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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 8704743" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>Someone once said that it's better to burn out than to fade away. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm guessing it was on the minds of Bruce Cordell and Steve Miller when they wrote <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17483/Die-Vecna-Die-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Die Vecna Die!</em></a>, the final AD&D 2nd Edition adventure, and the last product to be examined in this retrospective.</p><p></p><p>Fun fact, the name of this adventure is actually German for "The Vecna The!"</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]gaXigSu72A4[/MEDIA]</p><p></p><p>There's so much to talk about here I barely know where to begin, which should be a positive indicator of just how much I love this module. There's just <em>so much here!</em> The sheer amount of lore that this makes use of is something which I'm starting to think we'll never see again in an official D&D product, as that style seems to have gone away with D&D's "Advanced" moniker. Which is a shame, because it means that this tome is worth its weight in gold to people who have an appreciation for the game's history (especially if they've played through that history themselves).</p><p></p><p>For instance, this is not only the end of AD&D 2E, but it's also the conclusion to the "Vecna Trilogy" of adventures: <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17424/WGA4-Vecna-Lives-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>WGA4 Vecna Lives!</em></a> and Ravenloft's <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17523/Vecna-Reborn-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Vecna Reborn</em></a>. But it draws upon so, so much many more pieces of the holistic tapestry that 2E laid down, great and small. And to prove that I'm not just blowing smoke, here's a choice selection of little things that this adventure makes note of:</p><p></p><p>Vecna having been taken to Ravenloft was established in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17525/Ravenloft-Domains-of-Dread-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Domains of Dread</em></a>, but it was the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17435/Greyhawk-Players-Guide-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Greyhawk Player's Guide</em></a> which established that this meant that Vecna couldn't grant spells above 2nd-level to his priests outside of Ravenloft. And yet his priests in Tovag Baragu have their full complement of spells. Why? Because this adventure says that they all have magic items called <em>knucklebones of channeling</em> which allow them to get all of their spells from Vecna! It's little details like that which really make this adventure great!</p><p></p><p>Or how about how, once Vecna breaks into Sigil at the end of the adventure, it says that the Lady of Pain is trying to force him out by channeling waves of terrible pain at him (which he's barely holding at bay)? That's a tidbit which was actually established in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17277/Harbinger-House-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Harbinger House</em></a>, another Planescape module that deals with gods in Sigil. Oh, and the cultists in Tovag Baragu have made a permanent one-way portal into Ravenloft, which isn't actually as odd as it sounds; page 11 of the book in the first Ravenloft campaign setting boxed set, <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17474/Ravenloft-Realm-of-Terror-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Realm of Terror</em></a>, talks about gates like that.</p><p></p><p>And of course, after being mentioned in the Monstrous Arcana books (and a few other places as well), Ronnasic of Sigil finally makes his appearance here as well.</p><p></p><p>But I'm getting way, <em>way</em> ahead of myself. Let's go over the plot in a nutshell: Vecna has plots within plots, and schemes within schemes. While getting drawn into Ravenloft following the events of <em>WGA4 Vecna Lives!</em> wasn't one of them, the events of <em>Vecna Reborn</em> were largely a feint to make the Dark Powers think that despite all his rage he was still just a rat in a cage. In fact, he was waiting for another plan to come to fruition, and now it has.</p><p></p><p>A long time ago, Vecna crafted tablets in the Language Primeval (a nod to <em>College of Wizardry</em>) talking about how one demigod could absorb another to become a true deity. Now Vecna's old enemy Iuz has found the tablet and learned of that plan, being determined to absorb Vecna, since the ritual calls for using a piece of the other demigod's body, and Vecna just so happens to have artifacts formed from his person. So Iuz lays siege to a temple of Vecna hidden deep within the "half-worlds" of Tovag Baragu, the standing stones in Greyhawk where the two of them had their last great confrontation. The PCs, finding out that Iuz is up to something, follow in pursuit.