Other common races – those found in the Player’s Handbook – are also present and established, but in smaller numbers. But the way back up, with a constant environmental threat, movement restrictions from the treasure, and the danger of sinking, really gives this adventure a distinctive feel. As a trend-line through other recent works, Ghosts of Saltmarsh tells me that the team saw how well Dragon Heist worked as a setting and adventure full of social conflict, and they kept on improving it. 30 September, 2014, Terms 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. And, while there is a point-tracking system to determine when the players have convinced the lizardfolk to ally with Saltmarsh, and that system involves talking, there’s very little guidance on how to do that convincing other than making charisma checks. I think that’s a pretty good ratio. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is the brand-new book for D&D. Smugglers guide their ships to hidden coves, willing to slit the throat of anyone foolhardy enough to cross their path. To be clear, it isn’t a bad book. It was to my great joy to read through Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and discover that it is indeed another excellent supplement to have on hand. The way down is pretty standard fare, just with the ‘dungeon’ being the inside of a ship. One-click unsubscribe later if you don't enjoy the newsletter. Inside you will find interviews, features, and comics that cover all things D&D. Format: Hardcover. Smugglers guide their ships to hidden coves, willing to slit the throat of any who cross their path. Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in search of revenge. Now the hard part, my players love the politics of Saltmarsh and the mystery of what is really going on. The players said they had fun and that they felt challenged by the extra hobgoblin. Production Values Ghosts of Saltmarsh (hereafter referred to as GoS) runs to 256 pages, which is the typical length of a Fifth Edition product by Wizards of the Coast.It has a recommended retail price of $49.95 in the US, and £38.99 in the UK. Nestled on the coast of the Azure Sea is Saltmarsh, a sleepy fishing village that sits on the precipice of destruction. ), and there are some individual rooms that are flagged as probably being lethal. 3. Nearly every single one has something the players can do that could be spun off into its own adventure. There are even half-human/half-fish types around. Players can journey through the entire story in a seafaring campaign leading characters from level one through level 12, while Dungeon Masters can pull sections to place in ongoing campaigns in any setting. Saltmarsh and the Siren Coast region are predominantly human. For example, a Galley (max crew 80) may take 3 actions--2 if at 40 crew or less, 1 if at 20 crew or less, and 0 if depleted to 3 crewmen or less. Unravel sinister secrets of the sea with Ghosts of Saltmarsh releasing in game stores, digitally, and everywhere on May 21, 2019. So there’s a balancing act of putting enough content in between to gain the appropriate levels without stretching things out to much. The initial phase of this adventure is fairly light exploration and combat. Now that all of those prying players have safely clicked away to greener pastures, here are some more detailed thoughts on the adventures, and how they might be strung together. 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. Produced by Beadle & Grimm's, their Sinister Silver Edition is filled with all the elements a Dungeon Master needs to create an amazing experience for their players adventuring through Ghosts of Saltmarsh. I get that fighting aboleths requires a certain power level, but to me part of the Lovecraftian mood is characters who are first learning of the crazy world out there and have a relatively limited ability to do anything about it. I would look to run Tammeraut’s Fate as something independent for any random campaign (or later on in a campaign a couple levels after the completion of the Saltmarsh trilogy). And they’re doing that whole ‘undead walking across the floor of the ocean’ thing to get to the island. As the DM, I will also be giving my observations on running the adventures and … 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. These residents, alas, suffered a similar fate to those on the Isle of the Abbey – most of them are already dead at the hands of pirates. Speaking of DM material, I’m going to put a spacer image here, and the review with resume below with. 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 three locations are a reef, a shipwreck, and an underwater ruin, so there’s a nice spread of options. This article is one of a series of articles covering the hardback D&D adventure book, Ghosts of Saltmarsh.You can read all of these articles here: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (1st level) – The party unravels a smuggling ring delivering weapons to a tribe of lizardfolk. This section of the book features a map of the town, along with 30 different locations. The early part of this review will be spoiler-free, but those who don’t want to ruin the surprise should not venture below the space image a few paragraphs down.). The new backgrounds are fisher, marine, shipwright (which has a really useful ability if you’re going to engage in naval combat), and smuggler. As the Confederacy has taken more of an interest in the Siren Coast, more members of other races have become more common as well. While Saltmarsh slumbers, the evils that seek to plunder it grow stronger. This is a great "getting started" adventure. This adventure kicks off with an effort to traipse across a sandy beach that just happens to contain many, many buried skeletons – which will be of wildly variable difficulty, because the d20 roll to make it off the beach may mean no combat or massive hordes of skeletons to deal with. Artwork by Wizards of the Coast. 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). 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. Code of Conduct Subscribe to get the free product of the week! The PCs chose to protect the Ghost instead of the council house so I am going to say Eilander is badly wounded and the Lizardfolk ambassador is dead. This may involve beating stubborn players over the head at some point during the adventure, because the whole point is that they need to change their mindset – the DM doesn’t have the luxury of a quest-giver at the start of the mission ordering them not to engage. The muddy footprints led downstairs. A specific interest in sea-themed adventures will give players an extra kick out of these adventures (this is probably more pertinent to pirate- and ship-related adventures), although it isn’t required. Saltmarsh is a town of around 5000, mostly human, with a few elves, halflings and dwarves. The other four adventures are Salvage Operation (Mike Mearls), Isle of the Abbey (Randy Maxwell), Tammeratu’s Fate (Greg A. Vaughn), and The Styes (Richard Pett). J. Burgess. Fan Content Before the final battle, the characters are sent in to the sahuagin fortress (which is now mostly underwater) to scout enemy numbers and locations. One of the better modules for D&D 5E, Ghosts of Saltmarsh takes players from Level 1 to Level 7-ish. 3) Players who are interested in developing a story, interacting with quirky, noble, and sometimes nefarious characters. Hoist your sails, pull up anchor, and set a course for adventure! The final two adventures (Tammeraut’s Fate and The Styes) don’t fit as well, but that’s less of an issue because they are higher-level than the end of the Saltmarsh trilogy. It’s a follow up to the path breaking format of Tales of the Yawning Portal (YotYP) released 2 years … Similar to Tales from the Yawning Portal, Saltmarsh brings another seven adventures out of D&D’s past editions and updates them for 5th Edition. 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. Cruel sahuagin gather beneath the waves, plotting to sweep away coastal cities. Explore the waves above and the fathoms below in these watery adventures for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Release Date: Among the passengers and cargo on the ship are some lizardfolk and weapons, which leads to the next adventure. It is probably also the most difficult adventure to GM out of those in this book. Telling them the Lizardfolk weren't coming after Saltmarsh was a non-option of course but … That part is fairly straightforward to run, but only once it’s read very, very closely, because it isn’t entirely clear what is where (and a glaring typo doesn’t help). 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). The cult of a forbidden god extends its reach outward from a decaying port, hungry for fresh victims and willing recruits. 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 appendix of Ghosts of Saltmarsh features a few nifty magical items suited to the setting, a collection of new foes your adventurers will face throughout the campaigns, and, most impressively, a large section on ships and the sea. This introduces some nice efforts at shoring up the abbey’s defenses from the oncoming attack – there’s quite a bit the players might be able to do (although it will also help greatly if they didn’t expend too many resources in phase 1). Across the seven adventures, players will encounter pirates, smugglers, smuggler-pirates, haunted houses, lizardfolk, aquatic elves, aquatic hobgoblins, merfolk, skeletons, underwater zombies, giant underwater monsters, ships in various states of disrepair on the surface of the ocean, and ships in various states of disrepair on the ocean floor. 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