History TabletopGame / OdysseyOfTheDragonlords

* MarathonLevel: Praxis, the base of operations for Sydon's forces, is a massive tower that is designed to be a long crawl from the player's point of entry, all the way to the top.

* SchmuckBait: One of the tombs in the Necropolis at Telamok is dedicated to one of the first Dragonlords who sided with Sydon, a fact that the book points out in a way to seemingly taunt the players into thinking of desecrating it. [[spoiler:Doing so causes the tomb to teleport whoever did so to Praxis, Sydon's tower, [[PressXToDie where he immediately kills the player]] for doing so.]].

* EverybodyHatesHades: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Most of the mortal races worship Sydon out of fear or to avoid his wrath, but Lutheria is prayed to because, publicly, she comes across as a lot less evil and cruel compared to Sydon. While people do have suspicions that the Cult of Lutheria is bad (usually correct), she's still popular because, despite being the settings version of Hades, she's also a LoveGoddess who has just enough TheAntiNihilist views that make her seem appealing.

* AndIMustScream: The process of turning someone into a Maenad is painful and terrifying, not just the physical transformation, but also the fact the person responsible has to KickTheDog to do so. Many of the Maenad's end up being so broken and horrified by the process, that they snap and lose their mind in the process.

* TheChosenOne: InUniverse the player characters are described as such by Versi, the Oracle. Each one has been foreseen by her as being a major player in the coming battle against the Titans, and thus she has gone out of her way to call them as such. Since Versi did see them in a vision, the module more or less treats them as this trope, and encourages using this trope to make the players use that as part of their characters goals.

* DeityOfHumanOrigin: The post-campaign story largely tackles the idea of the player characters becoming Gods after the end of the Titan's, and the Five Gods, and the process for doing so. Becoming a God gives the player characters new abilities and features, though it comes with a host of things for the characters to have to do and figure out.

** The Epic Paths are outright stated to be purposely based on famous tales of Greek heroes, with each one providing a direct comparison in terms of inspiration. For example, the Doomed One is inspired by Achilles, while the Vanished One takes after Odysseus.

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: The Lost One Epic Path is based on this idea. The player character is from a place outside of Thylea, and ended up in the world somehow.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The Orace uses this trope as the reason for why the player characters have been called. Like it or not, they are the destined heroes, and they must step up if they want to protect the world from the Titans.

* HopeBringer: The Dragonlords were symbols of hope for a beleaguered people. Whenever any mortal settlement was razed to the ground by roving centaurs and cyclopes, the Dragonlords would repay the attackers in kind.

* LoopholeAbuse: Since the Oath of Peace means the Titans and Gods cannot directly harm each other, they instead use proxies or unrelated parties as a way of getting around it. For example: the centaur army outside of Estoria would normally just be fought off by Pythor, but since almost all the centaurs have the blood of Sydon, Pythor cannot just fight the army on his own. Instead, he hopes the player characters can find a solution, because they are not bond to the Oath of Peace.

** The Oath of Peace was made between the Five Gods and the Titans at the tail-end of the battle between the Titans and the Dragonlords. The Oath states the Titans would give mortal races a 500 year peace/truce provided they still received offerings, while the Gods are not allowed to pick a fight with the Titans. This means the Gods cannot directly fight followers of the Titans without breaking the Oath, which is a problem for some of the Gods like Pythor.

* SacredHospitality: Guest friendship is a concept of great importance in Thylea. It requires all hosts to show generosity and courtesy to guests who are far from home, no matter what disputes may divide the two parties. The bond is established as soon as the guest has shared a meal with the host, and ends when the guest has departed with the host's blessing. After that, the two may become enemies once more. Violating this is considered one of the largest sins possible, usually earning a trip to the Island of Oathbreakers by the Erinyes as punishment.

* SeaMonster: The depths of the Cerulean Gulf and the Forgotten Sea are home to many creatures of incredible size and ferocity.

* HopelessBossFight: The play characters can chose to deal with Pythor's Centaur army issue by challenging the Centaur army to an honorable duel between the play characters and the leader. The module discourages this approach though, as the Centaur leader makes sure it is an equal matchup of fighters on both sides, and is strong enough of a threat that he can pose a hard fight for the players when the option arises (around level 3), meaning the player characters won't likely have a way of winning fairly. While the module does provide an out in the form of Kyrah reviving the heroes should they fall, the module treats this as the worst case for resolving it.

