonborn are all but unknown - i'll just rule them out. Oddly, half-orcs are fairly common as these races go and are not discriminated against as no Orcs exist in Thylea, which prompts the question as to how they got there. That's one for the DM to figure out, I guess.

Now, we have full length entries for Thylean races and they are an exotic lot listed below that fit into the Greek myth angle. I'm not a fan of the Medusa option, so i'll can that.

Thylean Centaur
Thylean Medusa
Thylean Minotaur
Thylean Nymphs (the only race with sub-races, of which there are 5)
Thylean Satyrs
Thylean Sirens

All these races get the same kind of write-up as found in the players handbook. So a few paragraphs with important bullet-points and then the actual mechanics. Nymphs are probably my favourite actually, as they allow you to play a captivating presence without making it unplayable although the write-up mentions that they tend to play favourites with their friends and can view them more akin to 'pets' than companions.

The minotaur is quite cool and can transform into a bull (and later on a dire bull) if they are confronted with too much red. Cool!

Centaurs are uninspiring generally, and Sirens a bit too 'out there' for me as coastal flying peeps with captivating voices.

Therefore, my Dragonslayer is going to be a Satyr (the box text for the dragonslayer epic destiny suggests that monstrous races are a good choice for that epic destiny as dragons caused more damage to them than the humans they came into Thylea with).

The Stayr 'bullet-points' are - Goat men, Hedonistic, and Music Lovers. From the list of names i chose Lycus.

Satyr Traits

Ability Scores: Dex +2, Charisma +1
Age: They live for centuries
Alignment: Most are CN
Size: Between 4 and 5 feet. Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Languages: Speak, read and write Common and Sylvan
Fey Heritage: Gain advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, and spells can't put you to sleep.
Memory for Music: Once hear a song once, can remember it. Proficiency with 1 musical instrument and have advantage on Performance test with that instrument.
Enchanting Music: You can cast the minor illusion cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast the Sleep spell once and regain the ability after a long rest. At 5th level can cast Suggestion once and regain after a long rest. Need the musical instrument you are proficient with in order to cast spell and Charisma is the stat for casting these spells.

Cool!

Next up in Appendix C i chose my class and archetype.
 
My boy is going to be a Rogue and the Thylean archetype for the rogue class is the Odyssean, which has some slight fighter features and a bit of brains over brawn, which i'll detail below.

Lycus - Male Satyr Rogue (Odyssean Archetype)

Level: 3
Hits: 24
AC: 18
Al: CN
Armor Prof: Light armor, shield
Weapon Prof: Simple weapons, hand crossbow, longsword, rapier, short sword
Tools: Thieves tools (expertise), Disguise Kit, Pipes (advantage)
Saving Throw Prof: Dexterity and Intelligence
Skills: Deception (expertise) +6, Insight +2, Performance +4, Stealth +6, Sleight of Hand +6
Background: Urchin (City Secrets)
Epic Path: The Dragonslayer

Strength 9 (-1)
Constitution 14 (+2)
Dexterity 19 (+4) (+6 save)
Intelligence 10 (0) (+2 save)
Wisdom 11 (0)
Charisma 14 (+2)

Class Features: Sneak attack +2d6, Expertise (Thieves tools & Deception), Thieves Cant, Cunning action
Archetype features: Vagrant Soldier (Proficient with shields, also spears and tridents are finesse weapons for you), Clever as the Gods (Can use a bonus action to trick an enemy. Choose 1 creature you can see. Make a Charisma (Deception) roll contested by that creature's Wisdom (Insight). If you win the contest, you and your allies have advantage on attacks against that creature until the beginning of your next turn. This feature cannot be used on the same creature more than once per combat encounter.)

Fey Heritage: Gain advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, and spells can't put you to sleep.
Memory for Music: Once hear a song once, can remember it. Proficiency with 1 musical instrument and have advantage on Performance test with that instrument.
Enchanting Music: You can cast the minor illusion cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast the Sleep spell once and regain the ability after a long rest. At 5th level can cast Suggestion once and regain after a long rest. Need the musical instrument you are proficient with in order to cast spell and Charisma is the stat for casting these spells.
 
Last edited:
Nice character that! I wouldn't mind playing it.

