Editing Die, Vecna, Die!

'''Die, Vecna, Die!''', German for "The Vecna: The", is/was about the ''last'' second-edition [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] adventure, year 2000, by peak [[Bruce R. Cordell]] and Steve Miller. This underpins the [[metaplot]] which propelled archlich [[Vecna]], already [[awesome]], to the [[Greyhawk]] pantheon. Unlike [[Dead Gods|some modules in recent memory]], these two authors kept the PCs at the forefront.

It is the third in a trilogy. Zeb Cook's wretched ''Vecna Lives!'' and [[Monte Cook]]'s much-better ''Vecna Reborn'' precede this one.

{{spoilers}}
The party starts at Tovag Buragu across the Hellfurnaces, one of the old-school Greyhawk mysterious settings, which - we learn - hosts rifts through time and space. These lead to a network of planes including an easter-egg shared with [[Queen of the Demonweb Pits]]: the Pink Ocean. Also: true ghouls from Wolfgang Baur's classic "White Kingdom", ''Dungeon'' #70. Ultimately, the PCs need Vecna's home demiplane Cavitius. That's through Cirithburg, and its Adytum.

Cavitius is an agreeably horrid part of [[Ravenloft|the Dread]]. The highpoints in Vecna's palace are, of course, his sundry mummified extremities which the party members can try on, including the [[Head of Vecna|Head]].

''The Vecna, The'' heads into Sigil itself for the climactic showdown. Through one of the biggest plots in the series Vecna manages to rules lawyer himself out of his home of Citadel Cavitius and into Sigil. His presence there starts to wreck the plane and not even [[Lady of Pain|Her Serenity]] manages to oust him. So she employs the adventurers in a desperate attempt to stop Vecna from reshaping the multiverse. This scenario ends with what might be The Lady of Pain changing how things work in the multiverse, heralding the arrival of [[3e]].

This story also has more information about Mok'sylk, a being seemingly on the same power level as The Lady of Pain.

==Reception==
As a crossover between ''[[Greyhawk]]'', ''[[Planescape]]'', and ''[[Ravenloft]]'' at once, ''DVD'' has attracted [[skub|the reasoned reception you can expect]] from all three fanbases.

''DVD'''s three-act structure is, at heart, a planar romp. ''Planescape'' fans were used to jarring shifts in theme between one setting and the next. As sold to ''Greyhawk'' and ''[[Ravenloft]]'' players, that tonal shift hurt their heads.

''Planescape'' fans for their part object that this dead guy from ''Greyhawk'' should best their Holy Mother, the Lady of Pain (''ora nobis!''). Although, Vecna ''is'' channelling a force similarly transcendent over the Great Wheel. Er. Maybe.

''Greyhawk''ers on rec.games.frp.dnd puzzled how to slot Vecna's new backstory with the lore of the Flanaess - Vecna should have grown up in a Flan-speaking area; but at this time (the Devastation / Colorless Fire) there was a vast ''Völkerwanderung'' from west to east, mostly Oerid in the region at hand.

''Ravenloft'' fans continued the [[rage]] they'd inherited from ''Vecna Lives!'' and ''Vecna Reborn'', that here was an outside character making a mockery of the gothic rules behind their beloved setting. [[Tracy Hickman]] must have been [[Lord_Soth|laughing his underwear off]]. Well at least now Vecna isn't their problem anymore.

''DVD'' currently (July 2020) enjoys 3.9/5 on GoodReads. They figure it was well written and fun to play. For all that the skeletal Medial Digit was well-applied to grognards' faces. The story is handled in a way that is believable and works, pressuring the party to work fast to save pretty much everything.

==Legacy==
This was the module which heralded the canon-changes in [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], most of all the [[Plane]]s.

Greyhawk didn't change as much - it didn't have to, this time, inasmuch as there already existed a (2e) "Living Greyhawk" and its Gazetteer as an emergency correction to [[From The Ashes|earlier mistakes]]. Which is just as well because Cordell and Miller weren't experts in Greyhawk lore; it wasn't easy to fit Vecna's past in Greyhawk's, whether before or after the Twin Cataclysms.

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