After wrapping up a D&D campaign based on the Ravnica setting a while back I recently began to run a new campaign based on the other MTG based setting - Theros (a MTG setting heavily influenced by ancient Greek mythology). My group of 5 players (shoutout to J, M and the 3 Rs) recently had a session 0 and to wrap up the session I crafted a short session 1 to give the players a chance to test out their new characters and get a good feel for the setting. As I was happy both with the plotting and the play through of the session I decided to share it here as an example of a Theros session 1 and for any other DMs to use if they wish.
NOTE: This session was designed for a group of 5 players starting out with level 5 characters, for other groups some modifications of the difficulty would be needed.
Official Wizards of the Coasts Models for the 2 main Monsters used in the session. Left - Nyx-Fleece Ram, Right - Fleecemane Lion.
Start
A week ago by divine message or rumor our group of heroes were summoned here, to a small settling in a remote part fo the Katachthon Mountains (Between Setessa and Tethmos). It is early in Lyokymion (the month of Thassa Good of the Sea in the Meletian calendar) the start of Spring and the weather particular here in the mountains is bracing.
[Give the players a chance to introduce their characters and describe both how they heard to come here and what happened to them during their travels to get here.]
This settling, consists of 4 houses a few barns and many pens, is home to The Shepherds, a group of valiant and pious souls who help guard the God blessed Nyx-Fleece Rams. On arrival the 4 members of this small community gather outside to greet you, they are -
Damaris and Damon - 2 middle aged twin brothers wearing well made if humble shepherds togas they are both well muscled with blue eyes and slightly silvered black curly hair. [They are the head shepherds and have worked and lived here for decades, their personalities are near identical, hard working men who respect the Gods and the hard work of others, they will not give out advice beyond the basics to trial goers.]
Maia - An old woman wearing a finely woven woolen dress, she has wise green eyes which still have a youthful twinkle to them and long silver. [She is the weaver, from the fleece of the sheep she weaves fine clothing and on occasion will even craft magical fleece from the Nyx Fleece Ram's wool].
Telamon - A young man, wearing a shorter more athletic version of the toga, he has blue eyes and blond curly hair. [He is the apprentice shepherd, while proud of his role he is also a huge fan of heroic adventurers and will happily help such people if they befriend or aid him]
They introduce themselves by name and occupation to the gathered heroes, the brothers thank the adventurers for coming and tell everyone the trial that they are here to attempt. Recently a small group of lions has been seen on the nearby peak (they point to a jungle covered peak to the southeast) and we fear they might injure or even kill the precious Nyx-Fleece Rams who usually enjoy free reign of the entire area include the peak in question. Currently we have guided most of the Rams to the safety of a nearby vale (they point to the northwest) but there are still a few missing and we fear that 1 or more of them might be on the peak with the lions. Usually we would deal with the matter ourselves but we received a message from the Gods requesting that we allow some up and coming heroes to test their worth against this trial.
[Chance for the group to ask questions, they don't know for sure the number of lions but believe there are at least 3, the Gods did mention a reward but it will be revealed later, yes they can see the Rams - guided to the vale see the beautiful Nyx-Fleece Rams in person]
Exploration/Combat
The group set out to search the overgrown mountain peak [difficult terrain, lightly obscured. A Survival check of DC 15 (DC 12 if they went to view the Rams)] quickly reveals the path of a Ram to a small clearing (otherwise it takes an hour of searching before randomly stumbling across the clearing) it has a rough 10 foot radius.
[Have the group roll a Perception check. DC 10+ = there's a badly injured Ram and a single lion in the clearing. DC 15+ = there's 2-3 shapes in the jungle behind the clearing, 1 of which seems to be fleecy it could be another Ram. DC 20+ = the shapes are 2 more lions and a more fierce looking Fleecemane Lion.]
[player's discuss strategy]
[combat - special: at the start of each round the Ram fails a death save, at the start of the 3rd round it will bleed out if not healed or at least stabilized.]
[if the party is noisy at the start of round 2 the other lions will descend]
[if the party attempt to investigate/battle the shapes in the jungle behind believing the fleecy animal to be a Ram and fail to stealthily approach they will suffer from a surprise round when the Fleecemane Lion is revealed].
[Secret Bonus Quest: if someone saves, fully heals and guides the injured Ram back to the Shepherds it will nuzzle the character and drop a Ring into their hand - it is the rare Ring of the Ram.] [NOTE: This reward is super generous for the player's levels and while I do like including secrets like this I wouldn't usually include a rare magical item at this level, I only made an exception in this case because it was too perfectly fitting an item for the scenario.]
When the party (hopefully successfully and with a living Ram) return, Telamon will run to greet you (taking the Ram to be healed if necessary and thanking you profusely). The twins then announce that the reward they were instructed to provide by the Gods was the rare opportunity to sheer and obtain the Fleece of the Rams. They give the party golden sheers and warn them not to harm the Rams.
[Preparation Time - the twins won't give extra advice just to do your best, Maia will say that it's not her area of expertise, Telamon if befriended will give you some advice on optimal sheering and if you returned the Ram alive he will slip you a net to use. ]
Trial
Each hero will enter a 20x20 foot enclosure with one of the Rams, the will be allowed no outside assistance (including magic which will be noticed by the Shepherds). There are 2 phases -
Phase 1 - get the sheep to remain in place (options include animal handling DC 12 to calm them, using the net, using a spell or other technique).
Phase 2 - sheering the sheep (the character makes a DC 12 Dexterity check, with proficiency if they have leatherworkers or weavers tool proficiency). [Fail = nick the Ram with the sheers obtaining a normal fleece and disappointing the Shepherds. Critical Fail = cut the Ram obtaining no fleece and angering the Shepherds. Success = obtain a viable fleece. Critical Success = obtain a fleece with such skill that it impresses the Shepherds. ]
[Bonus - if the characters have the advice of Telamon they gain advantage on their checks]
Maia will offer to help process the viable fleeces into Magical Fleece. This takes a few hours and the player rolls a D6 to determine the type of effect the fleece will have.
[Bonus - if the characters have obtained the Fleece with a Critical success they can roll the D6 2 times receiving the better of the 2 options]
Conclusion
The Shepherds thank you for everything and offer to pay you to take a cartload (mainly of normal woolen items) to the twin's cousin Tobias who has a shop on the outskirts of Setessa.
[The group each receive +1 to their Piety in addition to any Piety they gained/lost from their actions during the session]
Overall the combined session 0 and mini session 1 went well for my group, there were a few rough spots at the time but i've provided a slightly tweaked version here that should run even smoother. I really like Theros as a D&D setting, it combines Greek mythology (always impressive) with good world design, lore and monsters of its own. For players the book has 2 new race options (Leonin and Satyr), 2 new subclass options (Eloquence Bard and Glory Paladin) and a new Background (Athlete). For DMs the book's main value is in the setting itself and in the Monsters (including new Mythical monsters which act like video game bosses with multiple phases). Unfortunately most of the items are either of limited use or very setting specific (the God weapons need a lot of reworking to be usable in a non-Theros campaign). I also really like the variant book cover in this case (usually I am not overly fussed), it has an epic Greek God style and starry appearance.
The Theros Setting Book, variant cover.
As always any comments appreciated.
The images and names are the properties of Wizards of the Coast, used here for informational purposes only.