Anyway, I've not mentioned every detail of race or epic destiny, but I will list the archetype options, because I think they are pretty strong. There's nothing to say you have to take one of these for your character instead of the standard ones in the PH and XGtE, but one or two at least through the party is a must in this campaign IMO.

Barbarian - Herculean (gets a wrestling ability! and a ranged ability!)
Bard - College of Epic Poetry (Create an epic poem and add to it during your career and inspire your chums by reciting it during battle with various effects depending on how many verses you are up to)
Cleric - Prophecy Domain (expected. More pre-rolls you can choose when to use like the wizard divination school, although the cleric gets added healing abilities as they foresee danger in battle)
Druid - Circle of Sacrifice (I like this one quite a bit. When you kill something you can dedicate it to the Gods for little pluses)
Fighter - Hoplite Soldier (A necessity for a Greek type game)
Monk - Way of the Shield (Not sure about this one. seems a bit dull)
Paladin - Oath of the Dragonlord (Another way to become a dragonlord - there are others during the game)
Ranger - Amazonian Conclave (Another must! For some reason they get a construct familiar type thing)
Rogue - Odyssean (A trickster soldier)
Sorcerer - Demi-God Origin (Extra spells based on the domain of your parent, proficiency in Strength saving throws and empowered magic. Pretty strong tbh)
Warlock - Patron: The Fates (This is the warlock equivalent of the Divination wizard school. You get to roll dice in advance and determine who uses the result and when)
Wizard - Philosophical School (another good one with 8 sub-schools. When do you ever get the chance to play an Epicureanism wizard?)
 
Ahh, yes the Siren Bard has College of Epic Poetry, up to verse 31ish?
 
  • Like
Reactions: OHT
Ahh, yes the Siren Bard has College of Epic Poetry, up to verse 31ish?

It's quite an interesting sub-class in that the longer the epic poem gets, the more the PCs might want to hang onto the inspiration they are given as it can affect other things than normal - and when you get to 14th level inspiration can actually act as a Death Ward (if you hang onto your inspiration until you fall to zero hits).
 
The archetype sounds interesting. The group that she plays in though? That, I wouldn't touch at all. That DM is way to controlly, in your face, ha ha slap stick, it's a game type for my tastes. She embodies CN.


I was really into Greek Mythology back in the day. I will be stealing stuff for PF2 from this for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OHT
Appendix D: Dramatis Personae

I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but i'll highlight a few things. This is essentially the important NPCs of the campaign statted up. It kicks right off with 3 Titans and the 5 Gods. Yes, the titans and Gods are NPCs and protagonists. You'll be interacting with them pretty much from the off. The 5 Gods are really interesting in how they are handled. One of them is the King of one the major cities, but others keep their true nature secret. The Titans live in very remote places. Your main Patron and quest-giver is also found here, The Oracle, a Nymph famous throughout the land.

Anyhoo, the scariest part of this section is obviously the hundred handed Titan who can get a potential 100 Legendary actions per turn...

After the immortal section, you get the mortal section, which resembles a more usual list of NPCs that you'll encounter during the game. A nice variance of types here that includes a jovial Minotaur gladiator who for some reason finds everything hilarious - basically Drax the Destroyer from the Guardians of the Galaxy films. A fun NPC.
 
Appendix E: Bestiary

Lordy, Lordy, this is pretty awesome and should be of use in any game. Lots of these monsters get full page artwork and it is of superb quality.

Many of the creatures are from Greek myth of course, but modified to be useful to a d&d game. Lots of the monsters already available via the MM etc are from Greek myth anyway and most of them are not replicated here, although they have altered a few to make them generally more fearsome. There is also a handy list of previously printed monsters that are suitable for use in this campaign.

Some of the monster design is actually genius. There is a Marble Golem, which resembles your typical greek statuary carved from marble. But get this, when it is reduced to 0 hit point you roll on a table to see whether it has lost an arm, its head, or its weapon. It then regenerates to half its original hit points and you have the Venus de Milo attacking you.

There are quite a few constructs here actually. The Collosus of course, and Keledone, which I've never heard of before but are from Greek myth. Lots of giant subtypes, such as the Blemys, various cyclops and the Gygan, a six-armed giant.

