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'.

 

[vecna00]

It could be the way you're saying. Or it could be the way I'm saying.

Just because you're a fan of a thing, doesn't mean that creative choices are innocent of financial motive. I stand by my opinion here.

I'm actually impartial to it. This version of Tasha (or Tasha in general) being in the adventure doesn't bother me or make me happy.

Genuine question: I notice that a lot of times when you're not happy about something, you blame the marketing and you focus on it. Why is that?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

For most of published history Mordenkainen really didn't concern himself with much beyond Oerth. It wasn't until 5E and the era of random name-drops did he suddenly become all concerned about things like the Blood War etc.

Which covered what? 10 years of his life?

Even in a normal human lifespan, people move on to new enthusiasms.

And any wizard powerful enough to casually cast plane shift could use it to significantly extend their life, simply by putting their bedroom on the Astral Plane.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yes, so one wonders why it was put in at all.

It was probably standard practice at the time to date all adventures, arising from the canon-obsessed 3rd edition. Since it didn’t really make sense to date CoS, when told to they had to date it, author probably pulled a random number out of the air.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's pretty telling.

For a narrative game, narrative progression makes sense.

D&D doesn’t have to be run as a narrative game, but if you are not running a narrative game then you are not going to be running an adventure path as is. At most, you might pull it apart for encounters.

 

[Parmandur]

That's pretty telling.

The books are thinly veiled compilations of modular material, it seems reasonable to not sweat a XP budget. WotC has also said that milestone Levelijg has become more and more common among players, too, which makes sense.

 

[Parmandur]

It was probably standard practice at the time to date all adventures, arising from the canon-obsessed 3rd edition. Since it didn’t really make sense to date CoS, when told to they had to date it, author probably pulled a random number out of the air.

Actually, it was probably part of working with Tracy Hickman directly on the Campaign, because Hickman hated the Ravenloft 2E Setting, and Curse of Strahd is based on Hickman's personal canon and game extensions over the years (he plays Ravenloft every year still, apparently), not the old Setting stuff.

 

[Parmandur]

For a narrative game, narrative progression makes sense.

D&D doesn’t have to be run as a narrative game, but if you are not running a narrative game then you are not going to be running an adventure path as is. At most, you might pull it apart for encounters.

They do build them pretty well that way, as catalogs of modular bits to be reassembled. Butthe big 5E Campaigns have barely ever even pretended to be playable in a straight XP build-up as written, particularly since Xanathar's Guide came out.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Actually, it was probably part of working with Tracy Hickman directly on the Campaign, because Hickman hated the Ravenloft 2E Setting, and Curse of Strahd is based on Hickman's personal canon and game extensions over the years (he plays Ravenloft every year still, apparently), not the old Setting stuff.

Still, that would be a reason not to date it at all, since things like time and causality are mutable in the original, Hickman Ravenloft.

 

[Vincent55]

i don't like the artwork, looks cheap but don't care vecna just looks ridiculous with all the clutter on him. Never liked it when they made Mordenkainen bald was better before that. I am just nitpicking because i will pass on this, as i have stopped supporting their stuff but enjoy those who are going to buy it.

 

[Zardnaar]

Which covered what? 10 years of his life?

Even in a normal human lifespan, people move on to new enthusiasms.

And any wizard powerful enough to casually cast plane shift could use it to significantly extend their life, simply by putting their bedroom on the Astral Plane.

Level 9 clerics and 15 wizards can be easily immortal.

Makes liches silly.