Misplaced Pages

#891108

118-506: Originally appearing in the Greyhawk campaign setting , Vecna was described as a powerful wizard who became a lich . He was eventually destroyed, and his left hand and left eye were the only parts of his body to survive. Even after the character achieved godhood—being a member of the third edition's default pantheon of D&D gods (the pantheon of Oerth )—he is still described as missing both his left eye and left hand. Vecna's holy symbol

236-414: A demigod of magic and secrets in the world of Greyhawk . In 581 CY , his cult helped set events in motion that would have granted him the power of a greater god , but the plan was ultimately foiled. After these events, Vecna ended up imprisoned in the demiplane of Ravenloft , but broke free again later, emerging with the power of a greater god, after absorbing the power of Iuz . He then broke free into

354-476: A lich and ruler of a great and terrible empire (in the Sheldomar Valley , centered near the modern-day Rushmoors ), laid siege to the city of Fleeth with an army of arcane spellcasters and undead. Legend has it that Vecna was nearly slain in this battle by clerics channeling the power of Pholtus , the god of light. The clerics unleashed a great burst of light, which hit Vecna primarily on his left side. Vecna

472-498: A 34" x 44" (86 cm x 112 cm) two-piece color map of the Flanaess. Reviewers were generally impressed, but some remarked on the lack of a pantheon of Greyhawk-specific deities, as well as the lack of any mention of the infamous dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. Game designer Jim Bambra found the original set "disappointing", because "there is only so much information you can cram into a 32-page booklet, particularly when covering such

590-454: A Brooklyn accent) looked much like the real-world Earth but filled with imaginary cities and countries. Several years later, when TSR produced the original World of Greyhawk folio (1980), Gygax was asked to produce a map of the world and decided to create something new which still featured many of the locales from his original world of Oerth but with new geography. Gygax also connected Dave Arneson 's Blackmoor to his world by including

708-486: A campaign". Joe Manganiello's character Arkhan fought against Vecna with the adventuring party Vox Machina in the web series Critical Role . He then stole the Hand of Vecna and replaced his own hand with the artifact. In Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (2019), Arkhan is attempting to master the Hand of Vecna in hopes of freeing Tiamat , however, the artifact is slowly corrupting and decomposing his left side. Vecna created

826-463: A country by that name in Oerth. In his later novel Dance of Demons (1988), Gygax destroyed Greyhawk's Oerth and replaced it with a new fantasy world of Yarth. The Flanaess is the eastern part of the continent of Oerik, one of the four continents of Oerth, acting as the setting of dozens of adventures published between the 1970s and 2000s. In late 1972, Dave Arneson demonstrated a new type of game to

944-516: A demigod, and the chief antagonist of the adventure. At the end of the adventure—presuming the players defeat Vecna—he is transported to the Ravenloft campaign setting. Vecna's history, via his artifacts, was also further developed in the supplemental sourcebook Book of Artifacts (1993). After the publication of Vecna Lives! (1990), "Vecna disappeared throughout the rest of the '90s, until Domains of Dread (1997)" which confirmed his new location in

1062-505: A dungeon setting. He and Arneson agreed to co-develop a set of rules, and Gygax quickly developed a castle and dungeon of his own, "Castle Greyhawk", set within his portion of the Great Kingdom map. Castle Greyhawk is sometimes considered the first dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons and pioneered the roots of the mega-dungeon format of gaming. Two of his children, Ernie and Elise, were

1180-580: A fantasy supplement for the Chainmail ruleset for medieval miniatures that he was co-writing with Jeff Perren . Released in the late spring of 1971, this booklet included rules for fantasy monsters, wizards and magical weapons. Around the same time, in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Dave Arneson , impressed by the " Braunstein " role-playing games of fellow wargamer David Wesely , developed the Barony of Blackmoor as

1298-450: A few evil deities to provide some villainy. In Chapter 2 of The Gnome Cache , which appeared in the second issue of The Dragon , a shrine to St. Cuthbert (spelled St. Cuthburt ) was mentioned, which was the first published reference to a Greyhawk deity. In 1976, Gygax invited the science fiction/fantasy writer Andre Norton to play Dungeons & Dragons in his Greyhawk world. Norton subsequently wrote Quag Keep , which involved

SECTION 10

#1733094380892

1416-525: A few of the adventure modules, were published by TSR. Although Gygax originally intended to immediately publish more details of Greyhawk in Dragon on a regular basis, other projects intervened, and it was not until the August 1981 issue of Dragon that Len Lakofka , in his column "Leomund's Tiny Hut", outlined methods for determining a character's place of birth and languages spoken. Gygax added an addendum concerning

1534-503: A fractious place where chaos and evil were in the ascendant and courageous champions would be needed. In order to explain how his world had arrived at this state, he wrote an outline of a thousand years of history. As a military history buff, he was very familiar with the concept of waves of cultural invasions, such the Picts of Great Britain being invaded by the Celts , who were in turn invaded by

1652-453: A group of gamers in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, including game designer Gygax. Gygax agreed to develop a set of rules with Arneson and get the game published; the game eventually became known as Dungeons & Dragons . Gygax designed a set of dungeons underneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk as a testing ground for new rules, character classes and spells. In those early days, there was no Flanaess;

1770-528: A group of gamers who travel from the real world to Greyhawk. It was the first novel to be set, at least partially, in the Greyhawk setting, and according to Alternative Worlds , the first to be based on D&D . Quag Keep was excerpted in issue #12 of The Dragon (February 1978) just prior to the book's release. From 1976 to 1979, Gygax also shared some glimpses of his home campaign with other gamers when he set several TSR Dungeons & Dragons adventures in

