Forgotten Odysseys is a deadly TTRPG inspired by The Odyssey and Final Destination

Try to cheat death in the Mork Borg hack Forgotten Odysseys

When D&D Beyond founder and Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying designer Adam Bradford saw the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in 2025, he knew it was time to turn his passion for Greek mythology into a tabletop role-playing game. Now he’s running a Kickstarter for Forgotten Odysseys through July 23, raising money for a spin on the lethal TTRPG Mörk Borg where players take on the role of survivors of the Trojan War trying to make it home.

“Mörk Borg is just so stylish,” Bradford told Polygon on a video call. “It just oozes a vibe of deadliness, and it feels like there is danger around every corner, and that things could go very, very bad.”

It’s a fitting system for telling a story where Odysseus lost most of his crew along the way to all manner of monsters. Instead of sailing toward Ithaca, the player characters – dubbed Seekers – are trying to reach the Sparkling Island of Telos, which Bradford named for the Greek word for “goal.”

“I’ve been playtesting with mostly friends and family, and there’s been only one group that actually made it home so far,” Bradford said. “That’s by design, because I want the game to feel hopeless. When you do make it home, the amount of elation and utter joy that they experience felt like it recreated the experience of reading [The Odyssey] for the first time.”

The voyage from Troy to Telos is tracked with a spiral based on the Golden Ratio, and Seekers face increasingly hostile encounters as the journey goes on. The game is expected to take about four or five sessions, though it can go longer based on luck and player tactics. For instance, everyone on the ship can make seafaring checks on each day of the trip, and the better their rolls, the less likely they are to face a mishap, which could lead to the ship being damaged or the crew being afflicted with a curse. Seekers who roll well can find a safe island where they can get fresh provisions.

The threats aren’t just random — they’re the result of divine intervention. The primary antagonist in Forgotten Odysseys is Eris, goddess of strife, who believes that the Seekers should have died in battle at Troy. She has enlisted allies like Nemesis, the goddess tasked with punishing arrogant mortals who defy the gods, to ensure they get the fate they deserve.

“I’m very much a ‘90s kid and Final Destination is something that I probably think about on a weekly basis,” Bradford said. “I love villains that are, if not sympathetic, then at least understandable in their motivations. [Eris] thinks that the natural order of things has been violated and that you all should have died, so for her, this is just another day at the office.”

Characters are torn between the ancient Greek concepts of nostos, a longing for home, and kleos, the desire for glory. Play it safe, and you might get home and not be remembered. Pursue glory and “the chances of you getting stomped by a cannibalistic giant might be very, very high,” Bradford said. Reaching Telos isn’t the end of the story. Another inspiration for Forgotten Odysseys is The Return, Uberto Pasolini’s 2024 film focused on the end of The Odyssey, where Odysseus arrives at Ithaca and has to fix his kingdom. Seekers will face their own challenges as they confront how they’ve been changed by their time at war and the journey home.

“If you can overcome that final hurdle, that’s where the legends are formed,” Bradford said.

The Kickstarter campaign for Forgotten Odysseys runs through July 23, and backers will receive a beta PDF of the rules by the end of the month. The $25 digital version is expected to be released in January 2027, while the $40 hardcover will ship in June 2027. Stretch goals include additional classes, items, islands, and a full standalone adventure.