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'.

 

[pukunui]

"Only the DM buys them" tends to be true of the other rulebooks as well, not just adventures. So it's more something they have to live with than something they have solved. "How to make D&D profitable" is really still not solved, outside of CRPG flukes.

I dunno. Seems like 5e’s been pretty darn profitable so far, and it has more adventures than other types of books.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I dunno. Seems like 5e’s been pretty darn profitable so far, and it has more adventures than other types of books.

Not really, no. For something that is currently so popular and trendy, it's profits are decidedly lacklustre. One of the main issues being, you don't actually need to buy anything in order to play.

 

[Distracted DM]

Ok, I started reading through the adventure.
How does

Spoiler: Eve of Ruin WTF?

Kas fool Alustriel and Tasha into thinking that he can cast Wish? I know the Crown of Lies makes it so no one can tell you're lying, but... Kas can't cast spells. At all. He has Arcana, wooo, buuut he can't actually cast spells.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ok, I started reading through the adventure.
How does

Spoiler: Eve of Ruin WTF?

Kas fool Alustriel and Tasha into thinking that he can cast Wish? I know the Crown of Lies makes it so no one can tell you're lying, but... Kas can't cast spells. At all. He has Arcana, wooo, buuut he can't actually cast spells.

That’s why you put points in your deception proficiency. There are lots of ways to get magic in D&D. You don’t have to be a wizard.

 

[Burnside]

Candlekeep, Radiant Citadel, and Golden Vault are anthologies of tiny adventure sites; I'm not counting lairs or 5-room dungeons as entire adventures ... unless we want to look through hundreds (thousands?) of Dungeon magazine mini-sites to see if they're retreading ground?

Netherdeep is a Critical Role production, not actually written by WotC.

But, yeah, I'll grant you that there are a few adventures of original content. But they're regarded as pretty terrible (Dragon Heist, Avernus), so I doubt there will be a lasting impact on D&D history.

The best reviewed and most played adventure is Curse of Strahd, followed by Phandelver (the starter box adventure, released 10 years ago). That's hardly a great legacy of content for the entire edition.

Find me that "original to 5e" adventure that will be put on a Top 50 adventures of all-time list. Find me an original to 5e campaign setting that will be revisited in 10 years.

Have you read Radiant Citadel? Kinda feels like you haven’t.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Have you read Radiant Citadel? Kinda feels like you haven’t.

If you like lore, there is lots in that book.

 

[mamba]

Not really, no. For something that is currently so popular and trendy, it's profits are decidedly lacklustre. One of the main issues being, you don't actually need to buy anything in order to play.

It’s been profitable though, that you want to make even more money is a different issue

 

[Parmandur]

I dunno. Seems like 5e’s been pretty darn profitable so far, and it has more adventures than other types of books.

But still, for the past decade they have made it pretty clear that only DMs buy books: the 3E experiment of making player focused books did not pan out for 14 years. The current Adventure campaigns are probavly profitable through bulk: instead of trying to make a profit on a small paperback that covers a thin niche, they make big Smorgasbords that will have something for a wide range of DMs.

 

[Retreater]

If we're talking about the "only the DM buys them," let's add to adventures: campaign settings, monster books, splatbooks, miniatures, 3D terrain, extra dice, spare copies of the PHB, as well as most snacks and refreshments, pencils, gaming tables, DM screens, subscriptions to VTTs and services such as DND Beyond. I can go on.
I'm lucky if a player buys their own copy of the core rules.
There's no harm in creating tools, products, and services to those who run your game. You kind of need us. Without us, you don't have a game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If we're talking about the "only the DM buys them," let's add to adventures: campaign settings, monster books, splatbooks, miniatures, 3D terrain, extra dice, spare copies of the PHB, as well as most snacks and refreshments, pencils, gaming tables, DM screens, subscriptions to VTTs and services such as DND Beyond. I can go on.
I'm lucky if a player buys their own copy of the core rules.
There's no harm in creating tools, products, and services to those who run your game. You kind of need us. Without us, you don't have a game.

If only the game designers accepted that.