</p><p></p><p>Too late to stop Iuz's ransacking of the temple and taking the <em>Eye of Vecna</em>, the PCs will discover its counterpart, the <em>Hand of Vecna</em>, as well as numerous lesser relics that are also formed from Vecna's original body (note for completists: one more of these is introduced on page 65 of <em>Dragon</em> #359, the final print issue). Taking them - and I confess I'm not entirely sure how the PCs are supposed to hit upon the idea of grafting these relics onto their own bodies, since prior to this most of the lore around the Eye and the Hand suggests that doing so is the old "power corrupts" idiom on steroids - they pursue Iuz into the Demiplane of Dread, fighting their way through Vecna's realm of Cavitius (fun fact: Vecna's "secret library" is covered in <em>Dragon</em> #272 as a companion article to this adventure) just as the demigods meet.</p><p></p><p>That's when Vecna reveals that he's pulled a fast one: the ritual won't let Iuz absorb him, but rather will let him absorb Iuz, which he does, becoming a greater deity and easily shattering his prison in Ravenloft (which is also backed by Ravenloft lore; just look at what any incarnation of the campaign setting says about a <em>horn of Valhalla</em>) and using the demiplane's unique nature to force his way into Sigil.</p><p></p><p>From there, Vecna sets up a stronghold and waits, knowing that just by being there, he's undoing the city...and with it, the multiverse, since Sigil is the linchpin of the entire Great Wheel (something long speculated in the Planescape lore, and confirmed here); once it collapses, he'll be in the prime spot to construct a new multiverse the way he wants. The PCs, having Vecna's relics, are immune to Vecna's direct influence (which, again, seems backwards, but what do I know), and so if they go in and slay Vecna's avatar, will weaken him enough so that he can be forcibly ejected from the City of Doors, saving the multiverse. The Lady of Pain would do it herself, but she <s>just had her blade headdress polished</s> knows that if she uses her real power, Sigil would be torn down in an instant. So it's the PCs or no one.</p><p></p><p>Did I mention that this adventure is for PCs of 10th to 13th level?</p><p></p><p>All of that, and I've barely scratched the surface of what's here. For instance, most of the "half-worlds" of Tovag-Baragu are localized planes (not demi-planes) unto themselves, but at least one is an actual, full-on world, given only the briefest of overviews in a way that's highly reminiscent of the worlds you can reach from Lolth's domain in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17054/Q1-Queen-of-the-Demonweb-Pits-1e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits</em></a>. Another of the NPCs who joins the heroes (only to turn on them) once they get to Sigil is Autochon the Bellringer, originally described in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17285/Uncaged-Faces-of-Sigil-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Uncaged: Faces of Sigil</em></a>. And of course, there's a genuine fake relic for the PCs to lose their heads over: the <em>Head of Vecna</em>. Yeah, even back in 2000 that particular story had already become a meme, and at this point the serpent (but not The Serpent, the mysterious overpower who is guiding Vecna) is officially eating its own tail.</p><p></p><p>Did you know that The Hand and The Eye are here too? Not the artifacts, but the servitors from WGA4; the guys who've had their heads replaced with a large hand and a large eye, respectively. You'll <em>also</em> find the Ravenloft versions of them – where The Hand is a flesh golem made entirely of hands, and The Eye is one made entirely of eyes – mentioned in <em>Domains of Dread</em> making an appearance as well. Oh, and don't worry, the <em>Sword of Kas</em> (the real one, since this retcons the one you found back in WGA4 to be a perfect replica) is here too!</p><p></p><p>I haven't even mentioned just how much detail is given to the various NPCs here. I mean, little things like making sure to use various titles for important priests of Vecna; remember how back in WGA4 it said how Vecna's church gave body-related titles to various parts of his clergy? That's here too, so some characters are the Fingers of Vecna, who are commanded by the Arm of Vecna, etc. That's not even mentioning how many characters (most of whom are given abbreviated stat blocks in the appendix) get a paragraph or two of backstory and/or personality overview. Like how there's a lich in Cavitius who enjoys using <em>magic jar</em> on some poor living waif in order to go on orgies of sex and murder (though the adventure frames it less bluntly), or the death knight who in life killed his wife and child before being cursed with undeath and eventually <s>being sued for plagiarism by Lord Soth</s> falling into Vecna's service.</p><p></p><p>Of course, in the same vein as <em>The Apocalypse Stone</em>, saving the multiverse doesn't mean that it's unscathed. Quite the contrary, this adventure (which is far less ambiguous about its assumption that the PCs save the multiverse than the aforementioned module was about presuming that your campaign world survived) was intended from the very start to justify the cosmology being changed for D&D 3E, although it goes into far less detail about the specifics therein.