DM Notes: U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (Full) 

One of my favs of all time, JUST ordered my POD version.

0:30 cover art 1:50 the plot summary is at the end of the module - read that first 2:50 setting up the town of Saltmarsh 4:20 Part 1: the 'haunted' house 4:36 Part 2: The Sea Ghost ship ... what's being smuggled and to who? 6:00 The traitor in the town council 6:40 Ned the assassin 7:13 the dead man in the cellar 8:30 the smugglers, the illusionist, and the gnolls 9:00 does this module need more encounters to get the PCs to 2nd level? 10:15 the "ghost lights', The Sea Ghost, and the lizardmen threat and the link to the next module U2 12:12 Oceanus the sea elf

One of the highlights of this adventure is also the Pseudo Dragon that can become a sidekick of the heroes.

I remember this module, but I didn't think the smugglers knew about the secret room with the skeletons. Also I think with a bit of modification this would be a good tie in some how to the Slave Pits of the Undercity. Although you would need some adventure in between to beef the the characters up

I made it so the house is actually haunted and filled it with more undead on the first level. And the undead reanimate after 8 hours if they are killed. It makes it a bit of a harder setting.

I’m looking to run this adventure, and there’s something pretty drastic I want to change which is the motivations of the final “enemy”. I kind of want them to be a bit of a reoccurring antagonist thats sort of just out of reach of the party (sorta like Strahd). And their goal isn’t taking over the town, but outright annihilating it after the cruelties displayed when they tethered the mermaid to the stones for their fish bounties. Due to this, I want this to be an antagonist with a long lifespan that knew the mermaid, (potential mate or family), that aims to make the lives of the people of Saltmarsh miserable until they can fulfill their plan. I still have some fleshing out to do, but I think I’ll have a touch more fun with it, personally. And I think it might be easier to persuade others to their cause for injustices done in the past. I was surprised when I saw (well skimmed) not much was done with the standing stones. They felt more like a footnote that had a very good backstory.

Excellent advice about reading the plot summary then the adventure.

Thank you for the summary. This is my favorite module of all time

Thanks for doing this one! I actually have a group that needs to finish the last part of the U series (after a LONG time of not playing), so this is helping me refresh my memory about the storyline.

I renamed Oceanus on your behalf :)

Looking through The Ghost of Saltmarsh (5E), they really fleshed this whole thing out into a sandbox. The town is detailed and they added in some other locations and adventures. Easily minable for OSR campaigns (or do what I do and convert on the fly).