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Vecna Reborn: Ravenloft Adventure:
From the depths of antiquity, he arises.... Trapped in a mockery of his former kingdom, he broods....
In hatred and spite against the one who betrayed him, he schemes....
The other lords of Ravenloft may possess horrific power... but Vecna is a god.
Trapped by the Mists of Ravenloft, the lich lord Vecna plots his escape and revenge against Kas the Destroyer, his traitorous former lieutenant.
Vecna Reborn takes brave heroes into the dark, oppressed domain of Tor Gorak, where Kas whips his subjects into submission to serve in his never-ending war against Vecna and Cavitius, a realm in the grip of ancient magic and malevolent undeath.
The heroes must struggle to stop arcane rituals, insane cultists, and monstrous abominations from granting Vecna, the Chained God, the power to fulfill his dark dreams.
Vecna Reborn presents a terrifying tale of betrayal, madness, and sorcery that may tear apart the Demiplane of Dread itself.
In hatred and spite against the one who betrayed him, he schemes....
The other lords of Ravenloft may possess horrific power... but Vecna is a god.
Trapped by the Mists of Ravenloft, the lich lord Vecna plots his escape and revenge against Kas the Destroyer, his traitorous former lieutenant.
Vecna Reborn takes brave heroes into the dark, oppressed domain of Tor Gorak, where Kas whips his subjects into submission to serve in his never-ending war against Vecna and Cavitius, a realm in the grip of ancient magic and malevolent undeath.
The heroes must struggle to stop arcane rituals, insane cultists, and monstrous abominations from granting Vecna, the Chained God, the power to fulfill his dark dreams.
Vecna Reborn presents a terrifying tale of betrayal, madness, and sorcery that may tear apart the Demiplane of Dread itself.
- GenresRole Playing Games
64 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1998
About the author
Monte Cook
211 books124 followers
The game designer
Monte Cook started working professionally in the game industry in 1988. In the employ of Iron Crown Enterprises, he worked with the Rolemaster and Champions games as an editor, developer, and designer. In 1994, Monte came to TSR, Inc., as a game designer and wrote for the Planescape and core D&D lines. When that company was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved to the Seattle area and eventually became a senior game designer. At Wizards, he wrote the 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and served as codesigner of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. In 2001, he left Wizards to start his own design studio, Malhavoc Press, with his wife Sue. Although in his career he has worked on over 100 game titles, some of his other credits include Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Eldritch Might series, the d20 Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, The Book of Vile Darkness, Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, and Dungeonaday.com. He was a longtime author of the Dungeoncraft column in Dungeon Magazine. In recent years, Monte has been recognized many times by game fans in the ENnies Awards, the Pen & Paper fan awards, the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award, the Origins Awards, and more.
The author
A graduate of the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, Monte has published two novels, The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. Also, he has published the short stories "Born in Secrets" (in the magazine Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in the anthology Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in the anthology Realms of the Arcane). His stories have appeared in the Malhavoc Press anthologies Children of the Rune and The Dragons' Return, and his comic book writing can be found in the Ptolus: City by the Spire series from DBPro/Marvel. His fantasy fiction series, "Saga of the Blade," appeared in Game Trade Magazine from 2005–2006.
The geek
In his spare time, Monte runs games, plays with his dog, watches DVDs, builds vast dioramas out of LEGO building bricks, paints miniatures, and reads a lot of comics.
Monte Cook started working professionally in the game industry in 1988. In the employ of Iron Crown Enterprises, he worked with the Rolemaster and Champions games as an editor, developer, and designer. In 1994, Monte came to TSR, Inc., as a game designer and wrote for the Planescape and core D&D lines. When that company was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved to the Seattle area and eventually became a senior game designer. At Wizards, he wrote the 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and served as codesigner of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. In 2001, he left Wizards to start his own design studio, Malhavoc Press, with his wife Sue. Although in his career he has worked on over 100 game titles, some of his other credits include Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Eldritch Might series, the d20 Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, The Book of Vile Darkness, Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, and Dungeonaday.com. He was a longtime author of the Dungeoncraft column in Dungeon Magazine. In recent years, Monte has been recognized many times by game fans in the ENnies Awards, the Pen & Paper fan awards, the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award, the Origins Awards, and more.
The author
A graduate of the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, Monte has published two novels, The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. Also, he has published the short stories "Born in Secrets" (in the magazine Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in the anthology Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in the anthology Realms of the Arcane). His stories have appeared in the Malhavoc Press anthologies Children of the Rune and The Dragons' Return, and his comic book writing can be found in the Ptolus: City by the Spire series from DBPro/Marvel. His fantasy fiction series, "Saga of the Blade," appeared in Game Trade Magazine from 2005–2006.
The geek
In his spare time, Monte runs games, plays with his dog, watches DVDs, builds vast dioramas out of LEGO building bricks, paints miniatures, and reads a lot of comics.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 24, 2024
After the events depicted in Vecna Lives!, the Dark Powers of Ravenloft took hold of the most dangerous being they could grab: a demigod. Not only that, but one of the greatest magic-users on D&D, one that speaks directly to magic. But this adventure has more to do with foiling Vecna’s cult plans, and through them stopping the Chained One of ripping the very nature of the Demiplane of Dread. All in all a good mystery, highly demanding from the players, not very easy to solve without a lot of help from the DM.
June 24, 2025
On reading more closely as I prepare to run this very soon (where did six months go), I think this has improved the longer I look at it. It is a coherent, well-thought-through story that might rely on one or two contrivances here and there (will players REALLY want to entrust a pregnant woman in the hands of a leery old uncle? especially after she's already been targeted by cultists...) but the themes and atmosphere it generates are so strong it's hard to argue with the adventure as it stands.