</p><p></p><p>It does mention a few things, however, such as the half-worlds growing and multiplying until there are many Material Planes, rather than just the one as AD&D 2E always maintained (though the idea of other Material Planes besides the "Prime" Material Plane was presented back in the AD&D 1E <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17009/Manual-of-the-Planes-1e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Manual of the Planes</em></a>). It mentions a few other changes, saying that some Outer Planes "drift off and are forever lost, others collide and merge," which as far as I know was never subsequently held to be the case. Although it does say that "at least one Inner Plane runs 'aground' on a distant world on the Prime," which makes me notice how the 3E <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/25109/Manual-of-the-Planes-3e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Manual of the Planes</em></a> doesn't seem to have the Paraelemental or Quasielemental Planes... <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite24" alt=":unsure:" title="Unsure :unsure:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":unsure:" /></p><p></p><p>Oh, and one more fun fact: while he never makes an appearance here, Kas also had a domain in Ravenloft, adjacent to Vecna's own (another distraction for Vecna, courtesy of the Dark Powers). However, while Vecna's domain was destroyed when he forced his way out, Kas's realm of Tovag met a similar fate, and Kas himself...became a vestige, a la the kind utilized by binders in 3E's <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/50000/Tome-of-Magic-Pact-Shadow-and-Truename-Magic-35?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Tome of Magic</em></a>. That's confirmed in <em>Dragon</em> #341, where his vestige stats are presented.</p><p></p><p>So yeah, if I spent most of this particular retrospective gushing over this book, I hope by now it's clear why. This is one hundred-sixty pages of pure awesome (and only a <a href="https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DrawingRoom/Ravenloft_Products/Adventures_1_2_Edition/DieVecnaDie.html" target="_blank">tiny bit of errata</a>). This isn't just some Realms Shaking Event, or a Grand Conjunction, or a Cataclysm; this is your heroes saving <em>all of Creation!</em> Has there ever been any official D&D adventure where the stakes were as high as they are here?</p><p></p><p>Sure, Vecna eventually comes back, and as a lesser deity to boot (more than a demigod, but nowhere near the greater god he briefly was, let alone the new architect of the multiverse), and even Iuz manages to pull himself together, but your characters went toe-to-toe with a god, picked up some relics and even a major artifact or two along the way (take that, Tomes mini-series!), and even got a personal thank you from the Lady of Pain in the form of a magic item which can actually <em>create</em> portals into and out of Sigil! From Greyhawk to Ravenloft to Planescape, this is the sort of grand tour sendoff that an edition of D&D deserves!</p><p></p><p>Quite the way to close out this walk down memory lane, I'd say. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p><em>Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 8704743, member: 8461"] Someone once said that it's better to burn out than to fade away. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm guessing it was on the minds of Bruce Cordell and Steve Miller when they wrote [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17483/Die-Vecna-Die-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Die Vecna Die![/I][/URL], the final AD&D 2nd Edition adventure, and the last product to be examined in this retrospective. Fun fact, the name of this adventure is actually German for "The Vecna The!" [MEDIA=youtube]gaXigSu72A4[/MEDIA] There's so much to talk about here I barely know where to begin, which should be a positive indicator of just how much I love this module. There's just [I]so much here![/I] The sheer amount of lore that this makes use of is something which I'm starting to think we'll never see again in an official D&D product, as that style seems to have gone away with D&D's "Advanced" moniker. Which is a shame, because it means that this tome is worth its weight in gold to people who have an appreciation for the game's history (especially if they've played through that history themselves). For instance, this is not only the end of AD&D 2E, but it's also the conclusion to the "Vecna Trilogy" of adventures: [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17424/WGA4-Vecna-Lives-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]WGA4 Vecna Lives![/I][/URL] and Ravenloft's [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17523/Vecna-Reborn-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Vecna Reborn[/I][/URL]. But it draws upon so, so much many more pieces of the holistic tapestry that 2E laid down, great and small. And to prove that I'm not just blowing smoke, here's a choice selection of little things that this adventure makes note of: Vecna having been taken to Ravenloft was established in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17525/Ravenloft-Domains-of-Dread-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Domains of Dread[/I][/URL], but it was the [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17435/Greyhawk-Players-Guide-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Greyhawk Player's Guide[/I][/URL] which established that this meant that Vecna couldn't grant spells above 2nd-level to his priests outside of Ravenloft. And yet his priests in Tovag Baragu have their full complement