(Rough Draft)

Dungeon Master of None’s Vecna: Eve of Ruin Remix

Discussion and Review of VEoR Podcast: Part One, Part Two 

• https://dmofnone.libsyn.com/310-vecna-eve-of-ruin-part-one 
• https://dmofnone.libsyn.com/311-vecna-eve-of-ruin-part-2 

Why Vecna: Eve of Ruin fails

• This module is a failure at a conceptual level of what makes a published adventure good. Every action the characters take is handed to players by an annoying DM-mouthpiece NPC. The characters have almost no meaningful decisions to make, alliances to forge, or moral dilemmas. They must follow the pre-scripted rails or the campaign falls apart. Even the players’ approach to solving most problems is predetermined.
• This is a failure of fantasy at what fighting and defeating the god-lich of “Destructive and Evil Secrets, Magic, Hidden Knowledge, Intrigue” could be like. Vecna doesn’t plot, doesn’t scheme, doesn’t hide knowledge and magic, doesn’t destroy, and takes no steps to interfere with the heroes. The players go nine whole levels without any Vecna or any of his minions. The secrets as written in the module are often just feelings or regrets (or aren’t even secret!). Vecna is more than secrets and the secrets the plot revolves around should be important and big.
• This is a failure at a structural level of how to organize a D&D adventure. One should not plan seven of the same fetch quest in a row. Half of the fetch quests to get the MacGuffin have sub-MacGuffins that you need to get the bigger MacGuffin. The MacGuffin itself is also not necessary to defeat Vecna. Players who pause to think will realize that two-thirds of the adventure was pointless. Infuriating for both the DM and the players. Except for the last MacGuffin, each middle section fetch-quest is a medium-sized dungeon with an unmapped surrounding area. Why not a heist? Why not a planar wilderness trek? Why not a continent-hopping adventure? Why not a mystery? Why not a battle? Variety is the spice of adventuring life and should show the range of D&D to celebrate D&D.
• This is a failure at basic adventure module writing. This is a great example of how not to write NPC allies, NPC enemies, dungeons, and adventures. The allies do not help; they only hand out tasks. Reasonable players will hate them when they notice the allies could easily complete the quests without them. These important NPCs have no conflicting opinions, no rivalries, and no disagreements. Few enemies have interesting motivations or goals. The big plot twist lands like a wet flumph that will irk your players instead of intriguing them. Only a few dungeons have multiple entrances or ways to solve their challenges. The book is littered with inconsistencies that will bring play to a standstill. All initiative for the action is placed on the shoulders of the DM to keep the players on a narrow-gauge railroad.
• This is a failure as a high-level adventure. The module puts up artificial baffles and blocks to prevent the heroes from using most of their high-level spells. There is no trust that a Tier 3-4 party could use some of their near limitless resources to solve a problem in an interesting way. Instead of writing scenarios that will challenge an elite and experienced party, players are by story fiat forced to play at around fifth-level for the whole campaign. Also, few monsters or environments will present much of a challenge, and most of the encounters will be blown through without breaking a sweat by an organized party.
• This is a failure to create a “multiverse” campaign in that none of the parts of the adventure in other worlds are different from each other. The Eberron section doesn’t have pulp and noir themes. The Spelljammer section doesn’t have that age-of-sail adventure feel. The Ravenloft section isn’t gothic horror. Etc. The players’ headquarters could be moved from Sigil to any other city or an empty demiplane and it wouldn’t change the campaign at all.
• This is a failure of hype and marketing not to tie together the “Black Obelisk” Easter eggs from every other 5e adventure in this adventure. Mystery boxes almost never work, but given the links established in Rime of the Frostmaiden, this is really disappointing.
• This module is a success in that Vecna and Kas are great villains! They have a compelling backstory and clear motivations (and great chemistry). A world-hopping epic campaign to save everything is cool and lots of people want to play that scenario. There are interesting places and fun minor NPCs hidden behind repetition and railroads. There’s a great three-way faction battle—Lolth/Vecna vs. Kas/DP/Miska vs. Everyone Else—underneath the module’s structure but undeveloped by the published material.
• This module is par for the course in that it is not any worse from the other Vecna-focused published adventures from way back as far as I can recall. It also isn’t that much worse than many of the other plot-holed, railroaded adventures that WotC publishes (looking at you, Turn of Fortune’s Wheel).

How to fix it

• Ditch the Rod of Seven Parts.
• Make Vecna a proactive, evil schemer.
• Vary the structure and adventuring loop.
• Make the multiverse feel multiversal.
• Offer the players rivals, factions, enemies, and allies that challenge or help them, but can’t solve their problems for them. Instead, they offer tough choices.
• Let the players build a base and their own power.
• Give the players agency: meaningful choices in alignment, approach, and goals.
• Make the secrets important and build around Vecna’s themes and classic artifacts.
• Create an epic final fight and fun hooks for continuing the adventure.

Nota bene: the things that don’t work in Vecna: Eve of Ruin vastly outweigh the cool ideas and things that do work. The amount of work the DM must do to fix these flaws, results in only a small amount of material to salvage from the published module. You’ll have to write the rest yourself. But if you want to do the prep and want to run a good version of this campaign, here is a suggested outline. Keep in mind these are suggestions for how to improve and fix the adventure, but not a 300+ page adventure module that this would need to be to be a full replacement.

• The actual book, Vecna: Eve of Destruction, might be useful in running the campaign below in some ways (maps, art, stat-blocks) but this remix could be run without ever consulting VEoR.

New Overview

This adventure should be a level 1-20 epic fantasy that delivers on the promise of (A) fighting Vecna, (B) connecting established worlds and lore, and (C) granting the players agency and rewards initiative.

