Returning to Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Eberron, Dragonlance and Planescape in Vecna: Eve of Ruin

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The notorious lich Vecna is weaving a ritual to eliminate good, obliterate the gods, and subjugate all worlds. To stop Vecna before he remakes the universe, the heroes work with three of the multiverse’s most famous archmages, travel to far-flung locales, and rebuild the legendary Rod of Seven Parts.
Vecna: Eve of Ruin™ is a high-stakes DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventure in which the fate of the multiverse hangs in the balance. The heroes begin in the Forgotten Realms® and travel to Planescape®, Spelljammer®, Eberron®, Ravenloft®, Dragonlance®, and Greyhawk® as they race to save existence from obliteration.
#dnd #dndbeyond #vecna

[@StevoM08]

Tiamat: You can't destroy the multiverse! That's where I keep all my stuff!

[@ryuzakidestiny]

We need an adventure book placed in Neverwinter like Waterdeep Dragon Heist. And campaing settings of Greyhawk and Dark Sun.

[@billyhall2551]

Dude it would be awesome just to have neverwinter nights as an adventure book

[@nojusticenetwork9309]

Or, just no more Sword Coast adventures period. Give me Chult, Zakhara or non-european influenced locale.

[@Corilius1701]

What we need is a Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book - like the 3rd and 4th editions of the game had and the boxsets of 2E had. The Sword Coast guide is a joke. For most of 5e I've had to piece together my campaigns from previous earlier editions because there is NOTHING new with the exception of a little from Dragon Heist -- a little from Rime of the Frostmaiden etc.

[@TheSteven00]

While I think Dark Sun isn't as problematic as some people believe, if WotC remade it now you'd be unhappy with it. They're a giant company that can't take that kind of risk without altering so much of it you'd be more mad than excited

[@MollymaukT]

Dark Sun+Psionics in 5.5e would be awesome. Greyhawk would be cool for legacy purposes but honestly is bland af

[@marimbaguy715]

Hoping the Lord of Blades makes an appearance in the Eberron section. I'm glad that it sounds like they're not gonna try to explain what caused the Mourning - that should remain a secret in canon.

[@Nemo12417]

They could have given an explanation with the caveat that said explanation is canon ONLY to this particular campaign and that any and all official Eberron material will not incorporate it unless otherwise stated. This is actually the approach Keith Baker uses for a lot of his campaigns (like the Ravenloft crossover where the Queen of Cyre made a pact with the Dark Powers and that is what caused the Mourning), but people who aren't into Eberron lore might not pick up on that, so this was probably the safer route. Interestingly, Keith has stated that there is one thing he knows did NOT cause the Mourning: the Dreaming Dark. The Last War was VERY similar to the Sundering (the series of civil wars that destroyed the old kingdoms of Sarlona and allowed the Inspired to create the empire of Riedra), and Keith has called attention to this fact. The Mourning brought a swift end to the Last War, which would have been a massive setback for the Dreaming Dark.

[@Nemo12417]

The Eberron section will take place in the Mournland, and the players will be exploring a warforged colossus. Given that the Mournland is where the Lord of Blades lives, you may get your wish. I hope your party is ok with fighting Ultron with Magneto's personality.

[@eberron_arch]

Amanda Hamon likely misspoke when talking about the Mournland in Eberron. Unless this adventure moves along the Eberron timeline greatly, It hasn't been hundreds of years since the destruction of Cyre,. The default starting year for Eberron is 998 YK, and the mourning happened in 994 YK. The death of Cyre is still a fresh wound in the heart of Khorvaire, and yet the wasteland and ruins might as well have been there for hundreds of years if you looked upon it. That is the destructive power of whatever caused the Mourning.

[@Nexagon42]

I immediately wondered about this - is it plausible that the campaign makes a huge time jump in all the settings as to have an argument to restructure them for the adventure?

[@Tetsant]

@@Nexagon42 Not a huge jump, probably just a couple of years nearer to the 1500 DR

[@sonicwarrior7978]

i think she meant 100 years after the beginning of the war?

[@thepeterwan]

Is little mess, she spoke about hundred years but looks like she trying to speak about the effects of war (legit 100 years of events in Khorvaire) but also mix it with The mourn at the end of the war, but sounds like the mourn effects in hundred years and that things messed up.

[@stormthor4991]

oh, you must be fun at parties

[@Xoguran]

Would had been great to have in this campaign a chapter dedicated to Mystara (perhaps the Savage Coast) and another to Dark Sun (maybe involving Nibenay or Hamanu).

[@Mr_Welch]

Sighs in Thyatian

[@jacobjensen7704]

I think they wanted to stick to campaign settings that have publications in 5e.

