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'.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Perhaps the talk about profitability should have its own thread? Maybe some of us here will be getting the book this afternoon and would want to have the thread dedicated to doing so, you know, actually be discussing the book?

 

[BeachRat88]

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.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time with that one and a few others too... (just a few of them below)

Spoiler: Eve of Ruin ?'s

Leaving aside the massive changes to the Rod of Seven parts, the absence of the Wind Dukes/Queen of Chaos/Hounds of Law... How is Allustriel the only of Mystra's chosen to feel and be willing to act on the ripples being sent out by Vecna? Why didn't Mordenkainen feel them too? What rationale are the characters given by the Wizards 3 for how the Rod is going to be used to defeat Vecna? Shouldn't Lolth's end goal to be to supplant Vecna in the end while he's weakest? How does Kas think that Miska can help him supplant Vecna vs of another demon?

I've read through most of the module and scanned the parts that I haven't read yet in detail and these questions don't appear to be addressed. It feels like this was probably a much longer and more thoroughly written adventure that was hacked down during the editing process to fit inside a page count and that significant cohesion was lost in the hacking.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

well, first of all that would be a reason to take a closer look at those other lines rather than squeezing the ones that actually make one, and second of all, I did not say they would not branch out, only that D&D by itself is profitable

Sure, but panic isn’t conducive to clear thinking or sound decisions.

 

[BeachRat88]

FWIW - I'm in the initial throws of de-linearizing the adventure and adding back in a bit of the lore/substance that's been taken out. I like the various set pieces but feel that the glue that holds it all together needs a bit of work.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've read through most of the module and scanned the parts that I haven't read yet in detail and these questions don't appear to be addressed. It feels like this was probably a much longer and more thoroughly written adventure that was hacked down during the editing process to fit inside a page count and that significant cohesion was lost in the hacking.

I think that happens to every 5e adventure. They seem to suffer a bit in editing (not to bash the editors). Again, I think that they should try to do less with each adventure and use the space to make them better.

 

[Micah Sweet]

FWIW - I'm in the initial throws of de-linearizing the adventure and adding back in a bit of the lore/substance that's been taken out. I like the various set pieces but feel that the glue that holds it all together needs a bit of work.

Lore and substance always seem to be the first things they cut, don't they?

 

[Reynard]

I think that happens to every 5e adventure. They seem to suffer a bit in editing (not to bash the editors). Again, I think that they should try to do less with each adventure and use the space to make them better.

I think they should drop giant walls of text and do more with less -- words, specifically. I know I am a broken record on this, but if your adventures are meant to actually be played you need to write them and lay them out to that effect. Put the walls of prose in the intro and appendix and make the adventure actively functional.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

If only the game designers accepted that.

I am pretty sure they do.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah but now Hasbro has noticed and the inevitable corporate driven enshittification has begun.

No it hasn’t.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time with that one and a few others too... (just a few of them below)

Spoiler: Eve of Ruin ?'s

Leaving aside the massive changes to the Rod of Seven parts, the absence of the Wind Dukes/Queen of Chaos/Hounds of Law... How is Allustriel the only of Mystra's chosen to feel and be willing to act on the ripples being sent out by Vecna? Why didn't Mordenkainen feel them too? What rationale are the characters given by the Wizards 3 for how the Rod is going to be used to defeat Vecna? Shouldn't Lolth's end goal to be to supplant Vecna in the end while he's weakest? How does Kas think that Miska can help him supplant Vecna vs of another demon?

I've read through most of the module and scanned the parts that I haven't read yet in detail and these questions don't appear to be addressed. It feels like this was probably a much longer and more thoroughly written adventure that was hacked down during the editing process to fit inside a page count and that significant cohesion was lost in the hacking.

For a lot of this I am guessing Alustriel was in the right place at the right time.