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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[Demetrios1453]

Watching the Kate Welch video makes it sound like the non-adventure section of the book is going to be pretty substantial. I'm hoping for a relatively robust bestiary section myself...

For those familiar with the adventures in question, how many pages do they run, and what would be a likely page count for them collectively in this book?

 

[cmad1977]

No: 4 Greyhawk modules, 1 Mystarra module, and 2 setting generic.

Which basically means 7 generic fantasy adventures.

 

[cmad1977]

Is that south of Waterdeep?

Pretty sure it’s near Solace.

 

[Demetrios1453]

For the FR, I'd reckon the Sword Coast, or the western part of the Sea of Fallen Stars somewhere.

Since, from what I've heard, the Sea Princes are mentioned in one of the U adventures, it would presumably need to be near one of the two sets of Pirate Isles in the Realms, so that would need to be the southern Sword Coast, or even Amn or Tethyr, for the Sword Coast group; or it would likely be Sembia, Turmish, Impiltur, or Aglarond if it's the Sea of Fallen Stars group...

 

[Aaron L]

This was set in Greyhawk The town of Saltmarsh was. I am wondering did they steal this from the original setting to put it in the genericx realms or is it in the setting that is was set in from the start.

Given how they transplanted Acererak and Elemental Evil to Fearun, ham-fistedly described ripping Castle Greyhawk from Oerth to float around from world to world, and later gave Evermeet the same shabby treatment being ripped it from Faerun and having it "cast adrift in the planes" as a mystic homeland for all Elves no matter what world they're from (barf), I'm sure the default of these adventures will be Toril.

(As well as how they've tried to shoehorn the Weave into the PHB, even though the relationship between the Weave and Mystra was a defining element of the Forgotten Realms that made the setting unique and interesting, and made all Elves 6+ feet tall like 'Realms Elves as part of the Realmsification of all D&D settings. I like the 'Realms, but c'mon. Making these things just Generic D&D cheapens and robs the setting of its distinctiveness.)

 

[EthanSental]

And ordered, regular cover for me. Never played the adventures mentioned in the book so nice to have some options to use them in my campaign.

 

[Dexamalion]

So does this mean we are "officially" getting Greyhawk or is the Saltmarsh being ported to Faerun?

As per the video, it's designed to be played anywhere.

 

[Quickleaf]

Watching the Kate Welch video makes it sound like the non-adventure section of the book is going to be pretty substantial. I'm hoping for a relatively robust bestiary section myself...

For those familiar with the adventures in question, how many pages do they run, and what would be a likely page count for them collectively in this book?

My page counts may not be perfectly right (DUNGEON ads, very different text formats, etc.) but are in the right ballpark...

U1 - Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh 30 pages
U2 - Danger at Dunwater 30 pages
U3 - The Final Enemy 46 pages
Isle of the Abbey (DUNGEON #34) 12 pages... maybe less from ads
Salvage Operation (DUNGEON #123) 9 pages
Tammeraut’s Fate (DUNGEON #106) 29 pages... a bit bloated from 3e stat blocks
The Styes (DUNGEON #121) 23 pages

So roughly 179 pages altogether.

 

[Demetrios1453]

My page counts may not be perfectly right (DUNGEON ads, very different text formats, etc.) but are in the right ballpark...

U1 - Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh 30 pages
U2 - Danger at Dunwater 30 pages
U3 - The Final Enemy 46 pages
Isle of the Abbey (DUNGEON #34) 12 pages... maybe less from ads
Salvage Operation (DUNGEON #123) 9 pages
Tammeraut’s Fate (DUNGEON #106) 29 pages... a bit bloated from 3e stat blocks
The Styes (DUNGEON #121) 23 pages

So roughly 179 pages altogether.

So given a likely page count of 224 - 256, somewhere around 50 -75 pages for the base setting and for rules and bestiary. Not too shabby, although I would always like to have more room for monsters!

 

[SkidAce]

Which basically means 7 generic fantasy adventures.

Huzzah!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm a little disappointed with my store getting the books later than the big boxes, what with all the games we run to keep our WPN scores up. Still, it's better than the last two books shipping fiasco (I hope)!

 

[R_J_K75]

Can anyone shed any light on why WotC is so secretive as to what their releasing any given year for 5E? Editions past you knew what was coming well in advanced. Now they give us minimal bits and pieces for one product, and then announce something after the first is released with little detail. I dont see why they dont come out at the beginning of the year saying we are planning to release this?

 

[Azzy]

Can anyone shed any light on why WotC is so secretive as to what their releasing any given year for 5E? Editions past you knew what was coming well in advanced. Now they give us minimal bits and pieces for one product, and then announce something after the first is released with little detail. I dont see why they dont come out at the beginning of the year saying we are planning to release this?

Titilation.

