A Look Inside Ghosts of Saltmarsh: Contents, Saltmarsh Map, & More

NewbieDM over on Twitter has a copy of Ghosts of Saltmarsh and has shared some initial glimpses inside! The book releases on May 21st.

"First, the setting...The village of Saltmarsh is unequivocally set in Greyhawk. It says so in the book. This is not set in the Forgotten Realms, nor in some ambiguous generic world. This is Greyhawk.

So remember how in UK1, Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, the village itself was largely left for DMs to populate and create? Not now. Saltmarsh is a living breathing place with 3 factions vying for power: Traditionalists, Loyalists (to the Kingdom of Keoland), Scarlet Brotherhood.

Saltmarsh is fully fleshed out, as is the nearby region, and the political happenings are presented as a way to ground the PCs as they embark on a Saltmarsh based campaign."

I thought this book was comparable to Tales of the Yawning Portal... and it is, but it takes its usefulness a step further. It actually helps you craft a campaign with the included adventures, using Saltmarsh’s factions as the drivers.

There's a LOT more images and commentary over at the Twitter link. Also don't miss my summary of all the adventures found within, which I posted a couple of days ago, or our extensive podcast coverage of all those adventures.

 

[jgsugden]

Are the waterbased adventuring rules worth the cost of the book? Do they cover the spectrum of baheaviors PCs would have on a ship (ship to ship combat, ship to air combat, underwater adventuring)?

 

[Parmandur]

So all the posts, pages, and full threads moaning about how Saltmarsh was being appropriated and that there would be no connection to Greyhawk were, as expected, a whole bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

What's the official page count, by the way? I've looked at both the WotC website anf Amazon, and was unable to find it. I'm curious just how big the monsters section at the end will be...

I would wager 256 pages.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Are the waterbased adventuring rules worth the cost of the book? Do they cover the spectrum of baheaviors PCs would have on a ship (ship to ship combat, ship to air combat, underwater adventuring)?

It's 38 pages. That's a lot of ship.

 

[Parmandur]

Are the waterbased adventuring rules worth the cost of the book? Do they cover the spectrum of baheaviors PCs would have on a ship (ship to ship combat, ship to air combat, underwater adventuring)?

I dunno if anybody posting here has the book, but the non-adventure material seems mighty robust: if you plan to do seafaring stuff, seems useful. Worth Amazon prices, maybe?

 

[epithet]

Coincidentally, I recently came across the answer to this on Chris Lindsay's twitter account.

https://twitter.com/Onnatryx/status/1123765708549238785

So, Saltmarsh yes. Greyhawk no. Which is very interesting. I wonder what they've got going on there.

AD

That makes no sense to me. If the "setting" of Saltmarsh is open for DMsGuild publication, and Saltmarsh is described as being on the coast of Keoland (as it should be,) then how is Keoland itself not going to be open, with the pantheons of Oerth, the Citadel of Eight, etc.?

I'm more than a bit tired of whatever game they're playing with Greyhawk, and I'm still salty over the fact that you can publish and adventure for D&D set in MtG but not in the original D&D published setting (or the 2nd one, for that matter, which is "The Known World" now called Mystara.) You've already got people creating content for these settings "for free" for those who support them on Patreon, as well as for Dark Sun and Dragonlance. If WotC wants to take a cut of products made for those settings, I think they need to get on it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Maybe for some reason they are trying to change the settings name - Saltmarsh (formally known as Greyhawk).

 

[Parmandur]

That makes no sense to me. If the "setting" of Saltmarsh is open for DMsGuild publication, and Saltmarsh is described as being on the coast of Keoland (as it should be,) then how is Keoland itself not going to be open, with the pantheons of Oerth, the Citadel of Eight, etc.?

I'm more than a bit tired of whatever game they're playing with Greyhawk, and I'm still salty over the fact that you can publish and adventure for D&D set in MtG but not in the original D&D published setting (or the 2nd one, for that matter, which is "The Known World" now called Mystara.) You've already got people creating content for these settings "for free" for those who support them on Patreon, as well as for Dark Sun and Dragonlance. If WotC wants to take a cut of products made for those settings, I think they need to get on it.

Seems straight-forward: non-setting specific elements from the book can be used in DMsGuild stuff, and Greyhawk specific stuff cannot. I am sure they will provide documentation explaining in detail what is and is not appropriate.

They have plans for Greyhawk, no need to be hasty.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Looking at some of NewbieDM's other Twitter posts, he showed glimpses of the locathah and skum descriptions from the monster section, as well as a depiction of a koalinth (labeled as such). I'm very pleased to see all three officially updated now, although given that the koalinth picture is obviously within an adventure, it may just be described as a hobgoblin with water breathing and not given a full stat block (but I hope not!).

