In the events of the previous adventure, it was discovered that the smugglers were supplying weapons to a tribe of lizardfolk living in a colony near Saltmarsh. Most differences are ultimately cosmetic: some rules have been slightly reworded, and the appearance of some sections within the rules has even been reordered. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. After returning with their intelligence, the characters are rewarded, but of course there part in the plan isnt done: the alliance want them to join the attack on the fortress as a strike team so its back to the stronghold they go! Alien islands are ruled over by strange, eldritch creatures (aberrations) and inhabited by humanoids or cultists indoctrinated into their worship. If they have managed to talk to the druid, the characters will know that the octopus already attacked the ship once and can deduce that it is pursuing the vessel. Saltmarsh is 1. The total number of the . comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment Shiroiken Additional comment actions. To give you some idea, its perfectly possible to get results like Drizzly Patches, Silky Angel, and Pretty Charm. The PCs go investigate, turns out its smugglers using an illusionist to make it seem haunted to keep people away. It has a unique and likely memorable opening encounter, and depending on how characters handle things events on the island could go very different ways. The seven adventures can be played through for characters 1st through 11 th levels, not exactly as a single campaign, though advice is provided for how to do that. This was the perfect time to start fresh, take a deep breath, get together with our friends, and learn about the world and the characters who will sit in its center. A fortified lighthouse on Abbey Isle makes the shipping lanes safer and can also give Saltmarsh advanced warning of invasion by sea. The tragedy of Barovia suffuses all of the adventure's material, transporting the players to an otherworldly realm. The cult of a forbidden god extends its reach outward from a decaying port, hungry for fresh victims and willing recruits. Now, the problem is with the bonus you get once you reach the 5th level. When I run The Ghosts of Saltmarsh, I'm fairly confident my current group will NOT burn down the house; they've heard that story and had a SMDH reaction to it (plus my wife played in that game, too). As things stand, I would probably wouldnt useSalvage Operation. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The next time you're getting ready to start a new campaign, start it off with a session zero and watch the world come together. As written the adventure is pure side quest: it has no obvious links to the sahuagin arc or other adventures in this book. These arent given names, you could use other tables for that: theyre meant to be sailor nicknames. I cannot find a way to add things in a way that makes it work automatically, that has that detail of the feat "activate" once level 5 is reached. The Sea Princes, another Greyhawk faction, also play a role in the book. As a fun way to get the story started, you might have a body wash up on the beach. This is a very cool adventure with intensely high stakes and a whole raft of interesting encounter locations. I even tried working on another feature with the same level for activation, does't work with that as well. This time, the characters are tasked with an essential role: they are to infiltrate the sahuagin stronghold in the former home of the lizardfolk, and return with intelligence that will bring about the enemys defeat.Their goals are determine the sahuagins strength of numbers, identify key areas of the fortress (which has been modified since the lizardfolk were ousted), discover significant defenses, and learn how soon the sahuagin might attack. The adventure ends with a dramatic timed scene in which the ship is torn apart during a sudden attack by a giant octopus. Any kraken is a catastrophe in physical form, but one touched by Tharizduns destructive madness could become a threat of apocalyptic proportion in the fullness of time. (1st). The monks have become victims of a crew of undead pirates who serve the demon lord Orcus. It's a great time to introduce notable NPCs such as the council members, Wellgar Brinehanded the cleric of Procan, and Ferrin Kastilar the druid with his pet bullfrog Lorys. There are four new backgrounds, but youd be better off talking to your DM about the new options available than purchasing the supplement yourself. [] On the downside, this is pages and pages of tables and text. [12], On ship-to-ship combat, Brandes Stoddard, for Tribality, wrote that "most of what we saw in the [Unearthed Arcana] article of the same name seems to still be in place the same component/battle station format for ships and naval combat. Be wary that determining the clerics follow Orcus or Tharizdun make a diplomatic solution to the adventure even less likely, if the characters figure out who exactly the clerics worship. Youll either love or hate the maps in GoS. After the island broke into war between two factions, one group escaped the conflict using the ship. Thanks for your support! As in the main releases in the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System series, the Ghosts of Saltmarsh expansion sees one to five players becoming heroes with their own set of unique skills and abilities, which they'll be able to add to and improve as they gain experience and level up. Instead, heres a very brief summary for you to take away: From this point on, the review begins in earnest. Ghosts of Saltmarsh for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons* Last modified: 9/4/2019 8:47:00 AM . We can describe the locations of Saltmarsh, letting players jump in when they hear of a place about which they want to know more. The corpses go in, and drowned ones come out. Campaign Setting Credits Lead Designer & Author . The End of a Trilogy. The rules here now include ship upgrades, which grant your ship special benefits/powers. Its worth remembering that there are also two random encounter tables in Chapter 1: Saltmarsh. There are also a few less more mystical environs: eldritch mists, krakens graves, lure lights (the souls of dead aboleth! Sort by: The second half of the adventure involves rowing out to the smugglers' ship and doing Under Siege all over it, and they discover that the smugglers are smuggling arms to lizardfolk. It contains supplemental rules your DM is bound to find useful while running these adventurers or if your homebrew campaign ever goes near the sea. Aside from the smuggling operation noted above, the final sections of this adventure pertain to further adventures characters could have that are connected to Tammerauts Fate. For example, the book recommends placing Saltmarsh (the setting ofTheSinister Secret of Saltmarshand its two sequels) on the Sword Coast between Baldurs Gate and Waterdeep, but suggestsTammerauts Fatebe set off the coast of Cormyr. In case this game goes longer than an adventure or two, I'd like to try and build out a coherent campaign. The only adventure Im less than keen on is Salvage Operation. The Random Ships section includes tables to generate the following: Overall the Random Ships section is pretty decent for throwing together a ship encounter, but