1888-492: A head, whereas the Hand of Vecna appears as a stocky humanoid with a huge left hand where its head should be. Individual congregations are known as organs. Each organ is led by a Thought of Vecna. Lesser priests are known as Memories of Vecna. Lay members of the cult consist of the Teeth, Fingers, Blood, and Spawn of Vecna. The Teeth of Vecna are made up of wizards , and specialize in arcane spellcasting and crafting magical items for

2006-556: A large area". Before the folio edition was released, Gygax planned to publish supplementary information, using his column "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" that appeared on a semi-regular basis in TSR's Dragon Magazine . In the May 1980 issue, Gygax gave a quick overview of the development of his new The World of Greyhawk folio. For players who planned to use large scale army tactics, he gave details of

2124-575: A lesser god. In the events of the Living Greyhawk campaign setting, Vecna's machinations allowed him to reappear on the prime material plane and retake his place in the Oerth pantheon. At some point in his history, Vecna penned a tome known as Ordinary Necromancy . He is also rumored to have made significant additions to the Book of Vile Darkness . Vecna has few allies, and countless enemies. In 2nd and 3rd Edition, his greatest, and perhaps only true ally

2242-516: A long-destroyed legendary lich of great power, only able to threaten player characters who dared to use his Hand and Eye. Ten years later, in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition 's Dungeon Master's Guide (1989), Vecna's history was expanded under the description of his Hand. With the release of the adventure Vecna Lives! in 1990, written in support of The City of Greyhawk boxed set, Vecna finally appeared in person, reimagined as

2360-403: A map of North America, adding new cities and regions as his world slowly grew through ongoing adventures. The city and castle of Greyhawk were placed near the real-world position of Chicago, his birthplace; various other places were clustered around it. For instance, the rival city of Dyvers he placed in the area of real-world Milwaukee. Gygax also continued to develop the dungeons underneath

2478-512: A new magical spell for the game, he would sometimes use the name of a wizard character from his home campaign to add verisimilitude to the spell name, such as Melf's acid arrow , Melf being a character created by his son Luke. Some of the characters who became synonymous with Greyhawk at that time included: Gary Gygax wrote a short story titled "The Expedition Into the Black Reservoir", subtitled "A Dungeon Adventure at Greyhawk Castle", which

SECTION 20

#1733094380892

2596-469: A new world for them afterward. With the release of the AD&;D Players Handbook in 1978, many players were intrigued by the connection of Greyhawk characters to magical spells such as Tenser's floating disc , Bigby's crushing hand , and Mordenkainen's faithful hound . The AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide , released the following year, also made references to the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. Players' curiosity

2714-406: A pantheon of deities custom-made for humans in the world of Greyhawk. In addition to his original Greyhawk deities, St. Cuthbert and Pholtus, Gygax added seventeen more deities. Although later versions of the campaign setting would assign most of these deities to worship by specific races of humans, at this time they were generally worshiped by all humans of the Flanaess. Shortly after the release of

2832-474: A part of an evil country; and still others might take a neutral stance and simply try to collect gold and treasure from both sides. TSR originally intended to publish The World of Greyhawk (TSR 9025) early in 1979, but it was not released until August 1980. The World of Greyhawk consisted of a 32-page folio (the first edition is often called the World of Greyhawk folio to distinguish it from later editions) and

2950-438: A player, and appointed Rob to be co- Dungeon Master of Greyhawk. This freed up Gygax to work on other projects, and also gave him an opportunity to participate as a player, creating characters like Yrag and Mordenkainen . In order to make room for Rob Kuntz's dungeons, Gygax scrapped his bottom level and integrated Rob's work into the Greyhawk dungeons. Gygax and Kuntz continued to develop new levels for their players, and by

3068-407: A player, often going one-on-one with Rob Kuntz as Dungeon Master, Gygax immersed his own characters in politics and large-scale battles. Knowing that there would be some players looking for a town in which to base their campaign, and others interested in politics or warfare, Gygax tried to include as much detail as possible about each region, including a short description of the region and its people,

3186-463: A second level for the dungeon. At the next play session, Ernie and Elise were joined by Gygax's friends: Don Kaye , Rob Kuntz , and Terry Kuntz . About a month after his first session, Gygax created the nearby city of Greyhawk, where the players' characters could sell their treasure and find a place to rest. As Gygax and Arneson worked to develop and publish the rules for Dungeons & Dragons through TSR , Gygax continued to design and present

3304-469: A setting for Braunstein style games. Arneson based his game around the village, castle and dungeons of Blackmoor. The castle itself was represented on the table by an actual plastic kit model of a medieval castle. Arneson informed the players that instead of controlling regiments, they would each take one individual character into the castle of the Barony of Blackmoor to explore its dangerous dungeons. Arneson drew from numerous sources but quickly incorporated

3422-440: A year —the world of Greyhawk closely identified with early development of the game beginning in 1972, and after being published it remained associated with Dungeons & Dragons publications until 2008. The world itself started as a simple dungeon under a castle designed by Gary Gygax for the amusement of his children and friends, but it was rapidly expanded to include not only a complex multi-layered dungeon environment, but also

3540-520: Is a lich named Mauthereign. Even when Osterneth, the Bronze Lich, is Vecna's mightiest servant, her position is not revealed among his files. Other Vecnan organizations are known to exist outside of the mainstream cult, and some may have similar or identical names. Relations between these groups and the mainstream cult may vary. Known examples are the Eyes of Vecna (a cult of undeath consisting mainly of rogues),

