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.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think he got Stranger Thingsed into being Generic BBEG, rather than his role as God of Secrets.

To be fair, I don't particularly like him being a god, either, but that ship has well and truly sailed.

I just don't buy that liches in general, who go through an enormous amount of trouble to achieve immortality, would then risk everything by being out front where epic level heroes are just itching to be the one who killed them.

 

[Reynard]

To be fair, I don't particularly like him being a god, either, but that ship has well and truly sailed.

I just don't buy that liches in general, who go through an enormous amount of trouble to achieve immortality, would then risk everything by being out front where epic level heroes are just itching to be the one who killed them.

I think lichdom is less about power and more about immortality. I would think most liches stay hidden in their fortresses or demiplanes, conducting unspeakable magical experiments, and occassionally sending minions out to find subjects for said experiments.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think lichdom is less about power and more about immortality. I would think most liches stay hidden in their fortresses or demiplanes, conducting unspeakable magical experiments, and occassionally sending minions out to find subjects for said experiments.

Same here. Liches on the front lines doesn't seem to make psychological sense to me, given the personality of the kind of person who is willing to do terrible, terrible things to live forever. They're not going to risk that by sticking their head up where some damned paladin can spot them.

 

[Reynard]

Same here. Liches on the front lines doesn't seem to make psychological sense to me, given the personality of the kind of person who is willing to do terrible, terrible things to live forever. They're not going to risk that by sticking their head up where some damned paladin can spot them.

They are also insane, by definition, so stories like them seeking out a reincarnated lover or kidnapping a priest to resurrect a lost confidant, or whatever.

 

[SkidAce]

I think he got Stranger Thingsed into being Generic BBEG, rather than his role as God of Secrets.

I like Stranger Things, but I think you are correct, sadly.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Call me a contrarian but I am glad we didn't get this adventure instead of the dimension-hopping one we got. I hate the idea that the big milestoen celebration adventure is...more Forgotten Realms, at the time when other settings need love much more. And I can actually get inspired to get my creative juices flowing thinking how to modify Eve of Ruin campaign we got, even if a lot of it is taking main concept and replacing various dungeons with older adventures. But from Vecna the time traveling to fight Netherese Empire I don't get anything I wasn't getting already from just reading old How the Mighty Are Fallen module. I do not think it is a premise worth a whole campaign and especially not last campaign before the update.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

I think he got Stranger Thingsed into being Generic BBEG, rather than his role as God of Secrets.

Vecna was doing big resetting the multiverse thing since 2000's Die, Vecna, Die (German: The, Vecna, The).

 

[the Jester]

Call me a contrarian but I am glad we didn't get this adventure instead of the dimension-hopping one we got. I hate the idea that the big milestoen celebration adventure is...more Forgotten Realms, at the time when other settings need love much more. And I can actually get inspired to get my creative juices flowing thinking how to modify Eve of Ruin campaign we got, even if a lot of it is taking main concept and replacing various dungeons with older adventures. But from Vecna the time traveling to fight Netherese Empire I don't get anything I wasn't getting already from just reading old How the Mighty Are Fallen module. I do not think it is a premise worth a whole campaign and especially not last campaign before the update.

While I agree with most of what you say, the Vecna adventure we did get is just so bad.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Article says: "Unfortunately, given the current slate of D&D, it’s unclear when or if this type of book might appear in the future, and it’s a big design loss."

... Is it, though? I think it remains to be seen if the new approach (if, indeed there IS a new approach) is better or worse. And usually, it's not the approach that matters, it's the execution.

 

[Staffan]

They are also insane, by definition, so stories like them seeking out a reincarnated lover or kidnapping a priest to resurrect a lost confidant, or whatever.

Sure, but that sort of thing tends to be more small-scale than rebooting the multiverse.