Tabletop Game / Odyssey of the Dragonlords

Odyssey of the Dragonlords is an adventure module for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, released in early 2020. It is published by Modiphius Entertainment and written by Arcanum Worlds, a team composed of many former BioWare employees who worked on games like Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age: Origins. Inspired by Classical Mythology, the campaign involves heroes fighting the Gods and more, as they explore a rich 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 mortal 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.

A successor campaign called Raiders of the Serpent Sea, using similar ideas (such as the Epic Paths) and a setting based on Norse Mythology, was released in 2023 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

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This work contains examples of:

• Affluent Ascetic: 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.
• And I Must Scream: The process of turning someone into a Maenad is painful and terrifying for the victim. Many of the Maenad's end up being so broken and horrified by the transformation, that they lose their minds in the process, and embrace their new form because they have no idea what else to do.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Downplayed with Narsus, who is actually one of the Five Gods, but left out of the pantheon and most stories. His family don't really like to include him in discussions, and aren't keen on mentioning him. Outside of Aresia, he's either unheard of, or avoided discussing entirely.
• Because Destiny Says So: The Oracle 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.
• The Chosen One: In-Universe 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 to her shrine so she can provide them the vision she foresaw, and begin the process of them becoming heroes. The module encourages this trope as well when it comes to creating the player characters.
• Circle of Standing Stones: Deep within the Oldwood is a druid grove ringed by monolithic stones. They allow Druids or Rangers to take a Short Rest that gives the benefits of a Long Rest, but again, require a Druid or Ranger to do so.
• Create Your Own Hero: Though destined by the Oracle to become heroes, Sydon and Lutheria end up making the player characters heroes thanks to their actions, such as sending a great boar that ends up being killed by the heroes. Some of the Epic Paths take a more direct point of this by having one of the Titans be directly responsible for the player characters past, helping walk them on the path to defeating them.
• Creation Myth: According to various people, Thylea was born when an ancient god called Thylea grew weary of war from where she originally came from, 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. As the world tree that makes up Thylea, she would also give birth to the titan's from her tree, the two most powerful being Sydon and Lutheria.
• Deity of Human Origin: 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.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Dealing with Estor is this for the early part of the module. After killing the great boar, and then completing the great labors as foretold by the Oracle, the players must find the Ultros and confront the ghost of Estor. Doing so gives the players a ship, and sets them out on the bulk of the module.
• Divine Parentage: Befitting the inspiration, many people in Thylea 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.
• Does Not Like Men: The Amazons of Themis blame men for a loss to Sydon some time in their past, 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.
• Doomed Protagonist: 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 first.
• Dragons Are Divine: The Five Gods are revealed to have been normal-ish Dragons who ascended to God status through the actions of the Dragonlords, who infused stolen parts of Sydon and Lutheria into them. Through worship and the Oath of Peace, they became full-fledged Gods, but sadly lose their divinity once the Oath of Peace has worn off.
• End of an Age: The end of the Oath of Peace is effectively the end of the rule of the Five Gods, and the relative peace that came with it. Once the Oath ends, the Five Gods return to being Dragons, and with it comes a major battle against the Titans, which can see the end of the Titans if the player characters prevail.
• Everybody Hates Hades: 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 setting's version of Hades, she's also a Love Goddess who has just enough The Anti-Nihilist views that make her seem appealing.
• Expy:
  • 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 to help the players understand what kind of story or ideas the Epic Path will go, and how to potentially write their backgrounds to fit. For example, the Doomed One is inspired by Achilles, while the Vanished One takes after Odysseus.
  • The Gods are all based on famous Greek heroes, with some taking aspects of their legend or referencing parts of it. For example: Pythor is based on Hercules in appearance, and having a Rage ability not unlike Hercules, and Kyrah is based on Atalanta due to her refusing to marry unless beaten in a footrace.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Broadly speaking, the setting is very heavily inspired by Classical Mythology, and so many cities or cultures take direct influence from historical, or mythological, accounts from the time.
• Fossil Revival: Through some miraculous feat of magic, Acastus has recently resurrected the race of dragons, which were thought to be extinct since the end of the First War.
• Full-Boar Action: The first combat encounter in the module involves hunting down a great boar (clearly inspired by the Calydonian Boar) said to have been sent by the Titans as a warning. The boar itself is weakened from prior battles, as at full health it likely would one-shot a group of level one adventures.
• God's Hands Are Tied: The Five Gods are unable to directly help mortals fight back against the Tians 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. 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.
• The Ghost: The other Titans besides Sydon and Lutheria are given explanations for why they have not appeared, but while three appear as statues, the others do not appear.
• Ghost Ship: 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 unique 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.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: 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. Offering great sacrifices or dedicating victories to one can greatly empower the God or Titan, allowing them to do things they otherwise could not do right away.
• Götterdämmerung: Fittingly titled "Apokalypsis", the grand finale of the module is based around the idea of the end of days, in which the Forgotten Gods seek vengeance upon the heroes for becoming powerful, and send forth various Beast of the Apocalypse like monsters before battling the heroes. In the end, the heroes can emerge as the new Gods if they chose to, but regardless, it is treated as the End of an Age.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: Of the Five Gods, Mytros is held up as this In-Universe for her role in the battle against the Titans. She seemingly ascended to the Celestial Realm and is a protector of the mortal races, all of which revere her in some way, unless they oppose the Five Gods.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: The Dragonlords are seen by the mortal races as heroes who nobly fought and died for their sake, even getting plays and stories that depict them as champions of the mortal races. While the Dragonlords did fight for them, it's noted that the Dragonlords were not as heroic as people viewed them as, in particular Estor, who is seen by many as a hero, but in truth was one of the cruelest people in the past.