3658-503: Is an eye in the palm of a left hand. Vecna's "right-hand man", who ultimately became his betrayer, is Kas the Bloody-Handed , a vampire whose sword, the Sword of Kas , is also an artifact. In Eldritch Wizardry (1976), the third supplement to the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, Brian Blume invented two artifacts he called the Hand and Eye of Vecna . These were supposedly

Vecna - Misplaced Pages Continue

3776-484: Is controlled by wizardly and divine magic that shifts weather patterns to be more favorable to the populace. Castle Greyhawk was the most famous dungeon in Oerth, the home campaign world of Gary Gygax. Players in the earliest days of this campaign mostly stayed within Castle Greyhawk's dungeons, but Gygax envisioned the rest of his world as a sort of parallel Earth, and the original Oerth (pronounced 'Oith', as with

3894-603: Is detailed for this edition in Complete Divine (2004). Vecna was one of the deities featured in Libris Mortis (2004). Vecna and his priesthood were expanded upon in Dragon #348, in the "Core Beliefs" column. Vecna appears as one of the deities described in the 2008 Dungeon Master's Guide for Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition . He is primarily the god of secrets. The Hand of Vecna has also made its return for this edition of

4012-455: Is detailed in Deities and Demigods (2002). On the deities of the Greyhawk setting, Matthew Attanasio, for CBR , wrote, "Vecna, a lich who hordes [sic] dark secrets, covets incredible power and holds dominion over the undead, is perhaps the most infamous of these deities". Vecna appears in the revised Player's Handbook (2003) for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003–2007). His priesthood

4130-500: Is holy and righteous. Although not actually penned by Vecna, the Book of Keeping (a book of Yugoloth summoning) is heavily linked with the cult of Vecna, as the cultists have the only known copies that are free of the intentional errors introduced into the book by the fiends that wrote the volume as a trap for would-be summoners. Each position in Vecna's cult is named for a certain body part. At

4248-625: Is not exclusive to the Living Greyhawk Campaign. Other publications linked to the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer have treated it as superior to the D&;D Gazetteer and used it in the D&;D Gazetteer' s place. The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer expands upon material covered by previous products, such as Gary Gygax 's World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting and Carl Sargent's From

4366-452: Is some knowledge too evil for the world to know. They instead hunt down secrets and information they deem to be too dangerous for the world at large and keep it secret in the name of Vecna. This puts them in opposition to mainstream followers of Vecna who regard the Keepers as heretics, and makes them enemies of Ioun and her followers, who believe all knowledge should be available for everybody and

4484-445: Is the main villain of the adventure module Vecna: Eve of Ruin , released in May 2024. This module also launches a new storyline that will "play out over a five year period, with other adventures bringing back more classic D&D villains". The left hand and eye of Vecna's original "mortal" lich form, which have never been replaced in his later more powerful incarnations, are now high-valued and very dangerous magical artifacts . To use

4602-613: Is the mysterious entity known as the Serpent . In 4th edition, the Open Grave book introduces Osterneth, the Bronze Lich, as the mightiest servant of Vecna. The famed cambion lich, Acererak , once served Vecna, but the current status of their relationship is unknown. Among Vecna's staunchest foes are Kas , Iuz , Saint Cuthbert , the Lady of Pain, Pholtus , and the Circle of Eight . He is also opposed by

4720-455: Is usually depicted as a powerful magician resembling a desiccated corpse missing his left hand and eye . A constant theme in the adventures in which the character appears is Vecna's never-ending quest for power, ending, should he succeed, with Vecna as the only deity in existence. Vecna was born as a human, centuries ago as a member of the untouchable caste in the Flan city of Fleeth on Oerth . He

4838-626: The Drow series and the Giant series respectively. Numerous projects were planned to add more depth and detail to the setting after the publication of the initial folio, but many of these projects never appeared for various reasons. In 1983, TSR published an expanded boxed set of the campaign world, World of Greyhawk , which is usually called the Greyhawk boxed set to differentiate it from other editions. According to game designer Jim Bambra , "the second edition

Vecna - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-517: The Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock (the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn). On the artifacts, Gary Gygax later said, "nary a detail of those items did [Blume] ever reveal to me". The Hand and Eye of Vecna were then mentioned in the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide (1979) on page 124. During the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons years, Vecna was regarded only as a legend or myth,

5074-420: The Sword of Kas for his greatest servant, which contains a "portion of his consciousness." This interpretation is relatively recent. As per the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide , Vecna only procured this most powerful sword for his chief lieutenant. Similarly, depending on edition and source, its appearance has varied, from a short sword to a wavy bladed two hander. However, it is consistently depicted that

5192-721: The Castle & Crusade Society . The C&C Society, as it was known, served enthusiasts of miniature wargaming in the Middle Ages and published an occasional newsletter known as the Domesday Book . Following up on a promise he made in Domesday Book #5, Gygax presented the "Great Kingdom" map c. June 1971 in Domesday #9, to be used as a game setting for the Society. Members thereafter began claiming territories, including member Dave Arneson , who

5310-418: The Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role as the main villain in the last arc of the first campaign . However, the events of Critical Role were not added to the official Dungeons & Dragons canon until Joe Manganiello 's character Arkhan was added to the adventure module Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (2019). Further details on Vox Machina's fight with Vecna were then included in