[@jordancabe732]

I'm loving this as a chance to return to Krynn but also to see how Wizards proposes a worlds-hopping campaign that a villain like Vecna not only allows but requires, and it seems like its going to capitalize on all of the wonderful, unique traits that make D&D as a setting unique.

[@teknogothyk]

Missed opportunity to have the Ravenloft portion take place in Vecna's old domain, or Kas'.

[@MatthewDrobnik-dc3bv]

While I sort of agree, I see the benefit of a return to Ravenloft here, especially if you use CoS as a 1-10 campaign. I would probably homebrew a moment of traveling to Vecna's old keep to reveal some info.

[@Corilius1701]

Agreed but the earlier Vecna 2e module already dealt with that once.

[@jameskearns3533]

So I’m currently in the early stages of running “descent into Avernus.” PCs are only level 3 and still in the city so considering switching the starting area of Neverwinter to baldurs gate, as I can slip the “nest of the eldritch eye” prologue into our next session easily to introduce the base elements. Once they eventually finish DIA, it should be easy enough then to allow a natural opening into “eve of ruin”. A little tweaking for levels at the beginning and without realising hopefully they’ve played a compelling character from levels 1-20 while seeing a large variety of worlds and locations. 👍

[@dieserexi274]

I love how we're revisiting all these settings, even Greyhawk

[@johnobrien7562]

really wish they could've pulled another of their weekends like the Stream of Many Eyes, with all the folks from Actual Plays to come in and play adventures in each of these locations, culminating with a battle in Sigil to stop Vecna. ah well, guess we'll have to play this ourselves.

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

She said the heart of a dying god is still beating. From what I've seen, I believe her. Gosh, there could be a song there...

[@fatrunner]

Really looking forward to this, I am running CoS next and was going to skip death house but guess I'll need to include it now!!!

[@mrmuffins951]

I’m really excited to see how the characters get to Barovia and what the material plane reflection of that region is

[@Nemo12417]

In Eberron, there is a canon origin for the mindflayers: they were created by a Daelkyr named Drynn the Corrupter when they destroyed a previous version of Eberron and caused the timeline to reset. How would a party from other settings react to that? Also, having goblinoids be fey doesn't really match with Eberron's goblins or the Empire of Dhakaan.

[@rpghorrorstories]

I hope that at least some of the Dawn War setting's Primordials make an appearance. Maybe even a location or two, though I would probably go with Hestevar.

[@montyhedstrom1356]

Aren't lycanthropes really rare on krynn because of the moons? At least in old lore i thought they were...

[@FamBoren]

It sounds like an epic journey. I am really looking forward to DM the Eve of Ruin.

[@ZampanosCat]

I’m interested in running this as a sequel to Descent into Avernus. I’m not huge on the casino-style return that seems to be featured in this book, but I might see what I can do about editing it and incorporating Tiamat/Arkhan, or maybe Zariel after her redemption instead of whatever they have planned for that chapter

[@gstokker]

Hey, me too… also want to take the party on from DiA and into this one

[@jameskearns3533]

Same 🙌 gonna use the nest of eldritch eye prologue in next session to help introduce the elements early.

[@TheSaphireKatana]

When i get to play this campaign im using my 1st ever pc and bringing them back for this campaign Their previous campaign was tomb of annihilation so this campaign has great story links as a continuation to my 1st ever dnd campaign and will be fun to pick back up in that story

[@TheCJJeep]

That Character Dossier has me itching to get my hands on this!

[@JohnWeland]

So I have questions regarding what was mentioned about the Shadowfell. So the setting "Ravenloft" and its domains of dread such as Barovia. Do they still exist in their respective material planes? I always imagines Barovia in the being pulled into the Shadowfell but some ghost town/ruins of it still exist in its material plane, long forgotten. Also is this (Vecna: Eve of Ruin) a time traveling adventure? I mean I know the Curse of Strahd adventure is meant to be cyclical in that even when you win, Strahd returns eventually and it start over. But it sounds like what I understand from this video anyway is we as players will be jumping in to different settings during those settings timeline? D&D time is weird; I've been trying to piece together CoS for a bit. Strahd is ~490 years old, but also has ruled Barovia for 8 centuries (that's 800 years). I ask for clarification because if this adventure is happening in the same timeline as these subsetting's main timeline, and I am running multiple games in this and other settings, do players then effect things in another groups games (potentially)?

[@MatthewDrobnik-dc3bv]

The books are a framework. You're supposed to fill in the gaps/correct the frictional parts. I'm gonna try to tackle the same thing, my players are currently doing CoS, and I plan for this to be the next campaign those same characters do. So I'm gonna have to figure out how their events in CoS shape what will happen in this campaign.

