Ghosts of Saltmarsh Review

Ghosts of Saltmarsh is the first campaign I ever ran, so it'll always hold a special place in my memory and on my shelf. But is this adventure any good? What kind of fantasy does it give you and does it do a good job of it? How much work does a GM need to do in order to use it? We'll examine all those things.

Keep a wary eye out for spoilers from here forward!

Alright, it's GMs only from this point on, right? (you have been warned). So what do you get with Ghosts of Saltmarsh? First off, this book is an anthology, not a continuous adventure, like Candlekeep Mysteries or Tales From the Yawning Portal. It shares more in common with the latter due to it being primarily a collection of modules from previous editions updated for 5e. This means that there really isn’t a unifying overall narrative pulling it together, and those adventures that are linked do not necessarily provide all the meat you need to create a full campaign. That said, that work is generally pretty fun work and I found the setting and themes to be fairly open for me to inject my own ideas. It was a good sandbox for a new GM to spread their wings (mostly).

The sub modules in this book are generally pretty good, but as I mentioned, do require some modification to either make sense or tie together. Only three of them follow an over-arching arc, which does leave flexibility to incorporate the other chapters into nautical campaigns as independent quests or side quests to the main Ghosts of Saltmarsh narrative. The introduction to the town introduces many themes and ideas that are not developed or followed through in the rest of the adventure. You can choose to incorporate the factions that exist in Saltmarsh, but your campaign also won’t miss anything if you completely ignore it.

Chapter One: Saltmarsh

Chapter one details Saltmarsh and the surrounding region (which is the closest to official 5e support for Greyhawk that we’ll ever get apparently). This is a really well put together chapter. There are plenty of evocative descriptions of the surrounding areas along with potential adventure hooks. This section really turns the Saltmarsh region into a sandbox you can base a whole campaign independently of the nautical themed adventures contained in the book. I particularly enjoyed the section on the hag in the Dreadwood, Granny Nightshade. I featured her briefly in my campaign as she collected the phylactery after my players fought a dracolich (my own addition to the campaign--see below for details on the dragon cult I added in). Details like that showed the characters that there really is a wider world around Saltmarsh. I think this is a great area to start a Greyhawk campaign and I may use it for that one day.

Chapter Two: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

This chapter is based on the original U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh from TSR, and designed for first level characters that will likely advance to third level by the end of the adventure.

Chapter two is as close to the titular ghosts as the book will get (spoilers: it’s actually bandits—kinda like the Scooby-Doo meme…) 

The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh  basically features a “haunted” house inhabited by wildlife and a den of bandits in a hidden cave hideout in the basement. The map is a bit cramped for combats, so consider doubling the size if you play on a VTT or grid. This adventure also allows the players to explore and seize a ship from the bandits who are part of a smuggling ring. I don’t think it works well with the quest chain that sets up Sahuagin as the real major antagonists threatening Saltmarsh and the region. But it works well as a stand alone first level adventure that could be dropped into almost any setting or homebrew campaign, especially one in which you want your players to get a ship early on. There are several fan made guides to Greyhawk available online and this adventure could be a good way to inject the players into politics in Keoland and related to the Sea Princes (pirate lords that get basically no development or involvement in the adventures in the book—yes, this was a major missed opportunity).

Chapter Three: Danger at Dunwater

Danger at Dunwater is based on the original U2: Danger at Dunwater module, and designed for third level characters.

I found Danger at Dunwater a problematic module, mostly due to setting out a massive dungeon and then laying out a story in which the characters need to kind of investigate or engage in diplomacy with the Lizardfolk inhabitants instead of engaging in a dungeon crawl. In fact if they clear the dungeon they have actually borked up the narrative. So changing up the story or swapping out the monsters in the dungeon in order to maintain the narrative line was the best way for me to run it. It just seems hard as written to get the players not to go in and merc everyone in the cave, particularly because there are lizardfolk as potential adversaries in Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh which precedes it in the anthology that provide the hook for the character to investigate the lizardfolks’ lair. But, if you can figure out how to provide a good hook this adventure is laden with opportunities for roleplay and chances to interact with interesting sentient aquatic creatures for a potential alliance. 

I addressed the above issues in my own campaign by removing the lizardfolk from the lair and putting them in a camp in the marshes nearby. The characters didn’t fight the lizardfolk in the previous adventure because I made sure they approached them in a non-hostile manner, so they guided them to the camp. The lizardfolk advisor asked them to hunt for a monster threatening the marshes before they met the queen, allowing me to pull in the “croc hunt” portion from the adventure as written (but I even modified that, using a souped up version of the Cipactli demon from the Creature Codex. Then the party were told by the lizardfolk that a dragon worshiping cult had driven them from their lair and requested that the adventurers clear out the dungeon and rescue the hatchlings that were being held by the traitors. They thoroughly enjoyed it—at least that’s what they told me! 