5428-621: The First Digit (right thumb), Second Digit (right index finger), Third Digit (right middle finger), Last Digit (right pinky finger), Incisors (a pair of inappropriately named fang-like canines), Molar , Scalp , Skin , Heart , Foot (left), and Right Eye . These artifacts are collectively known in D&;D 3rd Edition as the Fragments of Vecna . The Compendium Maleficarum is a book of spells, doctrines, and secrets crafted entirely from bone (even

5546-521: The Hand and Eye of Vecna are the best artifacts, right?" Scott Baird, for Screen Rant , highlighted the risk of the items and stated that "a D&D party that finds one can find itself torn apart. The reputation of these items precedes them and many good adventurers would want to destroy the Eye or Hand of Vecna, but there is always the temptation of power. More importantly, the player will be tempted, simply so they can brag that they used these famous items in

5664-735: The Old Faith and the Silent Ones. In 4th edition, Vecna's main foes in the realm of death and undeath are Kas , Orcus and the Raven Queen (though he would rather she rule the dead than Orcus). Among the gods, Ioun is something of Vecna's antithesis, for she would share with the world all the knowledge he would keep secret. Vecna's cult is very secretive, and cells have been uncovered, at various points in history, in Diamond Lake , Greyhawk , and Verbobonc . Temples to Vecna have also been reported in

5782-574: The Player's Handbook (2000) listing him as a Lesser deity. Third Edition further raised Vecna's profile in the game, making him a member of the game's "core pantheon". Vecna's alignment was changed from Lawful Evil to Neutral Evil in Third Edition, and no in-game explanation has surfaced. Vecna's role in the 3rd edition Greyhawk setting was defined in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000). Vecna

5900-653: The Pomarj town of Highport and Erelhei-Cinlu , the debased city at the heart of the Vault of the Drow . Being a secretive cult, there are no real collections of Vecnan teachings. However, copies of the Book of Vile Darkness are highly prized by the cult for Vecna's role in that work's development. The Open Grave book offers the "Scroll of Mauthereign", which offers a twisted version of Vecna's history and tells his followers that committing evil acts

6018-606: The Romans . In creating a similar pattern of history for his world, Gygax decided that a thousand years before his campaign began, the northeast corner of the continent had been occupied by a peaceful but primitive people called the Flannae, whose name was the root for the name of that part of Oerik, the Flanaess . At that time, far to the west of the Flanaess, two peoples were at war, the Bakluni and

SECTION 50

#1733094380892

6136-660: The Sword is inextricably tied to Vecna's relics. "The reason why Vecna only has a single eye and hand is due to a betrayal by Kas", who used the sword against his former master. "In the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the Sword of Kas is a +6 unholy keen vorpal longsword that grants a +10 modifier to the Strength score of its wielder". A number of Vecna's other body parts are presented as minor artifacts in Die Vecna Die! , including

6254-511: The "Heart of Vecna" according to the Open Grave sourcebook. The Head of Vecna was a hoax that one adventuring party played on another in a campaign run by game master Mark Steuer. One of the groups tricked the other into going on a quest for the Head of Vecna , a hoax artifact that was supposedly similar to his Hand and Eye , but was simply an ordinary severed head. The hoax takes advantage of

6372-505: The Ashes (TSR, 1993). The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was published in November 2000. It was written by Gary Holian, Erik Mona , Sean K Reynolds , and Frederick Weining , and featuring a cover by William O'Connor . Interior art was by Joel Biske , Vince Locke , and Daniela Castillo . Of the two Greyhawk Gazetteers (The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and the D&D Gazetteer ) published for

6490-644: The Fingers of Vecna (Vecna's personal guard), and the Ebon Triad (a heretical cult seeking to merge Vecna, Hextor , and Erythnul into a single entity). In 4th edition, a secret group known as the Keepers of the Forbidden Lore is devoted to Vecna. Unlike most Vecna worshippers, the Keepers reject most of the nasty and evil rituals and beliefs associated with the god; they worship him as the God of Secrets, and believe that there

6608-420: The Great Kingdom map, which included local areas based on real-world maps, Gygax decided to create an entirely new and greatly expanded version of Oerth . Needing many more original names for all of the geographical and political places on his map for the new and expanded areas, Gygax sometimes resorted to wordplay. He had previously used Perrenland on the Great Kingdom map, named after Jeff Perren , who co-wrote

6726-691: The Greyhawk campaign. Although it detailed new spells and character classes that had been developed in the dungeons of Greyhawk, it did not contain any details of their Greyhawk campaign world. The only two references to Greyhawk were an illustration of a large stone head in a dungeon corridor titled The Great Stone Face, Enigma of Greyhawk and mention of a fountain on the second level of the dungeons that continuously issued an endless number of snakes. The 2004 publication 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons suggested that details of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign were published in this booklet, but Gygax had no plans in 1975 to publish details of

6844-424: The Greyhawk world, since he believed that new players of Dungeons & Dragons would rather create their own worlds than use someone else's. In addition, he did not want to publish all the material he had created for his players; he thought he would be unlikely to recoup a fair investment for the thousands of hours he had spent on it. Since his secrets would be revealed to his players, he would be forced to recreate

6962-637: The Oeridians, the Aerdi, began to set up an empire. Several centuries later, the Aerdi's Great Kingdom ruled most of the Flanaess. The Aerdi overkings marked the beginning of what they believed would be perpetual peace with Year 1 of a new calendar, the Common Year (CY) Reckoning . However, several centuries later, the Empire became decadent, with their rulers losing their sanity, turning to evil, and enslaving their people. When

