D&D: ‘Vecna Eve of Ruin’ Preview Showcases New Mechanics and the Return of Strahd
A new video shows how Vecna: Eve of Ruin will not only usher in a whole new era of rules, but also show off a grand tour of all things D&D.
Vecna: Eve of Ruin is the beginning of the end for 5th Edition. With it, the stage will be set for D&D (2024) or whatever they end up calling it. In a new video preview, WotC senior designer Amanda Harmon talks about what players can expect to find in the adventure. Eve of Ruin will not only feature a showdown with one of D&D’s most iconic villains (the only villain more iconic is Google Calendar), it will also feature some familiar faces and places, including 5E’s most iconic villain, Strahd von Zarovich.
It’s as close to a fan service episode of D&D as it gets without everyone going to a hot springs for some reason. But in the new preview, we get a glimpse of some of the mechanics at work, as well as the big name NPCs that you’ll get to interact with.
Which raises an interesting question: how important is it that you get to talk to the big important NPCs? As players, will you care if Tasha or Mordenkainen, these figures from the 70s and 80s, decide that it’s up to you? Is this just another way to remind everyone of the non-villainous characters that inhabit a game meant to be backdrop for your own personal power fantasy?
Jury’s out. But let’s take a look at the preview.
Vecna: Eve of Ruin Preview – Team up with Mordenkainen, Tasha, and Alustriel Silverhand
In the preview we get a rundown of the big plot of the adventure. Three famous archmages, Mordenkainen, Tasha, and Alustriel Silverhand (not to be confused with Laeral Silverhand) have teamed up to try and stop Vecna. When their big Wish spell is cast, they instead learn what every player with a Wish spell and a big ambition learns: the DM won’t just let you skip their carefully prepared adventure.
Not even if you all chip in for pizza.
So, with the three archwizards learning that they’re mere mortals, the player characters are summoned. It turns out they’re somehow chosen by fate to fight Vecna (because of the early parts of the adventure, presumably), and then the race is on to hop through the multiverse of D&D, collecting the pieces of the legendary artifact the Rod of Seven Parts.
Oh the sights you’ll see. Greyhawk, Eberron, Dragonlance, Planescape, Spelljammer, and of course, Ravenloft. Because you’ll have to get the parts of the Rod of Seven Parts from the cold undead hands of folks like Strahd von Zarovich and/or Lord Soth.
Along the way you’ll have the opportunity to learn all sorts of secrets. Vecna is the god of secrets. Secrets have power related to him. And as you’ll see, there’s a mechanical subsystem that lets secrets come into play when you’re fighting Vecna and his goons.
There is *a lot* going on here.
And fight them you will, because this adventure takes you from 10th level to 20th level, letting you skip over the part of the game where you finally got to somewhere between 8th and 9th level where everything starts to feel really good, but your DM just had their hours changed, and the Paladin’s player had a kid, and the Cleric moved away but is “totally down” to keep playing online, and then four months later you’ve given up hope of your campaign ever continuing again.
Find out more in Vecna: Eve of Ruin, due out in May!