• Quick Adventure Background: Vecna, though a god-lich, will never stop seeking ultimate power. He has a plan to remake the multiverse with himself as the supreme deity of every material plane. First, however, he plans on hiding knowledge of his plans and schemes from everyone except himself with an epic spell, “The Great Occluding.” Then, he will gather up the “load-bearing” secrets and forbidden lore of creation in his Book of Vile Darkness in a Ritual of Remaking from his hidden fortress and channel this magical energy through the Black Obelisks of Faerun to remake the history of all of creation.
• Quick Summary: After some chance encounters in their early adventuring days with the cult of Vecna, the players are enlisted by a coalition of the Wizards to stop Vecna, and through an encounter with The Eye of Vecna become one of a handful of beings that even remember the name Vecna or that the Arch-Lich exists. They travel to half a dozen worlds to capture powerful forbidden lore and secrets to use against Vecna, and must make bargains among a number of powerful entities before launching an assault against Vecna in his stronghold.
  

Arc I: The Arch-Lich Stirs (Parts 0-3)

• Part 0: Whispers of the Whispered One (Start-5)

• Opening Hooks

• Option 1: Multiversal Heroes. Start at Level Three. Opening Hook. You were all adventures from any D&D setting (or have players make up their own home world) that discovered your material plane’s copy of the Well of Worlds

• You get a bonus feat based on your home world and advantage on Intelligence checks related to the history of your world.

• Option 2: Heroes of Destiny. Start at Level One. Form the party from the same world and start this adventure like any other. The Players discover the Well of Worlds on their journeys.

• Low levels: Play the first part of Rime of the Frostmaiden, Lost Mines, Saltmarsh, Dragon Heist, Candlekeep/Keys/Journeys. etc. (or your own adventure)

• Insert a few low-level Vecna cults, worshippers, and minions into said adventures

• Get the players to Tier 2 (around fifth level)
• The Dark: In the background, Vecna is executing the same basic plan as in VEoR, remake the multiverse with Vecna as its supreme master, except--having been defeated by meddling wizards and heroes many times before--he has another step to his plan: hide his existence from everyone (see below).
  

• Part 1: The Fantasy Avengers (5)

• The heroes are summoned by the Wizards Three to join the Fantasy Avengers to Silverhand’s Sigil Sanctum using their epic Wish spell or through just a regular invitation.

• The Plan. Hundreds or thousands of adventurers from throughout the multiverse will go attack Vecna’s cults across hundreds of material planes. PCs get their assignment and are sent off.
• Coffee Break. Players can meet and compare notes with adventurers from across the multiverse, and review the plans of the Wizards Three (see “The Eve of Ruin”).
• The Dark: The twist here is that Vecna knows about the Wizards’ plans. There are several Cultist spies among the heroes. The whole plan is a “feigned retreat” as Vecna wants to draw the heroes out while he casts an epic spell, “The Great Occluding”, to cause everyone not linked to himself by dark binding magic (high level cultists) or through his body, to forget all about Vecna. Everyone in the multiverse loses the ability to even recognize the name “Vecna” and to recall lore directly about Vecna (this effect includes the gods and the Wizards Three). When the heroes return from their assignment they realize they are the only ones who remember anything about Vecna. No one remembers or can recognize Vecna’s name, like the robots from WestWorld they see his name as something else. Now that is a twist...the players realize they have to save the multiverse themselves.
  

• Part 2: The Eye of Vecna (5-6)

• Players are sent to a material plane (Greyhawk perhaps) with three tasks. Find people who are missing, uncover the Cult of Vecna in that location, and destroy the cult.
• Use parts “Return from Neverdeath Graveyard” if you would like incorporating the following changes:

• Players must investigate to find out who was kidnapped and where they are being taken. Do not hand the players the names of the missing or the location of cult HQ.
• The city’s elite is thoroughly infiltrated by the Cult of Vecna and will try to stop the heroes before they can assault their hiding place/ritual
• The cult possesses the Eye of Vecna*
• Allow for multiple points of return and open-ended exploration if you send the heroes to the Shadowfell (or cut this section)
• Replace “Vecna’s Link” with the following:

• Amend “The Power of Secrets” to include the following: Spreading evil or destructive secrets or hiding important knowledge (or another action that fits with Vecna’s domains and motives) counts as a secret for the purpose of powering this ability.

• *See “Interlude 1. An eye for an Eye” below for how to use the Eye throughout the adventure.
• The Dark: This cult (unbeknownst to even Vecna himself) has recovered the fabled Eye of Vecna and is using it as part of their ritual. Touching and acquiring the Eye excludes the heroes from Vecna’s “Great Occluding”

Arc II: The Eve of Ruin (Parts 3-9)

• “The Great Occluding”

wipes the memory of Vecna and the ability to recognize Vecna’s name from almost every being (gods included in the multiverse), while the players were on their quest in Part 1. However, the following people are excluded:

• The heroes because of their connection to/possession of the Eye of Vecna
• The heroes’ rivals because of their connection to/possession of the Hand of Vecna
• Kas because of his possession of the Sword of Kas
• The Lady of Pain
• The Dark Powers 

• Return to Sigil. The players return to find the Sigil Sanctum deserted, but the Wizards Three’s notes on Vecna and their powerful Orrery of the Planes remain intact. After trying to enlist the help of anyone they met in Interlude 1 or 3 along with the notes in the Sanctum, they should piece together the extent of Vecna’s occluding spell and the locations of the powerful secrets he is using in his “Ritual of Remaking.” According to the notes of the Wizards Three, after destroying his cults, they planned on tasking the Fantasy Avengers and themselves to acquire these secrets so they can confront Vecna and unweave the ritual he is making. Using their Well of Worlds or just the portals of Sigil they can travel the multiverse tracking the forbidden lore left in the texts of the Wizards Three (see “Secret/Goal” in each part of Arc Two). Each must be written in Mordenkanen’s Book of Balanced Truth (a neutral version of Book of Vile Darkness/Exalted Deeds) to counter the Ritual of Remaking. The players should also quickly discover the extent of Vecna’s “Great Occluding” through play.

