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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[Parmandur]

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.

Seriously, though, Goodman Games did just release Isle of Dread for 5E, think they may have known that this was coming.

 

[Volund]

I haven't bought any of the official 5e adventure books yet, but I'm very excited about this one. 3 months is a long time to wait. Hopefully we'll get some more page peaks soon!

 

[Jester David]

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.

Agreed. It probably doesn't take much. A few shared NPCs, a couple paragraphs suggesting how to continue things, maybe some Easter eggs and callbacks.

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.

It will be nice to have some higher level 3e modules updated. Tales From the Yawning Portal updated some low level ones, which were the easiest to update: simpler monsters and NPCs.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

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

Yeah, that’s the kind of nonsense I don’t like. I didn’t even realize they had moved the Isle of Dread to Greyhawk; I had to look it up. Well at least it didn’t stick.

Goodman Games’ Isle of Dread remake/expansion is quite good—I only have a few small complaints (like the gargantuan ape in it doing less damage with its fists than the huge ape in the Monster Manual). I highly recommend it. They provide the option to set it in Mystara or the Plane of Water (with about equal emphasis on either approach), or your own setting (or setting of choice—but no names mentioned except Mystara). Their interpretation of the DMG presentation of it being in the Plane of Water but connected to Material Plane differs quite a bit from mine (which stands to reason, since we are looking at a couple sentences in the DMG unless they got more info), so I had to do a lot of thinking to refine how to make use of some of the optional related bonus material while sticking with my own interpretation.

I’m generally more interested in Greyhawk than Mystara, but Mystara should get to keep its gems, and I’m glad that the latest WotC-approved presentation emphasizes a Mystara connection while allowing others. That’s really all I want. A respectful emphasis on the original source when providing new options, and not removing the original option from the new publications in an edition.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Pattern of behavior of taking items out of greyhawk to FR
ToEE and ToH moved out of greyhawk into realms. So its very possible it will happen again.

No they didn't. Princes of the Apocalypse is barely based on ToEE beyond having Elemental Cults. (Which in ToEE were all subordinate to a Greater Temple which was actually run by Iuz and Zuggtmoy and was a scam to get more minions. The Elemental Princes were not even involved.)

 

[EthanSental]

I’ll probably pick this one up as well for the sea faring portion....having just watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 recently....struck a creative cord at the moment.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The Tomb of Horrors was not removed from Greyhawk. From page 212 in Yawning Portal:

"In the original Tomb of Horrors, Gary Gygax suggested six possible, far-flung locations for the adventure in the Greyhawk setting - proof in itself that the tomb is liable to turn up just about anywhere. These possibilities are a follows:

• Inside the highest Hill on the Plain of Iuz
• On an island (unmapped) in the Nyr Dyv
• In the Bright Desert
• At the western border of the duchy of Geoff
• Somewhere in the Vast Swamp south of Sunndi
• On an island beyond the realm of the Sea Barons

"Other settings offer choices that are just as varied."

Tomb of Annihilation is a different dungeon entirely, taking advantage of Acererack being an established Planewalker. Indeed, his toes to Oerth get mentioned, which if anything make more Greyhawk material more likely.

The Temple of Elemental Evil has not been published in 5E. The Elemental cults in Princes of the Apocalypse are inspired by that , but distinct.

So, you have no examples of a pattern, but Yawning Portal provides a precise pattern that is likely to be followed.

The Princes of Elemental Evil have been canonical for the Forgotten Realms for nigh on thirty years at this point (they were mentioned in either the Gray Box, or at some point in early 2e FR material; heck, Ed Greenwood was writing about them in Dragon as far back as 1981!), so anyone who think that the setting somehow stole them in 5e really needs to set their sights much, much further back.

I love how people are automatically jumping to conclusions about setting (with obligatory accompanying wailing and gnashing of teeth) the despite there being virtually no info on this yet. Of course it's going to follow the TftYP precedent and state something like "Saltmarsh was originally set in southern Keoland in the World of Greyhawk setting, but you can place it in other settings as well; some suggested locations might be..."

 

[Azzy]

I agree. It's probably going to have a side-bar or a page that talks about how to place it in a variety of settings, while the main entries will talk about Saltmarsh as an individual location.

I see this as the most likely approach.

 

[Henry]

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

#TheRealForgottenRealms

 

[Azzy]

Seems interesting. Might pick this up.