Their colourful crews are described immediately after the table. Saltmarsh has three competing factions that strive for influence around town, and two of them have direct ties to outside Greyhawk forces. What Sources to Allow The first conflict of the adventure is a pretty creative encounter, or series of encounters as the case may be. I was a big fan of Yawning Portal as well, but this one feels like they took the lessons they learned from that book and refined them here. This one-page guide, influenced heavily by Matt Coleville's video on the value of player guides, is intended to give the players everything they need to understand where the campaign is going and how their character might fit into it. (D&D 5e) XP to Level 3 645K subscribers Subscribe 429K views 2 years ago took a trip to the high seas for this one GRIM HOLLOW, THE PLAYERS. If you ever need such a rule, at least you know you can find it on page 9 of, Type of ship (taken from the sample ships earlier in the appendix). The characters are once again asked for help by Saltmarshs town council on behalf of the alliance against the sahuagin. In Tammerauts Fate, the characters travel to the nearby village Uskarn (a choice of hooks are provided to help you get them there from Saltmarsh), where they accept the request of a druid to investigate the hermitage on nearby Firewatch Island. For DMs intending to run the whole sequence of adventures as a full campaign, there may be some extra work to be done here to tie things together more cohesively and bring about a satisfactorily epic conclusion. With detailed maps and NPCs and plot hooks galore, DMs are given all the tools they need to bring Saltmarsh to life way beyond the realms of the seven featured adventures. Though it starts out simple, the adventures slowly get more complex and. An adventure for levels 5-8, the adventure is told in a series of short episodes requiring about 2-3 hours to play each. 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. The Ghosts of Saltmarsh consists of 7 adventures that take players from level 1 - 11 The first adventure - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - is 4-6 players of level 1 The second - Danger at Dunwater - is 4-6 players of level 3 The third - Salvage Operation - is 4-6 players of level 4 The fourth - Isle of the Abbey - is 4-6 players of level 5 Session 13: Chapter 6 from the book (conclusion/assault). But even if you dont intend to use the books adventures,GoSstill comes highly recommended for all 5e DMs who might ever expect the player characters to venture out to sea. Start your Ghosts of Saltmarsh or nautical themed campaign with The Curse of Skull Island in this 2-4 hour level 1 adventure that walks players through the character creation process! I recommend leveling characters to 2nd level when they have cleared the first and second floors of the mansion and 3rd level by the time they have cleared out the smugglers in the caves below the mansion. Hes concerned that the monks that live there havent been heard from in some time. The final adventure of the book describes events on a decaying port which can be established as a self-contained town or as a district of any large coastal town in your campaign world. The Saltmarsh village and regional maps can be printed on 17x24 for about $3 each at your local Staples or Fedex print center and they look great on the table when you're running your session zero and describing the locations. I recommend both a color map of the village of Saltmarsh and a black-and-white map of the Saltmarsh region. It surprises me that what seem like glaringly obvious issues have never yet been improved upon. Naturally these include the Forgotten Realms and Eberron. Part 1: Sigurd's Island. Action to cast, 10', instantaneous. Although those tables are intended specifically for the Saltmarsh region, theres no reason you couldnt use them every now and again to add variety to any other nautical campaign. Props can help make the ethereal ghosts of our campaign begin to feel solid and real. Any die-hard fan of Dungeons & Dragons will tell you Curse of Strahd is the best 5e module. A number of others are converted, new to 5e but not new to D&D. Politics and Factions is where we learn about the Traditionalists and the Loyalists, as well as secret interference in the town by a third faction I wont name here. If they are challenged, one of the guards tries to escape to 3 for help. These include crew conflicts, fires, fogs, infestations, and storms. How much use youll get out of it largely depends on your tolerance for very silly names, as only some of the results of this table really sound like hardened sea dogs. I recommend this product: I think your DM will get a lot of value out of the content and should enjoy running the adventurers within for you. Id consider it worthwhile prep to redo the roster with better organised information. While its not the first time Fifth Edition has used a campaign book has a gateway into another world (that would be Curse of Strahd, which acts as a gateway to the larger Ravenloft setting), this is still a huge deal. The appendix starts with rules governing ships. If played in order as a seafaring campaign, it takes characters from level 1 through