 

[Herosmith14]

Can anyone shed any light on why WotC is so secretive as to what their releasing any given year for 5E? Editions past you knew what was coming well in advanced. Now they give us minimal bits and pieces for one product, and then announce something after the first is released with little detail. I dont see why they dont come out at the beginning of the year saying we are planning to release this?

I could be completely off with this, but I imagine it's the same reason DDB doesn't give release dates; setbacks happen, plans change, etc. They're quiet with their roadmap so as to not get crucified if they don't make a deadline.

 

[R_Chance]

Given how they transplanted Acererak and Elemental Evil to Fearun, ham-fistedly described ripping Castle Greyhawk from Oerth to float around from world to world, and later gave Evermeet the same shabby treatment being ripped it from Faerun and having it "cast adrift in the planes" as a mystic homeland for all Elves no matter what world they're from (barf), I'm sure the default of these adventures will be Toril.

(As well as how they've tried to shoehorn the Weave into the PHB, even though the relationship between the Weave and Mystra was a defining element of the Forgotten Realms that made the setting unique and interesting, and made all Elves 6+ feet tall like 'Realms Elves as part of the Realmsification of all D&D settings. I like the 'Realms, but c'mon. Making these things just Generic D&D cheapens and robs the setting of its distinctiveness.)

That ship has already sailed, about 50 posts back. And you're in luck. The discussion about that has pretty much subsided. The default setting for the U series adventures in the book is (according to the product page) the Azure Coast in Greyhawk. They will give suggestions for other settings as well, although given how generic the background is for these the difficulty of porting it to most settings / homebrew is about... zero.

 

[R_J_K75]

I could be completely off with this, but I imagine it's the same reason DDB doesn't give release dates; setbacks happen, plans change, etc. They're quiet with their roadmap so as to not get crucified if they don't make a deadline.

I suppose you could be right but I'd assume that most gamers fall into a few categories of purchasers, most Id think would be forgiving if something was cancelled or pushed back. Compared to 2E thru 4E, 5E is releasing substatially less product, not counting DMs Guild, so maybe they know something marketing wise as to why their so tight lipped. I dont watch game live streams or pod casts, or twitter/FB, so perhaps I miss alot of info.

 

[Azzy]

I suppose you could be right but I'd assume that most gamers fall into a few categories of purchasers, most Id think would be forgiving if something was cancelled or pushed back.

Oh, sweet summer child... Gamers tend not to be reasonable or forgiving (a little more time on these boards will illustrate that).

Compared to 2E thru 4E, 5E is releasing substatially less product, not counting DMs Guild, so maybe they know something marketing wise as to why their so tight lipped. I dont watch game live streams or pod casts, or twitter/FB, so perhaps I miss alot of info.

It, from my understanding, is to build up anticipation and excitement of the next product without further products detracting from that. It's a slow hype train.

 

[R_J_K75]

Oh, sweet summer child... Gamers tend not to be reasonable or forgiving (a little more time on these boards will illustrate that).

Id reckon that 90% of people who said they felt scammed or that their old books were obsolete and would never switch from edition x to edition y most likely did to one extent or another. Geez I could imagine playing any edition of D&D other than 5E these days, but I still use lots of my old books. Seems like a petty thing to get upset about, a book not coming out or getting released late.

Are there any statistics for whose currently playing what edition of D&D these days?

 

[Azzy]

Id reckon that 90% of people who said they felt scammed or that their old books were obsolete and would never switch from edition x to edition y most likely did to one extent or another. Geez I could imagine playing any edition of D&D other than 5E these days, but I still use lots of my old books. Seems like a petty thing to get upset about, a book not coming out or getting released late.

Are there any statistics for whose currently playing what edition of D&D these days?

No hard stats for the entire community, but I think there are are some stats on what's being played online in certain places (though I don't know where).

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Given how they transplanted Acererak and Elemental Evil to Fearun, ham-fistedly described ripping Castle Greyhawk from Oerth to float around from world to world, and later gave Evermeet the same shabby treatment being ripped it from Faerun and having it "cast adrift in the planes" as a mystic homeland for all Elves no matter what world they're from (barf), I'm sure the default of these adventures will be Toril.

(As well as how they've tried to shoehorn the Weave into the PHB, even though the relationship between the Weave and Mystra was a defining element of the Forgotten Realms that made the setting unique and interesting, and made all Elves 6+ feet tall like 'Realms Elves as part of the Realmsification of all D&D settings. I like the 'Realms, but c'mon. Making these things just Generic D&D cheapens and robs the setting of its distinctiveness.)

Acererak has been a world traveler since 2e and Elemental Evil has always been setting generic. (The ToEE is not, but it honestly has little to do with the actual forces of Elemental Evil like the Princes.)

When did Castle Greyhawk get moved?

Also the answer is already stated this stuff is in Greyhawk by default.