D&D 5E Where Does The Multiversal Vecna: Eve of Ruin Visit?

Evernight rises above the molten ground in the Shadowfell.​

Dungeons & Dragons designer Amanda Hamon has revealed some of the locations that Vecna: Eve of Ruin visits.

• Evernight, a Shadowfell version of Neverwinter
• Spelljammer's Astra Sea
• Eberron's Mournlands
• Ravenloft's Death House
• Dragonlance's Three Moons Vault
• Greyhawk's tom of Acererak
• The Nine Hells

A pair of adventurers outside the Three Moons Vault, a complex on Krynn where allies of Lord Soth await them. Art by Jedd Chevrier.

Over 30 new monsters from around the multiverse arrive in Vecna: Eve of Ruin. Here we see a deathwolf from Krynn and a hertilod from the Astral Sea. Art by Brian Valeza.

​

 

[mamba]

I'm not sure I follow that logic. DL16 was authored by Douglas Niles, Michael Gray, and Harold Johnson. Douglas Niles wrote or co-wrote DL2, DL6, DL9, DL11 and DL14. Harold Johnson co-wrote DL12. So DL16 has a significant overlap in contributors with the rest of the DL series.

no oversight by Hickman or regard for canon, and to quote Appelcline again

“Also unlike its predecessor, "World of Krynn" was largely produced by members of the "Dragonlance series design team". Editor Mike Breault and authors Harold Johnson and Douglas Niles were all important members of this team, which produced Dragonlance supplements from 1984-1987. As a result, "World of Krynn" had the potential to be more canonical than the previous "Mists of Krynn" … but it didn't turn out that way.

[… praise for Niles adventure…]

On the other hand "Dargaard Keep", by Michael Gray, has been declared largely non-canonical. It contains nice maps of Lord Soth's home, which have been retained, but everything else has been thrown out from Dragonlance's official storyline. This may in part be due to the adventure's extensive use of traditional AD&D monsters, including lycanthropes which are otherwise unknown on the world. However, it's largely because Gray dictated the final fates of a few Dragonlance characters in a way that TSR later regretted: not only do players get the chance to release Lord Soth from his cursed existence, but they also discover that Kitiara has been raised as a penanggalan.

Monsters of Note. There's also a tarrasque in Lord Soth's basement, which clearly can't be canon or it would have changed the entire War of the Lance!”

If to you that makes TotL a retrofit, fine, to me it makes DL15 and 16 mistakes that should not have happened with better supervision rather than something that established a different set of rules. They were the first violation of the setting rather than TotL a retrofit, if that makes sense

 

[Echohawk]

no oversight by Hickman or regard for canon, and to quote Appelcline again

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I was aware of the tarrasque in Soth's cupboard but wasn't aware that an entire chunk of DL16 was considered non-canonical. I'm assuming there are similar issues with DL15?

 

[mamba]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I was aware of the tarrasque in Soth's cupboard but wasn't aware that an entire chunk of DL16 was considered non-canonical. I'm assuming there are similar issues with DL15?

never read it, so Appelcline will have to do again… Doesn’t sound so much like glaring issues however than just no cohesion or relation to the books that came before it

“Continuing the "DL" Series. DL14: "Dragons of Triumph" (1986) finished off the original Dragonlance saga (1984-1986), which portrayed an epic story of warfare in the world of Krynn. TSR had planned to cap it with a "DL15" sourcebook that would "reveal all the secrets of the world of Krynn, all laid out for future campaigning". This is probably what became Dragonlance Adventures (1987), a dense, hardcover sourcebook for the world. Afterward, Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis left TSR, which raised the question of what the company would do now with their popular new game world.

The question was finally answered almost two years after the release of DL14: "Dragons of Triumph" by DL15: "Mists of Krynn". Instead of being a book that revealed all the secrets of the world, "Mists of Krynn" was now an anthology of adventures

[…]

As an anthology, "Mists of Krynn" is all over the place. The majority of adventures take place sometime after the War of the Lance, but one is set between the Cataclysm and the War, and another claims to be set a full generation after the War. They're also designed for a very wide variety of levels, from 0-15. A GM would have a hard time using all of these adventures for the same group of players.

Unfortunately, some readers and reviewers question whether it's true to the spirit of Dragonlance. This is probably the result of it being the first book that didn't have the support of Hickman, Weis, and the rest of the Dragonlance team. However factual errors and weird elements like the adventure set a generation later and an encounter with the shade of Berem Everman further bring the book's canonicity into question.“

 

[beta-ray]

sigh it always has to degenerate into this…

 

[Azzy]

Take it up with Shannon Appelcline

Okay. Next time I see him, I will.

Since they consider it the first full sourcebook, that seems like a good place for such information, even if the two incomplete earlier ones that are more fleshing out the campaign did not mention it (no idea whether they do)

The thing is, Tales of the Lance wasn't written by the original DL authors, either.

 

[mamba]

The thing is, Tales of the Lance wasn't written by the original DL authors, either.

but it did a better job of comprehensively describing their setting as the authors envisioned it.

Lycanthropes were not intended and only showed up due to a lack of quality control and the authors leaving, see posts above. So spelling that out in this sourcebook is not a retrofit, not having it in DLA already was an omission

If you disagree, fine, you do you. To me this is the version that makes more sense

Appelcline yet again…

“The goal of Tales of the Lance was "to summarize and collect the material that had been written previously, and to create a singular starting point from which players could embark on a coherent Dragonlance adventure, without having to refer to five different sources at once."

However, it was more than that; contributor Colin McComb calls it a "reboot". The setting was thought to be in need of "revision", so Tales of the Lance "clarifies contradictions, corrects errors, and fills in information omitted from earlier products."”

 

[Quartz]

I've not been keeping track of this. Not the Rod of 7 Parts again! Can't we have the PCs trying to assemble the Codex of Infinite Planes or the Teeth of Dahlver-Nah or something?

 

[Queer Venger]

At this point, the Astral Sea is the primary thing for Spelljammer.

which is something I like, the phlogiston was interesting (and I still use it, home-brewed as highly volatile wild-hyper space lanes) but the arcane aspects of D&D lend themselves better with the astral plane

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've not been keeping track of this. Not the Rod of 7 Parts again! Can't we have the PCs trying to assemble the Codex of Infinite Planes or the Teeth of Dahlver-Nah or something?

The Codex would have been a great basis for an adventure anthology, at the very least.