of spells. Why? Because this adventure says that they all have magic items called [I]knucklebones of channeling[/I] which allow them to get all of their spells from Vecna! It's little details like that which really make this adventure great! Or how about how, once Vecna breaks into Sigil at the end of the adventure, it says that the Lady of Pain is trying to force him out by channeling waves of terrible pain at him (which he's barely holding at bay)? That's a tidbit which was actually established in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17277/Harbinger-House-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Harbinger House[/I][/URL], another Planescape module that deals with gods in Sigil. Oh, and the cultists in Tovag Baragu have made a permanent one-way portal into Ravenloft, which isn't actually as odd as it sounds; page 11 of the book in the first Ravenloft campaign setting boxed set, [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17474/Ravenloft-Realm-of-Terror-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Realm of Terror[/I][/URL], talks about gates like that. And of course, after being mentioned in the Monstrous Arcana books (and a few other places as well), Ronnasic of Sigil finally makes his appearance here as well. But I'm getting way, [I]way[/I] ahead of myself. Let's go over the plot in a nutshell: Vecna has plots within plots, and schemes within schemes. While getting drawn into Ravenloft following the events of [I]WGA4 Vecna Lives![/I] wasn't one of them, the events of [I]Vecna Reborn[/I] were largely a feint to make the Dark Powers think that despite all his rage he was still just a rat in a cage. In fact, he was waiting for another plan to come to fruition, and now it has. A long time ago, Vecna crafted tablets in the Language Primeval (a nod to [I]College of Wizardry[/I]) talking about how one demigod could absorb another to become a true deity. Now Vecna's old enemy Iuz has found the tablet and learned of that plan, being determined to absorb Vecna, since the ritual calls for using a piece of the other demigod's body, and Vecna just so happens to have artifacts formed from his person. So Iuz lays siege to a temple of Vecna hidden deep within the "half-worlds" of Tovag Baragu, the standing stones in Greyhawk where the two of them had their last great confrontation. The PCs, finding out that Iuz is up to something, follow in pursuit. Too late to stop Iuz's ransacking of the temple and taking the [I]Eye of Vecna[/I], the PCs will discover its counterpart, the [I]Hand of Vecna[/I], as well as numerous lesser relics that are also formed from Vecna's original body (note for completists: one more of these is introduced on page 65 of [I]Dragon[/I] #359, the final print issue). Taking them - and I confess I'm not entirely sure how the PCs are supposed to hit upon the idea of grafting these relics onto their own bodies, since prior to this most of the lore around the Eye and the Hand suggests that doing so is the old "power corrupts" idiom on steroids - they pursue Iuz into the Demiplane of Dread, fighting their way through Vecna's realm of Cavitius (fun fact: Vecna's "secret library" is covered in [I]Dragon[/I] #272 as a companion article to this adventure) just as the demigods meet. That's when Vecna reveals that he's pulled a fast one: the ritual won't let Iuz absorb him, but rather will let him absorb Iuz, which he does, becoming a greater deity and easily shattering his prison in Ravenloft (which is also backed by Ravenloft lore; just look at what any incarnation of the campaign setting says about a [I]horn of Valhalla[/I]) and using the demiplane's unique nature to force his way into Sigil. From there, Vecna sets up a stronghold and waits, knowing that just by being there, he's undoing the city...and with it, the multiverse, since Sigil is the linchpin of the entire Great Wheel (something long speculated in the Planescape lore, and confirmed here); once it collapses, he'll be in the prime spot to construct a new multiverse the way he wants. The PCs, having Vecna's relics, are immune to Vecna's direct influence (which, again, seems backwards, but what do I know), and so if they go in and slay Vecna's avatar, will weaken him enough so that he can be forcibly ejected from the City of Doors, saving the multiverse. The Lady of Pain would do it herself, but she [S]just had her blade headdress polished[/S] knows that if she uses her real power, Sigil would be torn down in an instant. So it's the PCs or no one. Did I mention that this adventure is for PCs of 10th to 13th level? All of that, and I've barely scratched the surface of what's here. For instance, most of the "half-worlds" of Tovag-Baragu are localized planes (not demi-planes) unto themselves, but at least one is an actual, full-on world, given only the briefest of overviews in a way that's highly reminiscent of the worlds you can reach from Lolth's domain in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17054/Q1-Queen-of-the-Demonweb-Pits-1e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits[/I][/URL]. Another of the NPCs who joins the heroes (only to turn on them) once they get to Sigil is Autochon the Bellringer, originally described in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17285/Uncaged-Faces-of-Sigil-2e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Uncaged: Faces of Sigil[/I][/URL]. And of