The New D&D Book Is Called "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" [UPDATED!]

It seems those who suggested that the upcoming 'nautical themed' book was based on the old Saltmarsh trilogy were correct. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is the new book, with a release date of May 21st, 2019. UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION ON ALT COVER & RELEASE DATES!

It seems those who suggested that the upcoming 'nautical themed' book was based on the old Saltmarsh trilogy were correct. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is the new book, with a release date of May 21st, 2019. UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION ON ALT COVER & RELEASE DATES!

saltmarsh.jpg

Explore the waves above and the fathoms below in these watery adventures for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

“D&D acolytes are everywhere...Tech workers from Silicon Valley to Brooklyn have long-running campaigns, and the showrunners and the novelist behind ‘Game of Thrones’ have all been Dungeon Masters.”—Neima Jahromi, The New Yorker

Ghosts of Saltmarsh brings classic adventures into fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. This adventure book combines some of the most popular classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons including the classic “U” series, plus some of the best nautical adventures from the history of Dungeon Magazine: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater, Salvage Operation, Isle of the Abbey, The Final Enemy, Tammeraut’s Fate, The Styes.

• Ghosts of Salt Marsh includes a variety of seafaring adventures, enough to take characters from level 1 to level 12.

• This supplement introduces the port town of Saltmarsh, the perfect starting point for a nautical campaign.

• Each adventure can be played individually, inserted into your ongoing game or combined into a single epic nautical campaign.

• Dungeon Masters will find rules for ships and sea travel, deck plans for various vessels, an appendix with rules for new and classic monsters, and much more.

• Dungeons & Dragons is the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Created in 1974, D&D transformed gaming culture by blending traditional fantasy with miniatures and wargaming.

It's already on Amazon.

[video=youtube;GajoKmh9-68]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GajoKmh9-68[/video]


Updates!
WotC has just announced the book. Full press release below, but a couple of key points:
  • There's an alternate cover (below)
  • Preferred stores and regular stores get it on the same date, instead of WPN stores getting it early

Sail the Seas in Dungeons & Dragons with Ghosts of Saltmarsh Adventure Releasing Everywhere May 21

Renton, WA – February 25, 2019 – Dungeons & Dragons is excited to announce a new adventure book called Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which takes classic sea-faring adventures and updates and expands upon them for use with D&D fifth edition. The book details the port town of Saltmarsh and the surrounding lands players can explore using their own ship and the vehicle mechanics included in the 256-page book. Unravel sinister secrets of the sea with Ghosts of Saltmarsh releasing in game stores, digitally and everywhere on May 21, 2019. An alternate art cover with a distinctive design and soft-touch finish is available exclusively in game stores on May 21.

“The Saltmarsh series consistently ranks as one of the most popular classic D&D adventures,” said Mike Mearls, franchise creative director of D&D. “With 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.”

The book includes details on the port town of Saltmarsh, as well as plenty of adventure hooks for each chapter. Fans can play through the whole story in a seafaring campaign leading characters from level 1 through level 12, while Dungeon Masters can easily pull out sections to place in ongoing campaigns in any setting. The appendices cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters and more!

Ghosts of Saltmarsh will be available both in game stores and everywhere else on the same date – May 21st. Fans are encouraged to pick up the adventure in the way that’s most convenient for them, but there is an alternate art soft-touch cover that will only be available in game stores. The alternate cover image was created by N. C. Winters and features a snarling sahuagin.

For more information on Ghosts of Saltmarsh and all things D&D, please go to dungeonsanddragons.com and check out the breadth of live D&D programming and interviews available on twitch.tv/dnd. You can also listen to interviews involving Ghosts of Saltmarsh as well as D&D mechanics and lore on Dragon Talk, the official D&D podcast.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh combines some of the most popular classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons including the classic ‘U’ series, plus some of the best nautical adventures from the history of DungeonMagazine:

  • The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
  • Danger at Dunwater
  • The Final Enemy
  • Salvage Operation
  • Isle of the Abbey
  • Tammeraut’s Fate
  • The Styes
All adventures have been faithfully adapted to the fifth edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Furthermore, this book includes details on the port town of Saltmarsh, as well as plenty of adventure hooks for each chapter. Play through the whole story in a seafaring campaign leading characters from level 1 through level 12, or Dungeon Masters can easily pull out sections to place in ongoing campaigns in any setting. The appendices also cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters, and more!
[h=3]WHERE CAN I BUY IT?[/h]Unravel sinister secrets of the sea with Ghosts of Saltmarsh releasing in game stores, digitally and everywhere on May 21, 2019. An alternate art cover with a distinctive design and soft-touch finish is available exclusively in game stores on May 21.