The medusa gets an upgrade with the Euryale, centaurs and minotaurs get a few new entries, and there is a profile for each of the Nymph sub-types but statted as NPCs.

Next up are mythic beasts. These are the sort of things that Hercules defeated like the Great Boar, Golden Lion, as well as White Stag and Golden Ram (and yes, if you ask nicely, you can shear its fleece).

Sea monsters are next and without exception they are a very powerful lot. eek.

Servants of Death include Cerberus, and undead animals like the Dread Boar and Dread Wolf.

After that there a few miscellaneous entries, Goatlings, Maenads, the Nuckle, and a few minor sphinxes.

To finish up we have the basic NPC profile such as the soldier, amazon warrior etc. The Hands of Kentimane are found here for some reason. Yes, the hundred handed titan can manifest two of his arms anywhere. The bloody things are CR 8 by themselves!
 
Not part of the bestiary but i'll also note at this point that various beasts during the adventure are re-skinned monster manual beasts. So you might get (not a real example, but an indication of what they do) a Nether Ghoul - use base ghoul profile but it is immune to Necrotic damage and flickers in and out of focus. I haven't read much of the adventure so far, but I've noticed this a few times, so even the 'normal' monsters used are sometimes altered to the setting so they can still surprise the players.
 
Somehow I read the word 'bestiary' as bestiality...
 
To give you an idea of the goodies in appendices D and E, they start on page 342 and finish on page 433.

Appendix F: Encounters

This section gives random encounter tables for land and sea. They are not extensive, but each encounter gets its own paragraph and explanation. These are not roll d100, 26 = 2d4 centaurs. This is roll 26 = Centaur scouts and a complete section on what they do and how the encounter starts and could play out. The sea encounters seem to be greater in scope (as you'll find out later a decent proportion of the campaign will be an Argonauts type voyage of discovery). There is a 'Special Land Encounters' section that details things you can throw in when and where you like. Some of these will lead to other exploits, and gaining followers (or annoying cling-ons depending on your outlook) or information pertinent to the campaign.

Appendix G: Treasures

Again, i'm not going to go into detail, but boy are most of these epic. You can see here some of the video game influence of the developers because there is a certain amount of collecting components to make such and such if you've done this encounter about it. It's cool, but knowing the campaign somewhat, I can see that a lot of both the treasures and the Divine Blessings I touched on in chargen will come online at roughly the same point and that point is quite advanced in the campaign - but more of that later.

There aren't many +1 swords here. You have Ambrosia (yes, it does do that), Golden Apple, Hag's Loom and the amusingly named Shortbow of Cupidity, along with about 20 others.
 
Somehow I read the word 'bestiary' as bestiality...

Well, it is inspired by Greek myth. There's no overt references other than mentioning that Satyrs aren't fussy as to who they take to their beds. The monstrous races here tend to have been cursed.
 
Appendix H: Dragonlords

A bit of fluff and a bit of crunch. If you want to be a new dragonlord it's detailed here how you can do it. The old order were the ones who defeated the Titans and ushered in the Oath of Peace (a 500 year truce). They are all dead now, or their descendants much reduced. There are actually 4 ways to do it and who doesn't want to ride around on a dragon? This section also has details on how you can sponsor communities once you're sitting on a bit of phat loot.

Appendix I: The Divine Path

Details how you become a God. I was wrong earlier when I said there were multiple ways. There is one way with multiple requirements. You need to have a 9th level spell cast on you and the material components for that spell are 3 artifacts (one of which I mentioned above, Ambrosia).

Not only that but you have to be 20th level, possess a divine spark and your Fame score must be 20. The divine spark isn't as hard as it seems as one of the artifacts used in the spell does exactly that anyhow.

Then you have to perform your legendary divine feat. The form of this feat depends on which Cleric Domain you intend representing once you're got your God badge. Mostly, it's duffing a certain amount of monsters - sometimes certain types. Knowledge requires you to forge a very rare magic item and the Life domain requires you to have been returned to life after having died.

Once you've met these unlikely goals you are a God/Goddess and gain the advantages that the 5 Gods enjoy. Yes, you can still walk around on Thylea having adventures. If you die, you reform at one of your temples 24 hours later. At any time, however, you can choose to Ascend, which removes you from the game and installs you as a lesser God.