course, there's a genuine fake relic for the PCs to lose their heads over: the [I]Head of Vecna[/I]. Yeah, even back in 2000 that particular story had already become a meme, and at this point the serpent (but not The Serpent, the mysterious overpower who is guiding Vecna) is officially eating its own tail. Did you know that The Hand and The Eye are here too? Not the artifacts, but the servitors from WGA4; the guys who've had their heads replaced with a large hand and a large eye, respectively. You'll [I]also[/I] find the Ravenloft versions of them – where The Hand is a flesh golem made entirely of hands, and The Eye is one made entirely of eyes – mentioned in [I]Domains of Dread[/I] making an appearance as well. Oh, and don't worry, the [I]Sword of Kas[/I] (the real one, since this retcons the one you found back in WGA4 to be a perfect replica) is here too! I haven't even mentioned just how much detail is given to the various NPCs here. I mean, little things like making sure to use various titles for important priests of Vecna; remember how back in WGA4 it said how Vecna's church gave body-related titles to various parts of his clergy? That's here too, so some characters are the Fingers of Vecna, who are commanded by the Arm of Vecna, etc. That's not even mentioning how many characters (most of whom are given abbreviated stat blocks in the appendix) get a paragraph or two of backstory and/or personality overview. Like how there's a lich in Cavitius who enjoys using [I]magic jar[/I] on some poor living waif in order to go on orgies of sex and murder (though the adventure frames it less bluntly), or the death knight who in life killed his wife and child before being cursed with undeath and eventually [S]being sued for plagiarism by Lord Soth[/S] falling into Vecna's service. Of course, in the same vein as [I]The Apocalypse Stone[/I], saving the multiverse doesn't mean that it's unscathed. Quite the contrary, this adventure (which is far less ambiguous about its assumption that the PCs save the multiverse than the aforementioned module was about presuming that your campaign world survived) was intended from the very start to justify the cosmology being changed for D&D 3E, although it goes into far less detail about the specifics therein. It does mention a few things, however, such as the half-worlds growing and multiplying until there are many Material Planes, rather than just the one as AD&D 2E always maintained (though the idea of other Material Planes besides the "Prime" Material Plane was presented back in the AD&D 1E [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17009/Manual-of-the-Planes-1e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Manual of the Planes[/I][/URL]). It mentions a few other changes, saying that some Outer Planes "drift off and are forever lost, others collide and merge," which as far as I know was never subsequently held to be the case. Although it does say that "at least one Inner Plane runs 'aground' on a distant world on the Prime," which makes me notice how the 3E [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/25109/Manual-of-the-Planes-3e?affiliate_id=820'][I]Manual of the Planes[/I][/URL] doesn't seem to have the Paraelemental or Quasielemental Planes... :unsure: Oh, and one more fun fact: while he never makes an appearance here, Kas also had a domain in Ravenloft, adjacent to Vecna's own (another distraction for Vecna, courtesy of the Dark Powers). However, while Vecna's domain was destroyed when he forced his way out, Kas's realm of Tovag met a similar fate, and Kas himself...became a vestige, a la the kind utilized by binders in 3E's [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/50000/Tome-of-Magic-Pact-Shadow-and-Truename-Magic-35?affiliate_id=820'][I]Tome of Magic[/I][/URL]. That's confirmed in [I]Dragon[/I] #341, where his vestige stats are presented. So yeah, if I spent most of this particular retrospective gushing over this book, I hope by now it's clear why. This is one hundred-sixty pages of pure awesome (and only a [URL='https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DrawingRoom/Ravenloft_Products/Adventures_1_2_Edition/DieVecnaDie.html']tiny bit of errata[/URL]). This isn't just some Realms Shaking Event, or a Grand Conjunction, or a Cataclysm; this is your heroes saving [I]all of Creation![/I] Has there ever been any official D&D adventure where the stakes were as high as they are here? Sure, Vecna eventually comes back, and as a lesser deity to boot (more than a demigod, but nowhere near the greater god he briefly was, let alone the new architect of the multiverse), and even Iuz manages to pull himself together, but your characters went toe-to-toe with a god, picked up some relics and even a major artifact or two along the way (take that, Tomes mini-series!), and even got a personal thank you from the Lady of Pain in the form of a magic item which can actually [I]create[/I] portals into and out of Sigil! From Greyhawk to Ravenloft to Planescape, this is the sort of grand tour sendoff that an edition of D&D deserves! Quite the way to close out this walk down memory lane, I'd say. :) [I]Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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[COMPLETE] Looking back at the limited series: Player's Option, Monstrous Arcana, Odyssey, and more!
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