Grand Conjunction

The Grand Conjunction is a Dungeons & Dragons example of Advancing the Storyline from the Ravenloft setting. Essentially the Ravenloft equivalent to the Time of Troubles, it refers to a scheme by the Darklord Azalin to fulfill an apocalyptic Vistani prophecy - Hysoksa's Hexad - which causes the Demiplane of Dread to dissolve, spreading its occupants back out across the multiverse - however, brave adventurers took a stand and undid this catastrophe by forcing the parts of the prophesy to occur in the wrong order, recreating the realm of the Dark Powers... more or less. In-universe, it is a time of catastrophe and despair, and the scars it left behind shaped the demiplane physically and mentally.

This whole mess was the result of an early Ravenloft Adventure Path, known for being particularly railroady even by Ravenloft's standards, based on the modules "Feast of Goblyns", "Ship of Horror", "Touch of Death", "Night of the Walking Dead", "From the Shadows", and "Roots of Evil". The end result was the campaign switchover from the original, "Black Box" edition of Ravenloft to the Red Box version.

Nothing this world-shaking has happened since; the most apocalyptic event afterwards was the Grim Harvest, an adventure path that saw Azalin try to become a demilich, only to fail and be seemingly destroyed, leaving Darkon torn between various demi-darklords. This was so unpopular that it was undone during the shift from AD&D to 3e.

The Time of Unparalled Darkness is a prophesied apocalyptic event teased in 3rd edition Raveloft materials, but which never manifested.

For more details on the nitty-gritty of what happened and what changed, check out the Ravenloft wiki's article: http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/The_Grand_Conjunction

Hysoksa's Hexad

• "In the house of Daegon the sorcerer born, Though life, unlife, unliving shall scorn."
• "The lifeless child of stern mother found. Heralds a time, night of evil unbound."
• "Seventh time the son of suns doth rise, To send the knave to an eternity of cries."
• "The light of the sky shining over the dead, Shall gutter and fail, turning all to red."
• "Inajira will make his fortunes reverse, Dooming all to live with the dreaded curse."
• "The bodiless shall journey to the time before, Where happiness to hate creates land and lore."