[@theyellowninjadude]

The domains of dread are usually pulled into the Shadowfell. Jeremy Crawford discussed this in another video, as his home brew setting is the world where Barovia once was.

[@simonfernandes6809]

​@@theyellowninjadudeSome domains are pulled from the Material plane, some are recreated.

[@claytonwheatley8773]

Did they keep the thing from 2e where the Rod of Seven Parts is strongly aligned toward Lawful Neutral?

[@Mat23]

I wonder if this is the adventure that will feature the ad&d characters from wild beyond the witchlight again - or if that is a future one with Venger. 😄

[@hillseason]

Do those kind of videos for your older campaigns. I can use them as campaign hooks to my players.

[@scottcampbell9515]

How did the Rod of Seven Parts become separated and wind up on these different worlds after the events of The Age of Worms?

[@tibot4228]

I didn't expect this, but I'm... cautiously optimistic? I kind of expect it to be an adventure that will require the DM to expand each location a fair bit, but if it's anything like Chains of Asmodeus (mostly a resource with enough tidbits to create a campaign), then I'm all for it.

[@meikahidenori]

I love how the one thing that would work for Darksun is going (magic gone wrong) is going to Represent Eberron instead of the more common Magepunk stuff which would have really set it apart from Ferun, Greyhawlk and Kyrnn.😅 you guys have issues playing around with a setting when magic is smeide spread huh? Still neat Idea but you could have added a extra setting in here too.

[@Itachi45481]

Very interesting if this is the last Champaign for 2014 5e I might just get it

[@deercember]

Oof. A lot of fun appearances… but as a DM, I can already tell this is going to be a fixer-upper.

[@DarkCreed]

Lady of Pain gonna come down and kick his bum

[@HmmBearGrr]

Honestly I kind of rock with our third casino in 2 years. The 9 Hells one from Keys, Fortune's Wheel, and now this one. Love me some dice games

[@flanbeau]

When the PCs go in Avernus, they have the chance to meet Arkhan. He is crying and whining in his keep because Tiamat has fallen in love with a red dragon and don't want to exit Avernus anymore. He also laments the loss of his left hand, his arm now devoid of any: "I did all this for naught! Yet, it was such a beautifully designed master plan!"

[@BronnyDinasty]

Please, do an adventure in neverwinter. Same vibe of dragon heist but with the same vibe from the Baldur's chapter in descent into avernus.

[@blazinlatino89]

Does this mean that the player characters can be from any of these settings? Or no?

[@HallowedKeeper_]

I'd absolutely say yes, the biggest issue is that you'd need to have the characters form a bond or they may very well sacrifice eachother (which to be fair is a viable option)

[@blazinlatino89]

@HallowedKeeper_ lol we may have different types of playes at our tables rofl!. But yea I can see that .. isn't the set up that they cast a wish spell to stop vecna and the response to the spell is the party of adventurers? Maybe that shows they they need each other

[@LMVStudios]

Yes. In one of the other promo videos they explained that Mordenkainien, Tasha, and Alustriel Silverhand cast a powerful altered Wish spell to find heroes that are fated to confront Vecna and that summons the PCs. You could spin that as the Wish bringing them from various worlds and points in time.

[@stevenalexander6033]

The preview adventure has you and your compatriots at 3rd level doing a deed for Neverember to search out cults... and you run into one... Because you cross paths with vecna earlier only you and that party are qualified to fight him

[@Eunacis]

And it wouldn't be TOO hard to swap some of the worlds for others. Either official, legacy, or homebrew. Dark Sun! Fool's Gold!

[@Rolling1s]

Exciting

[@javiernovoa8756]

Glad to see D&D bringing in Pathfinder writers like Amanda Hamon to teach them how to write modern adventures instead of rehashing classic adventures.

[@Jarvolo27]

Is this going to be used to expand out sources that were found extremely lacking like Spelljammer? Or is this squirting some lemon on the wounds before 5e wraps up?

[@MatthewDrobnik-dc3bv]

Sounds like it's a love letter to 5e's settings. One of the last of 5e, but still playable come this fall.

[@simonfernandes6809]

Who says 5e Spelljammer was lacking? Not me, it was a damn sight more playable than 2e Spelljammer.

[@Jarvolo27]

@@simonfernandes6809 quite a lot of people but I guess you like it and that is the only opinion that matters. You have to live under a rock or your head up your hole to not know how badly received it was.