A successor campaign is in the works called "Raiders of the Serpent Sea". Using similar ideas (such as the Epic Paths), it is a new setting based around Myth/NorseMythology The kickstarter can be found [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanumworldscanada/raidersoftheserpentsea?ref=6jcte7 here]], and is set for release in early 2023.

* TheWarSequence: The main finale of the module involves a major battle against the Titans and their forces, in which the player characters must (mostly) fight back the Titans through their collected power and resources. They attack the city of Mytros specifically due to being essentially the sea of the Gods power.

* CreationMyth: The setting of Thylea was born when an ancient god called Thylea grew weary of war, and left the other gods to create a life somewhere else. Joined with another god, Kentimane, Thylea passed away but became the islands and roots that make up the world, with Kentimane becoming its protector.

* DoesNotLikeMen: The Amazons of Themis blame men for a loss to Sydon, and treat men as slaves for breeding. Only recent events have allowed some to wander the island. Fittingly, going to the island with male player characters usually results in the Amazons trying to capture the heroes without any chance for discussion.
* DoomedProtagonist: The "Doomed One" Epic Path is based around this concept. The player character was born during a "fell astrological sign", meaning they are doomed to suffer horribly before being inevitably killed by someone. Their only hope is to kill the one destined to kill them.

* GhostShip: The ''Ultros'', a ship made for the Dragonlords back during their fight with the Titans. It was helmed by Estor Arklander, and was the greatest of the vessels made for the Dragonlords. A major plotpoint of the module is the heroes getting the boat and using it as their primary means of transportation, as Sydon normally would just sink whatever boat the heroes use. Since the boat was made outside outside of Thylea, and is enhanced with magic, it's the only ship that could get around that. The players have to deal with Estor's ghost who haunts the ship though.

* HopelessBossFight: The play characters can chose to deal with Pythor's Centaur army issue by challenging the Centaur army to an honorable duel between the play characters and the leader. The module discourages this approach though, as the Centaur leader makes sure it is an equal matchup of fighters on both sides, and is strong enough of a threat that he can pose a hard fight for the players when the option arises (around level 3), meaning the player characters won't likely have a way of winning fairly.

* JerkassGods: The Titans Sydon and Lutheria are cruel, vindicative, and petty. All in all, they behave like the real Greek gods. While they are worshiped worldwide, for most people it's because it's the best way to avoid their wrath.

* KneelBeforeZod: Sydon's arrogance is such that, during TheWarSequence, his arrival has him demanding the player characters kneel before him, among other things. This can be an ExploitedTrope if the player characters are pragmatic enough though, as Sydon is so prideful that he would never expect someone to pretend to bow, giving players an opening to surprise him.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the Oath of Peace preventing the Titans from outright just killing the heroes at first. They can only do so much before the Oath of Peace ends, and it involves either sending agents out to do it for them, using loopholes to try and kill the heroes, or defend themselves if attacked.

* TheChosenOne: InUniverse the player characters are described as such by Versi, the Oracle. Each one has been foreseen by her as being a major player in the coming battle, and thus she has gone out of her way to call them as such. Since Versi did see them in a vision, the module more or less treats them as this trope.

* DivineParentage: Befitting the inspiration, many characters can trace their lineage to either one of the Five Gods, or the Titans. The Demi-God Epic Path even has this as a core part of one of the player characters, as the Demi-God player character is the child of Pythor through one of his past wives.
* DoesNotLikeMen: The Amazons of Themis blame men for a loss to Sydon, and treat men as slaves for breeding; only recent events have allowed some to wander the island. Fittingly, going to the island with male player characters usually results in the Amazons trying to capture the heroes without any mercy.