Awesome!
 
Appendix J: Secrets and Myths

My lips are sealed! Actually some of this seems like its for general reading by players and some of it is definitely stuff that should only come out during the campaign, so watch out if you're a player. I wouldn't read this section if you want surprises. Let your DM sift through it and give you the relevant detail.

Appendix K: Handouts

A one page campaign primer for players with the headings - The World of Thylea, The Titans, The Dragonlords, The Five Gods (Kyrah, Mytros, Pythor, Vallus, Volkan - Mytros is the only one who has ascended to the heavens), The Oath of Peace, The Oracle's Prophecy, The Mortal Kingdoms (with sub-titles The City of Mytros, The City of Aresia, The City of Estoria) and finally Who Am I?

After the primer are some handouts for the DM to give to players as and when needed.

Phew, appendices done!

It gets harder from here because i don't want to spoil too much, so i may just post summaries of my thoughts on each chapter of the campaign and any ideas i have on the DMing side of things.

Any requests on how i proceed? Does anyone care?
 
As no-one has a preference i'll go back to the start of the book now that I've covered the material that appears in the players guide and all the various appendices.

The book starts with a small treatise on What is Mythic Heroism? Broken down into Gods & Kings, Oaths & Curses, Fame & Hubris, Fate & Prophecy and lastly Comedy & Tragedy.

Then we have DM stuff on the story overview and the history of Thylea (which can just as easily be viewed as the history of the campaign). There's a full page map of the world which you need a magnifying glass to see properly (I understand that kickstarter backers got a whole bunch of big shiny maps. I understand the need to reward backers, but it would have been nice to at least have a full sized map of Thylea).

We next have a table of the deities explaining the Domains they offer, their alignment and symbol. If you fancy it you could be a cleric of one of the Titans or even one of the 'forgotten Gods' of which there are two - a word of warning, that could be campaign changing, as both have a part to play, so I would not allow PCs to become clerics of the forgotten Gods.

We then have a breakdown of the powers of Thylea. The Ancient Titans, The Five Gods, and the mortal Kingdoms. People of Thylea explains which Races are found where and lastly is Factions of Thylea, which I won't list here as some of them are like the Spanish Inquisition and no-one expects them. The Temple of the Oracle is among the factions though and it'll be there that the characters are first drawn when the campaign starts.

Next up is a very important section that should be explained to the players - Laws of Thylea. There are several things that if you defy them, bleeding Gods and Titans get involved. First is Guest Friendship. This is the same as Game of Thrones. If someone is a guest in your home, they are protected until they leave your property, even if they are your worst enemy. Harming them results in being afflicted with the Curse of the Treacherous. Then there are Sacred Oaths which are Oath of Peace, Oath of Protection, and Oath of Service. If you pledge yourself to any of these breaking your oath has dire consequences. We have some sample curses including the aforementioned Curse of the Treacherous. They are Curse of the Harpy, Curse of the Medusa, and Curse of the Graverobber.

You thought you could just loot that tomb without explicit permission and not be marked?
nelson-haha.gif
 
Last edited:
The rest of the introduction is pretty much DM eyes only, although I can touch on them without revealing too much. There's a 2 page adventure overview splitting the campaign into 5 Acts. Each act is then split into parts, some acts have as many as 6 parts and some of these parts could likewise be split into many others.

This is where the structure of the adventure becomes clear. The path of Fate has chosen your characters and even chosen what their part will be to some extent. Because of your Epic Path you are destined to do this stuff and do it you shall!

Yeah, it's choo choo city although there is one sandbox where you can chose your route at least. But that's why you bought this book right, to be the main characters in a mythic adventure to fulfil your fate?

The story structure sidebar at the end of this section again betrays the video game roots of the designers, where it further summarises the campaign by saying Learning of the prophecy unlocks the ….Completing the ….unlocks the ….

and so on. There, fair warned. If you want to play a fey PC or mighty Hoplite warrior all the way from having the fickle finger of Fate pointed at you to becoming a mighty Dragonlord and/or God, then ask your DM to get this book. If want to toodle about in a faux Greek setting with good Greek character options, you could probably just about manage it, but I think you'd be missing out on the whole point of the book.

Next up, Running the Adventure!
 
