D&D 5E Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk Q3

aco175

Legend
So, finally some information on this new campaign coming out in Q3 this year. I cut and pasted most of the below from here, but it looks like it is what is in the general release.

The next Dungeons & Dragons adventure will pay off a story hook teased in multiple campaigns over the course of the past decade. Today, Wizards of the Coast announced the full title to the next campaign adventure, which will be released in "Q3 2023." The new adventure is titled Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk and will feature the black obelisks that have appeared in multiple Forgotten Realms-based adventures dating back to Out of the Abyss. In a D&D Direct video released today, D&D principal story designer Chris Perkins said that the adventure would "further explore the mystery of the obelisks that have cropped up in so many of our adventures." Perkins noted that the adventure would return Phandelin, where an obelisk begins to unleash monsters on the small town.

The black obelisks first appeared in Out of the Abyss and appeared in four adventures released between 2015 and 2020. The 2020 adventure Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden revealed that the obelisks could alter time and reality and were tied to a mysterious group known as the Weavers. The secret to making the obelisks were later stolen by the classic D&D villain Vecna and then were used by the Netheril Empire as a contingency plan in case something ever befell their empire. One of the potential endings for Rime of the Frostmaiden involves the players actually getting caught in the obelisk's magic and traveling back in time, which seemed like an intriguing plot point but was never followed up on.

After the release of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, the D&D design team moved away from the Forgotten Realms for subsequent campaigns, leaving many to believe that the obelisks' mysteries were wrapped up in 2020, which is a shame because their origins seemed to open up even more story hooks that teased Vecna and a secret group of mages. Given that Vecna will be returning as the main villain in the 2024 adventure (which was also announced in the D&D Direct), it's possible that the obelisks will be a great lead-in to sending players on a collision course with one of D&D's most iconic villains.


I did not play the two listed campaigns so I do not know much about the obelisks, but did soo some mentions from the same Comicbook.com site linked above from 2018 when they speculated there being some sort of future tie and said that Mearls could not comment. Anyone have more information or care to speculate on them.

I am wondering if the new campaign will be a republish of the Lost Mines adventure to level 5 and then take on something with these obelisks and the far realm.
 

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pukunui

Legend
I'm pleased they are finally planning to follow up on the obelisks thing. That's been a loooooong time coming. I suspect it will have something to do with their plans for the multiverse at large. (I just hope they're not planning on opening up the D&D multiverse in the same way the MCU did.)
 

aco175

Legend
Hopefully if they have been planning something for a few years it will at least be good.

I saw on another site that these are from old Netheril and have something to do with time and that a speculation is that Netheril will come back to the world.
 

pukunui

Legend
Hopefully if they have been planning something for a few years it will at least be good.

I saw on another site that these are from old Netheril and have something to do with time and that a speculation is that Netheril will come back to the world.
According to the Rime of the Frost Maiden, the concept predates Netheril. The originals were built by the mysterious Weavers, who were erased from history by Vecna. The Netherese figured out how to make their own, though, so it’s likely that all of the ones we’ve seen in the Reams are of Netherese origin.

But the one in, say, Wildemount is probably one of the original Weavers’ ones (or one created by Vecna).
 


doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Hopefully if they have been planning something for a few years it will at least be good.

I saw on another site that these are from old Netheril and have something to do with time and that a speculation is that Netheril will come back to the world.
😬

They already did. It was cool.

And they reversed it in a novel by having Elminster yeet a flying city into Myth Drannor and then hand waiving that all the remaining Netherese just stopped identifying as Netherese bc reasons.
 

Weiley31

Legend
(I just hope they're not planning on opening up the D&D multiverse in the same way the MCU did.)
WoTC:
1680105549936.png
 

I wonder about the potential impact of one of these obelisks in Athas.

Other point is actions of Vecna could be a menace for the space-time continium then we should need something like timecops, time-variant-authority or chronomancers.

Something I think the cult of Tharizdum is potentially interesting, but that deity is too boring and simple, pure evilness who wants to destroy everything. Some times I imagine there is a criminal mind enough crazy to dare to destroy him to steal his power. Then he is "broken in pieces", and this pieces are distributed into the multiverse. They are source of taint, but there is a change from sociopath nihilist to social-darwinist psycopath.
 

Hearing that it's linked to lost mines is awesome. That campaign is such a classic, and adding another tier of play to it will really give the characters people make for it more time to shine and develop.
 

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