7080-536: The Suloise. The war reached its climax when both sides used powerful magic to obliterate each other, in an event called the Twin Cataclysms. Refugees of these disasters were forced out of their lands, and the Suloise invaded the Flanaess, forcing the Flannae to flee to the outer edges of the continent. Several centuries later, a new invader appeared, the Oeridians, and they in turn forced the Suloise southward. One tribe of

7198-569: The Whispered One , while not nearly so powerful as the Sword of Kas , is another item Vecna crafted to connect himself with his highest lieutenants. The final issue of Dragon Magazine, issue #359, featured rules for the "Left Ear of Vecna" as a minor artifact. It grants the owner magical bonuses to hearing and resisting sonic attacks, spell-like abilities to inflict deafness, grant clairaudience and create sonic blasts, and enables them to understand any spoken language. A lich known as Osterneth possesses

SECTION 60

#1733094380892

7316-477: The castle. By the time he was finished, the complex labyrinth encompassed thirteen levels filled with devious traps, secret passageways, hungry monsters, and glittering treasure. Although details of these original Greyhawk dungeons have never been published in detail, Gygax gave some glimpses of them in an article he wrote for the European fanzine Europa in 1975: Anyone who made it to the bottom level alive met Zagyg,

7434-456: The city of Sigil , where he came perilously close to rearranging all existence to his whims. (Vecna's multiverse shattering campaign in Sigil is used as an in-universe way to explain the differences between the 2nd and 3rd editions of Dungeons & Dragons. ) When Vecna was ejected from Sigil by a party of adventurers, Iuz was freed and Vecna returned to Oerth greatly reduced in power, though still

7552-455: The cult. The Fingers of Vecna consist mainly of thieves , who engage in various forms of subterfuge. The Blood of Vecna are mainly warriors charged with protection and enforcement of the cult and its goals. The Spawn of Vecna are the lowest in the cult hierarchy, and consist of the common people who honor the Lich Lord. In 4th edition, the Open Grave book shows the leader of the cult of Vecna

7670-645: The deities of Greyhawk. In both, he is listed as the god of evil secrets. Additionally, both his hand and eye are listed as artifacts. In the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015), Vecna is mentioned as a possible God for the Arcana Cleric Domain, as well as a Warlock patron of the Undying. In the Exandria setting, Vecna is a Betrayer God also known as the Whispered One. He was introduced to this setting in

7788-443: The dungeons and environs of Castle Greyhawk to his circle of friends and family, using them as playtesters for new rules and concepts. As the players began to explore more of the world outside of the castle and city, Gygax developed other regions and cities for them. With play sessions occurring seven or more times a week, Gygax did not have the time or inclination to create the map for a whole new world; he simply drew his world over

7906-440: The end of the Second Edition Universe, and the beginning of Third Edition". Vecna was #2 on Screen Rant 's 2018 "Dungeons & Dragons: The 15 Most Powerful Villains, Ranked" list — the article highlights the Vecna Lives (1991) module and states "the players are given the chance to control the members of the Circle of Eight as they investigate a strange burial mound in the Kron Hills. The players then have to watch in horror as

8024-428: The entire planet to his satisfaction, one hemisphere of Oerth was dominated by a massive continent called Oerik. Gygax decided to concentrate his first efforts on the continent of Oerik and asked TSR's printing house about the maximum size of paper they could handle; the answer was 34 x 22 inches (86 cm x 56 cm). He found that, using the scale he desired, he could fit only the northeast corner of Oerik on two of

8142-415: The fact that Gygax was increasingly involved in other areas of the company, meant that of the seventeen Greyhawk adventures published in the two years after the folio edition, only four were written or co-written by Gygax: In 1981, TSR also published the super-modules D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth and G1-2-3 Against the Giants , both being compilations of previously published modules from

8260-411: The fact that the Eye and Hand require a person to remove their own eye or hand and replace it with the artifact to function. The characters involved in the story reasoned that they needed to decapitate themselves to gain the powers of the Head of Vecna, and several members of the group actually fought over which character would get to have his head cut off and replaced. After the third character died,

8378-412: The fantasy supplement of Chainmail into his games. After about a year and half of play, Arneson (Blackmoor) and fellow gamer David Megarry ( Dungeon! boardgame) traveled to Lake Geneva in November or December 1972 to pitch their respective games to Gygax, who at that time was a representative of the Guidon Games company. Gygax was immediately intrigued by the concept of individual characters exploring

8496-466: The first players, and during their first session, as Tenser and Ahlissa , they fought and destroyed the first monsters of the Greyhawk dungeon; Gygax recalled them as being either giant centipedes or a nest of scorpions. During the same session, Ernie and Elise also found the first treasure, a chest of 3,000 copper coins which was too heavy to carry, much to the children's chagrin. After his children had gone to bed, Gygax immediately began working on

8614-602: The folio edition, TSR released the adventure module C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan , designed to familiarize players with the Olman race of the Amedio Jungle . Largely based on Aztec and Incan cultures, this adventure introduced the first published deities of the Greyhawk campaign: Mictlantecuhtli , god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld; Tezcatlipoca , god of sun, moon, night, scheming, betrayals and lightning; and Quetzalcoatl , god of air, birds and snakes. This area

8732-618: The game. Vecna was given a set of statistics in Open Grave (2008). Vecna was the name of the Wizards of the Coast's server that hosted and handled the new online character builder tool. In the 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide ( 2014), Vecna appears as a member of the "Dawn War Pantheon" which is mostly derived from the 4th Edition pantheon. He is also included in the Player's Handbook (2014) as one of

