The fact that there is no overarching story (three out of eight adventures aside) may be considered a weakness by some. While the events of this adventure are very exciting, it has significant problems. Youll either love or hate the maps in GoS. Its worth noting that if youre playing in a world other than Greyhawk and you intend to run the book as a campaign rather than pick stand-alone adventures from it, you might find it difficult to include some adventures in your campaign. For this adventure the party ought to have 4-6 characters of 9th level, so do another side quest if you need them to level up. The first conflict of the adventure is a pretty creative encounter, or series of encounters as the case may be. If played in order as a seafaring campaign, it takes characters from level 1 through level 12. These three adventures introduced Saltmarsh to Greyhawk and together form the backbone for the books optional campaign arc. This is easily the beating heart of an exploration game, and it doesnt look like it would get repetitive in a hurry".[13]. These are adventures, and theyre good, but theyre good for very specific things. 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. [2], Christian Hoffer, for Comicbook, wrote that "the book contains a surprising amount of references and nods to its Greyhawk roots. It takes a lot of work to mesh singular modules into a cohesive adventure, but [Mike] Mearls and Kate Welch (who served as the lead designers on this one) did a fantastic job. A fortified lighthouse on Abbey Isle makes the shipping lanes safer and can also give Saltmarsh advanced warning of invasion by sea. Mr. Dorys connection a cult of Tharizdun and a being called The Whisperer, believed to be Tharizduns messenger, who gives the cult orders. With that of a mysterious. Danger is 3. The factions provide connective tissue between the adventures in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but players can easily approach the chapters of the books as standalone adventures or pull Saltmarsh out of Greyhawk entirely without any significant issue". They may or may not be willing to entertain visitors. This is because the guidance for placing the adventures relies on suitable geography that exists in the world. This time, the characters are tasked with an essential role: they are to infiltrate the sahuagin stronghold in the former home of the lizardfolk, and return with intelligence that will bring about the enemys defeat.Their goals are determine the sahuagins strength of numbers, identify key areas of the fortress (which has been modified since the lizardfolk were ousted), discover significant defenses, and learn how soon the sahuagin might attack. The Cursed Luckstone lets you roll with advantage, but then inflicts disadvantage on your next two rolls. Youre unlikely to encounter a galleon which is intended for fishing, for example. If this happens, the adventure is reduced to the level of an old school dungeon crawl of seemingly random monsters dropped into a location without context (in this case a Lolth-worshipping half-orc druid, spider-themed monsters, and a random group of ghouls which are somehow aboard the vessel). This article is one of a series of articles covering the hardback D&D adventure book, Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Such a refined and focused drive for the characters helps ensure the players bring characters to the table who will work well together and fit the theme of the campaign. Thats good, because although the campaigns central story is now concluded, the book still has two higher level adventures for them to face! While any effort to improve the DMs running experience is fantastic, the actual execution of trosters is nowhere near as helpful as it could and should be. Fortunately, an awareness of this seems to have factored in at the design stage: indeed, the adventure references divination and commune specifically as options for characters who have lost the trail. Chapter 17 of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master describes the value of running a "session zero" for a new campaign. And of course, the typical curse that you cant easily get rid of the item. One group is loyal to the king of Keoland and uses imperial authority to exert its influence, while another is connected to the sinister Scarlet Brotherhood, a classic group of Greyhawk antagonists. Part 1: Sigurd's Island. There's a haunted house outside Saltmarsh. I would start at level 2 with no adjustment for Saltmarsh. As written the adventure is pure side quest: it has no obvious links to the sahuagin arc or other adventures in this book. However if you want to keep them in Tier 1 (level 1-4) Do Salvage Operation instead of Final Enemy. This will KILL a newbie 3rd level party that is not optimized for combat. They do really well, managing to map out a lot of the levels and freeing Borgas and Kysh. 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). The characters are once again asked for help by Saltmarshs town council on behalf of the alliance against the sahuagin. 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. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - four to six 1st level Danger at Dunwater - four to six 3rd level Salvage Operation - four to six 4th level Isle of the Abbey - four to six 5th level The Final Enemy - four to six 7th level Tammeraut's Fate - four to six 9th level The Styes - four to six 11th level The section describes 6 island themes: The second appendix is a short one, containing just six magic items. DREAMS OF THE RED WIZARDS AN ADVENTURE FOR CHARACTERS OF 2 ND -4 TH LEVEL TITO LEATI MATT SERNETT CHRIS SIMS. 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. DMs looking for their next published campaign have a lot to look forward to if they choose GoS. In a session zero, our players can build their characters together while also discussing the story of the campaign. The kraken is fed kidnapped beggars and other folks no one would miss, while all the negative emotions of the people of the Styes feed dark magic that accelerates the krakens growth. Theyre fun, and mostly useful. Like my post from the Sea Ghost Loot, I went through the first half of The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and labelled where all valuables are located at in the mansion. Each episode ends on a dramatic cliffhanger for the next episode to follow. This is probably the books greatest strength. Ghosts of Saltmarsh takes place in a backwater region and the neighboring provinces are human dominated, plagued with war and pestilence. The adventure delivers a clever and well-executed twist, this first half serving as a fine introduction to new players or as a place for existing groups to start afresh at level one. See Full PDF Download PDF. Time to turn back if you dont want spoilers! As mentioned, the adventures are mostly superb: theyre highly competent conversions of the older material, expanded and improved and tied together into what amounts to a pretty satisfactory campaign. The Final Enemy is the last adventure of the trilogy focused on the sahuagin threat which began in The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and continued on in Danger at Dunwater. They find an aboleth at the temple (which is of course the Whisperer) recuperating after being attacked by its kin. 