if you can Id recommend coming up with a few in advance so youre not rolling one up in play. After successfully traversing the dunes and arriving at the abbey runs, the adventurers will discover that the clerics werent wiped out after all. Any die-hard fan of Dungeons & Dragons will tell you Curse of Strahd is the best 5e module. These are adventures, and theyre good, but theyre good for very specific things. I can see a lot of characters wanting to take possession of it, especially since you dont need to attune. But the means of their death makes it unlikely we can provide any further context to our players: we might think about adding a letter on their persons, but how would such a document have survived water damage when the thieves drowned? We are given the background to this: these werea group of thieves who stowed away on the ship before its last voyage and drowned in the storm. ThePipe of Remembrancehas no mechanical benefits, but is very cool all the same since it lets you conjure smokey images of your past achievements and victories. Ghosts of Saltmarsh (hereafter referred to as GoS) runs to 256 pages, which is the typical length of a Fifth Edition product by Wizards of the Coast.It has a recommended retail price of $49.95 in the US, and 38.99 in the UK. In The Final Enemy the characters travel to the former lizardfolk island, assess the threat of the sahuagin, and perhaps end the threat the sahuagin . If you like picking up new sources of monsters to help diversify your own adventures, theres good value in this appendix for you. These are the Charm of Plant Command, Cursed Luckstone, Helm of Underwater Action, Pipe of Remembrance, Pressure Capsule, and Sekolahian Worshiping Statuette. If the characters have been playing through the entire campaign, they have by now been awarded with citizenship and a free house in Saltmarsh. As with the last chapter this adventure first describes a new location The Styes, and provides potential hooks to get the characters to the town. Politics and Factions is where we learn about the Traditionalists and the Loyalists, as well as secret interference in the town by a third faction I wont name here. This adventure is the first appearance within the book of an adventure site roster, which are brief summaries of what creatures are in which rooms and what might cause them to leave their current location. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist/Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage), and can also be interspersed with the adventures from Tales from the Yawning Portal to build out a larger campaign. And of course, the typical curse that you cant easily get rid of the item. Episode 1 | A Sinister Secret. Related Papers. The characters can learn of the tension between the traditionalists and the loyalists. Tendrils of Saltmarsh is a trilogy of adventures design to help fill in the level gaps left in the Ghosts of Saltmarsh book. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of all the cookies. Session zeros are great times to let the characters explore Saltmarsh and learn what it has to offer before they go out with swords drawn into the dangers surrounding the seaside town. DMs looking for their next published campaign have a lot to look forward to if they choose GoS. Saltmarsh itself is not large enough to contain the Styes (and we see that it isnt included on the Saltmarsh map), meaning that this is another adventure that requires the characters to travel elsewhere. Fortunately, an awareness of this seems to have factored in at the design stage: indeed, the adventure references divination and commune specifically as options for characters who have lost the trail. Im equally surprised that it was found worthy of inclusion in its current form alongside so many better thought out adventures. This is one of the memorable encounters Ive seen, as it includes a decommissioned ship held aloft by a crane in the warehouse yard. You also might be the sort of DM who lets players choose anything and come what may. Saltmarsh gets a whole chapter, of course, but if a DM wants to do so they also have enough information about Uskarn (the village from Tammerauts Fate) and the Styes (from the adventure of the same name) to run additional adventures based in and around either location. I like that various significant failures are possible without automatically going to catastrophic failure. The three adventures of the core Saltmarsh trilogy has the characters face off against sahuagin, who worship the shark god Sekolah. [8][9], In Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending 5/25/19", Ghosts of Saltmarsh was #6 in "Hardcover Nonfiction". Its also true that rooms nearby on the map are mostly also nearby on the table. Crossing the dunes is akin to crossing a minefield, except choosing the wrong path results in an explosion of undead from the sand. Some of the encounters on the Open Water tables are ships, but the nature of the ships isnt specified: they should also be generated at random, which can be achieved using the guidelines in the subsequent Random Ships section. Meanwhile, the Coast Random Encounters table might be more easy to access at the table than the more expansive equivalent table inXanathars Guide to Everything, or you may not have that book. Action to cast, 10', instantaneous. The state of her clothing shows her as a potential prisoner. Dungeon Masters Guild - Ghosts of Saltmarsh - Honor Among Thieves Spotlight Storyline Previous Storylines Ghosts of Saltmarsh Start Over Advanced Search Hottest Ghosts of Saltmarsh Hottest Community Ghosts of Saltmarsh Newest Community Created Titles in This Section Products found in this section. In some campaigns this doesn't matter too much but it's hard to figure out why a githyanki or yuan-ti might be involved in the issues surrounding a fishing village. In short: this review is not spoiler free. But if the adventurers favourably impress the lizardfolk and the visiting diplomats of other races, then they may be able to forge ties between the alliance and the town of Saltmarsh. In Tammerauts Fate, the characters travel to the nearby village Uskarn (a choice of hooks are provided to help you get them there from Saltmarsh), where they accept the request of a druid to investigate the hermitage on nearby Firewatch Island. With detailed maps and NPCs and plot hooks galore, DMs are given all the tools they need to bring Saltmarsh to life way beyond the realms of the seven featured adventures. Someone might recognize her as one of two adventurers, brother and sister, who came to town with dreams of finding the alchemist's gold at the haunted mansion only to never be found again. Have a question or want to contact me? These tables are paired with more complex adventure sites in an effort to make them more manageable. Theyre certainly going out of their way with this product to cater for nostalgic fans hungry for settings which previously had no support. How much use youll get out of it largely depends on your tolerance for very silly names, as only some of the results of this table really sound like hardened sea dogs. Following this, it provides recommendations for where within the region of Saltmarsh you could drop in adventures from Tales of the Yawning Portal! 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