8850-440: The high-level wizards that they are controlling are brutally dealt with [...]. The players then wake up and realize that they have to succeed where some of the most powerful wizards in the world failed. Vecna Lives concludes with the players facing off against an avatar of Vecna". In 2019, Jeremy Thomas, for 411Mania , wrote "Vecna is one of D&D’s most well-known villainous characters. While his story has evolved slightly over

8968-414: The insane architect of the dungeons. Zagyg is a reverse homophone of Gygax , and it was Gygax's inside joke that the person who had designed the dungeon—himself—must be insane. Only three players ever made it to the bottom level and met Zagyg, all of them during solo adventures: Rob Kuntz (playing Robilar ), Gygax's son Ernie (playing Tenser ), and Rob's brother Terry (playing Terik). Their reward

9086-422: The joke was revealed. In the 1999 Dungeons & Dragons CRPG Planescape: Torment , Fall-From-Grace (a celibate succubus) asks Morte (a disembodied floating skull) "What are you?", to which Morte replies "Me? I'm the head of Vecna." A similar conversation between the two involves Morte saying "It's a long story involving the head of Vecna. I don't want to talk about it." Grace responds with an amused "That

9204-453: The moral obligations on how to use it rest on the shoulders of the individuals involved. In 2013, Alex Lucard, for Diehard GameFAN , highlighted the use of Vecna in two 2nd edition modules: Vecna Lives (1991) and Die Vecna, Die (2000). On the second module, Lucard wrote, "I love Vecna and I love Greyhawk. [...] Players will encounter some of the most iconic and evil characters in all of Dungeons & Dragons , and have to witness firsthand

9322-417: The names of friends and acquaintances. For instance, Perrenland was named after Jeff Perren , who co-wrote the rules for Chainmail with Gygax; Urnst was a homophone of Ernst (his son Ernie); and Sunndi was a near-homophone of Cindy, another of Gygax's children. From Gygax's prototype map, Darlene Pekul , a freelance artist in Lake Geneva, developed a full color map on a hex grid. Gygax was so pleased with

9440-511: The nearby city of Greyhawk, and eventually an entire world. In addition to the campaign world, which was published in several editions over twenty years, Greyhawk was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA 's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000 to 2008. The World of Greyhawk is located on a planet called Oerth. Oerth has an axial tilt of 30 degrees, which causes greater seasonal temperature variation than on Earth and

9558-515: The number of Greyhawk deities to an even fifty. For the next eight years, Greyhawk would be primarily defined by the information in this publication. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer ( LGG ) is a sourcebook for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game . Despite the title, the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer

9676-494: The official campaign sourcebook Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020) along with details on Vecna's enemies and his commandments. In June 2022, Wizards of the Coast released the Vecna Dossier as a digital exclusive on D&D Beyond . This included background information and a 5th Edition statblock for Vecna in the updated style of the edition. This iteration is of Vecna as an archlich before his ascension to godhood. Vecna

9794-519: The officials leave to depart, and promising them his protection for the rest of their lives. At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed , using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas . Only his left hand and his eye survived the battle, perhaps because of the previous events in Fleeth. Vecna did not stay gone forever, and rose as

9912-399: The officials offered their own lives. Vecna gave one of their number, Artau, and his family, over to his lieutenant, Kas , who spent the entire day torturing and murdering them before the other officials. Still unsatisfied, Vecna slaughtered all within the city, and had their heads stacked before the officials, with those of their family members prominent. Vecna then granted his mercy, granting

10030-420: The only remnants of an evil lich , Vecna, who had been destroyed long ago. "The book contains no more detail on Vecna other than the fact that Kas was his bodyguard". The name Vecna was an anagram of Vance, the surname of Jack Vance , the fantasy author whose works inspired the magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons . The Hand and Eye of Vecna on the other hand were inspired by similar items that appear in

10148-433: The overking Ivid V came to the throne, the oppressed peoples rebelled. It was at this point, in the year 576 CY, that Gygax set the world of Greyhawk. As Gygax wrote in his World of Greyhawk folio: "The current state of affairs in the Flanaess is confused indeed. Humankind is fragmented into isolationist realms, indifferent nations, evil lands, and states striving for good". Gygax did not issue monthly or yearly updates to

10266-403: The pages) and penned in blood, that is on par with the Fragments of Vecna . The Tome of Shared Secrets is an illustrated bestiary of relic status, with the ability to impart knowledge of dark and evil creatures at the cost of a portion the user's life force. Those two books were superseded in 5th edition by a combined Book of Vile Darkness , a legacy of dark secrets started by Vecna. The Rod of

10384-556: The physical appearances of the main Greyhawk races. In the November 1981 issue, Gygax gave further details of racial characteristics and modes of dress. In the December 1982 issue, David Axler contributed a system for determining weather in the world of Greyhawk. Gygax later said he thought a system of fourteen charts for determining the weather was too cumbersome, and he personally did not use it in his home campaign. The folio edition had thirty two pages, and information about each region

10502-468: The players wanted Gygax to create and customize a specific deity so that cleric characters could receive their powers from someone less ambiguous than the gods . Gygax jokingly created two gods: Saint Cuthbert —who brought non-believers around to his point of view with whacks of his cudgel —and Pholtus , whose fanatical followers refused to believe that any other gods existed. Because both of these deities represented aspects of Good, Gygax eventually created

10620-588: The powers of the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna one is required to cut off one's own corresponding body part and affix Vecna's in its place. "The new bearer of the Eye or Hand (or both) will gain access to powerful spell-like abilities, but the items will slowly corrupt them, turning them evil over time". These artifacts were introduced in the third supplement to the original D&D rules, Eldritch Wizardry . They went on to appear in all subsequent D&D editions. They are considered classic items in D&D, with Mordicai Knode of Tor.com commenting "We all agree that

