Hello all! I'm planning to run VEoR for the first time for my group and am wondering if I should run it as a mystery. Is this a good idea? Has anyone tried this? If not, how would you do it? (I obviously won't give them the actual name of the module, lol.)

Here are my thoughts: instead of being immediately linked to Vecna and learning about his plan, the players and the Wizards Three are made aware of something tearing apart the fabric of the multiverse, but aren't sure what. The campaign would be them following up on villainous leads (Lolth, Strahd, Takhisis, Acererak, Tiamat, etc.) while also searching for the rod pieces at Mordenkainen/Kas' suggestion, to "help maintain the balance of the multiverse."

The existing secrets in the module (which are very weak IMO) would be replaced with secrets about the villains, giving esoteric lore and possible motives for why they would want to rewrite reality. Maybe secrets about the Wizards Three as well, throwing suspicion on them and giving them MO's. Secrets about Vecna would surface in settings tied to him, like Greyhawk or Ravenloft. This way they won't cause undue suspicion, but still give the players a chance to learn more and potentially solve the mystery early.

I've also seen several suggestions in the sub to play up the "reality is gradually breaking apart" angle, with multiversal glitches becoming more prevalent and severe as time goes on. I think this would be great for establishing stakes and a ticking clock--it could also take the place of an active Vecna in the campaign so the players still have something to react to.

All that said, I'm not sure about this mystery idea yet. Could be interesting and give my players something to conspire about, but not having a clear and present BBEG could weaken the central conflict. What do you think?

Hello,

I DM for my brothers and am planning to run Nest of the Eldritch Eye and then something else because I don't like the idea of jumping. Is there another module you recommend running in the middle that I could slowly connect as well? I was thinking of purchasing the new Ravenloft, the Horrors Within and running like an anthrology and saying that the dread lords are connected to the cult/servants. I also don't want to reveal to the players that Vecna is the main villain at least for a bit. Any help would be appreciated thank you!

****SPOILERS AHEAD****

DMs - there has been a lot of great dialogue around making VEoR a better adventure for the players. Special thanks to GM Carlos (VEoR Remix), Leandro De Oliveira & Diego Lisboa (Companion), Christopher Hamwell (Evernight & Cult), & Dan Kahn (Tovag) and countless others i read, maps I bought, ideas shared.

Following is the high level plan. Any and all feedback is welcome!

-          Vecna already cast the Ritual of Remaking – the gods were unaware, and became aware when the ritual began, whereupon they are working to stop this

-          The Lady of Pain has been able to keep Sigil unaffected by the ritual

-          The power source behind the ritual, fed by secrets, must be disrupted to stop the Remaking; Vecna and his cult will protect this at all costs

-          Vecna needs his Eye & Hand to complete the Remaking – his cult is working to get these

-          Mystra empowered Alustriel to cast the Wish in Sigil, which she did as a ritual with Tasha & Mordenkainen to secure help to revert the multiverse back to what it was before the ritual

-          The Wizards Three disagree on what needs to happen: Alustriel wants the location of the power source, Mordenkainen wants the Sword of Kas, and Tasha wants the Rod of Seven Parts.  They each have their own reasons for wanting these.

-          Kas the Betrayer is trapped in Tovag, but his top lieutenant is Malaina.  She will figure out how to subvert the Well of Many Worlds in Sanctum while the adventures complete Tovag (now Chapter 8), enabling the Chapter 9 reveal

The goal is for the party to have agency to get the artifacts they believe will best help, for their to be disagreement among the Wizards Three leading to conflicting goals, and for Kas to still bust out and go after Vecna, oh and for multiple factions to be competing for everything.  All the while the multiverse is changing into Vecna’s new vision… Thanks for your feedback!

This is going to be a bit more free form/speculative, as i haven't gotten nearly far enough in my running of this module to be thinking about eberron, but I've been having IDEAS and I need to share them with someone to see if they sound as good as i think they do (and also if the encounter would be as balanced as I'm hoping)

Basically, from what I've been seeing, of all the sections of this book, eberron feels like it's had the most thought put into it, and for that reason, most of the things I'm tweaking are AROUND the dungeon, and not the dungeon itself. I've been going through and trying to flesh out every location the players visit to make them feel more alive/true to their source- I've got THOUGHTS on the Krynn chapter but that's for another day- and in my mind, you can NOT include a chapter where the players explore the bowels of a giant mech that actually has a stat block in the eberron book and then just NOT follow through with a thing like that. So my idea is to just change the location from mount ironrot to Metrol, the capital of Cyre, and my reason for that is twofold. Firstly, the Colossus that's inactive there is just kinda leaned against a wall instead of phased into a mountain, so it will serve a much easier explanation of how they get it operating, and the second reason, I'll get to later. But metrol has a big lake right in the middle of it, so I'm thinking they get into the colossus, they find the rod piece, and then a literal kraken bursts out of the water, and then it's fantasy pacific rim.

And then, when they find out they have to go to barovia, they're conveniently located in the exact city where Cyre 1313 shows up occasionally.

There's a lot more I need to do to make it coherent, but anything that leads to piloting a fantasy Jaeger and fighting a massive water creature is worth it to me

TL;DR: Requesting feedback on some ideas I had to enhance the campaign.

I'm preparing to run Vecna: Eve of Ruin as my next campaign, and I'd love some feedback from other DMs because I'm heavily restructuring parts of it.