Chapter Four: Salvage Operations

Illustration from Ghosts of Saltmarsh by Julian Kok

Salvage Operations is based on the 2005 adventure of the same name by Mike Mearls. I find the full page art piece at the beginning of this adventure beautiful and evocative. The adventure is written such that you could drop it into any city or town on a coast. It might be an interesting addition to a Waterdeep or Ptolus campaign, but even works for a smaller seaside town. Merric’s Musings also does a great rundown of this chapter as well if you’re looking for another perspective.

The backstory is complex (but I do appreciate that it's provided). Basically a ship carrying a box full of expensive stock and bond type IOUs from a merchant was captured by an island of Lolth-worshipers, who held the vessel for awhile (the exact length of time is not stated, but probably years). The cultists then all killed eachother off except for a few that fled on the ship. The the ship was attacked by a giant octopus, killing most of the living denizens. The players need to find the missing notes for the merchant, along with any treasure (they get a ten percent cut, or 10,000 go). There's some great dynamic elements in this adventure with a giant octopus attack at the end (which you could absolutely swipe the mechanics for and use in other adventures set on a boat or ship) but at it's core it's a good old-fashioned and easy to use dungeon crawl.

I really like the adventure set up, and how easily it's incorporated in almost any campaign as a one-off quest. I may toss it in my Dragonlance campaign as a side quest while the party is in Kalaman. I wish I'd worked it into my own campaign using the book, but I felt that it took away from the urgency of the sahaugin threat.

Chapter Five: Isle of the Abbey

This adventure again reads as a stand alone one, however the location is helpfully included on the Saltmarsh regional map. The section on the contact for the quest gives up a substantial portion of its word count to an explanation of how the local mariners guild will retaliate should the party attack them (I feel like there's an untold story about the designer's game here). 

Essentially the story here is that the characters need to drive off some evil cultists (whose deity is never named, but pretty heavily signaled to be Orcus). There's a hefty reward, along with a ton of treasure available for salvaging. Another easy one to drop into a campaign at the appropriate level, or easily swap out monsters or upscale them to tailor to the level of your characters.

The overview map of the island is beautifully depicted in an old school style by DysonLogos. The relatively small size and isolation of the island really lends itself to dropping into any campaign, and the adventure is designed for fifth level characters. It is a fairly straightforward dungeoncrawl, but leaves open some interesting roleplay opportunities with the cultists should they choose to opt for less violent options.

Chapter Six: The Final Enemy

This chapter concludes the arc related to the sahaugin threat to Saltmarsh that began with the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and Danger at Dunwater. It focuses essentially on an infiltration mission of the sahaugin lair (which formerly belonged to the lizardfolk in the region) and is designed for seventh level characters. The states goal is reconnaissance of the lair. Which I think makes the adventure a bit difficult for some parties that are simply geared towards clearing dungeons. 

In my playthrough the characters were scared off by the guards on the first level and chose to leave the dungeon instead of providing further reconnaissance. So I had the sahaugin and demonic cultists complete a ritual summoning an island under which the demon prince Dagon was imprisoned and they had to go fight their way through and defeat the cultists as they freed the demon. That is a long-winded way to say, I never really got to playtest this dungeon. Which is unfortunate because it seems really well put together. 

The dungeon does seem to lend itself well to being a drop in Sahaugin dungeon if you have a game set in a coastal region and need some baddies and a dungeoncrawl. I could also see it working well in a campaign focused on heists where an important item could be inside. Or perhaps the characters are tasked to assassinate the sahaugin leader in his box as his people watch blood sports (yes there's an entire arena in the bottom of the dungeon too). 

The major omission from the main campaign and this chapter as provided is a lack of fleshing out the Sahuagin threat. Their leaderships’ motivations and ultimate goals were not provided... Other than evil shark people like to destroy things…so I made them demon worshipping cultists of Dagon and Umberlee (the latter because the tempest cleric was an unwilling follower of Umberlee and it created some interesting character development).

All in all, very cool location. Not my favorite hook or mission for most characters, and like the other chapters in the arc a bit clunky and underdeveloped with very tenuous ties between the adventures. So would recommend ripping out and using for your own purposes instead of running with the given hook.

Chapter Seven: Tammeraut's Fate

This chapter is based on an original adventure that appeared in Dungeon magazine by Greg Vaughn, and in this iteration is designed for characters of ninth level.

I remember when I first read through Ghosts of Saltmarsh I was very confused by this adventure occuring in Uskarn, a town that is not on the Saltmarsh regional map from chapter one, and that a lot of detail is provided, including an entire different city council from Saltmarsh. While it still seems like a disconnect to me, now I definitely see it as a great additional drop-in location if you are creating your own world, or would like to add a small coastal town to an existing one (after having this thought I started drawing a world map for fun and I placed Uskarn North of where I placed Rappan Athuk, meaning that it could be tied into the story of the followers of Orcus in that adventure).

