A marvellous mess of myth
ODYSSEY OF THE DRAGONLORDS
Designer: James Ohlen, Jesse Sky, Drew Karpyshyn| Publisher: Modiphius
‘Epic’ is a word that gets thrown around pretty loosely these days, but it really is the only accurate way to describe Odyssey of the Dragonlords. By smooshing the world-shaking heroism of Greek myth into Dungeons & Dragons’ high-powered fantasy it manages to conjure up a titanic adventure about battling vast monsters, treating with gods and claiming your place in the annals of history.
And, yes, despite carefully not mentioning it by name anywhere, Odyssey of the Dragonlords is explicitly meant to be played with D&D’s wildly popular fifth edition ruleset. It’s just rather than being put out by the official D&D team, the book comes from a trio of writers drawn from the ranks of Bioware, one of the biggest names in RPG videogames.
The result is a chunky slab of a book that manages to bring a flavour of its own to the rather crowded world of fantasy adventuring. Part of this is the beautifully realised mythical setting, which comes with an absolute stack of new options for players and GMs alike, but the writing and design also manage to feel slick and snappy in a way that few other campaigns manage.
This might be the conformation bias talking, but you can kind of tell that the main body of the writing came from folks who cut their teeth in videogames.
The structure of the campaign, which starts with the party being hailed as destined heroes and has them slowly unlock more of the world to explore over time, feels as though it could have been ripped right out of Mass Effect or Baldur’s Gate. Even the climactic final showdown, which may well be one of the most dramatic, high-powered battles in any D&D campaign ever published, feels like something that could be accessed by clicking on a map screen.
Honestly, this is both a good and a bad thing.
For example, there’s no denying that the linear design of the first few chapters – which translate into a couple dozen hours of gameplay – does a great job of keeping things zipping along at an impressive pace. Plus, the feeling of unlocking a whole new array of islands to visit or cities to explore is just satisfying at the tabletop as it is on any computer screen.
However, this does come coupled with an element of the dreaded railroading – the feeling that once the heroes start their journey, they’re bouncing their way down a corridor rather than forging their own path. For long sections of the game the party head from one dungeon-crawl to another, retrieving magical McGuffins and having plot-relevant encounters when the book decides they’re ready.
Indeed, the whole adventure opens with the party being named as the destined heroes, prophesised to save the world of Thylea and kick some titan arse.
This is all supported by clever new rules that tie their epic destinies into the story, but all the talk of fate can sometimes feel like an excuse for leading the players around by their nose.
Still, if they are happy to tread the road set before them, the heroes are probably going to be in for a rather lovely journey. The book is stuffed with cool characters and clever little adventures, all of which are supported by a truly impressive array of Grecianflavoured rules and tools.
Every single core D&D class, for example, gets a new sub-class to try out with an appropriately epic flavour. Barbarians, for example, get to wrestle and shoot like Hercules, while rangers get access to an Amazonian sub-class that turns them into an off-brand version of Xena or Wonderwoman.
It’s a little hard to tell exactly how these stand up against their official brethren, but at the very least they look both fun and incredibly flavourful. Just reading through the book is enough to fill your head with ideas for cool characters, and even if you don’t want to go full Grecian myth the hand-waved nature of the world means that you could very easily play a newly-arrived wandered from a more traditional fantasy world.
The Odyssey of the Dragonlords is a truly impressive piece of work that can offer multiple years of action-packed roleplaying that really does blend the epic heroism of Greek myth and the easy action of D&D. At times the writing might be a little too tight and the plot a little too slick, but if you’re happy to be swept along in the current there’s a whole lot of epic adventuring to be had with it.
RICHARD JANSEN-PARKES
WE SAY
An incredibly ambitious piece of work that adds epic Grecian flavour to D&D’s wizards and warriors.
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: STORM KING’S THUNDER…
Go fight big things, save the world and bounce across the planet while doing epic nonsense.