Vecna

Vecna is a powerful lich and shop owner in Crux. Her shop deals in potions, a few magic items, and powerful necromantic spells capable of destroying entire cities. She was not always the terrifying undead witch she is today. Many centuries ago she was a common human woman working on a farm. Her life was changed when Thanatos, god of death, fell in love with her.

Vecna started life as a thin farmer’s daughter whose birth name was Anorexia. Anorexia worked on the farm with her family like all children did, but was remarkably thin and ugly. Her appearance caught the attention of Thanatos who liked her skeletal body. Anorexia ate less and less until she collapsed. Thanatos took her up to his mountain palace and asked her to marry him. Anorexia said yes, happy to advance from farmer’s daughter to wife of a god.

Thanatos soon revealed himself to be an abusive husband. He was rarely home as he had to travel the world taking souls to the Underworld. Anorexia entertained herself by learning magic and alchemy. When Thanatos was at home he was overcome with jealousy for the slightest interaction Anorexia had with others in his absence. To control his wife, Thanatos took away the eternal youth he’d granted her. Her body wasted away to weathered skin stretched over a skeleton. Anorexia continued to talk with other people when Thanatos was gone, so next he took one of her eyes and then one of her hands.

When Crux was established Anorexia finally saw her chance to leave. Thanatos took his place in the world as the Antenator in the Silver Tower. Anorexia refused to move in with him. Thanatos still controlled her enough that he forced her to live in Crux. Anorexia changed her name to Vecna to try and escape the name her abuser used for her. She set up her alchemy and spell shop at the Silver Tower’s base and began her own research on death magic.

Vecna’s research resulted in many amazing discoveries, but the most powerful was a new spell of unimaginable destruction. The magic was capable of wiping out all life within a three mile radius of the casting. Vecna demonstrated the spell and then opened negotiations with various governments to sell it. She sold copies of the devastation spell to Xoria, Persia, Ethiopia, and some of the Indian kingdoms.

Vecna’s relationship with Thanatos remained rocky over the centuries. They had moments of reconciliation that lasted for years and bouts of angry silence that extended for decades. Most recently, Vecna went on a date with the hero Danar in order to arouse Thanatos’s jealousy. During the provoked argument Vecna stated her desire to die, but that Thanatos wouldn’t let her. Danar slipped away before the god of death’s attention turned to him. Vecna and Thanatos’s current relationship status is unknown, but she still lives her undead life at her potion shop beneath the Silver Tower.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Michael tells us about a D&D horseback riding experience at SaddleSnaps! The Chicago-based stable hosted a weekend camping, horseback riding, and D&D event. About 50 players came from across the country for this new experience. During the event, the players were split up into three groups. Each of the groups engaged in the "Exploration" and "Social Interaction" pillars of RPGs as a LARP. They used horses to go out on rides around the area to find clues to a developing mystery. After returning to their base camp they'd set up around tables for the D&D "Combat" pillar. Michael was the main DM of the adventure along with lots of support DMs and NPC actors helping him out.SaddleSnaps is planning to do more rides like this in the future, both single day rides as well as full weekend campouts like this first one. There are evening rides every Thursday for the rest of July 2026 with more to come in future months. You can check out everything about SaddleSnaps on their website.Michael has his own website for his RPG resources called Paragon Provisions that you can check out as well.Michael also runs his own Discord server that you connect with him on if you'd like to keep up with all the cool D&D stuff he's doing.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps)
  2. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  3. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)
  4. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  5. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)