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!

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]

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Updates!

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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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[Guest 6801328]

Great news! This comes in a close second behind Ravenloft in terms of 5e AP announcements I've been excited about.

Third place would be a very, very distant third.

 

[Parmandur]

Am I imagining things, or were we previously told there'd be two nautical books in 2019?

No, we haven't been told that. This book, Kate Welch's first project as lead, is what was being discussed. There is also a comic book series set at sea along the Sword Coast coming in the next few months, and a giant ship mini from WizKids.

A seafaring AP storyline would not be surprising, and would fit with some long-standing clues, but is not necessarily coming this year.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

U2 mostly consists of a dungeon that you're not actually supposed to run through. The innovative idea here is that the optimal strategy is to negotiate with the "monsters". Unfortunately, once the designers came up with that gem of an idea, they didn't know what to do with it. There isn't much guidance for making such negotiations interesting, and the bulk of the material presented is only useful if the players choose the sub-optimal strategy of murder-hoboing.

What 5E has that 1E didn't, though, is a robust social skill system. I think U2 is probably more playable now than it was at the time.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, it turns out that the 3.x DMG II has a fully drawn out Saltmarsh, while the original modules left the town for the DM to draw out. I wonder if this will make use of that material as the frame setting?

That would be smart and helpful. Based on the synopsis, I think it's likely.

 

[Jester David]

Sounds cool but not very surprising. The team was pretty busy in the fall, so I expected another compilation of some kind. (Which is also why it's not coming out until late May rather than early April like other Spring releases.) I like the idea of a more thematically connected version of Tales From the Yawning Portal. I do hope they do more than the casual editing pass TFtYP received, and actually give the adventures a tweak and modern update: it takes zero effort to update old 1e adventures to 5e and conversion guides aren't hard to find. It'd also be nice if they added a small section that gives you advice on how to go from one adventure to the next, some connective tissue making this a full storyline.

 

[beholdsa]

I really hope this is set in Greyhawk and not jammed into the Realms.

 

[Parmandur]

Sounds cool but not very surprising. The team was pretty busy in the fall, so I expected another compilation of some kind. (Which is also why it's not coming out until late May rather than early April like other Spring releases.) I like the idea of a more thematically connected version of Tales From the Yawning Portal. I do hope they do more than the casual editing pass TFtYP received, and actually give the adventures a tweak and modern update: it takes zero effort to update old 1e adventures to 5e and conversion guides aren't hard to find. It'd also be nice if they added a small section that gives you advice on how to go from one adventure to the next, some connective tissue making this a full storyline.

I'm not in a position to judge, but others who have the original modules said that the pages previewed so far have some significant changes from the original. Creating an actual framing device (unlike whatever was going on with the Yawning Portal) through setting up a sandbox in the Saltmarsh region seems to be a serious value addition.

The inclusion of three 3.x modules is also smart, as one fo the most valuable bits in Yawning Portal was adjusting all the muscular 3.x stat blocks into 5E compatible formats.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

I really hope this is set in Greyhawk and not jammed into the Realms.

Why can't it be both?

 

[Remathilis]

*yawn*
Stripmine greyhawk i see. Rehash.

I'll take your concern seriously when Greyhawk returns the Keep on the Borderlands and the Isle of Dread back to Mystara...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm putting this adventure and the Isle of Dread into Praemal, the world of Ptolus. Please amend all existing copies of both adventures accordingly.