D&D's Obelisk Plotline Was Supposed to Be Resolved in Vecna: Eve of Ruin

Chris Perkins has revealed that the obelisks scattered throughout various 5E adventures published by Wizards of the Coast was originally supposed to play a central role in the Vecna: Eve of Ruin adventure capping off Fifth Edition. Many Dungeons & Dragons adventures published for Fifth Edition featured mysterious black obelisks. These obelisks were revealed to be capable of time-travel and were tied to a mysterious group called the Weavers as well as the Netherese Empire. In Rime of the Frostmaiden, it was revealed that Vecna had obtained one of these obelisks and it was hinted that Vecna would use the obelisks in his plot to rewrite all of reality.

Vecna's possession of an obelisk was never followed up on, but it was apparently supposed to be a plot point in Vecna: Eve of Ruin. In a recent interview with Polygon, Perkins provided his vision for Vecna: Eve of Ruin. "The original plan, in my mind, was that we would actually culminate the story by going back in time to fight the Netherese Empire,” Perkins said. “It was always on our radar to bring Netheril back in some way. And this was the way I envisioned it happening, because the only way you could really fight Netheril again is to travel back in time."

“I was excited about the idea of a time travel adventure,” Perkins said later in the interview, “simply because it would feel very different from the other campaigns we had done up to that point. And I thought given time and attention, we could do some really fun things with Netheril and explore a style of magic that felt different from contemporary magic. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks would be sort of like the vibe I'd go for, where the magic is so weird it almost feels technological.”

Unfortunately, plans changed when Perkins' role at Wizards of the Coast shifted in his latter years with the company. “The reason it was dropped was that different people were in charge of the adventure design,” Perkins said. “I had rolled off a lot of my hands-on product work to help out with other parts of the business. And so, when I creatively walked away from the day-to-day adventure creation, we sort of lost the plot.”

Polygon has been periodically publishing interviews with Perkins, including an introspective on Rime of the Frostmaiden, and some insight on 5E's adventure design.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I find it rather easy to fix and improve on published modules and it is usually pretty fun for me. I guess I'm, as they say these days, built different

I can definitely make up an Adventure with less work than running a pre-written, but I find that I enjoy reworking the prewritten adventures. I've never run one even close to exactly like what's in the book, but I get the "gist" of it out of it, even if the details are changed. It's probably why I often don't notice when people say that an adventure is "bad". I just change what I don't like without really remarking too heavily on it.

Sometimes I notice, though!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I hate the idea that the big milestoen celebration adventure is...more Forgotten Realms

The idea that D&D needed a big milestone Avengers Doomsday style adventure to celebrate a minor rules revision at all is a terrible one.

As a regular adventure (and sequel to Rime of the Frostmaiden), a Netheril time travel adventure would have been fine.

And now they are in the rules, bastions open up the way to a more grounded high level campaign involving kingdom building and high politics. And that would suit the Greyhawk setting.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

In what way is Vecna the pinnacle of lichdom? Most modules named after him?

I think Matt Colville said it once, that when it comes to specific D&D archetypes for the BBEG, the final boss, the "ultimate villain", Vecna is the one for Lich the same way Tiamat is one for Dragon, Asmodeus is one for Devil and Orcus is one for Demon. Sure, maybe you could find someone who fits your vision of the archetype better, but these characters have weight and gravitas, the lore behind them and pretty much nail what most people think when they hear these terms.

And lore-wise Vecna girlbossed closest to the sun out of all Liches ever and got away with it the most - he even comitted actual setting/fandom blasphemies like escaping Domains of Dread, killing Circle of Eight and flipping off Lady of Pain. And the Lich at its core is the audacity, pride and arrogance of defying the very laws of nature and blaspheming against will of gods by discarding your humanity and "tearing down your own flesh, so you don't have to admit weakness". He is one Lich who takes it to the extreme.

Only Szass Tam actually has any goals or personality other than "generic powerful lich." (I don't know McGregor.)

Well what DOES "generic powerful lich" even mean, personality-wise? After all, this archetype covers personality types from
to

On McGregor there is not much, but he is prince of Klantyre in Glantri, and his people come from actual historical Scotland and only picture of him is a skeleton in traditional Scottish outfit, so even in undeath he is clearly proud of his herritage.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well what DOES "generic powerful lich" even mean, personality-wise?

A good villain can’t be generic, the important thing about personality is they actually have one. Which Skeletor does but Vecna does not.

 

[billd91]

A good villain can’t be generic, the important thing about personality is they actually have one. Which Skeletor does but Vecna does not.

Skeletor has a personality because we've all seen him acted out with a personality on a TV show. Vecna has a different personality every time he appears under a different Dungeon Master.

 

[billd91]

100% agreed. Vecna has almost nothing to do with secrets, and it was strange he became the God of Secrets. He's always been rather flashy, and has more in common with someone like Xykon than Larloch.

You  could say his artifacts spy on people, or he was  told secrets by a greater entity, but secrets as an idea was never his thing until after he became a god and they tried to justify it.

It's a pretty easy step from being a powerful wizard turned lich to assuming he had to encounter a lot of pretty obscure, probably even forbidden or secret, lore in order to amass the power he did and achieve his transformation. How would he NOT have anything to do with secrets is probably a better question just based on what he is.

 

[Artamo]

Skeletor has a personality because we've all seen him acted out with a personality on a TV show. Vecna has a different personality every time he appears under a different Dungeon Master.

Which is interesting because you would think a character like Strahd would be in a similar boat, but that’s not really the case. His personality is pretty strongly laid out even in the adventures.

 

[Stormonu]

Which is interesting because you would think a character like Strahd would be in a similar boat, but that’s not really the case. His personality is pretty strongly laid out even in the adventures.

That would be because we have a template (and all the associated media) we can work off for Strahd - Dracula. There's no correlation for Vecna until recently via Stranger Things.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Which is interesting because you would think a character like Strahd would be in a similar boat, but that’s not really the case. His personality is pretty strongly laid out even in the adventures.

I mean we do get a lot of his personality in old modules as well. Vecna Lives opens with stories of his act of petty cruelty, Vecna Reborn dives deep into his beef with Kas and Die, Vecna, Die! has a whole bit where we learn he heard the "Head of Vecna" story and found it so funny he actually make a mundane copy of his own head and dropped it somewhere in the world.

 

[mamba]

That would be because we have a template (and all the associated media) we can work off for Strahd - Dracula. There's no correlation for Vecna until recently via Stranger Things.

that ignores the

His personality is pretty strongly laid out even in the adventures.

part… The adventure could tell us more about Vecna, it doesn’t have to come from somewhere else