[@Kasman2002]

Lord Sloth and his allies, well it clearly takes place before the War of the Souls, I suspect in the timeline before the Summer of Chaos, Wizards doesn't like to talk about the Age of Mortals or Dragon Overlords unless you twist their arms.

[@robertwood6938]

Chris Perkins has said dragonlance only has one story tell but it's a great story. I hate that we will never get official dragonlance that's not during the rehashed war of the lance timeline

[@maggintons]

I get Avernus used to be a resort turned warzone but There is plenty more stable layers of the nine hells more suited to a casino in D&D lore.. I get you want to reference all the past 5E adventures but it just feels like a lost opportunity to start at Avernus and then head to deeper layers, especially since the players would be high level now.

[@W4H00]

Especially Minauros, the home of Mammon, t6he richest being in existence.

[@plouis]

And what's with the casinos in D&D now? This is the 3rd adventure featuring a casino (one in Golden Vault and then turn of fate's wheel)...

[@L.H.O.A.L.]

Eu não entendi, isso é um jogo de RPG ou é um RPG de mesa com ferramentas digitais?

[@W4H00]

This sounds pretty much like they didn't just want to remake Die, Vecna Die!

[@robodad1]

Sounds awesome

[@praisethesun3907]

DRAGONLANCE!!😮

[@paleobolt8069]

Maybe it's just me but it feels weird that they keep showing pictures of Lolth but never actually mention her, it's not like they are trying to hide the fact that she presumably is in the book so why don't they mention her?

[@theheavymetaldm]

I'm really, really looking forward to this book. Haven't been this excited for a 5e book since RotFM!

[@BullfrogActual]

Is this Dungeons & Dragons or Marvel & Monsters? Who cares? I’m buying it!

[@robb961969]

This reads like a low budget episode arc from Legends of Tomorrow...

[@kestrel1234]

Or just play Chains of Asmodeus.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

5e finishing strong. Long live 5e

[@simonfernandes6809]

This campaign can be played using 2024 5e. 5e WILL live on - with a facelift.

[@loreermejo]

Uhm, my railroad senses tingle...

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

13:12 Do you mean Tomb of Horrors?

[@JerodLycett]

No. www.dndbeyond.com/sources/toa

[@dereklong801]

I got an eye-twitch at that, too.

[@HallowedKeeper_]

Both track, Acererak has made multiple of these tombs.

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

@@HallowedKeeper_ Ah, cool. I didn't realize they had brought Acererak into the Realms, too.

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

@@JerodLycett Ah, cool. I didn't realize they had brought Acererak into the Realms, too.

[@DarkCreed]

and still no Dark Sun...

[@obsidiansiriusblackheart]

They're scared of slavery

[@stevezadoorian4574]

I have a problem with Story arc

[@goldengriffon]

Sigh. Yet another "world shaking event" to explain an edition change.

[@MatthewDrobnik-dc3bv]

I mean, they're consistent if anything. They do the same thing for Magic the Gathering.

[@tibot4228]

I actually like the consistency and the fact that rule changes align with cosmic ones.

[@Jarvolo27]

Why is that something you are complaining about? Are editions supposed to be changed because a dude ate a wheel of cheese or something?

[@HallowedKeeper_]

You'd rather the edition randomly changed for no discernable reason?

[@Mr_Welch]

​@@Jarvolo27 because in the past it's usually been done badly. Looks at Time of Troubles.

[@captainrelyk]

When do they talk about Eberron? I want to see if they’re going to ruin the setting with this adventure, like force the racist dragon skin color based morality from other settings into Eberron and take away the setting’s nuance. It could be interesting to explore metallic dragons and clerics of Bahamut and paladine genociding chromatic dragons in Eberron but of course, WoTC isn’t known for good storytelling and having nuanced storytelling. They care about statblocks and combat more then they do telling a good story

[@Nemo12417]

........ I mean, I'm a critic of WotC, but they've been actively moving away from mandating moral alignments on stuff that isn't Outer Planes. And that includes dragons, as seen in Fizban's, where dragons merely tend towards certain alignments, but can have ideals that lean towards an alignment that is usually opposed to them. In any case, dragons in Eberron live in Argonneson (I know I butchered that), and nearly all Eberron adventures take place on the continent of Khorvaire. If you stick around on this trek through the planes, your cleric of Bahamut will learn that the paladin god is sometimes depicted as a red dragon, and in any case, Bahamut isn't usually one to seek out and start a fight. Even if your cleric assumes those chromatic dragons on that other continent MUST be evil, they're over there.

[@Nemo12417]

Also, the Eberron section has been revealed to take place in the Mournland. They will not give a canon explanation for the Mourning.