Head of Vecna story

[Saint_Proverbius]

I found this while googling around this morning. I thought it was rather funny, so enjoy:

• Many years ago (back when we all were still playing D & D), I ran a game where I pitted two groups against each other.
  
  Several members of Group One came up with the idea of luring Group Two into a trap. You remember the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna that were artifacts in the old D&D world where if you cut off your hand (or your eye) and replaced it with the Hand of Vecna (or the Eye) you'd get new awesome powers? Well, Group One thought up The Head of Vecna.
  
  Group One spread rumors all over the countryside (even paying Bards to spread the word about this artifact rumored to exist nearby). They even went so far as to get a real head and place it under some weak traps to help with the illusion. Unfortunately, they forgot to let ALL the members of their group in on the secret plan (I suspect it was because they didn't want the Druid to get caught and tell the enemy about this trap of theirs, or maybe because they didn't want him messing with things).
  
  The Druid in group One heard about this new artifact and went off in search of it himself (I believe to help prove himself to the party members...) Well, after much trial and tribulation, he found it; deactivated (or set off) all the traps; and took his "prize" off into the woods for examination. He discovered that it did not radiate magic (a well known trait of artifacts) and smiled gleefully.
  
  I wasn't really worried since he was alone and I knew that there was no way he could CUT HIS OWN HEAD OFF. Alas I was mistaken as the Druid promptly summoned some carnivorous apes and instructed them to use his own scimitar and cut his head off (and of course quickly replacing it with the Head of Vecna...)
  
  Some time later, Group one decided to find the Druid and to check on the trap. They found the headless body (and the two heads) and realized that they had erred in their plan (besides laughing at the character who had played the Druid)...The Head of Vecna still had BOTH eyes! They corrected this mistake and reset their traps and the Head for it's real intended victims...
  
  Group Two, by this time, had heard of the powerful artifact and decided that it bore investigating since, if true, they could use it to destroy Group One. After much trial and tribulation, they found the resting place of The Head of Vecna! The were particularly impressed with the cunning traps surrounding the site (one almost missed his save against the weakest poison known to man). They recovered the Head and made off to a safe area.
  
  Group Two actually CAME TO BLOWS (several rounds of fighting) against each other argueing over WHO WOULD GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! Several greedy players had to be hurt and restrained before it was decided who would be the recipient of the great powers bestowed by the Head... The magician was selected and one of them promptly cut his head off. As the player was lifting The Head of Vecna to emplace it on it's new body, another argument broke out and they spent several minutes shouting and yelling. Then, finally, they put the Head onto the character.
  
  Well, of course, the Head simply fell off the lifeless body. All members of Group Two began yelling and screaming at each other (and at me) and then, on their own, decided that they had let too much time pass between cutting off the head of a hopeful recipient and put the Head of Vecna onto the body.
  
  SO THEY DID IT AGAIN!... [killing another PC]
  
  In closing, it should be said that I never even cracked a smile as all this was going on. After the second PC was slaughtered, I had to give in (my side was hurting)...
  
  And Group Two blamed ME for all of that...
  
  So let that be a warning to you - don't let your head get cut off unless you really know what you're doing.

 

[Sammael]

It's probably the most famous D&D story, up there with the Gazebo one.

 

[Psilon]

Yeah, the gazebo one's infamous. I love the sheer bastardry wrought in this story, however; the gazebo's just poking fun at an ignorant buffoon.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Yeah that story was great

 

[Seven]

Somebody post a link to the gazebo story. And do it now, lest I make you my bitch.

 

[Realbumpbert]

Who needs a link? Here's one variation:

Let us cast our minds back to the early days of Fantasy Role Playing, back when ye Dread Gygax was loose upon the land. Funny how humor and horror can start out so alike. Let us go still earlier (yes, it is permitted to breathe sighs of relief) to the days before Gygax (and the courts) thought that he owned FRP. In the early seventies, Ed Whitchurch ran "his game," and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson, a veritable giant of a man. This story is essentially true: I know both Ed and Eric, and neither denies it (although Eric, for reasons that will become apparent, never repeats it either). If my telling of it does not match the actual events precisely, it is because I've heard it many different ways depending on how much of what type of intoxicants Ed had taken recently.

The gist of it is that Eric, well, you need a bit more about Eric, or else I won't fill quota. Eric comes quite close to being a computer. When he games, he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimum solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise in all respects a superior gamer, and I've spent many happy hours competing with and against him, as long as he is given enough time.

So, Eric was playing a Neutral Paladin (why should only Lawful Good religions get to have holy warriors was the thinking) in Ed's game. He even had a holy sword, which fought well, and did all those things holy swords are supposed to do, including detect good (random die roll; it could have detected evil). He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred:

ED: You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.

ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it?

ED: (Pause) It's white, Eric.

ERIC: How far away is it?

ED: About fifty yards.

ERIC: How big is it?

ED: (Pause) It's about thirty feet across, fifteen feet high, with a pointed top.

ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.

ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo!

ERIC: (Pause) I call out to it.

ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo!

ERIC: (Pause) I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond in any way?

ED: No, Eric, it's a gazebo!

ERIC: I shoot it with my bow (roll to hit). What happened?

ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it.

ERIC: (Pause) Wasn't it wounded?

ED: Of course not, Eric! It's a gazebo!

ERIC: (Whimper) But that was a plus three arrow!

ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a gazebo! If you really want to try to destroy it, you could try to chop it with an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try. It's a *)@#! gazebo!

ERIC: (Long pause. He has no axe or fire spells.) I run away.

ED: (Thoroughly frustrated) It's too late. You've woken up the gazebo, and it catches you and eats you.

ERIC: (Reaching for his dice) Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can avenge my Paladin.

At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining what a gazebo is. It is solely an afterthought, of course, but Eric is doubly lucky that the gazebo was not situated on a grassy gnoll...

Enjoy.

 

[ecliptic]

Bwahahaha! Excellent.

 

[Visceris]

Never underestimate the stupidity of role players 2 o'clock in the morning. (tee hee)

Its too bad the "Head of Vecna" isn't in ToEE. It would have made a very nice easter egg.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Here's another good one..

• In one of my adventuresa long time ago, I included a withered burnt hand with "Nystul's Magic Aura" cast on it. Picture this:
  
  
  
  DM: "You also find a severed hand. It is very old and seems to have been burnt."
  
  Player: "What? Is it be the Hand Of Vecna?"
  
  DM: "Is it? How would you know?"
  
  Player: "Er . . . Cast Detect Magic!"
  
  Other Player: "Okay, I cast the spell"
  
  DM: "It gives a faint aura of necromantic magic"
  
  Player: "It IS the Hand of Vecna! (Evil Laugh) I'll cut off my own hand and put on the Hand of Vecna!
  
  DM: "You seriously want to cut your hand off?"
  
  Player: "Yes! I'll cut my hand off!"
  
  DM: "Okay, you raise your axe and cut your own hand off. The pain is unbearable. With gritted teeth you take up the withered hand and put it in place of your own. It's not the Hand of Vecna . . ."

I just wish stories like these included snapshots of the players' expressions.

 

[Seven]

Never underestimate the stupidity of role players 2 o'clock in the morning. (tee hee)

Its too bad the "Head of Vecna" isn't in ToEE. It would have made a very nice easter egg.

Isn't a gazebo supposed to be one of those devil or demon thingies? :D

 

[Psilon]

If it were, they'd probably spell it gaazebu.

 

[JanC]

glabrezu

 

[Visceris]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

Its the half fiend man eating gazebo! RUN!

 

[ecliptic]

Wait a second, I feel like I've read the gazebo story years ago... maybe on usenet?? Arrgh, that's going to bother me.

 

[Seven]

glabrezu

Oh, GLA-BRE-ZU, not GA-ZE-BO. Yes, but I still see how the err could have occured, besides God loves the stupid, how else do you think I get by.

 

[Psilon]

The gazebo story's pretty old, so it's likely to have been posted on Usenet innumerable times. Don't sweat it, ecliptic.

 

[Platter]

Never underestimate the stupidity of role players 2 o'clock in the morning. (tee hee)

Its too bad the "Head of Vecna" isn't in ToEE. It would have made a very nice easter egg.

Well, in Torment, Morte (jokingly) claims to be the Head of Vecna in one of his banters with Grace.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Never underestimate the stupidity of role players 2 o'clock in the morning. (tee hee)

Its too bad the "Head of Vecna" isn't in ToEE. It would have made a very nice easter egg.

Well, in Torment, Morte (jokingly) claims to be the Head of Vecna in one of his banters with Grace.

Yeah, he does. There are 2 funny dialogues about that issue involving him and Grace.

Dialogue 1:

Fall-from-Grace: Morte, what happened to your body?
Morte: Me? I'm the head of Vecna!

Dialogue 2:

Fall-from-Grace: Morte, I'm curious... what happened to your body?
Morte: It's a long story involving the Head of Vecna. I don't want to talk about it.
Fall-from-Grace: (Laughing) That was you?
Morte: Could we *please* change the subject?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

You know, I didn't get those dialogues at the time, but now that I know the story, it's prety damned funny. :D

Whomever came up with the idea of dismembering yourself to use artifacts is gold, baby. There's just so many things you can do with that.