• What do the Wizards Three know/have (for players to explore when returning to the Sigil Sanctum):

• The cults of Vecna are mapped on worlds across hundreds of material plans (mapped and presumably destroyed by the Fantasy Avengers)
• Eight (or fewer) “load-bearing” secrets of the multiverse that Vecna will use have been found through many divinations, spies, and daring raids:

• (1) the cause of the Day of Mourning on Eberron,
• (2) the “source” of the Astral Sea/Phlogiston,
• (3) the nature of the Dark Powers of the Domains of Dread,
• (4) the choice of Lord Soth on Krynn,
• (5) Vecna’s mortal name on Oerth,
• (6) the cause of the Blood War,
• (7) Asmodeus’s true form, and
• (8) a secret unknown to the Wizards Three (the nature or true name of the Lady of Pain in Sigil) which can be found through the course of the campaign.
• These secrets (sans the “known unknown”) are listed in what the Wizards Three guess is the order of their approximate difficulty.

• Notes and guesses as to the location of Vecna’s citadel: the Plane of Ash, Oerth, the Negative Energy Plan, the Astral Sea, Pandemonium, and a mysterious note “Hidden in Plane, (sic) Sight?”
• The Sanctum includes the Orrery of the Planes, which can be used to attune the Well of Worlds. It also includes appropriate facilities for training, guild-building, magical research, and living quarters.
• The Book of Balanced Truth to record said secrets

• Each of the following parts of “Eve of Ruin” should be a 3-6 session mini-campaign with the general suggestions to (A) make each less of railroad, (B) provide ways to tie in the larger plot/factions, (C) give Vecna a “hand” in stopping the players, and (D) make the “secrets” actual secrets and expand the categories to include the rest of Vecna’s pantheon (see “Bound to the Eye” above).
• You don't need to use all of Parts 3-8 and instead you can expand the three or so that interest players the most into longer adventures. The Book of Balance Truth can already contain the secrets for sections you don’t want to use the rival party (see “The Hand of Vecna”) or another NPC (see “Multiversal Players and Betrayers”) to give or have the secret.
• If you used the “Multiversal Heroes” hook, and had players collaboratively write their own worlds, you should have enough time to plan and execute a replacement adventure to your table’s homebrew setting(s) while you play through levels 1-5. Or, throw in an adventure to Ravnica, Theros, Drakkenheim, the Feywild, Exandria, Golarion, or even the real Earth at a time in the past!
• Intersperse and intertwine these plane-hopping adventures with the various “Interludes” (see “Interludes 1-4” below).  
  

• Part 3. Eberron. Dawn of the Mourning. (6-8)

• Secret/Goal: Find the cause of the Day of Mourning/Creation of the Mournland.
• Part 1. The Well of Worlds opens on a rainy day in the depths of Sharn. Characters are encouraged to explore the city, looking for lore should point them to Morgrave University.

• If you want to keep the canon “Eberron is separated from the rest of the Multiverse” lore, then players must journey into deep and unexplored parts of the Plane of Shadow to use the Well of Worlds to reach Eberron.

• Part 2. Solve a noir murder in Sharn! The preeminent scholar of the Mourning has been murdered by a Keeper’s Fang. Solve the murder (committed by an agent of the Dreaming Dark on a suggestion from Big V), recover the Fang, and resurrect the scholar.

• Vecna has promised to realign Dal Quor with Eberron when he remakes the multiverse (he doesn’t care about Eberron at the moment as it is cut off from the other planes and plans on invading and conquering it in the future)

• Part 3. The scholar presents various theories on the Mournland (create one, or google “Day of Mourning Eberron theories”). The final piece of information he needs is held by the Lord of Blades. Players take a lightning rail and then must organize and mount an expedition into the Mournlands to find the Lord of Blades
• Use “The Ruined Colossus” as one part of the expedition with the following changes

• Create a random table of Mournland encounters
• Mercy is a priest of the Becoming God (see Faiths of Eberron)
• The Cyran Mercenaries lost most of their company in a battle with Brelish Warforged
• The players can find several clues (Mercy, Glaive, in the colossus, Landro) pointing them to the location of the Lord of Blades. Mercy/Kalyth both believe that the machines in colossus can help locate the LoB, or their agents have been seen around the colossus.
• Remove the shield that prevents entering Landro from the head
• Landro can help decipher the clues and ruins in Xen’drik

• Part 4. Fight/negotiate with the Lord of Blades who witnessed both the Day of Mourning and the eldritch engine/overlord seal/pick your cause (use a CR 12 LoB, as he was originally). LoB’s information will allow the scholar to determine the device/prophecy/machine is in a lost temple in Xen’drik. If word gets out about the players’ trip to Xen’drik a Dreaming Dark agent will attack.
• Part 5. Airship trip to Xen’drik and the Bastion of Last Defense, a megalith structure that sundered Dal Quor and ruined the Giant Empire in the past (or a fortress built around an Overlord’s prison, or a temple built over a piece of the Draconic Prophecy, etc.).

• My personal cause of the Day of Mourning is the Mages/Artificers of Cyre built an Eldritch Engine of Sundering using ancient Giant Magic to defend their nation but misinterpreted the effect, cursing Cyre to its borders instead of defending it. Replace this with your cause of the Day of Mourning.
  