Price:[FONT=&amp] $49.95 [/FONT]
Release Date: [FONT=&amp]21 May, 2019 [/FONT]
Format:[FONT=&amp] Hardcover


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Watching the Kate Welch video makes it sound like the non-adventure section of the book is going to be pretty substantial. I'm hoping for a relatively robust bestiary section myself...

For those familiar with the adventures in question, how many pages do they run, and what would be a likely page count for them collectively in this book?
 

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For the FR, I'd reckon the Sword Coast, or the western part of the Sea of Fallen Stars somewhere.

Since, from what I've heard, the Sea Princes are mentioned in one of the U adventures, it would presumably need to be near one of the two sets of Pirate Isles in the Realms, so that would need to be the southern Sword Coast, or even Amn or Tethyr, for the Sword Coast group; or it would likely be Sembia, Turmish, Impiltur, or Aglarond if it's the Sea of Fallen Stars group...
 

Aaron L

Hero
This was set in Greyhawk The town of Saltmarsh was. I am wondering did they steal this from the original setting to put it in the genericx realms or is it in the setting that is was set in from the start.

Given how they transplanted Acererak and Elemental Evil to Fearun, ham-fistedly described ripping Castle Greyhawk from Oerth to float around from world to world, and later gave Evermeet the same shabby treatment being ripped it from Faerun and having it "cast adrift in the planes" as a mystic homeland for all Elves no matter what world they're from (barf), I'm sure the default of these adventures will be Toril.

(As well as how they've tried to shoehorn the Weave into the PHB, even though the relationship between the Weave and Mystra was a defining element of the Forgotten Realms that made the setting unique and interesting, and made all Elves 6+ feet tall like 'Realms Elves as part of the Realmsification of all D&D settings. I like the 'Realms, but c'mon. Making these things just Generic D&D cheapens and robs the setting of its distinctiveness.)
 

EthanSental

Legend
Supporter
And ordered, regular cover for me. Never played the adventures mentioned in the book so nice to have some options to use them in my campaign.
 


Quickleaf

Legend
Watching the Kate Welch video makes it sound like the non-adventure section of the book is going to be pretty substantial. I'm hoping for a relatively robust bestiary section myself...

For those familiar with the adventures in question, how many pages do they run, and what would be a likely page count for them collectively in this book?

My page counts may not be perfectly right (DUNGEON ads, very different text formats, etc.) but are in the right ballpark...

U1 - Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh 30 pages
U2 - Danger at Dunwater 30 pages
U3 - The Final Enemy 46 pages
Isle of the Abbey (DUNGEON #34) 12 pages... maybe less from ads
Salvage Operation (DUNGEON #123) 9 pages
Tammeraut’s Fate (DUNGEON #106) 29 pages... a bit bloated from 3e stat blocks
The Styes (DUNGEON #121) 23 pages

So roughly 179 pages altogether.
 

My page counts may not be perfectly right (DUNGEON ads, very different text formats, etc.) but are in the right ballpark...

U1 - Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh 30 pages
U2 - Danger at Dunwater 30 pages
U3 - The Final Enemy 46 pages
Isle of the Abbey (DUNGEON #34) 12 pages... maybe less from ads
Salvage Operation (DUNGEON #123) 9 pages
Tammeraut’s Fate (DUNGEON #106) 29 pages... a bit bloated from 3e stat blocks
The Styes (DUNGEON #121) 23 pages

So roughly 179 pages altogether.

So given a likely page count of 224 - 256, somewhere around 50 -75 pages for the base setting and for rules and bestiary. Not too shabby, although I would always like to have more room for monsters!
 


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