level 12. The characters attempt to land upon and cross a region of sandy dunes in which a large number of skeletons are buried in the sand. In this adventure, the characters are asked by a struggling merchant to help salvage his wealth from a former ship of his fleet, long thought lost to the sea. This sets off immediate alarm bells because of the expected level: 11th-level spellcasters have significant ways to steamroller through this sort of adventure. what plots should yo. The tables below provide encounter options for open sea, aerial, ships, underwater and sahuagin encounters. This latter advice is honestly one of my favourite parts of the book: in a few brief paragraphs, it massively increases the play potential of a campaign set in and around Saltmarsh for anyone who also owns TotYP. The second half of the adventure involves rowing out to the smugglers' ship and doing Under Siege all over it, and they discover that the smugglers are smuggling arms to lizardfolk. This is a slightly surprising omission, as this downtime action specifically resolved finding a crew which many DMs would no doubt find helpful. Download the Ghosts of Saltmarsh Player's Guide. On the upside, theres a huge variety of stories available here, contained in various table and check results. Here are some ideas: The Final Enemy concludes the trilogy which began with The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. In a session zero, our players can build their characters together while also discussing the story of the campaign. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. They then must defend it agaisnt a horde of drowned ones, before venturing underwater to face the drowned ones leader and seal the Pit of Hatred. Sanctum islands are inhabited by creatures that want to protect themselves from raiders or live in isolation. data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAKAAAAB4CAYAAAB1ovlvAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAw5JREFUeF7t181pWwEUhNFnF+MK1IjXrsJtWVu7HbsNa6VAICGb/EwYPCCOtrrci8774KG76 . While Saltmarsh slumbers, the evils that seek to plunder it grow stronger. I'm going to be running Ghosts of Saltmarsh for some people over Roll20 starting this evening. We're getting to the point where there are quite a few books containing a wide assortment of races. At some point afterward the ship was attacked by a giant octopus (which is still pursuing the vessel), and only one of the cultists that was crewing it remains alive, along with various monsters. As mentioned, access to high level divination spells might bypass some of the adventure, but after reading it through Im fairly confident that it should still be a good play experience, with enough meat on the bones of the adventure even if the investigatory aspects are largely skipped. Ghosts of Saltmarsh makes no sense, here's why. Hostile islands are inhabited by intelligent creatures that actively want to harm visitors to their shores. Any kraken is a catastrophe in physical form, but one touched by Tharizduns destructive madness could become a threat of apocalyptic proportion in the fullness of time. Ghosts of Saltmarsh guide book. The mysterious island section of this appendix describes and provides tables for generating a variety of uncharted isles ripe for adventure. Episode 1 | A Sinister Secret. They find an aboleth at the temple (which is of course the Whisperer) recuperating after being attacked by its kin. The first, Avernus, fell apart. Marshes provide homes for birds; they serve as. The investigation eventually leads the characters to the mysterious Mr. Dory, and an investigation of his warehouse leads to a fight with he and his skum minions. I regret to say that in spite of its exciting settingIm surprised this is considered a classic adventure. [8][9], In Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending 5/25/19", Ghosts of Saltmarsh was #6 in "Hardcover Nonfiction". As with the last chapter this adventure first describes a new location The Styes, and provides potential hooks to get the characters to the town. [1][2][3] The adventures included, in the order of presentation and including original publication year, are: Additionally, the book contains rules for ship-to-ship combat, character backgrounds and includes details on the port town of Saltmarsh which anchors each adventure. Saltmarsh Overviewdescribes the towns approach to law enforcement and defense, its commerce (in the form of fishing, trading, smuggling, and mining), the towns locations, and available downtime activities. Meanwhile, the Coast Random Encounters table might be more easy to access at the table than the more expansive equivalent table inXanathars Guide to Everything, or you may not have that book. Theres even a section dealing with how to determine the mood of the town on any given visit, depending on whether the towns fishing industry is doing well! Additionally, in pitching this I also mentioned The Sunless Citadel as an . This is one of the memorable encounters Ive seen, as it includes a decommissioned ship held aloft by a crane in the warehouse yard. When the characters arrive, diplomats from several groups of aquatic races are present for negotiations to join an alliance against the sahuagin. slot level above 1st used to cast it), and the next attack against the target before the end of the lizardfolk's next turn has advantage. Since only one cultist survived, hes the only person capable of telling the next part of the story. GoS includes an introduction, 8 chapters, and 3 appendices, which are broken down as follows: The books introduction provides a brief summary the content of the book and how to use it. The corpses go in, and drowned ones come out. Kysh (Triton) though Kysh is a named NPC this statblock is useful because Kysh is typical triton warrior, and to date we only have a triton player race and not any monster stats). A fortified lighthouse on Abbey Isle makes the shipping lanes safer and can also give Saltmarsh advanced warning of invasion by sea. Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in search of revenge. I like this section a lot for what it is. Im mentioning that now so I dont keep repeating myself in my summaries of the following chapters, though I wont mention it again in my descriptions of the following chapters. This adventure is the first appearance within the book of an adventure site roster, which are brief summaries of what creatures are in which rooms and what might cause them to leave their current location. Sort by: Tendrils of Saltmarsh is a trilogy of adventures design to help fill in the level gaps left in the Ghosts of Saltmarsh book. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is an anthology of updated modules and adventures from previous editions, including three adventures from the classic 'U' series. Thousand Teeth a legendary giant crocodile. The section describes 6 island themes: The second appendix is a short one, containing just six magic items. As a fun way to get the story started, you might have a body wash up on the beach. Likewise, you might roll a mysterious island, which can also be generated using rules in this chapter. I like this adventure. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. As part of the review, Ill break down the contents of the book, summarise the adventures and other content within, and highlight any issues I might perceive in the content. The files were designed to be used with VTT apps such as Roll20, where you can assemble the ship in the way it best suits your campaign, being it placing . Its further broken down into the following sections: a brief introduction to the town, followed by Politics and Factions, Saltmarsh Overview, Downtime Activities, Saltmarsh Region, Adventures in Saltmarsh, and Saltmarsh Backgrounds. Naturally, GoS is also available on DnDBeyond, with the usual variety of purchase options: all content, compendium content only, and cherry-picking individual content. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Most differences are ultimately cosmetic: some rules have been slightly reworded, and the appearance of some sections within the rules has even been reordered. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. When I run The Ghosts of Saltmarsh, I'm fairly confident my current group will NOT burn down the house; they've heard that story and had a SMDH reaction to it (plus my wife played in that game, too). As written the adventure is pure side quest: it has no obvious links to the sahuagin arc or other adventures in this book. Chapter 17 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master describes the value of running a "session zero" for a new campaign. Whether Saltmarsh is invited to join the alliance depends on the players actions throughout the adventure, and is resolved by way of a point system. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of all the cookies. [6][7] Beadle & Grimm, a Wizards of the Coast licensee, released a special edition called the "Sinister Silver Edition of Ghosts of Saltmarsh". it appears that the actual print of the cover looks flatter and duller, Monstrous Monograph: Monstrosities Volume 1. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is an adventure module anthology for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game . The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (level 1-3) A fun two-part adventure which probably seemed more ground-breaking and revelatory 39 years ago than it does now. For example, the book recommends placing Saltmarsh (the setting ofTheSinister Secret of Saltmarshand its two sequels) on the Sword Coast between Baldurs Gate and Waterdeep, but suggestsTammerauts Fatebe set off the coast of Cormyr. Completing both parts is expected to take 4-6 characters from 1st to 3rd level. Likewise, the adventures include a decent collection of new monsters that will add value to your DM whatever their campaign. Download Free PDF View PDF . All in all, this is an excellent supplement that oozes potential and inspiration. This adventure expects 4-6 characters of 5th level. Someone might recognize her as one of two adventurers, brother and sister, who came to town with dreams of finding the alchemist's gold at the haunted mansion only to never be found again. He offers 10% of the profits of the sales to the characters, plus of course the friendship of a wealthy and important person may have other benefits. 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