10738-503: The private armies that were commanded by some prominent Greyhawk characters from his original home game: Bigby , Mordenkainen , Robilar , Tenser and Erac's Cousin . Gygax also mentioned some of the planned Greyhawk publications he was overseeing: a large-scale map of the city of Greyhawk; some adventure modules set in Greyhawk; a supplementary map of lands outside the Flanaess; all fifty levels of Castle Greyhawk's dungeon; and miniatures army combat rules. None of these projects, other than

10856-475: The realm of Ravenloft. However, it wasn't until 1998 that there was a Ravenloft-centered follow-through, Vecna Reborn . In 2000, Wizards of the Coast released the last adventure to be written for the 2nd edition ruleset, Die Vecna Die! , a three-part adventure tying Greyhawk to the Ravenloft and Planescape campaign settings. In this adventure, Vecna was given the rank of a lesser god. Die Vecna Die! set up

10974-459: The remaining forty three regions in the March, July and September 1982 issues. In the August 1982 issue of Dragon , Gygax gave advice on how to adapt deities from the previously published Deities and Demigods for worship by non-human races in the Greyhawk world. A few months later, he published a five-part series of articles in the November 1982 through March 1983 issues of Dragon that outlined

11092-404: The result that he quickly switched his home Greyhawk campaign over to the new world he had created. Ultimately, the original Castle Greyhawk was never published for public play, instead with many of the elements of Gygax's original campaign becoming the seed for other adventures. In the late 1960s, Gary Gygax , a military history buff and pulp fantasy fan, was a central, founding figure in

11210-622: The rules for Chainmail with Gygax, but for the new Greyhawk map he added many more such names of friends and acquaintances. For instance, Urnst was a homophone of Ernst (his son Ernie) and Sunndi was a near-homophone of Cindy, another of Gygax's children. Gygax gave only the most basic descriptions of each state; he expected that DMs would customize the setting in order to make it an integral part of their own individual campaigns. His map included arctic wastes, desert, temperate forests, tropical jungles, mountainous cordillera, seas and oceans, rivers, archipelagos and volcanoes. Gygax set out to create

11328-463: The sheets. This corner of Oerik became known as "the Flanaess", so named in Gygax's mind because of the peaceful people known as the Flannae who had once lived there. Gygax also added many more new regions, countries and cities, bringing the number of political states to 60. Needing original placenames for all of the geographical and political places on his map, Gygax sometimes resorted to wordplay based on

11446-593: The state of affairs as presented in the folio since he saw 576 CY as a common starting point for every home campaign; because each would be moving forward at its own pace, there would be no practical way to issue updates that would be relevant to every Dungeon Master. Gygax was also aware that different players would be using his world for different reasons. When he was the Dungeon Master of his home campaign, he found that his players were more interested in dungeon-delving than politics, but when he switched roles and became

11564-579: The time the Greyhawk home campaign drew to a close in 1985, the castle dungeons encompassed more than fifty levels. While many players participating in the Gygax and Kuntz home campaign were occasional players, sometimes not even naming their characters, others played far more frequently, and several of their characters became well known to the general gaming world before publication of the Greyhawk campaign setting. Some of these characters became known when Gygax mentioned them in his various columns, interviews, and publications. In other cases, when Gygax created

11682-452: The title of its ruler, the racial makeup of its people, its resources and major cities, and its allies and enemies. For the same reason that he had created a variety of geographical, political and racial settings, he also strove to create a world with some good, some evil, and some undecided areas. He felt that some players would be happiest playing in a mainly good country and fighting the evil that arose to threaten it; others might want to be

11800-533: The top is Vecna himself, followed by the Voice of Vecna, which can only be filled by Vecna's manifestation. Next is the Heart of Vecna, the high priest of the cult. The last known Heart of Vecna was Diraq Malcinex of Ket , who was slain by adventurers in 581 CY. Immediately below the Heart of Vecna are two bizarre monsters known as the Hand and the Eye. The Eye of Vecna creature appears as a slender humanoid with an eyeball for

11918-424: The transition between the second and third editions of D&D. According to Shannon Appelcline, the adventure "touched upon the oldest locales and the most ancient myths of the D&D game" by involving the Eye and Hand of Vecna and using them to oppose Iuz the cambion demigod. Wizards of the Coast continued the character's theme of ascending godhood in Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition (2000–2002) with

12036-502: The undead in any established D&D setting could use him as the big bad at the end. He currently doesn't have a stat block in 5e but some homebrew stats exist for him". Greyhawk Greyhawk , also known as the World of Greyhawk , is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game . Although not the first campaign world developed for Dungeons & Dragons — Dave Arneson 's Blackmoor campaign predated it by about

12154-493: The world map of Oerth was developed by Gygax as circumstances dictated, the new cities and lands simply drawn over a map of North America. Gygax and Kuntz further developed this campaign setting, and by 1976, the lands within a radius of 50 miles had been mapped in depth, and the lands within a radius of approximately 500 miles were in outline form. Following yet more work, in 1978 Gygax agreed to publish his world and decided to redevelop Oerth from scratch. Once he had sketched out

12272-416: The world of Greyhawk: In addition, Lawrence Schick set his 1979 TSR adventure S2 White Plume Mountain in Greyhawk. Despite fan curiosity, the original Castle Greyhawk was never officially published outside of Gygax's home campaign. In 1975, Gygax and Kuntz published a booklet called Supplement I: Greyhawk , an expansion of the rules for Dungeons & Dragons based on their play experiences in

