What's the Head of Vecna and why is it important?

Question

I'm vaguely familiar with the RPG anecdote the Head of Vecna. Is there more to this tale? Why is this story important to RPG culture?

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Note: In Comments on this question (now deleted but available on Meta as part of this question), I mentioned the Head of Vecna (along with a few others) as an RPG touchstone, but when I told what I knew of the Head of Vecna story (which was about as much as the summary on the Wikipedia page) to my son, a budding yet enthusiastic gamer, I didn't have many details to flesh out the tale nor was I entirely clear on the story's influence or ultimate point.

Answer 1

The tale of the Head of Vecna is considered a touchstone cautionary tale to players about taking everything you hear in-game as gospel truth, and is an excellent example of Players using the promise of Untold Power to destroy each other. It's also considered a great example of how greedy players can be when it comes to powerful artifacts, and how crazy/dumb they can be in the pursuit of the power offered. And, finally, it's a great example of how self-destructive players can be. Sometimes you don't have to rig up traps and monsters and everything else...just give em enough rope, and they may take care of the rest.

The original source of where people have seen this story comes from Steve Jackson's Website, about 2/3 of the way down the page underneath the heading An Important Safety Tip! There's a more readable copy of the same found here: http://www.blindpanic.com/humor/vecna.htm

These are the most complete accounts of the story known. Mark Steuer, the DM who allowed this to happen, is the one who shared the story in the first place, and there has not been a more detailed explanation released since.

Answer 2

So why the Head of Vecna?

Well, if you are familiar with the aesop / Morality Play of the Head of Vecna, I am guessing your question then is why specifically did the opposing group choose the Head of Vecna as their lure for their con? And why on Oerth would a band of adventurers chop off their head to get it?

Well there is a reason for that.

In the old Greyhawk campaign world there was an ancient lich who became a God (of secrets) named Vecna.

From his Wikipedia entry:

Originally from the World of 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 he 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 is an eye in the palm of a left hand.

What is important to note is the bit about his hand and eye. They were left behind (by Kas - who ended up in Ravenloft via the plane of Ash), after he was destroyed and were imbued with "great power". So much that they became artifacts. This goes all the way back to the Eldritch Wizardry book, so this is "in game" Lore from the very beginning of D&D.

And if you were to find them and wield them, you had to lop off your hand or pluck out your eye. (BTW: You nasty, Vecna with your dirty raisin-eye in other people's bleeding eye sockets.)

So surely the players of these adventuring groups searching for this Head of Vecna were well aware of these actual (as in "actually part of the fictional campaign world" actual) artifacts - The Hand and Eye. And that is what made the lure of the Head of Vecna such a perfect con.

Because if the eye is powerful, then the whole head has to be bonkers powerful, right?

And of course you would have to lop off your head to wield the Head of Vecna. That's how the other bits O' Vecna work, right! (No, not Moander, Vecna)

From that hilarity ensues.

All that said, I wouldn't be so sure that I would not make the same series of errors only to end up in the same place. It can happen - especially if one never goes back and questions one's assumptions vigorously and regularly. And really - who does that in real life, let alone in a D&D game.

Answer 3

As the other answer have explained the Vecna body pieces are really powerfull artifacts that greedy players can past the limits to get their hands on. One of their drawbacks is that you need to remove the respective part (eye or hand in the original artifacts) of your body to attach the new one.

For me, the first time I heard about this was in KODT.

In Knights of the Dinner Table #5 there is story "Agent of Evil" where the group stumble on the "Hand of Vectra" after half the group chop their hands trying to get it the story ends up with Brian saying "I have heard rumours about the Head of Vectra, we should investigate" or something in those lines.

The fact that a group of players could even think in removing their heads to attach the Vecna (or Vectra in Garweeze Wurld) is just hilarious.

The story also made it to the first episode to the Kickstarted KODT Live Action Series