Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye

WotC Vecna: Nest of the Evil Eye--Deets On The Prequel Adventure

Right, which just means it’s likely to be forgotten by the players by the time the foreshadowing pays off.

Just feels like yet another poorly thought-out idea from WotC. I have to say, so far I’m not impressed by Amanda Hamon or Makenzie de Armas. They made a total hash of Phandelver & Beyond. I hope they don’t make a total hash of this too.

(That being said, I think Chris Perkins is overrated, and I’m not fan of people like James Introcaso or James Haeck either.)
To each there own Phandelver and Below is quite fun.
 

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pukunui

Legend
But they all speak so highly of you.
Uh ... OK? :rolleyes:

Seriously, guys, it’s just a little bonus PDF to promote pre-orders. It’s not that important! Don’t fret so.
I'm not talking just about this promo adventure. Based on Hamon and de Armas' bungling of Phandelver and Beyond, I'm worried that the full Vecna: Eve of Ruin adventure will also be full of questionable design decisions ... and the fact that this free promo is a one-shot for levels 3-4 when the main adventure is for levels 10-20 doesn't bode well for me.

I brought up the others because I didn't want anyone to think I'm targeting Hamon and de Armas because of their gender or anything like that.

To each there own Phandelver and Below is quite fun.
I'm not saying it's unplayable nor that you can't have fun with it. I would like to run it myself at some point. However, it is full of questionable design decisions (which are well documented here at EN World and elsewhere). Given that Hamon and de Armas were the leads on that book, I blame them (and Chris Perkins, who no doubt had the final say on everything).
 
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pukunui

Legend
You're going to need to unpack that. How did they "bungle" Pandelver and Beyond? I think it's just fine. It's not a legacy masterpiece, but it's perfectly functional.
As I said, it’s well documented here and elsewhere. I’m not going to derail the thread by getting into the details here.

Suffice it to say that I was really excited when P&B was first announced but the design decisions the team made (like an almost complete lack of connections between the original adventure and the follow-up) are just mind-boggling. It left me feeling really disappointed, and I guess I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about it.

They pretty much explain it in the interview. It's a one-shot, designed as an intro adventure, doesn't need to be connected to the later adventure, but if you want to drop it into your campaign early and then play the other one later, it fits well as foreshadowing. Did you watch the video?
It was touted as setting up the final encounter with Vecna. But if it’s something that takes place 16–17 levels prior to that, I don’t think it’s going to be all that useful for that purpose. In my experience, many players forget what happened last session never mind something that happened months prior.

I guess you could say I’m not complaining about the adventure itself but about the way it’s being marketed and the design decision to make it levels 3–4 when the main adventure is for levels 10–20. I’ll reiterate that I think it would have been smarter and more useful if they’d made it for levels 9–10 instead.
 
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Azzy

ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ (He/Him/His)
Honest question, were you already planning on preordering? If you were are you sure something 3 hours of content is a big deal to your purchase.
I usually preorder my D&D purchases. And I am rather interested in the Vecna adventure. So, yeah, I guess.

My issue is that it (Nest of the Evil Eye) sounds like a neat little adventure set in Neverwinter (which I'd like to see more of), but the only way to ever have it (legally, we know piracy is inevitable) is the limited window to preorder. And then, poof, it's gone for good. Heck, I would be down to purchase it separately if it were on D&D Beyond (or Foundry).

Perhaps I'm being unreasonable, but I dislike limited edition runs for products that aren't normally and shouldn't be limited (it's bad enough that Bandai Premium has me under their thumb, with their shiny plastic crack).
 

Based on Hamon and de Armas' bungling of Phandelver and Beyond, I'm worried that the full Vecna: Eve of Ruin adventure will also be full of questionable design decisions

It's always hard to tell what the author wanted and what the company wanted. I agree the Phandelver rehash was a bit of a mess. Took a good adventure then added very different second half only related to the first with some tacked on foreshadowing that didn't blend with the original. (Like following Ravenloft with Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth in the same book).

But as has long been the case in RPGs, authors are often given an assignment and must work within it and the company can hack it up or make them change it after they submit it.

Have those two self published anything? That's probably a better " pure " view of there vision.
 


Parmandur

Book-Friend, he/him
It was touted as setting up the final encounter with Vecna. But if it’s something that takes place 16–17 levels prior to that, I don’t think it’s going to be all that useful for that purpose. In my experience, many players forget what happened last session never mind something that happened months prior.

I guess you could say I’m not complaining about the adventure itself but about the way it’s being marketed and the design decision to make it levels 3–4 when the main adventure is for levels 10–20. I’ll reiterate that I think it would have been smarter and more useful if they’d made it for levels 9–10 instead.
Bit of a misunderstanding here: this module is being offered as an option to explain why the PCs are connected to Vecna and chosen by the Wish Spell at the start of the big campaign. Nit as part of the end.
 

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