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


[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]
[/FONT]
saltmarsh_alt.jpg


saltmarsh_keyart.jpg
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
Question! Ive never played any of these adventures except for the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, but that was when I was 7 so I dont remember. Do the players need to be able to breathe water for an extended period of time at any points in any of these modules?
Yes, but they provide the necessary resources for that. Especially for groups running this new hardcover, I can't imagine it'll be an issue, since every adventure that goes underwater even briefly will provide something to help out with that.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice there's something very Cthulhu-esque about that cover. I mean, if that's a kraken, why is it way up in the air? There's a very natural serendipity between the horror-tinged coastal adventures of the U-series and tales of the "Shadow Over Innsmouth" variety. Not to mention that recent products like Tomb of Annihilation have demonstrated that WoTC is willing to blend earlier works to create something new by combining Tomb of Horrors, essentially, with Dwellers in the Forbidden City. I'm wondering if we're going to see an adventure that mixes in Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh with Last Breath of Ashenport and some other stuff to give us something very Lovecraftian.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

R_J_K75

Legend
I ran a seafaring campaign where the PCs were looking for a shipwreck/sunken treasure. I refused to give my players inexhaustible means to breathe water. To me that seemed too easy, but they expected to walk into a town and buy magical items and spells by the dozens. Dont get me wrong I gave them options but they were less conventional, and didnt allow the entire group to do dives at their leisure for however long they wanted. I made them use their heads and utilize the resources they had available.
 


[MENTION=6801060]Demetrios1453[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6780330]Parmandur[/MENTION] : I didn't read any of the monster lore because as I stated, they were useless to me as I have my own lore for my own setting. And I figured they were FR focused since EVERY other book released has been (adventures minus Strahd, SCAG). Giving them names of Greyhawk characters really means nothing. So I made a mistake, but like I said, I didn't read the lore because it's rather useless to me. It's good to know it isn't FR focused, though.

Sorry that is a terrible system. You don't know the lore is useless to you until you read it. It may have some ideas you like that your monsters could have.
 



Staffan

Legend
I’m not a big fan of monsters that come out in the 3rd or 4th book of monster cause like in pathfinder and even older editions of D&D, these monsters are less used, fringe and weren’t popular or good enough to make it into the earlier books.
Monster books are an odd duck. Usually, the mechanical quality of the monsters increase as an edition gets older (because the designers get better at making monsters), but the quality of their concepts go down (because all the good ideas got used early).
 

R_J_K75

Legend
Monster books are an odd duck. Usually, the mechanical quality of the monsters increase as an edition gets older (because the designers get better at making monsters), but the quality of their concepts go down (because all the good ideas got used early).

I never gave it much thought let alone compared them but what changed from 2E to 3E? Think they released more MM in 2E allowing for longer entries thus fleshing out creatures better over the life of the edition? Starting in 3E the entries became more combat orientated and got rid of the other portions that made them unique outside of a combat emcounter. Wish theyd bring that back without doing 12 pages on goblins like the latest Volos Guide.
 

Having been reading Twitter, I've discovered a pretty big problem with this book: the absence of pirates. People want pirates. When this was announced I saw a number of people excited by the idea of a sailing campaign and possible piratical PCs. But this isn't that. The first three sessions underwater adjacent or inland. Others take place in and around islands. There may only be a couple encounters that take place on a ship.I expect a lot of new players will be really disappointed by this adventurer, going into it thinking one thing and then discovering it's something else entirely...
 

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top