It’s a fairly light presentation, as one might expect from the space devoted, but I think that’s appropriate, since D&D is not generally a naval combat simulator, even if the player characters end up with their own ship. The appendices also cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters, and more! This has the ancillary downside that, if the players are on the ball, relatively little of the adventure will actually be used. The party travelled together from Seaton sharing stories along the way over a two day row, arriving in Saltmarsh on a Saturday. Finding adventure is easy in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh – An adventure in two parts (characters will start at level 1, go up after part 1, and then go up again after part 2), the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh begins with exploration of a supposedly haunted house that turns out to be a smugglers’ base (although there are some undead in the basement), and then moves on to a raid on the smugglers’ ship. Finally, there will be a final battle, because the characters will need to go deal with the infused sea monsters – with a twist that there will be even more aboleths there, because the first one was a heretic (the characters have the possibility of actually recruiting the help of these newcomers, which will make this scene much easier than fighting them and the monster). Monsters gather beneath the … The three locations are a reef, a shipwreck, and an underwater ruin, so there’s a nice spread of options. Code of Conduct Other common races – those found in the Player’s Handbook – are also present and established, but in smaller numbers. Artwork by Wizards of the Coast. But these probably won’t be immediately apparent to the players without some DM signposting. Avast, adventurers! One-click unsubscribe later if you don't enjoy the newsletter. The initial phase of this adventure is fairly light exploration and combat. Entertainer: Bards and other performers are always in demand in a town like Saltmarsh. And players going into Ghosts of Saltmarsh are definitely going to need to become familiar with the rules for underwater combat and movement. One of my players is a Lizardfolk which took a bit of on-the-spot dodging when they decided to capture and interrogate one of the Lizardfolk on the ship instead of killing them all. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. They didn't really haveActions apart from "move and shoot every round." In addition to the adventures, players will find new background and some variations on existing backgrounds to fit them in with the town of Saltmarsh (or any other random coastal town). ), and there are some individual rooms that are flagged as probably being lethal. Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in sear… Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in search of revenge. And they’re doing that whole ‘undead walking across the floor of the ocean’ thing to get to the island. These locations aren’t tied to any particular adventure, but instead spend a bit over four pages each presenting a map, location basics, and then possible adventure hooks. As the DM, I will also be giving my observations on running the adventures and … The reason for the alliance in Danger at Dunwater is that the lizardfolk only moved near Saltmarsh because their old home was taken over by sahuagin, and they were buying weapons to take it back. The seven adventures can be played through for characters 1st through 11 th levels, not exactly as a single campaign, though advice is provided for how to do that. Once the attack has been repelled, heroic characters will be compelled to venture to the ocean floor and deal with the magical effect that is turning the drowned sailors into drowned zombies. 11th level D&D characters are relative powerhouses, able to blow up buildings, slice their way through enemy hordes, and throw lightning at their problems – they’ve been there, done that. J. Burgess. How to be a Great GM Presents Ghosts of Saltmarsh – Call of the Kraken. Although, to spice things up, this time it’s zombie pirates. Although it’s the sort of think we’ve generally come to expect in modern times, the Saltmarsh trilogy was distinctive at the time in assembling adventures with thematic presentation and something of a story, instead of an independent location for the party to search and loot. Ghosts of Saltmarsh Player’s Guide The people of Saltmarsh generally find Nestled on the coast of the Azure Sea is Saltmarsh, a sleepy fishing village that sits on the precipice of destruction. Ghosts of Saltmarsh offers players several new background options that tie in well with the series of classic adventures contained within this book. It’s a follow up to the path breaking format of Tales of the Yawning Portal (YotYP) released 2 years … Learn how your comment data is processed. As a last word for players, I’ll note that I have a thumbs up for most of the adventures, but found myself unenthused about one of them. The way down is pretty standard fare, just with the ‘dungeon’ being the inside of a ship. Criminal: As Saltmarsh grows more prosperous under the Capitol’s influence, it becomes a more attractive site for criminals and con-men. This could easily leave a situation where the primary political effect of the characters is to discover the bad guy faction, alert the good guy council member, and then generally be heroes. This sheet makes it easy for your players to keep track of all their ships stats. In order to succeed at this adventure, the characters must realize that the lizardfolk are not a threat, but rather a potential ally. There’s a very Lovecraftian vibe here, as the threat is an aboleth who has converted to worshipping a mad deity, controls an evil cult from behind the scenes, and is infusing a sea monster with evil power. While the adventure kind of assumes that the players will inflict some casualties on the lizardfolk before figuring out what’s going on, they really need to catch on fairly quickly. In the UA, on its turn a ship could Move its speed and fire all weapons--or half of its weapons (rounded down) if the ship was at half-crew or less. The Curse of the Mad Alchemist - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 2 The door opened to a small room containing the remains of an old copper still as well as a set of stone stairs leading down. This one, however, is occupied by the good guys. In Ghosts, a ship can take multiple Actions per turn, dependent on how fully staffed it is. Before the final battle, the characters are sent in to the sahuagin fortress (which is now mostly underwater) to scout enemy numbers and locations. Ghosts of Saltmarsh combines some of the most popular classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons including the classic ‘U’ series and some of the best nautical adventures from Dungeon magazine: ... reliable and punctual DM. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is the brand-new book for D&D. As with most of Fifth Edition’s campaigns, Ghosts of Saltmarsh is designed to take players from first level on up, with this campaign running through level twelve. The signs will readily point to the council member who is the putative head of the cult (note: this is an entirely different council from the one in Saltmarsh, and the setting of The Styes doesn’t really play all that nicely with the rest of the book). In addition to the adventures, players will find new background and some variations on existing backgrounds to fit them in with the town of Saltmarsh (or any other random coastal town). Telling them the Lizardfolk weren't coming after Saltmarsh was a non-option of course but … The two Waterdavian defense ships were sunk and many villagers and guards died. The original trilogy (The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater, and The Final Enemy) was published by TSR UK from 1981-83 (designed and developed by Dave J. Browne and Don Turnbull). The new backgrounds include Fisher, Marine, Shipwright, and Smuggler. âWith its ties to ocean-based adventuring, it was an obvious step to augment it with additional sea-based adventures and a robust set of rules for managing a nautical campaign.â. To help serve as ‘glue’ for the campaign is the town of Saltmarsh itself, which has several factions – Loyalists (who support the crown’s moves to introduce mining and more legitimate trade to Saltmarsh), Traditionalists (who want things to stay as they ever were, mostly fishing and smuggling), and a secret evil faction (who want to wreck the place, but have the obviously good guy member of the city council as their unwitting pawn). To be clear, it isn’t a bad book. The part that remains constant, however, is the secret passages under the abbey, which contains a stack of traps, undead, and animated statutes. The authors of Wizards of the Coast (WotC) have just released (May 21 2019) a 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) ‘mid-season’ hard cover adventure compendium called Ghosts of Saltmarsh (GoSM). Cruel sahuagin gather beneath the waves, plotting to sweep away coastal cities. And it would be easy enough to say that if you liked Yawning Portal you’ll like Saltmarsh … 15 July, 2014, Release Date: Danger at Dunwater – The city council is understandably concerned about a lizardfolk outpost purchasing lots of weapons, and send the player characters to investigate (the players start at 3rd level and will gain 1 level). Now the hard part, my players love the politics of Saltmarsh and the mystery of what is really going on. Be run consecutively, because the levels don ’ t need to maintain crew. 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