I can't wait to run a variety of little setpieces. From the quiet, mysterious trek through an unfamiliar mountain range, to a hellish journey past a destroyed war machine, there's so much this story offers. I've chosen to isolate it completely from every other realm and set it on its own little demiplane basically, making the world feel particularly lived-in. In doing so I've also had to account for a lot of little details the module might not have accounted for, but it's been a rewarding balance between "oh that's done for me" and "oh cool I get to do a little bit of colouring in this world here". Because it is such a rich (albeit hostile) world - a world with two rivals constantly at war, yet I wanted to make it clear that even in this fascist hellhole there are people who can still find beauty in the world.
I'm probably injecting a lot of subjectivity into this book but it's come at a good time in my life. As of right now I haven't run anything in about six months, which is an uncomfortably long time for me. The longest since I started running stuff back in 2015. It didn't happen on purpose, it just kind of... happened. But this injection of Gothic / occult / body horror into my veins has given me a creative purpose. To make this bloody thing scary and haunting and upsetting but most of all to make it memorable, to make it conquerable.
There are just so many ideas in here that are entrenched in my mind. I find it odd it's such an overlooked module. An enormous skull keep watched over by a giant skeleton in a cloak so deep that you might not even notice it's a skeleton opening the door? A sea of ash that hides an army of the undead? A battleground choked with bodies? A pack of wolves that seem to mind their own business but might just pursue the players if they get a bit too curious? A library built tens of feet above ground level haunted by a terrifying, grotesque monster? There's just so much here to like, and so much character to squeeze out of it, that I can forgive those aforementioned contrivances or bits of weird "well why do we have to do this" sort of thing. Because those are easy to change or cut out based on how you think your group would adapt to it.
Really good, really really bloody good and you should read it if you like Ravenloft or gothic horror in your D&D in general.
- JANUARY 2025 REVIEW -
A rich Gothic adventure with lots of ideas for DMs to run stuff in Kas and Vecna's realms. The main issue is that the story has a small tendency towards railroading - at times there is only one course of action that will advance the plot in any meaningful way, and deviating is not encouraged by the text. But with hopefully some clever DMing, it can be turned into a slightly more open module.
There's some great stuff in here though - a lifeless desert; a trek through a mountain pass haunted by legions of dead soldiers; a fascistic state police that players must evade - until they are taken in for interrogation; language barriers that make things dangerous rather than just a bit silly. Rooms that exist only in the memory of the planes. An enormous staircase littered with skeleton guards that winds around the inside of a giant skull feels like a setpiece that's hard to top - but then there's also a cursed library earlier in the adventure that has a truly nasty creature lurking in its depths.
A haunting adventure that I look forward to running.
I can't wait to run a variety of little setpieces. From the quiet, mysterious trek through an unfamiliar mountain range, to a hellish journey past a destroyed war machine, there's so much this story offers. I've chosen to isolate it completely from every other realm and set it on its own little demiplane basically, making the world feel particularly lived-in. In doing so I've also had to account for a lot of little details the module might not have accounted for, but it's been a rewarding balance between "oh that's done for me" and "oh cool I get to do a little bit of colouring in this world here". Because it is such a rich (albeit hostile) world - a world with two rivals constantly at war, yet I wanted to make it clear that even in this fascist hellhole there are people who can still find beauty in the world.
I'm probably injecting a lot of subjectivity into this book but it's come at a good time in my life. As of right now I haven't run anything in about six months, which is an uncomfortably long time for me. The longest since I started running stuff back in 2015. It didn't happen on purpose, it just kind of... happened. But this injection of Gothic / occult / body horror into my veins has given me a creative purpose. To make this bloody thing scary and haunting and upsetting but most of all to make it memorable, to make it conquerable.
There are just so many ideas in here that are entrenched in my mind. I find it odd it's such an overlooked module. An enormous skull keep watched over by a giant skeleton in a cloak so deep that you might not even notice it's a skeleton opening the door? A sea of ash that hides an army of the undead? A battleground choked with bodies? A pack of wolves that seem to mind their own business but might just pursue the players if they get a bit too curious? A library built tens of feet above ground level haunted by a terrifying, grotesque monster? There's just so much here to like, and so much character to squeeze out of it, that I can forgive those aforementioned contrivances or bits of weird "well why do we have to do this" sort of thing. Because those are easy to change or cut out based on how you think your group would adapt to it.
Really good, really really bloody good and you should read it if you like Ravenloft or gothic horror in your D&D in general.
- JANUARY 2025 REVIEW -
A rich Gothic adventure with lots of ideas for DMs to run stuff in Kas and Vecna's realms. The main issue is that the story has a small tendency towards railroading - at times there is only one course of action that will advance the plot in any meaningful way, and deviating is not encouraged by the text. But with hopefully some clever DMing, it can be turned into a slightly more open module.
There's some great stuff in here though - a lifeless desert; a trek through a mountain pass haunted by legions of dead soldiers; a fascistic state police that players must evade - until they are taken in for interrogation; language barriers that make things dangerous rather than just a bit silly. Rooms that exist only in the memory of the planes. An enormous staircase littered with skeleton guards that winds around the inside of a giant skull feels like a setpiece that's hard to top - but then there's also a cursed library earlier in the adventure that has a truly nasty creature lurking in its depths.
A haunting adventure that I look forward to running.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews