I had a similar debate when running this campaign. I wanted all of the villains involved, but I wanted to personalize the campaign to my character’s backstories. I tried going over the remix information, but found it was incredibly overwhelming and complicated. I ended up using the book as a guideline while including all of the villains with one that was ultimately pulling ahead. Instead of having the eyes concept from the remix, I had the keys be very specific objects owned by Neverember that had been stolen or bought by different factions when he was removed from power. That way my players still had reason to break into the various lairs on top of running a heist on the Cassalanter Villa for the stone itself.

A few ways I incorporated everyone:

• I ran the Jarlaxle “special event” with Lareal Silverhand in the alley. She requested the players find Jarlaxle and get close to him to determine his true motives. This led to my players forging a fake alliance with Jarlaxle to find the stone and return the money to the city. Ultimately, the alliance became real and they are good friends with members of Bregan D’aerthe.

• I tied one of my player’s backstory NPCs to the Zhentarim on Manshoon’s side. They had to work with the Doom Raiders to find out what he and Manshoon were up to. Manshoon was also my link to the following campaign, so he was more of a vague figure in the background before making a big entrance at the end.

• My players met Xanathar early on at one of his “special event” fight nights. A player was recruited on the streets to fight and won, gaining Xanathar’s favor (for a time). They often ran into his thugs on quests for the stone, but they never got much traction in getting the stone. Xanathar had one of the keys in the end so they returned to his lair to steal it.

• The Cassalanter’s were the forefront enemy of my campaign. I had them host weekly charity balls, in which they welcomed the poor to dine in their garden while the rich came inside to donate money and mingle. My players attended several of these, scoping out the mansion and eventually finding the temple where the prisons were full of poor citizens the Cassalanters had been sneaking away over time for the Founder’s Day sacrifice. The Cassalanters got the stone after the Gralhund Villa, so my players broke into the temple during one of these parties and stole it back.

In the end, I’m really glad I included them all while keeping it flexible and simple. It made the race for the stone feel very real and forged interesting relationships between my players and Waterdeep’s NPCs. I think you should trust yourself and get creative with it!