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. 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. Likewise, you should enjoy playing them! Mr. Dory uses this ship as his lair. The region of Saltmarsh is a classic D&D setting. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. The descriptions summarise what can be found aboard the ship, and larger ships are broken down into multiple sections as though they were an adventure site to help you find things (main deck, officers quarters, forecastle etc). This is a slightly surprising omission, as this downtime action specifically resolved finding a crew which many DMs would no doubt find helpful. GoS indicates Ghosts of Saltmarsh. [12], On ship-to-ship combat, Brandes Stoddard, for Tribality, wrote that "most of what we saw in the [Unearthed Arcana] article of the same name seems to still be in place the same component/battle station format for ships and naval combat. Historically set in the Greyhawk setting, here it's reimagined as setting-neutral, and is a self-contained area with a lot of intrigue. It was an oddity in its time and is still a bit of an oddity now: if played smart the adventure requires absolutely no combat. We're getting to the point where there are quite a few books containing a wide assortment of races. It includes the Ghosts of Saltmarsh broken into individual booklets for each chapter, physical props (such as amulets and tea stained in-world letters), a custom Dungeon Master's screen for this book, thirty hanging encounter cards, laminated ship maps and other handouts (such as regional maps and setting art). The system for officers and crew are likewise recognizable from the UA text. comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment Shiroiken Additional comment actions. The monks have become victims of a crew of undead pirates who serve the demon lord Orcus. 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 Isle of the Abbey introduces evil cultists who worship a deity of your choice. This may or may not be a sign of more official Greyhawk to come. The characters might find communications from the cult in the. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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. These include crew conflicts, fires, fogs, infestations, and storms. However, as you know by now it also should be far more helpful than it actually is. Cursed islands are steeped in the residue of dark magic, and are typically inhabited by undead. 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. 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. The adventurers only ought to end up in a fight if they fail to act diplomatically, or if they end up helping the lizardfolk with some local problems in order to earn goodwill. 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. The last thing you want is for the sahuagin to be a distant threat right up until the adventurers face them. If they are challenged, one of the guards tries to escape to 3 for help. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is an adventure module anthology for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. If they have managed to talk to the druid, the characters will know that the octopus already attacked the ship once and can deduce that it is pursuing the vessel. The adventure continues the trilogys preference for thoughtful solutions: the characters are infiltrators, so should avoid fights where possible and defeat any enemies they do encounter quickly and quietly. The next time you're getting ready to start a new campaign, start it off with a session zero and watch the world come together. And buy the first module. For this session zero I wrote a Ghosts of Saltmarsh Player's Guide. All sample ships come with a map (with the exception of the rowboat, which obviously doesnt need one). This provides the backdrop we need for the following parts of the adventure, which kicks off with a murder mystery. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Ghosts of Saltmarsh has a lot of new content-new adventures, dozens of new areas to explore, but today, we're taking a look at what it offers players. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Download Free PDF View PDF. The appendix contains the following creatures: As you can see theres quite a lot here thats new to Fifth Edition at least! 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. it appears that the actual print of the cover looks flatter and duller, Monstrous Monograph: Monstrosities Volume 1. TheCharm of Plant Command andHelm of Underwater Action in particular need no explanation. After successfully traversing the dunes and arriving at the abbey runs, the adventurers will discover that the clerics werent wiped out after all. Saltmarsh itself is not large enough to contain the Styes (and we see that it isnt included on the Saltmarsh map), meaning that this is another adventure that requires the characters to travel elsewhere. The characters will have to explore the Firewatch Island Hermitage, while avoiding or overcoming a particularly nasty peryton that hunts in the area. Aside from the smuggling operation noted above, the final sections of this adventure pertain to further adventures characters could have that are connected to Tammerauts Fate. The End of a Trilogy. Campaign Setting Credits Lead Designer & Author . ThePipe of Remembrancehas no mechanical benefits, but is very cool all the same since it lets you conjure smokey images of your past achievements and victories. If the characters allow them to do so, many may not survive. If not dealt with, the drowned ones will spread to skarn, Saltmarsh, and beyond, continuing to seek new victims and build an undead army. I recommend both a color map of the village of Saltmarsh and a black-and-white map of the Saltmarsh region. However, it is almost certainly a sign that Greyhawk is about to be added to the list of supported settings on the DMsGuild, which would enable fans to update Greyhawk themselves. A session zero is vital to a healthy campaign but we would all rather be playing than going over rules, expectations, and character creation so these sessions . Likewise, you might roll a mysterious island, which can also be generated using rules in this chapter. 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. 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