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]

​

Updates!

---

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

[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]
[/FONT]

 

[Jer]

Played the original Saltmarsh series way back in 1st Ed. Always struck me as a good story line which cannot be said for a lot of 1st Ed stuff.

It came out of TSR UK, who had a different perspective on the game. One that was actually pretty ahead of its time in a lot of ways.

The first Saltmarsh book and Blade of Vengeance where both modules I had as a young nerd running the game for my friends. Later I'd pick up Nights Dark Terror, also out of TSR UK. Any of them are excellent adventures that I'll pull out again and again to either use straight-up or mine for ideas. (I didn't get the rest of the Saltmarsh trilogy until much later in life and haven't really done much with them - but that first one I've run straight up and tweaked to use in a Ravenloft game and strip mined for a more modern setting game - it's a pretty versatile little scenario).

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Gotta be honest Im not to excited for this. Rehashing old adventures/ideas just with new mechanics just seems uninspired. Its seems besides the three core 5E books everything else has been a rehash to some extent.

Which is a super view. Yawning Portal, Curse of Strahd and Ghosts of Saltmarsh are the only outright remakes of old stuff.

 

[Wik]

It came out of TSR UK, who had a different perspective on the game. One that was actually pretty ahead of its time in a lot of ways.

The first Saltmarsh book and Blade of Vengeance where both modules I had as a young nerd running the game for my friends. Later I'd pick up Nights Dark Terror, also out of TSR UK. Any of them are excellent adventures that I'll pull out again and again to either use straight-up or mine for ideas. (I didn't get the rest of the Saltmarsh trilogy until much later in life and haven't really done much with them - but that first one I've run straight up and tweaked to use in a Ravenloft game and strip mined for a more modern setting game - it's a pretty versatile little scenario).

Nights Dark Terror is an often missed gem. Several years ago, I played through the last half of it with [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] DMing. Was a highlight of his campaign. If I could find a copy of the book for under a hundred bucks, I'd pick it up. WotC will never reprint the thing, though - it's not one of the "Classics".

***

As for the book itself - I'm excited! I'm particularly interested in the idea that they're reprinting old Dungeon stuff. Makes me hopeful we'll see some sort of DM's guild dungeon magazine type thing, which would be awesome. Plus, Tammeraut's fate was a fun module - defend an island from aquatic zombies, and then a dark aquatic horror similar to "The Abyss"' final act.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Nights Dark Terror is an often missed gem. Several years ago, I played through the last half of it with [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] DMing. Was a highlight of his campaign. If I could find a copy of the book for under a hundred bucks, I'd pick it up. WotC will never reprint the thing, though - it's not one of the "Classics".

***

As for the book itself - I'm excited! I'm particularly interested in the idea that they're reprinting old Dungeon stuff. Makes me hopeful we'll see some sort of DM's guild dungeon magazine type thing, which would be awesome. Plus, Tammeraut's fate was a fun module - defend an island from aquatic zombies, and then a dark aquatic horror similar to "The Abyss"' final act.

[MENTION=40177]Wik[/MENTION] you mean this one?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17119/B10-Nights-Dark-Terror-Basic

 

[Wik]

[MENTION=40177]Wik[/MENTION] you mean this one?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17119/B10-Nights-Dark-Terror-Basic

I should clarify - pdfs arent what im looking for. I have it on pdf. A print on demand option, like the rules cyclopedia, would be awesome though.

 

[Count_Zero]

Wouldn't there be some rights issues related to Greyhawk that would prevent it from being opened up in the DMG for fan-made content? I know there are some bits of Greyhawk that are still held by the Gygax estate, so it sounds like if those bits were to be used in fan materials it could cause some problems.

I'd love to be proven wrong though.

 

[Parmandur]

Wouldn't there be some rights issues related to Greyhawk that would prevent it from being opened up in the DMG for fan-made content? I know there are some bits of Greyhawk that are still held by the Gygax estate, so it sounds like if those bits were to be used in fan materials it could cause some problems.

I'd love to be proven wrong though.

Pretty sure WotC fixed any lingering rights issues with Gygax in the 90's, especially with making it the official setting.

 

[Parmandur]

Nights Dark Terror is an often missed gem. Several years ago, I played through the last half of it with [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] DMing. Was a highlight of his campaign. If I could find a copy of the book for under a hundred bucks, I'd pick it up. WotC will never reprint the thing, though - it's not one of the "Classics".

***

As for the book itself - I'm excited! I'm particularly interested in the idea that they're reprinting old Dungeon stuff. Makes me hopeful we'll see some sort of DM's guild dungeon magazine type thing, which would be awesome. Plus, Tammeraut's fate was a fun module - defend an island from aquatic zombies, and then a dark aquatic horror similar to "The Abyss"' final act.

They've actually been publishing old Dungeon and Dragon articles in Dragon+.

 

[pukunui]

They've actually been publishing old Dungeon and Dragon articles in Dragon+.

Not updated to 5e, though. They’ve just been sharing the original adventures in PDF format.

 

[Windjammer]

Extremely excited about seeing this converted into 5e, especially in the capable hands of Mearls who have us this gem previously:

“28. SNOW-COVERED DOME OF ICE. This hollowed-out ice formation has been created by the creature that lairs inside – a remorhaz that has recently moved into the rift. A number of charred skeletons are strewn around its icy den.”

That's from G2, frost giant's lair. You must marvel at the economy of the entry. There's no whiff of clutter, be it keying in page numbers to Monster Manual references, abbreviated monster key stats, or exciting treasure or how PCs interact with this frosty environment - or a myriad of other stuff that could unfold at the game table. Instead, it's really just "Room X, monster Y, random sentence."

Brilliant! Contrast the crazy clutter of the old entry before Mearls & co. cleaned it up:

“28. SNOW-COVERED DOME OF ICE: This formation has been caused by the creature that lairs inside, a remorhaz 30’ long (H.P.: 58) which has recently moved into the rift. A number of skeletons are around its icy den, one of a human with a ring of 3 wishes on its bony finger and a bastard sword (+2 giant slayer, no special intelligence, align to suit the party if desired, otherwise it is Lawful Good). If the monster is destroyed by heat (fireball, lightning, wall of fire, fire elemental, etc.) the treasures are lost—destroyed or sunk into the ice non-recoverable.”

We can only hope Saltmarsh is equally brilliant. Here's an early pre-view that should get hopes up.

The Styes, City Map Area 9, original:“Thornwell Tower. The tallest structure in the Styes, Thornwell Tower is a massive stone pinnacle of black and red marble surrounded by a high stone wall. One of the Councilmen, Thornwell, dwells here. Locals whisper that the tower is haunted by devils and contains at least one portal to the Nine Hells.”

5e adaptation:“Thornwell Tower. The tallest structure in the Styes, Thornwell Tower is a massive stone tower surrounded by a high stone wall. Locals whisper that Councilmen Thornwell dwells here.”