• Part 4. Spelljammer. Search for the Spelljammer. (10-12)

• Secret/Goal: Find the origin “spring/source” of the Astral Sea/Phlogiston.
• Part 1: The Well of Worlds opens on the Lambent Zenith’s wreck but with the following changes to “The Last Voyage of the Lambent Zenith”:

• The dead god is miles long and filled with monsters that separate the crew/ship chunks from each other.
• The remaining NPCs are low-ranking officers and crew. The senior officers died in the crash.
• The spelljammer helm (not the Ro7P) was swallowed by the hertilod and must be recovered to make the ship function.
• Every member of the crew believes the old mariner’s legend of the Spelljammer (see “The Legend of the Spelljammer” 2e) and that the ship predates the Astral Sea/Phlogiston and supposedly is their source.
• Once recovered the PCs can rebuild the Lambent Zenith and begin to seek the secret of the Astral Sea. Ikasa, Inda, and Ilhren know that the Prince of the Rock of Bral possesses Smalljammer’s compass that points to the mothership the Spelljammer.

• Part 2. Players make their way to the Rock of Bral and are attacked on the way by a beholder Tyrant ships or an Astral Dreadnought.

• The Players must convince/coerce/kill Price Andru to give them/lend them/steal his Smalljammer, a parasite ship (or its compass) that can lead them to the Spelljammer (use Spelljammer Boxed Set for info). Vecna’s agents are watching in Bral and must be avoided or (see below)

• Part 3. The players sail to the Spelljammer and are attacked by Githyanki pirates / Red Dragon paid for by a member of the Cult of Vecna in Bral.
• Part 4. The heroes must navigate a dungeon on the living immortal ship, The Spelljammer to find its heart the “Spring of the Astral Sea.”

• Part 5. Ravenloft. The Sword of Kas. (13-14)

• Secret/Goal: The Nature of the Dark Powers.
• Part 1. The Amber Temple. The Well links only to Barovia/Ravenloft in the Domains of Dread. Negotiate passage with Strahd or avoid his notice and travel to the Amber Temple, kitted out with higher level challenges. Negotiate with the Dark Powers. The DP are willing to allow the passage to Tovag, realm of Kas, in exchange for bestowing their “gifts” on one of the party.

• Remake/reuse the Amber Temple from CoS instead of Death House.

• Part 2. The Mists. Players must escape Barovia to the Mists while Strahd, realizing the party will be his next challenge/conquest/entertainment, will try to stop them. The DP will open the Mists to the party. An echo of Vecna from his Ravenloft days will attack them in the Mist transit.

• Use Lich stat block (without Legendary Actions/Resistance and without 8th/9th level spells) for this “echo” of Vecna

• Part 3. Tovag. Kas’s domain is a fortress in which he lives in paranoid fear of an attack by Vecna. He constantly raises armies of undead to head into the mists to attack Cavitius, not knowing Vecna has since escaped. His curse makes him believe the party are agents of Vecna. Players can negotiate with Kas and either (temporarily) slay him or ask for/take his cursed sword. Kas is a mighty foe at this level and if he defeats the party, he will finally risk leaving the domains, which the DP will now permit (gifting him with the Crown of Lies if he lost the sword). (Players should have enough resources to Raise Dead or the DP will intervene if it's a TPK and bring them back...at a price). Once they do so, his spirit and his army are returned to Oerth out of the domains, and the Dark Powers share their secret with their chosen character.
• The Dark: The Dark Powers secretly desire to either hamper Vecna or return Vecna to the Domains of Dread, as he is the only one to defy their power and escape on his own. They are willing to let Kas go in order to accomplish this (same as in VEoR).

• Part 6. Krynn. Kill Bill. Slay Soth. (15)

• Secret/Goal: Lord Soth’s betrayal of all mortals that let the Cataclysm occur.
• N.B.: I’m going to be honest, I do not know much about the lore of Dragonlance beyond the basics.
• Put Lord Soth and the Mirror of Reflected Pasts in a cool castle or that flying temple from SotDQ and surround him with an army and dragon allies. The players learn that the secret they seek can be learned through negotiating from Lord Soth, observing in the Mirror, or by stealing and donning Soth’s helm. Let them decide if they want to sneak in and grab the Mirror, parley with Soth, or kill him and take his helm.
• The Night of Blue Fire could be tweaked to be an introduction to Krynn as Teremini Nightsedge knows the location of Lord Soth and that Soth, his helm, and his mirror hold the secret.
• The players should have a chance to recruit good dragons for an epic dragonlance sky duel to secure the airspace over Soth’s Fortress and/or lead an army in battle against Soth’s forces.
• A fun module with options for a full conversion for this chapter: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/487590/Shadow-of-the-Black-Rose-Bundle-BUNDLE 

• Part 7. Greyhawk. Vecna’s True Name. (16-17)

• Secret/Goal: Vecna’s mortal name and pre-lich story from the dawn of Greyhawk.
• Part 1 Gather Knowledge. The Well deposits the players in the Free City of Greyhawk, where they can search the Great Library, revealing the name of the Lich Acererak and information about his many Tombs. Vecna has many agents here and unless the players take precautions cultists will follow them to the tomb and attempt to assassinate them.
• Part 2 Into the Tomb(s). Players travel/teleport to either the Tomb of Horrors (TftYP), Tomb of Nine Gods (ToA), or Tomb of Wayward Souls (VEoR) or if you really, really like Gygaxian dungeon-crawling all three. Either Acerarek or Rerak is there and can tell them Vecna’s mortal name: “Vance.”