The advice section on running the adventure is really useful actually. Despite being an artfully created railroad, there are a lot of moving parts to keep track of and here you can find stuff to help keep you on the straight and narrow, so to speak.

First up it has a couple of suggestions on how to start the campaign - to be honest it's redundant. Get each character to pick an Epic Path and the Oracle calls them to her temple. That's how you start it.

Hilariously it suggests that you get each player to note down 3 rumours that circulate about them in Thylea's taverns. At least one of the rumours must be true. Then give these notes to the DM without mentioning them to the other players. This is quite cool! Fate has, erm, fingered you and the common man knows it. Dropping one or two of these rumours into conversation as the adventure proceeds could be great fun.

Next up, we have a section on playing the villains. Not going to say anything about this apart from the fact that it's useful as a guide to what they get up to as the PCs fulfil their own fates. They don't just sit back and take it lying down as you can imagine.

Similarly there is a section on playing the Gods which mainly directs you to go read their entries in the Dramatis Personae. Doh.

Next comes a really excellent resource - Running the Epic Paths. Depending on the size of the party you are running for, keeping track of everyone's (special snowflake) destiny can be daunting. Well, this section has you covered. Each Epic Path has entries for each part of the adventure where that particular Epic Path comes into play, describing how it does, and if relevant, who is else is involved in it other than the PC. Naturally, each Path starts with 'Meeting the Oracle' and they diverge from there until the last section sees their Fate fulfilled or laughs at yet another failure. There's also a couple of bits here that the players don;t know about their Fate, so no blabbing on that score from me.

As Lycus, who i created earlier, has the Dragonslayer Epic Path, i will relay what the first entry says about him.

Meeting the Oracle - Versi tells the Drangslayer that they are destined to become the bane of evil dragons. They must seek out the Forgekeeper in the Mithral Mines to learn more about the artifacts they need (remember i chose 2 in character generation). There are 5 more points during the campaign where the fate of the Dragonslayer is specifically interacted with. Noice!

After that, there is brief advice on changing the Epic Path, adapting the campaign and customizing the story (which is lip service really) and the biggy that is character advancement.

For character advancement they suggest you either tally up xps as normal (presumably in the hope that it matches up to the levels you are expecting to be an any given point) or by milestsones. They provide a handy chart for the milestones noting the ideal Fame and Level of the characters for specific points along the road. To give you an idea how epic this campaign is the suggested level for the PCs gaining a legendary ship and doing the Argonauts section of the campaign is 5th! :shock:

We're at page 30 now and the start of the campaign!
 
Welcome to any new readers from EnWorld where I linked this thread!

I'll be returning to my WIR in a short while. As you can imagine, doing the adventures themselves is a bit harder than doing the player or DM section.
 
So, first up we have the heroes gathered in an inn (where it is suggested some of the locals talk about one or two of the rumours the players supplied the DM with about their characters - remember them?) and they are approached by one of those Epic Poet Bards, an attractive lady who seems to know all about the PCs. The land hereabouts has been cursed by one of the Titans with a rampaging great boar because they are displeased with the communities sacrifices. The poet suggests that the prophesised heroes will surely be able to overcome it.

Great boars are no laughing matter and you're all 1st level spods, so it will not be straightforward. Anyhoo, presuming you are triumphant, lady exposition (the bard from now on) tells you what to do and also suggests that you all commit to an Oath of Fellowship, which means that should one of you earn Fame, you all do.

Then it's off to see the Oracle with the locals singing songs about you and lady exposition tagging along like a curvy jiminy cricket.
 
We're off to see the Oracle, the wonderful Oracle of Estoria! ahem...

So, your party and lady exposition go to get advice from the great and wonderful Oracle about all this prophecy stuff and 'scuse me, what we meant to be doing, like? Well, like all adventures ever written, things are not that simple, but presuming you get to meet said soothsayer, she tells you her prophecy of doom, recognises all your Epic Paths and tells you your respective first steps (remember that for my Satyr Rogues Dragonslayer epic path I was supposed to seek out the Forgemaster of the Mithral Mines for details on how to get the items I need to duff evil dragons).

