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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

From the screenshots, "midway between Waterdeep and Neverwinter".

If this works, it shows the world map from Neverwinter Nights 2. Highcliff in that game is located where Saltmarsh is in the Realms.
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[CapnZapp]

I think he might be talking about Dragon Heist. Or Storm King's Thunder. In either module, you only use a tiny slice of the book in the actual play of the adventure.

Fair enough. Those adventures are non-standard in that regard.

 

[George Krashos]

At a glance, it will be interesting to see how they have reconciled "Tammeraut's Fate" with Saltmarsh in geographic terms.

-- George Krashos

 

[Hussar]

Fair enough. Those adventures are non-standard in that regard.

Well, there's only what, 8 AP's, so, I'm not sure that there really is a standard. Depending on how you run Ravenloft, a lot of that module would get left on the cutting room floor for a lot of groups as well. Now, we're creeping up on around a third of the modules that WotC's pumped out for 5e fitting the "25% used" description. It's not a totally unreasonable criticism.

That I still hate that bloody compass rose on the Saltmarsh map, on the other hand, is a totally unreasonable criticism and I don't care.

 

[CapnZapp]

Depending on how you run Ravenloft, a lot of that module would get left on the cutting room floor for a lot of groups as well.

I don't think Elfcrusher means to criticize a sandbox for being... well, a sandbox.

If 2 out of 8 modules doesn't fit your playing style or meet your expectations, it's entirely reasonable to ask you to look at the other 75% of material offered.

What really would be unreasonable would be to demand that no module ever experiments with the "parallel tracks" writing structure.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don't think Elfcrusher means to criticize a sandbox for being... well, a sandbox.

No, I wasn't. But only because I hadn't gotten around to it. I hate sandboxes.

If 2 out of 8 modules doesn't fit your playing style or meet your expectations, it's entirely reasonable to ask you to look at the other 75% of material offered.

What really would be unreasonable would be to demand that no module ever experiments with the "parallel tracks" writing structure.

Yes, that would be ridiculous. Sort of like demanding that no game ever experiment with "no magic item price lists" game structure. It's just crazy talk, right?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, there's only what, 8 AP's, so, I'm not sure that there really is a standard. Depending on how you run Ravenloft, a lot of that module would get left on the cutting room floor for a lot of groups as well. Now, we're creeping up on around a third of the modules that WotC's pumped out for 5e fitting the "25% used" description. It's not a totally unreasonable criticism.

That I still hate that bloody compass rose on the Saltmarsh map, on the other hand, is a totally unreasonable criticism and I don't care.

I don't think there is any way to avoid it without railroading players. Huge amounts of the material I have created for our current (approximately two year) campaign has ended up being discarded because the players decided to do something different. "Why don't we change into giant eagles and fly to Luskan?" [carefully crafted Black Raven barbarian stat blocks go in the bin].

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I hate sandboxes.

Because they are course and rough and irritating and get everywhere?

 

[NiClerigo]

Are there any suggestions for using the book in Eberron?

 

[Psyzhran2357]

Are there any suggestions for using the book in Eberron?

They recommend placing Saltmarsh in Q'barra and involving House Phiarlan with the smugglers.