• Part 8. Hell. Deal with the Devil. (18-19)

• Secret/Goal: Sight of the True Form of Asmodeus and the Cause of the Blood War
• Part 1. The Red Belvedere. Use “The Dragon Queen’s Pride” with the following changes.  

• Infernal War Machines Sandbox. Let the players explore the plane on their own and find a way to the casino (either by building their own mad max bikes or taking someone else’s)
• It’s Asmodeus’s casino, not Tiamat’s. He ostensibly runs it for profit (but really to spy on his underlyings and to extract secrets from the clients). Windfall is his servant.
• Replace talons currency with just Soul Coins
• The Ruby Sanctum is attuned to Asmodeus and he can be contacted / project his avatar there
• Open-Ended Heist. Being invited to the lower floor is the best way to get an audience with an avatar/projected image of Asmodeus, but even for a guest Windfall does not let anyone into her office. The players will have to pull off a heist, cut a deal with her, outsmart or uncover a secret of hers that they can hold over her (or they could try to fight their way to the seventh layer of Hell, also fun!).
• Windfall is secretly double-crossing Asmodeus to help Tiamat
• Asmodeus will give the players what they want in exchange for a lengthy fiendish contract. He absolutely remembers Vecna (unlike every other devil and god). He implies he conducted a similar “Ritual of Remaking” in eons past (the world is exactly the way he wants it). Unclear if telling the truth.

• Interlude 1. Hidden Knowledge

Deploy these facts and lore whenever players succeed at searching for more information on their travels or during downtime. The possessor of the knowledge might be one of the “Players and Betrayers”, a learned scholar or other “blood” in Sigil, or one of the important NPCs on one of the quests. Finding information on Vecna is difficult because no one remembers his name or can register his existence when spoken to about Vecna but written records remain and finding out information about Vecna without mentioning Vecna can still work.

• Vecna has acquired these eight “load-bearing” secrets and sacrificed his godhood to create eight copies of his mortal form (plus his original now greatly diminished demi-god form). These forms are channeling the ritual at his fortress.

• If the multiverse is a Great Wheel powered by belief, then the “load-bearing” secrets are described as the mysteries that turns the wheel in the souls/minds of mortals
• If the multiverse is a Worlds Tree, the the “load bearing” secrets are described as the sap that runs from roots to branches
• Each secret the players acquire and record in the Book of Balanced Truth will destroy one of the nine forms of Vecna

• Vecna is the first lich and he is from Oerth/Greyhawk. His hand and eye formed powerful (and evil) artifacts. He was betrayed by his lieutenant, Kas, who wielded a powerful sword. Before his betrayal he built a powerful empire eons ago on Oerth. He was once imprisoned in the Mists of Ravenloft and ascended to godhood.
• Vecna has many enemies including the Wizard Mordenkainen, but the Lady of Pain harbors a grudge against Vecna (but she’s really hard to talk to and very, very scary) as Vecna once broke the peace and god-ban of Sigil and attempt to usurp her.
• Searching for the Wizards Three. The Wizards Three can provide information if the players can find a workaround for Vecna’s spell (the spell still prevents them just wanting to go about their business but clever roleplayers can obliquely pry information from these powerful Wizards). They can also fill out any gaps in their notes if approached carefully.

• Mordenkainen is in one of his many demi-plane mansions or in Greyhawk on Oerth.
• Alustriel Silverhand is in Silverymoon, Waterdeep, Neverwinter, or Sigil.
• Tasha is in the Feywild or almost anywhere you want to put her.

• Investigating any of the locations in the Wizards Three notes on where Vecna’s hideout/ritual location is (see “Eve of Ruin” introduction). Use a cool map (or look up a dungeon map from an old Vecna adventure). Players may find any of the above clues or any of the missing knowledge that they may need. These should be in dangerous planar or material world locations but the dungeons themself should be mostly abandoned (i.e. not a long series of encounters).

• Interlude 2: An Eye for an Eye

• The Eye of Vecna is in the players’ position and regardless of whether they use it or not, it tempts them to attune to it. Like the One Ring is separate from Sauron, the Eye is separate from Vecna and promises aid for their quest (see “Interlude 1. Hidden Knowledge”)

• You might consider toning down or cutting the Eye’s power to possess a wielder’s soul and put it under the control of Vecna (or make it less random).

• The Eye is Neutral Evil and wants a character to attune to it. Every time the players encounter a major obstacle or a bit of lore they cannot find, the Eye will offer true knowledge or secrets that will overcome the obstacle or provide them with the lore they need in exchange for attuning.
• The Eye should never directly lie to players and the offers it makes are true. Instead of declaring by DM-fiat that players are corrupted in this way or that way, offer them things they want or want to know in exchange for evil acts (such as putting in the Eye, murder, lies, etc.). The Eye is truthful about its knowledge and powers with the exception that it attempts to withhold the chance that Vecna takes control of wielder, DC 25 Wisdom (Insight) check to know its lying (if using).
• If a character attunes to the Eye, their alignment changes to Neutral Evil. In this case, work with the player to determine what that means for their character and encourage their roleplaying if this is a new alignment (but never force a decision on them). Remember, NE does not necessarily mean allegiance to Vecna or a betrayal of friends.

• Interlude 3: Philosophers with Clubs

• As the characters grow in power, the factions of Sigil respond and attempt to recruit the characters to their vision of the multiverse. Use Sigil and the Outlands or the 2e books.
• Give the players an overview of the factions and develop the factions that interest them. Provide downtime perks, contacts for finding information, retainers for their headquarters, magic items or other rewards for joining a faction
• The players can also establish relationships with Sigil merchants, information brokers, artificers, etc. (but keep in mind that most of these are associated in some way with at least one faction)
• One of Sigil’s factions has either been compromised by the Cult of Vecna or the Cult has promised the leaders of the faction an exalted place in the “remade world” (the Fraternity of Order, the Fated, the Sign of One, or Harmonium might fit this role). They are willing to risk an assault on the Sigil Sanctum to destroy the players’ Orrery of the Planes and Well of Worlds (a valuable asset among the chaos of Sigil’s portal network).