Now then, by the end of this section your PCs should be level 2 and their ickle feet should now be pointed towards The Three Labours. Yep, as rank novices you're tasked with 3 epic quests that will enable you to grow into your Fame and follow in the footsteps of your destiny.

Something that I was thinking about last night is how illuminating this book is on the base power level of 5e. We all know a bit about Greek myth and the epic nature of it all. It's the sort of thing you expect great heroes to tackle once they've cut their teeth on lower level threats. Well, the fact you're interacting with effectively legendary characters right from the off here and meeting and fighting things you've heard about in myth - and you're only 1st or 2nd level really hammers home that actually 5e characters are quite capable right off the bat when measured against a mythology and bestiary that we already knew about before d&d even existed. Moreover, all those beasts in the various monster manuals are all killable at much lower levels than their CR if they are used as single beasts.
 
Something is very peculiar in Odyssey land. Without going into too much detail, distances seem to be almost non-existent and journey times tiny. It seriously says you can get to the main city from anywhere in the heartlands in a day. Tbh if that were true, I half expected to see little people moving about on the map. All these hidden glades, shrines and doo-dads wouldn't stay hidden for 5 weeks, let alone 500 years. Also, on the sea-faring leg of the adventure it takes 3 days to get from island to island - always 3 days even if they are the other side of the map.

Well, that's not surviving contact with my brain. I understand the reason for it, because we start to butt up against a time-limit imposed by the campaign (which is another thing that can easily be changed), but rather beggars the question why the developers provided so many separate adventure locations scattered all over the map on land and sea and then decided to arbitrarily put a time-limit on your explorations that is so limiting, they had to put in a time spent travelling kludge that would make Dr Who blush.

Back to the adventure when I can wrap my head around how to present it without wrecking it for anyone.
 
I've just found the sea map provided which actually gives a scale. Yeah, Thylea is pretty bloody small, which makes the hidden bits and bobs a bit weird and the scale of the 'mountain' ranges rather titchy, but hey ho, it gives me a frame of reference at least.
 
At a guess, is the scale roughly equivalent to Greece?
 
At a guess, is the scale roughly equivalent to Greece?

Very roughly. The whole map looks like its about 100 miles by 150 miles. I guess that's why everyone knows you wherever you go. :hehe:
 
So, the first section of the campaign is the 3 labours and there's quite a lot to unpack just from this chapter. As I said before, despite the adventure being a finely crafted hamster wheel, there are a lot of moving parts to keep abreast of and this starts right here.

Point the first - There isn't much beyond the PC's epic paths, lady exposition, or just random rumour to get the PC's moving. I get the feeling that the 3 labours are meant to be tackled in the order they are presented (but the easiest to learn about is the last one) but there's little to actually point you towards the right place beyond the first labour. You're meant to restart a mythic forge, collect the armaments of the Dragonlords, and lastly drink from a magical horn that can grant a vision that is hidden from even the Oracle.

Point the second - Before you even tackle the labours, lady exposition suggests you visit Estoria because the horn should be there (shock, horror it isn't that simple). There, you meet the King and he wants you to help him with a problem. Fair enough, and you get the city areas with other optional side-quests. There's quite a lot to take in. But you should come out of it with something to help you with the forge.

Point the third - If your party size is larger than 3, you're probably going to have some slightly miffed players after completing the labours. Therefore I suggest coming up with a few more Dragonlord items to suit the number of PC's in the party. Either pick them from the DM's guide or make them up.

Point the fourth - Your labours are basically interrupted by a summons from another King. In the middle of this stuff you have to play court with a mercurial King and his long-suffering wife. This section details a city, encounter areas and a couple of side quests. There are important things to see and do here, but they come out of order with the 3 labours. I can see players getting a tad annoyed about being pulled around by the nose by every King and his cat, whilst they are pulling in other directions to either complete their labours or fulfil their own epic paths.

Th suggested party level by the end of the labours is 5th.

Next up, the players need to start looking beyond land to the seas in order to continue their epic paths and track down certain things and people. They are going to need a damned good ship first, and the next bit is tracking down a ship worthy of the voyage.
 
Last edited:
Right then. You've met Gods, Kings and forged anew the weapons of the Dragonlords - all by 5th level! Huzzah!