The adventure plays out as a fairly some dungeoncrawl and a bit of mystery about the events that occured in the island hermitage that is the adventure focus. But once the players have moved through the dungeon it also flips into a defend the dungeon scenario, in which the players much resist the undead that previously attacked the island. This is a cool scenario, and if you are using the adventure it could definitely benefit from integrating the similar mechanics feom the Falkovia section of Von Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. (Another cool idea might be to use the survivors stat blocks from that same book and replay the original fall of the hermitage when the undead attacked the island garrison that previously occupied the structure). 

Finally there is an interesting and optional scenario where the adventurers can uncover the origin of the undead at the wreck of the Tammeraut and the Pit of Hatred that is the true source of the necrotic energy animating them. Following this is a great discussion of ways to use the adventure and its themes to create a larger campaign focused on Orcus and his followers threatening the region. Or on how to draw the characters back to deal with the rift if they miss that portion of the adventure. (This section confirms my own ideas about placing Uskarn near Rappan Athuk in a future campaign that will focus on the threat from Orcus).

This is a really cool adventure and I wish I'd been more talented at adapting adventures as a new GM and able to use this one more effectively. It provides a great dungeoncrawl with elements of horror and mystery that provide great roleplaying situations.

Chapter Eight: The Styes

This adventure is designed for eleventh level characters. It was originally also written for Dungeon in 2005 by Richard Pett. This adventure leans in further on themes of Lovecraftian horror already present in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, depicting a mystery about an aprehended serial killer that ultimately was unwittingly controlled by an aboleth and a cult of Tharzidun. There's also a less powerful version of a kraken thrown in for good measure.

Once again, the asthetic and information provided in this adventure explicitly do not relate to Saltmarsh or the surrounding region at all. Instead this adventure works better in the seedy and decaying dock district of a city of your choice or one of your own creation for your campaign. Some suggested locations in various official WOTC settings are provided in a sidebar. With a few tweaks, Baldurs Gate might be a better fit than the city in Faerun recommended. After all, there's always room for another murder mystery in Baldurs Gate. But the provided map certainly is sufficient to make it a standalone settlement in decline.

The hooks provided by the adventure aren't bad, but I think the adventure becomes more interesting if you use all of the hooks in a node-based structure, and add some additional nodes with the same information or clues as provided by Master Refrum, who constitutes the critical and only connecting node as currently set up in the adventure intro.

The primer on the district and it's neighborhoods is evocative, if a bit light on real details. If I were to actually run this adventure I would almost certainly lean into the themes of corruption and integrate the council members that are in charge of the Styes. Each of the encounters provided for the district in a random tables provide plenty of detail that could be used to add to the adventure, and they all reinforce the atmosphere very well. I like the Styes very much, and I think for the right kind of campaign it has enough atmosphere to contain an entire small city-based campaign, or be on if the central towns and adventure locations in a larger regional campaign.

The adventure itself is beautifully written, I think largely due to Richard Pett as the text is largely unchanged from the original except for some mechanical content. If I were to revise it in any way it would simply be to add further clues, and additional nodes to the investigation, integrating the other council members and locations into the story. As is the adventure includes multiple nodes and interesting paths for your characters.

Appendix A: Of Ships and the Sea

This chapter has perhaps the most utility to most GMs, providing rules for managing a ship and sea travel, along with sample stat blocks for vessels and combat rules. Additionally there are a number of random tables to create encounters, ships and crews, and islands for your characters to find on the high seas.

There are also detailed locations provided in this section are really outstanding, giving a map and keyed adventure location that can easily by dropped into the campaign, or any nautical themed campaign. Some of these locations and simple hooks are as effective as the long adventure chapters. 

This chapter gives the most reusability, providing lots of inspiration and ability to randomly generate details for seafaring adventures of your own creation. The combat and ship rules can also be used for Spelljammer adventures, and the islands and crews could easily be ported into Wildspace of the Astral Sea.

Final Thoughts

Ghosts of Saltmarsh contains some great gems and a few adventures that will take significant changes to use for most GMs. I think this stems largely from the title not having much significant revision from the original adventure texts, so the quality remains that of the original, rather than being uniformly updated with new material.

Some may be turned off by the fact that the dungeon maps are not full color art-type illustrations but instead white, blueprint-type maps. Perhaps it’s true to some of the original modules and earlier editions’ tradition, but not very helpful if you want to use cool maps either physically or in a VTT. In some cases this is even stranger because the original version of the adventure included full color cartography that wasn't reproduced (The Styes in particular has full color maps reproduced in the blueprint style. The revision of the city map in particular introduces some errors in location names probably because the text underwent a few small revisions while the cartographer's brief probably was based off the original adventure and cartography).

All in all, I really enjoy this book and the adventures it contains. The better adventures in my view are Tammeraut's Fate, The Styes, and perhaps Salvage Operations. These all offer great unique adventure locales. The Saltmarsh regional primer itself is also extremely strong and offers some great adventure hooks to develop a homebrew campaign with.