• If the players find out before the assault, run this is as a heist to take out factions leaders
• If the players don’t find out, then run this as an attack on players’ headquarters

• A servant or friend of the players from Sigil will give the players a portal key to a forgotten tomb and the location of the Head of Vecna. The contact was duped by a rumor planted by the Cult of Vecna, or possibly by the party’s rival (see “The Hand of Vecna” below), and the Head is just a head, not an artifact (see “An Important Safety Tip!, Mark Steuer).

• Interlude 4: The Hand of Vecna

• Rivals! Sometime in the middle of parts 3-9 (suggested after part 4), the players discover they aren’t the only ones to remember Vecna. Another adventuring party that possesses the Hand of Vecna, the counterpart to the players’ artifact that similarly protects its possessors from Vecan’s Occluding, is out there looking for secrets as well. Build this party using the rivals rules from Call of the Netherdeep or one of the other many “rival adventuring party” guides.

• Origins: They could be another group sent out to hunt the cults of Vecna by the Wizards Three, or simply regular adventurers that stumbled on the Hand and a Mirror to the Infinite Staircase
• Motivations: The rivals seek to use the ritual to rewrite the multiverse for selfish enrichment or perhaps to undo a tragic event on their world
• Alignment: The rival party is evil (if the party is good), good (if the party is evil), or upholds balance (if the party is mixed or doesn’t know yet.
• Allegiance: The party is agents of Multiversal Players and Betrayers that is opposed to the heroes (Ex: Asmodeus if the players are aligned with the Lady of Pain) or is working for the same faction but will betray the players (if they players are aligned with Kas then the Rivals are also working with Kas and will help him betray the players). Or, if they are good and helpful to the players (for example, they might be tasked to do one of the secret missions you want to skip), they may succumb to the corruption of the Hand.  
• Example uses: “The Fellowship of the Hand” will show up to try to “steal” a secret at the end of an adventure. They might beat the players to a secret. They might attempt to ally with the players in Sigil. In any case, do your best to try to have all or at least one rival escape if there is a confrontation (but if the players defeat their rivals reward them).
• Eye-Hand Coordination. Acquiring the Hand of Vecna is another powerful boon but increases the chances of the players’ corruption. If the heroes acquire the Sword of Kas and a ninth-level arcane caster, then they will have all the tools to destroy the artifacts, which may be required to end Vecna permanently after Part 9, but at a great cost (see DMG for the instructions on destroying the Hand and Eye).

Arc III: Against the Lord of the Rotted Tower (Parts 9-10)

Parts of this act can overlap with Arc Two, but begin deploying these interludes when you are ready to begin the end of the campaign.

• Interlude 5: The Occluded Lord Rises 

• Deploy this interlude if or when you want to start a ticking clock that Vecna’s Ritual of Remaking is nearing completion. When anyone passes through an interplanar portal or shift (including the players’ Well) they are sent to a Vecna “unreality” where a “pocket” of his Remaking already holds sway before they can proceed to their destination.
• Use “Torment of Kas”, “Neverwinter’s New King,” and “Dead Gods” with the following changes:

• Make the reality’s “manifested secret” a concept or a point of divergence that the players can logically deduce from the reality of this alternate universe
• Make the god in “Dead Gods” one of the character’s patron deity

• Interlude 6: A Lady Never Tells.

• Depending on how much downtime and fun the party gets out of Sigil (see “Philosophers with Clubs”) they become well known enough to negotiate with first the Lady of Pain’s servants, the Dabus, and then perhaps with the Lady herself. While the Dabu cannot speak of Vecna the Lady was immune to his spell. If she feels the party is a worthy ally, the dabu can communicate the location of Vecna’s citadel (rebus for “ON TOP OF THE SPIRE”) and the need to destroy the Black Obelisks (rebus for “DESTROY THE OBELISKS OF FAERUN”).

• Vecna’s citadel is next door (in a multiversal sense) to the players’ headquarters in Sigil, on top of the infinite spire of the Outlands. The citadel--a giant skull with a fortress built on its crown--is not magically obscured but mundanely hidden by the eternal smog of the City of Doors. The citadel cannot be reached from the Outlands (as magic does not function around the Spire) and the spire is infinite anyway. It can be seen by removing the clouds and smog (Control Weather or another clever solution) in Sigil’s “sky.” This will cause panic in the city and may ignite an exodus or a faction conflict. Since the citadel is surrounded by a null magic zone the players will have to come up with a clever solution to get to the citadel (maybe they fly above it and drop down, using feather fall once magic comes back online, but let any cool plan they come up with have a good chance of success).

• If the players have defended Sigil and conducted themselves well (as in do not disrupt the normal functioning of the city...the Lady does not care about murder or inter-faction squabbles), the Lady will tell one and only one of the party her name (the final secret), under pain of the Mazes if revealed to anyone else.
• Deploy this interlude when you are ready for the campaign to start winding down or the players have completed all options that you want to use from “Eve of Ruin” (or even before if you want the players to have the choice to assault Vecna early or keep upping their chances by acquiring “load-bearing” secrets).