As one of the Titans is the lord of storms he's making it impossible for normal ships to navigate beyond the coast, so you need a legendary ship to carry you. Luckily such a ship exists. Problem is it is a notorious 'ghost ship' allegedly still manned by its undead crew at a place called Dead Falls.

This journey is a massive 2 days long before you get to your target. Gaining your ship isn't easy and you might have to put up with things you ideally wouldn't in order to gain control over it. Eventually, you should sail the ship back to Mytros to a heroes welcome (not everyone views you this way!).

The Queen gives you a magical compass that allows you to navigate the bay and explore its islands. It's quite funky actually. Each island corresponds to a constellation in the night sky and once set to a particular island, the ship sails there (and takes 3 days each time). The good news is that the your newly arrived crew (which is massive and diverse) know a couple of the destinations, but many of them are unknown.

This starts the Argonaut phase of the campaign. Sailing into lands unknown seeking to complete your fates, prepare for the coming war with the Titans, and if you feel ready, to tackle them yourselves.

I really like most of the voyage section - there are a nice set of unique islands to explore, enemies to fight and allies to cultivate. You advance your epic paths and quite possibly come into possession of some powerful lot. However, everything you need is just out of your reach, as the bay can only take you so far on your road. You need to add to the compass to allow you into the deeper waters of the Forgotten Sea where the fun really begins. At the end of this section you might confront a titan if you chose.

I'm cutting to the chase. The forgotten sea is more of the same but with meaner enemies and more loot. Not only that, but you then have to enter another sea (which is terrifying) in order to confront another of the titans if you chose. This section also gives a glimpse of what you're in for later in the campaign.

I'll be frank here. I like most of the material in this long section, but I can see that being a problem for some - the voyage could conceivably last from levels 5 to 12 and be a lot of game time. This won't be for everyone I suspect and i'm not sure my own group will keep focus for that long in the middle section. There's loads here to work with, that's not the problem, I think that maybe 'Argonaut fatigue' might set in. We'll see.

OK then. You've done everything pretty much haven't you?

WRONG.
 
I'm going to gloss over the last parts. Firstly, because it is actually quite nice to have sections for after what you believe is the end of the campaign and secondly because apart from the next chapter about when you get back to Mytros (which would be the campaign ending in most games) the last few chapters seem to me to be pretty optional. If your players aren't fed up with their epic adventures then they can still do stuff like collecting the components for the spell that leads to apotheosis. This can result in adventuring at the bottom of the ocean, some old very dangerous crypts and eventually overcoming the apocalypse which features an eye-watering number of fell beasts and Titans. You should be 16th level by the time you tackle The Nether Titans, and probably 20th by the time you've either seen everyone off or made deals.

In closing, I think this book has several things to recommend it. It has enough character options and mechanics to simulate an Ancient Greek campaign reasonably well. It feels suitably epic. In fact i'd go so far as to say maybe too epic. It's a fine line between epic and gonzo and I think Odyssey just about stays outside of the realms of gonzo. There are excellent character growth possibilities in regards your Epic Path, so long as you don't mind being shackled to a grand fate. The range of challenges is also good, with many opportunities for diplomacy and intrigue, as well as the very rough and tumble combats, that look pretty challenging. Being faux Greek, you can also take part in games and running races for example, as well as getting stomped on by Talos.

For the DM, the section on running the adventure is very good and I see few problems with running the adventure. What problems arise will likely be due to the preferences of you and your group, which brings us handily to negatives.

I think that the exploration section of the campaign is too long and may become a slog. If the group doesn't mind this 'island of the week' format for a few months, then fine (and I think that the smaller adventures in the Saltmarsh campaign book could easily be used with a bit of tinkering should you even wish to expand this section) but my instinct is that it might drag. Like many of these campaigns in one book, I think there has to be some buy-in for it to be completed. Due to the potential lag in the middle of the campaign and the relative lack of free-will in how you tackle the adventure due to your fate, then I think the level of buy-in for this campaign will need to be slightly higher than usual (at least for my group).

Bury yourself in the mythiness of it all however, and exalt in your ability to arm-wrestle Gods at 1st level whilst following a pre-ordained fate that you welcome and you should enjoy yourselves immensely.
 
This sounds really intriguing and different with lots of interesting ideas.
 
Yeah, there's quite a lot of invention in there.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top