* GodsHandsAreTied: The Five Gods are unable to directly help mortals because of the Oath of Peace made to stop the war between the Titans and the mortal races. If they were to in theory do so, they'd risk more problems, and so they help mortals by offering guidance or suggestion. For example: the Order of Sydon demands Pythor's daughter as a sacrifice, which he refuses since he loves his daughter, but due to the Oath of Peace, he cannot just fight back against the Order or he will be in violation of the Oath. [[spoiler: When they are able to directly help, it's after the Oath of Peace has ended, and they lose their divinity and return to being Dragons as part of it]].
* TheGhost: The other Titans are mentioned, but what exactly happened to them is unknown. There are implications they were killed by Lutheria and Sydon, but the module is more vague if this is true of not.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The Five Gods and Titans require consistent worship and sacrifices in order to maintain their strength. This was a part of why the Oath of Peace made a point to have centers of worship for Sydon and Lutheria in major cities, and why the Five Gods gradually get weaker as the Oath of Peace draws to an end.

** Sydon's plans are revealed to be basically this. His plan is to defeat the Five Gods once the Oath of Peace ends, then replace their centers of worship with his children, all of whom (save Versi the Oracle) are loyal to him.

** Oaths function as this. They act as basically a semi-legally binding contract that all involved parties must obeyed by or suffer horrific consequences for failing to do so. Players are allowed to make Oaths if they want, but failure to follow them will result in curses of various afflictions.

* PopularityPower: A core part of the module is the idea of fame. As the player progress, they will gradually increase their fame, which can result in things like being showered with food/gifts, to having statues made in their honor.

* AsceticAesthetic: Aresian warriors cultivate an air of rugged austerity, which disguises long hours spent on beauty rituals, poetry readings and decadent feasting. The most powerful families in Aresia take the greatest pains to appear ascetic—eating unspiced gruel and wearing little in public, while lavishing fine foods and luxurious garments on their servants in paradoxical and conspicuous displays of wealth.

** The Epic Paths are outright stated to be purposely based on famous tales of Greek heroes, with each one providing a direct comparison in terms of inspiration. For example: the Doomed One is inspired by Achilles, while the Vanished One takes after Odysseus.

** [[spoiler: The big reveal of the Amazon plotline is this. The queen was actually killed nearly fifteen years before the start of the module, and was replaced by Thesilea and her sisters, who were turned into Medusa's.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: Since the Oath of Peace means the Titans and Gods cannot directly harm each other, they instead use proxies or unrelated parties as a way of getting around it. For example: the Centaur army outside of Estoria would normally just be fought off by Pythor, but since almost all the Centaurs have the blood of Sydon, Pythor cannot just fight the army on his own. Instead, he hopes the player characters can find a solution, because they are not bond to the Oath of Peace.

* TheMaze: The deepest part of the Necropolis at Telamok is a series of winding hallways and a few dead-ends guarded by the giant Minotaur Graxis.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Stygians are the Thylean equivalent of Tieflings, on account of the traditional Tiefling origin story not really being able to work due to the lack of major Fiends in the setting.

The module is set in the world of Thylea, a world once ravaged by a great war between the Titans and the Dragonlords; mortal champions who came to Thylea and warred with the Titans to defend the mortla races. In the end, peace was attained when five Gods appeared and swore an Oath of Peace with the Titans, but such an oath is never meant to always last, and so war looms as the Oath reaches the expiration date. To protect the land, the Oracle has foreseen champions who will walk the path of heroes to stop the Titans, even as trouble brews and the Titans prepare for their war.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Stygians are the Thylean equivalent of tieflings, on account of the traditional tiefling origin story not really being able to work due to the lack of major fiends in the setting.

* IJustWantToBeSpecial: King Acastus of Mytros ''really'' wants to feel special. Despite being descended from one of the Dragonlords, his ancestor, Estor Arklander, haunts his dreams, taunting him about his lack of fame and power, on top of being told outright by Versi the Oracle he was not destined for anything, has caused him to become focused on gaining power. Not even marrying Vallus, the Goddess of Wisdom, was enough, and he becomes intensely jealous of the player characters because they are destined for greatness. [[spoiler:He even goes so far as to try and kill them during TheWarSequence, partially to save his city, but also out of sheer jealously]].

* LoopholeAbuse: Since the Oath of Peace means the Titans and Gods cannot directly harm each other, they instead use proxies as a way of getting around it. For example: the Centaur army outside of Estoria would normally just be fought off by Pythor, but since almost all the Centaurs have the blood of Sydon, this means Pythor cannot just fight the army on his own. Instead, he hopes the player characters can find a solution, because they are not bond to the Oath of Peace.