Vecna: Eve of Ruin, takes D&D players on a vast multiversal quest, but does it deliver an adventure worthy of its epic villain?
2024 is a huge year for Dungeons & Dragons. In addition to being the TTRPG’s 50th anniversary, Wizards of the Coast has already announced plenty of releases this year, including the first two books of the long-awaited rules revision. Kicking off a packed year of releases is Vecna: Eve of Ruin, a new adventure centered around the legendary Archlich himself.
Eve of Ruin marks Vecna‘s first appearance in a Fifth Edition adventure, though an official stat block for him has been available since 2022. Given how important a figure Vecna is in D&D lore – and the fact that his name recognition has increased dramatically in recent years thanks to Stranger Things and Critical Role – the bar for a good Vecna adventure is pretty high.
Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast has delivered an appropriately grand high-level multiversal adventure that celebrates five decades of D&D with Vecna: Eve of Ruin, laying the groundwork for an epic campaign where literally everything is at stake.
Key details
Price: $69.95 (physical/digital bundle), $29.99 (digital only)
Release date: May 21, 2024 (full release), May 7, 2024 (early access on D&D Beyond and local game stores)
Across the universe(s)
The premise of Vecna: Eve of Ruin is pretty simple. When the renowned Wizards Three – Alustriel Silverhand, Mordenkainen, and Tasha – learn that Vecna plans to destroy and recreate the multiverse in his image, they channel their powers into a Wish spell that surprises everyone by transporting the party to Alustriel’s sanctum.
Seeing the party as the answer, Mordenkainen sends them to collect the Rod of Seven Parts, a powerful artifact capable of weakening Vecna. But with the pieces scattered across the multiverse, each on a different plane, the party will have to travel across all of existence to have any chance of taking down this massive threat.
On its own, this premise is intriguing and a great fit for a 50th-anniversary adventure. The last few years have seen WOTC bring back settings like Planescape and Dragonlance, and Vecna: Eve of Ruin feels like the culmination of those efforts. After all, how better to mark the impact and longevity of D&D than to send players on a “greatest hits” tour of sorts that explores worlds like Spelljammer, Ravenloft, and Ebberon and lets them meet figures like Acererak and Strahd?
Vecna: Eve of Ruin seems to borrow a lot from Avengers: Endgame, a film that served as a culmination of over a decade’s worth of cinematic storytelling. Both showcase a group of heroes traversing the universe to get what they need to take on an existential threat, encountering characters and locations many fans are familiar with.
Of course, not everyone is going to be familiar with 50 years of D&D history. Fortunately, the book contains a character dossier that gives a good overview of the adventure’s important figures, often with stat blocks. WOTC has said one of the goals of the rules revision is to make the books more useful, and Vecna: Eve of Ruin is a good sign of what’s to come.
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Beyond that, though, there are some pretty great twists along the way, with one crucial late-game plot twist being set up early. I won’t spoil it here in case there are any future Eve of Ruin players reading, but I will say Vecna’s history and lore come into play in a brilliant fashion.
Playing with power
What really sets Vecna: Eve of Ruin apart is its scale – and that involves more than just the scope and stakes of the adventure. From start to finish, this module takes players from level 10 all the way to level 20 – a rarity in premade D&D adventures. So many D&D campaigns start at a low level and finish somewhere in the middle, with game architect Jeremy Crawford calling the journey to level 10 “the heart of the iconic D&D story” in an interview last year.
But while those early levels are ripe with storytelling potential as new adventures learn the basics and come into their own as heroes, those later levels are where player characters become exceptionally powerful. Each class gets some cool abilities as they approach and hit max level, but it’s not often that players actually get to take advantage of them.
Vecna: Eve of Ruin gives players the opportunity to use all the tools at their disposal – and they’ll need them if they’re going to take down an Archlich. By raising the level range, the adventure is able to make its monsters and bosses that much more threatening, which more accurately reflects the stakes.
Of course, high-level play isn’t really beginner-friendly. There’s a simplicity to lower levels of D&D that is great for teaching new players how the game system works and getting them used to the mechanics. Newer players – and Dungeon Masters for that matter – may be overwhelmed if they’re starting with a level 10 character.
When the story begins, the players are already seasoned adventurers with plenty of experience and accomplishments. This makes it perfect for an existing group setting out on a new adventure, though the book has some suggestions and advice for those creating new characters.
Ultimately, this promise of high-level play is probably my favorite part of Vecna: Eve of Ruin. If levels 1-10 are all about taking players from zero to hero, levels 10-20 are for turning heroes into legends – and that’s how much power it’ll take to defeat a threat like Vecna.
The Verdict – 5/5
Obviously, your experience with Vecna: Eve of Ruin is going to depend on a multitude of factors that a book can’t predict. The players at the table, their characters, the DM, and (of course) the dice rolls will impact your experience far more than any specific module.
That said, Vecna: Eve of Ruin provides a more than solid blueprint for an epic D&D adventure. With clear stakes and high-level action, the adventure fills a clear gap in 5e’s official offerings. Though it may not be the ideal option for new players, Vecna: Eve of Ruin is great for experienced D&D players and anyone looking for a challenge.
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