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Here’s the skinny. Spoilers for the big tentpole WotC adventures follow - stop reading now if you don't want to encounter those spoilers.
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 include maps, factions, and locations, as well as a brief alternate timeline.
At a high level, the premise is Vecna engineered the downfall of any hero or party attempting to stop any of the world-altering events in the adventures. Vecna is therefore the power behind all this. It is because he still has his Eye and Hand, which of course are very useful artifacts. His ultimate goal is to rule the entire multiverse. He is pursuing multiple avenues towards that goal as steps towards this end. He has also taken over Candlekeep and has hidden any tomes that may enable someone to do damage to him in its nether vaults and encouraged the librarians to try to become liches.
The other major thing he’s done is he’s blanketed the Prime Material in some sort of communication jammer with other planes. So while on the Prime Material, clerics and paladins may think their gods have abandoned them, the truth is they have merely been cut off. One line in the document gave me chills and I would love to have it happen in play.
“This allows for a climactic moment when the adventurer first hears words from their god.”
Vecna also merely sees these other powers/factions as minor obstacles on his way to multiversal domination; and he continues to work to play them against each other where he can, benefitting his own ends, always. He has a powerful alliance made up of: Acererak; Arcane Brotherhood; Liches of Warlock’s Crypt (fka Larloch); Liches of Twisted Rune (fka Calimshan); Orcs of Kingdom of Many Arrows; Yuan-ti; and finally the Red Wizards of Thay.
Here’s how the big tentpole adventures resolved:
- Tyranny of Dragons - Tiamat Won and the Dragon cultists continue to serve her. Her return to the FR coincided with Vecna’s ascendance godhood. She is the main power/faction that is aware of Vecna’s hand (and eye!) in all of this. They each know they could lose to the other, so currently they are focused on “lesser” powers/factions before turning against each other.
- Princes of the Apocalypse - Turns out Tharizdun tricked the elemental Princes into an alliance to try to free him. They succeeded in freeing him to the Prime Material; but Vecna trapped him into a new prison in what was once Silverymoon. The Princes are in uneasy 4-way union in the face of external threats, but internally they battle for supremacy over their three elemental rivals.
- Out of the Abyss - The demons overwhelmed Menzoberranzan and now rule all the Underdark. There is a huge area called Zuggtmycos, ruled by Zuggtmoy. The drow who were able to escape are now loosely grouped under Jarlaxe Baenre and act as a pirate fleet off the Sword Coast. The Moonshaes are now uniting, but have also so far sailed (pun intended) the notice of the continental powers.
- Tomb of Annihilation - Chult is completely overrun by undead. Acererak aided Vecna and now has free reign over the entire continent. He continues to re-animate adventurers and run them through ever more byzantine trap-filled dungeons. How long that will entertain him is anyone’s guess. So far he’s proven to be a good lieutenant to Vecna
- Storm King’s Thunder - briefly Serissa rules the giants; but quickly Ilmyrth overthrew her. Then Ilmyrth abdicated and now the Giantkin are trying to build their own fiefdoms. Grudd Haug, home to Guh the Hill Giant (whoops, sorry, they now call them selves Mouintain Giants) has grown, in direct proportion to Guh’s own size. Cloud Giants raised their castles so high, they are at the edge of space; Frost Giants have allied with Auril; Fire giants look forward to a war with the dragons using the Voidonod; the Storm Giants are scattered and defeated; and the Stone Giants have sealed themselves underground and are holding a powerful secret - they have discovered a dormant tarrasque.
- Descent into Avernus - Zariel is now the marshal for Zariel’s Legion a huge force of devils that continue the Blood War on a new front on the Prime Material. She uses the floating city of Helldoor’s Gate (fka Baldur’s Gate) as the home bastion to launch offenses into the Underdark against demons via the gaping hole in the ground under where Baldur’s Gate used to be.
- Rime of the Frostmaiden - Auril won. As most who formerly called the Dale their home fled Icewind Dale; they were replaced by Duergar, ice demons, some white dragons, and the Frost Giants.
- The final faction not yet referred to are the Zhentarim. While the Emerald Enclave, Harpers, Lord’s Alliance and other good-aligned factions were destroyed, the Zhentarim have surged to become the de facto keepers of “order” throughout the sword coast. They lead through the twin brains and brawn of the Manshoon and the Paragnhost respectively, stationed in Waterdeep and Zhentil Keep (also respectively)
There are many other entries for various locations around the Sword Coast, including Evernight (fka Neverwinter), the various Dwarfholds, Darkhold, Luskan, Silverymoon (now an Illithid colony), and more.
Chapter 4 includes 2-3 adventure seeds for each of the 4 tiers. Examples include:
- Tier 1 Local Heroes: Sharpened Across the Sea of Swords
- Budding adventurers turn to the Sea of Swords to test their strength and bolster their riches.
- Tier 2 Heroes of the Realm: Into Halaster’s Domain
- Halaster Blackcloak is no fool: he lacks the power to confront Vecna, and transporting the Undermountain into its own demiplane gives him time to gather it. He needs minions—capable ones. (Basically re-tool Mad Mage with this as backstory)
- Tier 3 Masters of the Realm: A Long Overdue Heist
- Candlekeep is Vecna’s personal vault. If the adventuring party desires to wield powerful items, the simplest solution is to steal them.
- Tier 4 Masters of the World: From Whence they Came
- The only way to stop the demons’ chaos in the Underdark from spilling over is to close the portals to the Abyss that Gromph Baenre opened. Though likely a suicide mission, if the adventurers could slay enough demon princes to put the hordes into disarray, they could get close enough to close the portals.
Chapter 5 includes character options. If you purchase the product, you also get chapter 5 as a separate standalone pdf to share with your players.
- Bard - College of the Elements - These weavers of song and dance incorporate the elements into their performances
- Druid - Circle of the Nine - These corrupted druids reshape the world around them into a cruel hellscape
- Rogue - Spell Slayer - These assassins excel in disrupting magic and slaying spellcasters
- Fighter - Zhentilar’s Finest - These warriors strike their enemies down with fear and blade in kind
- Wizard - School of Secrets - These scholars twist the secrets of enemies into painful weapons
Also some new very flavorful tables a la Xanathar’s to flesh out character narrative backgrounds. There are also tweaks to the mechanical Backgrounds as listed in the Player’s Handbook.
Overall, I’d say if you and your players have played most of the long-form WotC 5e campaigns, this will resonate with your table. If not, it may still be fun, as many of the big bad evil names in Forgotten Realms lore are present as faction leaders.
So I’d give this a “Recommend” for anyone familiar with Forgotten Realms (specifically the Sword Coast) lore. For folks not at all familiar, most of this won’t be very relatable and probably not worth it.
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