Former BioWare Writers Release 'Dungeons & Dragons' Campaign Setting

A group of former BioWare writers have released a new campaign setting for use in Dungeons & Dragons.

James Ohlen, the lead designer of Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age: Origins, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, announced that he and several other former BioWare writers were leaving BioWare to found a new publishing company called Arcanum Worlds that would focus on creating third party content for Dungeons & Dragons. Earlier this week, Arcanum Worlds released their first publication, a Player's Guide for their upcoming Odyssey of the Dragonlords campaign.

Odyssey of the Dragonlords is set in the new world of Thylea, which is heavily inspired by Greek myths and legends. A land of peninsulas, mountains, and islands, the wildernesses of Thylea are filled with centaurs, Cyclopes, and other monsters while the "civilized races" of elves, dwarves, humans, halflings, and gnomes mostly live in three small kingdoms that have survived countless sieges and attacks over hundreds of years.

The Player's Guide provides a brief outline about the history of Thylea and a prophesied apocalypse that is destined to destroy all mortal races who live there. Most of Thylea's history surrounds the tension between two ancient gods and the Dragonlords, a group of mighty warriors that protected the fledgling civilizations of Thylea. The Dragonlords and their bronze mounts were wiped out during a great war with the gods, but not before they brokered a great peace that lasted five hundred years. Odyssey of the Dragonlords is set at the expiration of this peace treaty, with players assuming the role of heroes trying to stop a great coming destruction.

Odyssey of the Dragonlords will also provide players with two new playable races (a variant version of centaurs and a new satyr race) along with several epic paths that serve as the equivalent to the destined quests completed by ancient Greek heroes. Not only do these epic paths provide both backgrounds and goals for characters, they also grant a divine favor that players obtain once these goals are completed.

The Player's Guide for Odyssey of the Dragonlords is available to download for free on the DriveThruRPG site. The Odyssey of the Dragonlords campaign is expected to be release in May 2019.