 

[Parmandur]

Looking at some of NewbieDM's other Twitter posts, he showed glimpses of the locathah and skum descriptions from the monster section, as well as a depiction of a koalinth (labeled as such). I'm very pleased to see all three officially updated now, although given that the koalinth picture is obviously within an adventure, it may just be described as a hobgoblin with water breathing and not given a full stat block (but I hope not!).

Not super surprising, given that Perkins talked about these in Dragon Talk.

 

[Draegn]

This is lovely. Something I can use to plug into an under appreciated area of my world.

 

[lkj]

That makes no sense to me. If the "setting" of Saltmarsh is open for DMsGuild publication, and Saltmarsh is described as being on the coast of Keoland (as it should be,) then how is Keoland itself not going to be open, with the pantheons of Oerth, the Citadel of Eight, etc.?

I'm more than a bit tired of whatever game they're playing with Greyhawk, and I'm still salty over the fact that you can publish and adventure for D&D set in MtG but not in the original D&D published setting (or the 2nd one, for that matter, which is "The Known World" now called Mystara.) You've already got people creating content for these settings "for free" for those who support them on Patreon, as well as for Dark Sun and Dragonlance. If WotC wants to take a cut of products made for those settings, I think they need to get on it.

So, obviously, I don't actually know what they're doing. But the fact that they are keeping Greyhawk back might be seen as an encouraging sign that they intend to provide more robust support for the setting and are waiting to make it available on DMsG so they can time it with the release of that additional support.

Usually, their planning horizons are pretty long, so that might mean it'll be awhile though.

But, heck, who knows?

AD

 

[Morrus]

Not super surprising, given that Perkins talked about these in Dragon Talk.

And they’re in the original adventures.

 

[murquhart72]

Need me some Greyhawk...

 

[Monkey King]

Is the description of Saltmarsh taken from the 3.5 DMG II?

We looked at the 3.5 DMG II, but the Saltmarsh described there is not of a struggling fishing village with smugglers and swamps abounding. This take on Saltmarsh sticks with the U series tone for a fishing village, without the Victorian bits of the DMG II take.

 

[Siriak]

Oh, boy! The Scarlet Brotherhood!

 

[Demetrios1453]

Now that I'm at home and can properly read the text on some of the pictured pages (instead of squinting at them on my phone), I'm really (happily) surprised on just how Greyhawk they've gone with it. I'm seeing references to Keoland, the Sea Princes, and the Scarlet Brotherhood; St Cuthbert, Vecna, Iuz, Procan, and Erythnul. They definitely did not go the almost completely setting neutral route we were expecting, and that they even heavily implied they would be going.

So...an idea occurs to me. The reveals for the upcoming fall products will be happening next weekend at the Descent event, only a few days before this is released. I'm wondering if their misdirection on this product might indicate we may be getting something else Greyhawk-centric coming up...

 

[MNblockhead]

I absolutely love that picture of the lizardfolk talking with each other.

Can't wait for the book's release!

That was what first struck me. I really like that depiction, hit helps person-ize the lizard folk, which is important in this series of adventures.

I'm excited about this book.

 

[Parmandur]

Now that I'm at home and can properly read the text on some of the pictured pages (instead of squinting at them on my phone), I'm really (happily) surprised on just how Greyhawk they've gone with it. I'm seeing references to Keoland, the Sea Princes, and the Scarlet Brotherhood; St Cuthbert, Vecna, Iuz, Procan, and Erythnul. They definitely did not go the almost completely setting neutral route we were expecting, and that they even heavily implied they would be going.

So...an idea occurs to me. The reveals for the upcoming fall products will be happening next weekend at the Descent event, only a few days before this is released. I'm wondering if their misdirection on this product might indicate we may be getting something else Greyhawk-centric coming up...

I'd wager that Steve Winter and Wolfgang Baur put lots of little throwaway references that are really easily filed off for other settings, and Kate Welch doesn't know the little bits well (as she admitted to being unfamiliar with GH).

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'd already pre-ordered it, but now I'm feeling even better about my purchase. If what we're seeing here is any indication, it looks like this might be up there with Volo's Guide to Monsters for a great supplement.

I like how they kept so many Greyhawk references. And if anything, Greyhawk is generally easier to file off the serial numbers and use in your own campaign than Forgotten Realms is, because it has fewer invasive setting elements. I would also be really surprised if they don't have advice on where to set the adventures if you want to play them in the Forgotten Realms or another setting, which will make a great option for anyone who likes the book theme.

 

[Guest 6801328]

If what we're seeing here is any indication, it looks like this might be up there with Volo's Guide to Monsters for a great supplement.

I just hope it's not another one of those APs where any given campaign only uses 50% of the book.