• Hope Bringer: 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. A major part of why the player characters are suggested to revive the name is because of the hope it would instill in the mortal races that the Titan's can be defeated.
• Hopeless Boss Fight:
  • Defiling one of the tombs in the Necropolis at Telamok can cause players to be teleported right in front of Sydon. Given he's an endgame foe, and the players are likely between level 1-4, its an outright unwinnable fight.
  • The play characters can chose to deal with the Centaur army outside of Estoria by challenging the leader to an honorable duel between them and the party. The module discourages allowing this however, as the Centaur leader makes sure to match the players party numbers wise, and is strong enough on his own 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 suggests avoiding doing this approach.
• I Just Want to Be Special: 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, causing him to become focused on gaining power to prove his worth. 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. He even goes so far as to try and kill them during The War Sequence, partially to save his city, but also out of sheer jealously.
• Jerkass Gods: The Titans Sydon and Lutheria are cruel, vindictive, 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.
• Kill and Replace:
  • The big reveal of the Amazon plotline is this. Queen Thesilea and her sisters were actually killed nearly fifteen years before the start of the module, and were replaced by medusae.
  • 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.
• Kneel Before Zod: Sydon's arrogance is such that, during The War Sequence, his arrival has him demanding the player characters kneel before him, among other things. This can be an Exploited Trope if the player characters are pragmatic enough, as Sydon is so prideful that he would never expect someone to pretend to bow, giving players an opening to surprise him.
• Lady Land: The Amazons of Themis are a warrior culture of all women, taking heavy inspiration from the Greek Amazonian depictions over more recent interpretations of the idea. They view men as weak due to having lost a past conflict with Sydon, the Lord of Storms. The only men allowed on the island are younger men whose sole purpose is for breeding, though recent events have seen more evil aligned men allowed more freedom.
• Loophole Abuse: 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 or he'd be violating the Oath of Peace. Instead, he hopes the player characters can find a solution, because they are not bond to the Oath of Peace.
• Magically-Binding Contract:
  • Oaths function as this. They act as basically a magically binding contract that all involved parties must obey by or suffer horrific consequences (usually curses) for failing to do so. As an example: if an Oath between two people is made that neither will harm the other or their family, only for one of them do so, then the person who broke it will suffer for doing so. Players are allowed to make Oaths if they want, but failure to uphold them is a risky and dangerous thing to have to deal with.
  • 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 and was the only reason the war ended at all. The Oath stated the Titans would give mortal races a 500 year peace/truce provided they still received offerings, with neither side able to directly fight the other. 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, who loves fighting.
• Marathon Level: 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. There are many enemies and threats the player characters have to deal with, including possibly fighting Sydon and his Titan children.
• The Maze: 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.
• Orcus on His Throne: Justified by the Oath of Peace preventing the Titans from outright just killing the heroes or Five Gods 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.
• Popularity Power: A core part of the module is the idea of fame. As the player progress through the module, they will gradually increase their fame, which can result in things like being showered with food/gifts, to having statues made in their honor. This plays a major part in the optional stuff after the main story is over, since one must have earned enough fame to become a god.
• Sacred Hospitality: 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. Abusing or violating hospitality is as bad as breaking an Oath, and doing so can result in curses or a visit from the Erinyes, who will punish the violating party.
• Schmuck Bait: 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. Doing so causes the tomb to teleport whoever did so to Praxis, Sydon's tower, where he immediately kills the player for doing so.
• Sea Monster: The depths of the Cerulean Gulf and the Forgotten Sea are home to many creatures of incredible size and ferocity. Among them is the Kraken, an ancient squid like creature that has been around since the creation of Thylea.
• The Secret of Long Pork Pies: The more common process for becoming a Maenad involves young women eating food made from friends or loved ones, usually having it revealed right before they transform so as to Kick the Dog.
• Space Cold War: Mytros and Aresia have been in off-and-on wars for many years. According to some, part of this is because the two nations don't get along, while others think it is because of past events with the Dragonlords that brought such a divide between the two. Regardless of why, Mytros has launched attacks on Aresia several times, and failed to breach the cities walls each time.
• Stock Gods: The Five Gods take more traditional aspects of the Greek Pantheon, as opposed to the Titans. For reference:
  • Mytros: Top God / God of Good.
  • Pythor: War God.
  • Kyrah: Trickster God.
  • Volkan: Ultimate Blacksmith.
  • Vallus: Goddess of Wisdom
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: 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.
• Timed Mission: An In-Universe example. By the time the heroes have acquired The Ultros, they have sixty days to travel the seas to get stronger, gather allies, and/or weaken the Titans. Once those days are up, the city of Mytros will be besieged and the Oath of Peace ends.
• Trapped in Another World: 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. The main hook is understanding why they are in Thylea, and if they want to return home or not.
• The Underworld: The Nether Sea functions as a semi-underworld like location for Thylea, though primarily this is for those Lutheria wants to torment. Much like the classical underworld, getting to it is difficult.
• The War Sequence: 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 seat of the Gods power.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: Downplayed Trope. Magic works the same in Thylea as it does in most other settings, but clerics and paladins are cut off from their gods should they either be outsiders who arrived in Thylea, or somehow made contact with one. It is possible to contact them, and they can use their spells with no issue, but thanks to Thylea being cut off from most of any larger setting, the connection one would have to their god is weakened.

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