• Interlude 7: Multiversal Players and Betrayers  

Below is a brief discussion of important entities that should be deployed throughout the interludes above. You don’t need all of these all of the time. Focus on the ones your players show the most interest in. Keep in mind the Rule of Three, if your players and their allies represent one faction, think about including two others with opposing goals and motivations. For example, if the players are allied with the Lady of Pain, then Kas+The Dark Powers and Vecna+Corrupted Tasha might be the other factions.   

• Vecna. Vecna’s only goal is selfish, personal power, but in the meantime he is willing to cut deals. He may tempt a player to join his side in exchange for exaltation of some world or aspect of reality to be dealt with later. However, when in doubt, plant a spy or send an undead monster to attack the party.

• Mike Shea (SlyFlourish) and his Discord came up with a better motivation for Vecna in “Vecna and the Tears of Unmaking.” Based off of the excellent pre-lich days art of Vecna and Kas in the Introduction to VEoR, Vecna and Kas were lovers, and Vecna seeks to rewind time and remake universe back to when they were happy together just conquering one world and building one evil empire together. Thank you to Andres for sharing this with me. Use this motivation!

• The Dark Powers. The Dark Powers want Vecna and Kas back in their respective Domain of Dread as eternal punishment for their crimes. Their gifts always come with drawbacks and any player character that is a danger to reality is targeted to be sucked into the mists.
• Asmodeus wants the players in his debt. Once they bring themself to his attention (through the events of “Deal with the Devil”) or through other means he is happy to oblige the players but always at a price. Asmodeus however is not infallible and the players may find a way to cheat the devil of his due.
• The Lady of Pain. Her goals beyond the stability of Sigil are unknowable. Is she a god? More than a god? The creator of Sigil? Its prisoner? However, Vecna’s remaking and his past breach of the peace of Sigil means that she will help the party...if the heroes are worthy.
• Kas wants not only to defeat Vecna but to usurp him at the top of his scheme. He is willing to ally with the party and help them on their quest, but unless he is somehow redeemed he will ultimately betray them. If brought along to confront Vecna his vampire powers and speed will allow him to write his own destiny as a supreme god of Conquest, War, and Blood before the players arrive at the “Donjon of Diverging Destiny.”
• Wizards Three. If the wizards three can be healed or otherwise communicated with in circumvention of Vecna’s Occluding, then their goals are the following.

• Mordenkainen wants the multiverse restored as it was and will be an enemy of the players if anything is changed (even if they just enrich themselves). He will be concerned about the consequences of the death of the hooded figure. He is most friendly to neutral characters.
• Alustriel Silverhand will urge the players to use their remaking for good. She may be interested in retiring and passing on her gift as a Chosen of Mystra to a Torilian or a CG character.
• Tasha, while no friend of Vecna, is chaotic and at times Evil, she may be tempted by the power of the remaking ritual. There may also be multiple versions of Tasha (thanks to time travel) that may compete for the players’ favor or artifacts. She (or a version of her) also represents (or misrepresents) the agenda of the courts of Fey in this adventure.

• Part 9. The Whispered One’s Grave (20)

Be flexible with the final piece(s) of the puzzle. The players at this point in the adventure should have learned all the secrets they want, have had it out or allied with any factions or NPCs (see “Multiversal Players and Betrayers”) they are interested in, and have learned about the Black Obelisks and the location of the Ritual of Remaking. While the Lady of Pain holds both of these pieces of information, the players through their wits and skill may also learn this from another important NPC, faction, or rival. Put this information where the players are interested in investigating and don’t force an encounter with the Lady of Pain if, for example, the players are willing to take the burden of the Hand of Vecna from well-liked rival in exchange for the info, or the players want to do another deal with Asmodeus or the Dark Powers, or a player that really likes Tasha, then let Tasha know the secret once Vecna’s Occluding is lifted through a ritual involving a Wish spell, the Eye, and the text of the “Tabet of Final Accounting” bought in exchange for a half an eternity of service to Primus of the Modrons. To wit, give any missing information from the multitude of alliances and enemies they’ve built up over the campaign.

• Optional: The Obelisks. The characters learn that destroying or disenchanting the Black Obelisks of Toril will halt Vecna’s ritual (but, of course, leave him unharmed). These are scattered about the previous 5e adventures.
• The Ritual of Remaking. The players should know this is the final confrontation with Vecna and stock up on potions and other magic items for this epic fight.  

• The Approach. See “A Lady Never Tells” for how to get to the citadel. The fortress is guarded by Falazure the Night Dragon (reskin “Aspect of Tiamat” from FtD with necrotic breath and without the “Hurl through Hell” ability).
• The Fortress of the Infinite Rotted Tower. Inside the fortress’s twisting and cursed interior the players should be confronted by their rivals, Kas, or agents of another enemy that wishes to stop them or co-opt Vecna’s remaking for themselves.
• The Chamber of Remaking. Nine aspects of Vecna the Archlich (use the stat block from VEoR) channel the core secrets of the multiverse and remake it (or if the players destroyed the Obelisks, Vecnas are using magic to build a new Obelisk at the top of the spire...remove half of their spells from stat block), When the a player opens The Book of Balance Truth, an aspect is erased (potentially down to one Vecna). Give each version different spells if you want and a visual descriptor that links it to one secret (for example, the Spelljammer Vecna looks like it is made of Astral protomatter, the Krynn Vecna has black skeletal dragon wings, etc.). Once the last version of Vecna is destroyed, move to “Phase Two.”
• Phase Two. The last vestiges of Vecna’s godhood emerge as a giant spectral Hand and Eye linked by threads of Living Secrets and Lies. Once all three vestiges of Vecna’s Godhood are destroyed, move to “The Multiverse: Remade.” Use the following stat block reskins:

• The God-Eye of Vecna: a Death Tyrant (MM) in the shape of an Eye with Legendary Resistance (3/day).
• The God-Hand of Vecna: Nightwalker (MTF) in the shape of a Hand “Bigby’s Hand” (PHB) that may use the effects of Bigby’s Hand as a bonus action
• Living Secrets and Lies: Spectral Cloud (BGG), if the characters are hit by the “Spectral Touch” or “Chilling Winds” abilities, the character sees one of Vecna’s secrets from his mortal life, a secret this character has kept from the party is revealed, or another appropriate spooky thing occurs.