12390-447: The years, he has always been a powerful undead lich. The original appearance of the Eye and Hand of Vecna was in 1976’s Eldritch Wizardry and it was said that Vecna was long-since destroyed. He eventually became an antagonist in the world of Greyhawk, reimagined as a lich who attained demigod status. His hand and eye, which were separated from him, are able to be applied to characters to grant great powers at an equally great cost". Vecna

12508-437: Was #4 on CBR 's 2020 "10 Unique (& Powerful) Villains To Spice Up A High Level Dungeons & Dragons Campaign" list — the article states that "Once a humble necromancer, he rose all the way to becoming a lich and finally a god through an act of ascension. Resplendent with evil this figure is a god whose domain encompasses the undead and secrets. This villain is the apex of the living dead. A campaign centered around fighting

12626-575: Was a character that had been created by Gygax's childhood friend Don Kaye before Kaye's untimely death in 1975. The fourth, a hero-deity named Kelanen , was developed to illustrate the "principle of advancement of power". Of the ten adventures set in Greyhawk published by TSR before the folio edition, all but one had been written by Gygax. However, the new availability of information about Gygax's campaign world and TSR's desire to make it central to Dungeons & Dragons encouraged many new writers to set their adventures in Greyhawk. This, combined with

12744-424: Was an officer of the organization, and frequent contributor to the newsletter. Arneson claimed a territory he named Blackmoor , a setting he had already begun developing in his home campaign, and Gygax reserved for himself a territory on lake Nyr Div. In addition to historically-based medieval wargaming, both Gygax and Arneson were enthusiasts of adding fantasy elements to their games. To this end, Gygax created

12862-565: Was condensed into a short paragraph or two. Gygax realized that some players needed more in-depth information about the motivations and aspirations of each region, and the history of interactions with surrounding regions. With this in mind, Gygax decided to publish a much longer description of each region in Dragon . The first two articles, covering seventeen regions, appeared in the December 1981 and January 1982 issues. Due to his involvement in many other TSR projects, Gygax handed responsibility for completion of this project to Rob Kuntz, who covered

12980-564: Was further explored in The Scarlet Brotherhood (1999), which expanded the Olman pantheon, and newly introduced the Touv people, including their nine gods. Also included in the March 1983 issue of Dragon was an article detailing four unique Greyhawk characters. The first two quasi-deities — Heward and Keoghtom—had been created by Gygax as non-player characters (NPCs). The third, Murlynd ,

13098-401: Was further piqued by the ten Dungeons & Dragons modules set in Greyhawk that were published between 1976 and 1979. Several of Gygax's regular columns in Dragon magazine also mentioned details of his home campaign and characters that inhabited his world. Gygax was surprised when he found out that players wanted to use Greyhawk as their campaign world. Rather than using his own version of

13216-498: Was initially trained by his mother, Mazzel, in the art of magic , before she was executed by the government of Fleeth for practicing witchcraft. Vowing revenge, Vecna eventually assumed a mastery of the dark arts achieved by no mortal before or since. Some say this achievement was due to direct tutelage by Mok'slyk the Serpent, believed to be the personification of arcane magic itself. Nearly one thousand years after his birth, Vecna, now

13334-549: Was much larger than the first and addressed itself to making the World of Greyhawk setting a more detailed and vibrant place". This edition quadrupled the number of pages from the original edition to 128, adding significantly greater detail. One major addition was a pantheon of deities: in addition to the nineteen deities outlined by Gygax in his Dragon article, another thirty-one new deities were added, though only three received full write-ups of their abilities and worshipers. This brought

13452-418: Was organized religion. Since his campaign was largely built around the needs of lower-level characters, he did not think specific deities were necessary, since direct interaction between a god and a low-level character was very unlikely. Some of his players took matters into their own hands, calling upon Norse or Greek gods such as Odin or Zeus , or even Conan's Crom in times of dire need. However, some of

13570-464: Was published in the August 1974 issue of Chicago small press magazine El Conquistador . In the first issue of The Dragon published in June 1976, Gygax prefaced Chapter 1 of his serialized novella The Gnome Cache with a note that the story's setting, Oerth , was very similar to Earth in terms of geography. One facet of culture that Gygax did not address during the first few years of his home campaign

13688-402: Was rescued and brought to safety by one of his wizard generals, a cambion named Acererak (who would one day himself become a mighty demilich ). Vecna eventually recovered. On the verge of conquering Fleeth, the officials of the city came before him to beg for mercy. They offered up the entire city and her wealth if only Vecna would spare the lives of her citizens. When Vecna was not satisfied,

13806-498: Was to be instantly transported to the far side of the world, where they each faced a long solo trek back to the city of Greyhawk. Terik and Tenser managed to catch up to Robilar along the way, and the three journeyed back to Greyhawk together. By this time, a dozen players crowded Gygax's basement every night, with over 20 at times on weekends and the effort needed to plan their adventures took up much of Gygax's spare time. He had been very impressed with Rob Kuntz's imaginative play as

13924-531: Was you?" Also in the same game, the Eye of Vecna is a rare item dropped by greater glabrezu. The Head of Vecna made a canonical appearance in the AD&;D 2nd edition module Die Vecna Die! (2000), and was the subject of a short adventure on the Wizards of the Coast website in 2007. Familiarity with the Head of Vecna was cited as an example characteristic of an avid role-playing gamer by writer David M. Ewalt . Vecna

#891108