WotC Vecna Eve of Ruin: Everything You Need To Know

WotC has posted a 19-minute video telling you 'everything you need to know' about Vecna: Eve Of Ruin.

• Starts at 10th level, goes to 20th.
• Classic villains and setting, famous characters, D&D's legacy.
• Vecna wants to become the supreme being of the multiverse.
• Vecna is a god of secrets and secrets and the power of secrets are a theme throughout the book.
• A mechanical subsystem for using the power of secrets during combat.
• Going back to Ravenloft, the Nine Hells, places where 5th Edition has been in the last 10 years.
• It would be a fun 'meta experience' for players to visit locations they remember lore about.
• Finding pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts, pieces throughout the multiverse.
• Each piece in one of seven distinct planes or settings.
• Allustriel Silverhand has noticed something is wrong, puts call out to Tasha and Mordenkainen, who come to her sanctum in Sigil.
• The (10th level) PCs are fated to confront Vecna.
• Lord Soth and Strahd show up. Tiamat is mentioned but doesn't appear 'on screen'.
• Twists, turns, spoilers.
• It's a 'love letter to D&D'.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Player agency

It’s not player agency if the DM changes it. And the rod only fits together in one order. Even if the players could go after piece 6 before piece two, facing level-inappropriate challenges, the pieces wouldn’t fit together and the rod wouldn’t work.

 

[Reynard]

It’s not player agency if the DM changes it.

This is an interesting statement. Can you expound?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I mean, can they do something in Chapter 7 (or whatever) that significantly impacts the final showdown?

Well a player could die in chapter 7 that would impact things.

But

Spoiler

one of the main things players can do throughout the adventure is collect secrets. From the link with Vecna they share they can spend secrets like a currency, if they spend a secret the party gains Advantage on D20 rolls for 1 minute in exchange for forgetting the secret. When the party arrives at the site of the final battle they gain buffs for the number of secrets they didn’t spend.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

This is an interesting statement. Can you expound?

It’s not really player agency for the DM to say you go to this area instead of this one.

 

[Reynard]

It’s not really player agency for the DM to say you go to this area instead of this one.

But it is player agency for them to say "we go here instead of there."

 

[MonsterEnvy]

But it is player agency for them to say "we go here instead of there."

Unless they read ahead on the adventure and spoiled themselves they won’t have idea of that.

How the adventure is laid out is that after being told where the first piece of the Rod of Seven Parts is and obtaining it, they learn the location of the next part in sequence, and can be portaled close to its location. They have no way of knowing where future parts are and how to get to them.

 

[Reynard]

Unless they read ahead on the adventure and spoiled themselves they won’t have idea of that.

How the adventure is laid out is that after being told where the first piece of the Rod of Seven Parts is and obtaining it, they learn the location of the next part in sequence, and can be portaled close to its location. They have no way of knowing where future parts are and how to get to them.

Thanks. So it is on rails. That's fine, by the way. A "rollercoaster" adventure can be a lot of fun. I was just curious how WotC decided to write this one.

 

[Hussar]

Thanks. So it is on rails. That's fine, by the way. A "rollercoaster" adventure can be a lot of fun. I was just curious how WotC decided to write this one.

Perhaps phrasing it as "linear" rather than sandbox might make it clearer? Then again, most of the WOtC AP's have been pretty linear.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

But if anyone has questions about the adventure I can answer.

 

[MerricB]

The Dragonlance chapter is as bad as I feared.

When it comes to evoking Dragonlance, it... doesn't.

EDIT: Based on additional information, the credits for a Wizards adventure are really bad at identifying who came up with the adventure concepts and storyline. The "Lead Designer" may have a lot smaller role than you expect.