My previous campaign was Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, I plan to have the players be asked by the Weavers to go on a mission again Vecna. The PaBTSO party will work in the background while the new party (same players) will start the new campaign.

Because of that, the new party will be introduced directly through the “3 archmages casting Wish” setup.

I’m also skipping Nest of the Eldritch Eye entirely.

Since the party is starting at level 12, I’m thinking of either:

• condensing/skipping portions of the early VEoR chapters
• heavily buffing encounters and enemy design so the early campaign still feels threatening.

One of my biggest goals is making Vecna feel MUCH more present throughout the campaign instead of mostly becoming relevant later on.

My Current Core Idea: “Relics of Vecna’s Past”

Instead of the PCs being random heroes, each character starts with a mysterious relic tied to Vecna’s history across older editions/modules of D&D (like DragnaCarta did on Curse of Strahd Reloaded). Those relics are tied to previous books of Vecna and represent the history of the lich.

The idea is that Vecna recognizes these relics because they represent failures in his control over reality.

Example Relics:

• The Blade of the Lost Name: A fragment tied to Vecna’s original mortal identity before godhood.
• The Shield of Broken Oblivion: A relic tied to defenses once used against Vecna’s reality-warping influence.
• The Orb of Forbidden Truth: A remnant of the multiversal/cosmological events of Die Vecna Die!
• The Cloak of the Erased Witness: A relic representing events Vecna tried to remove from history entirely.

Narrative Goal I want the relics to:

• generate backstory hooks collaboratively with players
• tie specific PCs emotionally to specific worlds in VEoR
• create long-term investigation/mystery gameplay
• make Vecna react dynamically to what the players learn

One player in particular LOVES investigation/mystery campaigns, so I’m trying to turn VEoR into more of a “multiversal conspiracy” campaign where:

• clues repeat across worlds
• history contradicts itself
• Vecna actively rewrites reality
• the players slowly reconstruct the truth

Forbidden Magic Mechanic

I’m also considering adding “Forbidden Magic”:

• lost spells from older editions of D&D
• difficult ritual casting
• morally gray requirements
• corruption mechanics

Examples: - sacrificing memories - permanent scars - soul fragments - reality instability

Using forbidden magic could: - attract Vecna’s direct attention - increase corruption - trigger visions/interference - make Vecna counterspell or manipulate reality around the party

Additional Idea: Feywild Expansion

I'm also considering to add a Feywild section, as one of my players really want to play that setting.

Would love feedback on:

• whether this structure sounds sustainable long-term
• possible issues with player agency
• ideas for making Vecna feel omnipresent without being unfair
• balancing level 12 start with VEoR
• investigation/mystery structures that work well in long campaigns
• whether the relic idea sounds compelling or overcomplicated

Any thoughts are appreciated!

My group are rapidly approaching the death house, and in my research and readings it seems that RAW this is somewhat disappointing.

My group are a hit first and ask questions through torture type group, and as such have done well at rolling through most situations presented to them, so Death House would be interesting I think.

However, I am worried about how to effectively make it a challenge, especially with two barbarians in a group of 4 players.

I had two questions if someone wouldn't mind giving me their opinions?

1. If ran as it is, how could I effectively make it more challenging than just giving bigger hp pool or harder hitting?

2. How about running the original death house, but the mists have dropped the group down to level 2 players instead?

Any and all advise guidance or thoughts would be appreciated 👏

There's a sense of urgency to this campaign, where the search for the Rod needs to follow in short sequence of each other while the party tries to save the world. I"m not seeing much reflected of that in the world around it, however.

My party is invested in the storyline but I personally find consequences a little barren. What did all of you do to reflect the actions of Vecna on the world/the party? How should I go about him slowly unraveling reality in order to be remade? Or should I keep it all veiled in secrets and shadow?

TLDR; I need a way of showing that for example the Vecna cultists make actual moves, that the urgency the party has, has reason (more than pretty much Vecna waiting it out till they have the actual means to banish him)

Hello everybody!

Currently running the Chapter 4, and in the L2 in Landro, it says recently deceased humans. When does the chapter take place in regards to the Day of Mourning?

Given that the Rod itself serves as little more than a MacGuffin in the overall plot, I had thought about adding a point where the party has to make use of its powers.

My group is currently stalking through the corridors of Citadel Cavitius, and I thought I'd replace the Mirror Dance (from Vecna Reborn) with a series of seven trials/puzzles that while not being as simple as 'cast spell from rod' would at least be inspired by the individual parts.

Obviously, puzzles related to 'reverse gravity' and 'find the path' are fairly obvious, but I was having a little stumbling block over some of the others. Anyone out there got a suggestion or two to oil the gears of my rusted brain?

Hello Glorious Hivemind!

I am starting an Eve of Ruin campaign with some of my regulars and I’m just wondering what kind/how many items you allowed them to have when making their characters?

We’re just doing the Eldritch Eye introductory one-shot at the moment so they’re only running level 3 characters that haven’t been fully fleshed out yet.
So was just wondering what you all let them have when making the level 10 characters.
Rares? Uncommons? Potions? Etc.

We’re doing a 1-3 year time skip between the one shot and the start of the actual campaign, so they’ll be pretty ‘established’ adventurers by the time we start for real.

Thanks for your input!