• The Multiverse: Remade. As soon as the Vecna’s vestiges are defeated. The players find themselves in an ancient floating ruin in a sea of nothingness: the Donjon of Diverging Destiny. They find an elderly hooded figure, dead with an evil knife in his back (Vecna’s dagger Afterthought) next to a lectern with an open book and quill pen. This figure could be the Over-God Ao, an embodiment of cosmic continuity, a supreme observer or watcher, fate or destiny personified, or something else appropriate to your vision of the multiverse. They find a one-eyed, one-handed skeleton next to lectern scribbling in the book. They players can brush aside the skeleton and find that it is in this book all the events of the multiverse are written and here Vecna has made alterations. The players can correct Vecna’s remaking as well as make changes of their own!

• As a (hopefully) amusing and optional coda, the skeleton of Vecna (stats as a Ghast) attacks the party with Afterthought. In this place beyond time and space, the characters are back to their level one selves (make the character sheets beforehand). The creature carries the Book of Vile Darkness.
• The book may draw the players into an epic vision of creation in which they and the remnant of Vecna tell competing versions of what the multiverse actually is. The heroes might make themselves into a better version of themselves, change the fates of allies or enemies, or claim part of Vecna’s divinity as their own. Discord among the party may have unforeseen consequences (see “Continuing the Adventure” below). Other deals and actions throughout the campaign can come into play here.
• Rewards: Participating in the Ritual of Remaking (unless the character ascended) grants a bonus to any ability score and its maximum of a player’s choosing (as the Manual of Bodily Health) and the players receive an Epic Boon (DMG). The Great Occluding is lifted. The factions they patronize in Sigil are in ascendence and everyone who has planar portaled/shifted since the start of “The Occluded Lord Rises” will know that someone has defeated Vecna and ended the “Unrealities.” The heroes are now one of the movers and shakers of the multiverse.
• Loose threads. Avoid anti-climaxes but debts, contracts, and alliances as the result of the players actions may still need to be resolved.

• Part 10. Continuing the Adventure

The adventure outlined above ends with a satisfying conclusion to the arc and wrap-up can be as simple as asking players, “What happens to your character?” However, if the players want to continue the campaign, look first to the logical consequences of characters choices and actions before considering the following continuing story hooks.

• Once More Unto the Breach. The players failed in some way. They wake up in Modenkanen’s Magnificent Demiplane where he and the Wizards Three and their allies have raised them. Vecna controls the multiverse and all planes (except this one) are now real versions of his Unrealities. The players must navigate these worlds and use the Black Obelisks of Toril to rewind time to stop Vecna. Note: this hook can be employed anytime the players are TPK’ed or otherwise defeated.
• Home Again. The player’s home settings or just their favorite one from this adventure have plenty of unrelated epic level threats. The Quori or the Overlords are rising on Eberron; the farthest reaches of the Astral Sea call to daring Spelljammers; the Modrons are Marching across the planes and Blood War roils; the deepest dungeons of the ancient the Empire of Seul hold treasures while the dark lord Iuz stirs in the North in Vecna’s absence on Oerth; the Netherese, the Red Wizards, the Drow of Menzoberranzan scheme while the evil gods of Faerun are spurred into dark action by Vecna’s death; the Dark Power have imprisoned one of the party in their own Domain of Dread; Tiamat descends upon Krynn to upend the balance of good and evil. The list goes on and on! Perhaps the players become world hopping explorers that discover more isolated material planes after learning the secrets of the Deep Plane of Shadow.
• Life’s a Lich, and then You Never Die. Discord among the players during the visions of remaking or perhaps just vecna’s nature have allowed him to rebuild himself using his hidden soulgem in Oerth. The Players must kill him again and this time destroy his soulgem hidden in the best guarded dungeon in the multiverse.
• A Whole New Pantheon. Perhaps the entire party becomes demi-gods and makes their own material plane, becoming the pantheon for the next adventure. Or they enter the pantheon of an established world and have to complete the trials of Ascension. Perhaps the evil gods are squabbling over Vecna’s portfolio igniting a War in Heaven.
• Pay the Devil His Due. Asmodeus’s contract has a price and the remade world finally gives him the upper hand in his war against the Gods and ending the Blood War. His contract forces a player to remake reality where the gods can be killed by simple force of arms and he has been martialling his power, and now the armies of both Demon and Devil-kind, for just such a moment. When all the gods are dead only the Reigning Serpent will remain. Perhaps, Asmodeus just wanted that mysterious old hooded figure dead.
• Kas, Betrayed. Kas, if not killed, assembles the Rod of Seven Parts, frees Miska the Wolf Spider, also known on some planes as the Rough Beast, and raises an army to conquer the material plane or realm most important to the player characters.
• Unforeseen Consequences. Examine the characters’ actions throughout the campaign, what have they disturbed, changed, or upended. Take careful notes of how they remake the multiverse in the conclusion and go from there.

Remix Design Reflections

• Not entirely satisfied with how the Black Obelisks of Faerun are implemented as essential just a failsafe if the party wipes. Could be instead an exciting “race/chase” part of the campaign instead as Kas/Rivals/Vecna/PCs try to claim?
• Should write up longer interludes on how/when to deploy important NPCs, esp. Kas