Is Ghosts of Saltmarsh Worth Buying? - D&D Product Review 

Is Ghosts of Saltmarsh worth buying? What excites you about the module? Check out Ghosts of Saltmarsh here: amzn.to/2LBzgFH Free and inexpensive D&D 5e adventures: bit.ly/DTRPGLukeHart

I actually got this book when I ordered my Curse of Strahd book, and when I read it, I decided to use it to give Barovia an East coast, so I'm currently hybridizing the maps together and moving a few of Barovias key locations out to the islands off the coast.

I appreciate your reviews! I find value in your channel and hope your channel continues to grow :D

First time on your channel! Really liked how you reviewed this product, offeing diffeent perpectives, for different ways DMs use these types of books. Good job!

Thx for the review. I'm gonna use some ideas and rules in my Calimshan campaign. Yep. From a desert to the sea cause we have a pirate captain in this crew and he's gonna be charismatic af to go into the sea when the party will reach Calimport

I run multiple campaigns, and it's difficult to find pre-made modules/adventures. My main campaign is custom/hybrid, but for my secondary campaign I tried to start with the essentials kit and I'm having a bad time for the same reasons you listed here. Would be great to see a video on pre-made modules to run (top 10?) for DM's who have an extra evening for another party; but not extra nights to write/map a custom campaign.

I'm going to start a campaign with the module and some homebrew for my brother and coworkers to play. Thanks for your video Luke, very helpful and informative.

Your channel gets as many views as some of the larger channels. Great review Luke.

My group has been loving ghosts of saltmarsh so far (currently level 3) and I do plan on using things from say character backstories and the like to fill in those level gaps I see is getting a ton of mileage out of this book

I just bought this book to add to my collection and for the reboots of the original U series, its well worth it from just skimming the chapters and the maps. Love the black and white maps and the new monsters and appendixes.

Nice review Luke , keep up the great videos! Slainte ~

One area where you are selling the module short is that if the players follow up on the different quests just for the town of Saltmarsh, it will naturally lead to less level gaps. Because they are more free form, they do require more DM work because of that reason. Also I think you missed a number of locations that have quests from the town associated with them that are kind of hidden in the back of the book. With those, it would be easy to run a part from level 1-9 at least.

I want to run the old - I5 Lost Tomb Of Martek but using new 5E rules. I really want to flesh out the section on traveling on the "boat" and create a series of mini adventures along the way inspired by Liveship Trader (the books). After listening to your review, it may be a useful way to adapt the module using it in conjunction with these rules. The "boat" sails on a sea of melted glass but it would be largely a naval type adventure interspersed with desert oases and Egyptian landscapes. I can probably incorporate I3 Pharoah into it too and make it a hybrid campaign with the old modules as a backbone as a story arc and Liveship Traders to give it a swashbuckling feel. My wife wants us to build the "boat" and seems really stoked by the whole idea. Huge boat on the table, minis, landscapes, dungeon tiles and so on. Use some of the Games Workshop fantasy miniatures for the vessel crew as they have some cool stuff that could be adapted. Much foam and 3D printing too :) I'm the DM for the group so, after I had the initial idea, doubts arose in my head as the new rules would be a lot of work to translate. I've been pondering for a while about how to do it so your review is really handy. With this plus some of the other supplemental material out there, I think it's do-able. We have months to prepare as we have an ongoing, unrelated campaign that I think will take 6 months to complete. Plenty of time to get this all ready, (I hope). Thanks for the great review and food for thought. I found it really helpful. Have a good one.

This was very interesting since I am going to be a pc in this campaign and this was very helpful like all of videos.

I have it and it has some really good stuff you can use in your own campaign .

Thinking of picking this up for my home kids game. I think the haunting settings and naval stuff would really intrigue young players. Just spooky and interesting enough to keep their attention.

I am currently using this book as the basis for a campaign. I ran Sinister Secret which was just what I needed to get the llayers into a ship, after that I havebused very little of the adventures in this book. Chapter A: Of Ships And The Sea however has been invaluable. I had to houserule some stuff for naval combat to give everyone besodes the captIn something to do during a fight, but overall I love the ships rules, the ship deck plans, the encounter tables, the random island generator, and the little things it includes to make the game more nautical.

just bought this book and I appreciate your review. Thank you

Worth mentioning using Pathfinder modules for ideas and magic item ideas. Requires a bit of adaptation but DnD5e is basic enough that you can do so without much issue. (Grappling/boarding hook that can be used twice a day as a bonus action to extend and retract 80ft utilising a strength check to hold on while it retracts vertically/horizontally etc etc.

very helpful vid!

ever thought about reiewing cool books from 3rd party for 5e ? Like, the incredible bard's gate or the new city of brass book ?

I got GOS to implant in my homebrew world in a Archipelago west of the main campaign country for which ended just yesterday. I like the information I got from the module but I tossed out the factions because I wanted to use my own and practice on making more in depth factions. Otherwise I plan on using the adventures in the book plus some of my own interwoven into the campaign. So far my players are enjoying themselves.

*Absolutely Yes : It's worth it for naval campaigns .* Black & white maps are just fine . Especially when copied to place on a table . I buy every book .

Really good review!

Hey man i'm really liking the videos and the quality of information and tips ect. I know its off topic for this video but this is your most recent one. i have a question about character creation. So i'm new to D&D, never played before. I was wondering if having my PC lost most of Their memory be a good way for me to add to a back story but allow other PCs to explain lore and other things to me which would be reasonable for role playing well and to make it feel more natural for the adventure. Similar to the way Tidus has things explained to him in FFX (Hoping you've played this, its the only thing i can think to reference it to). Also any other ideas are appreciated, the group i'm joining are well experienced and role play pretty strictly. dont want to be stopping the flow every 2 mins to have the DM explain things out of character. Thanks.

You really drive a solid point about the level gaps and maps. I toss in a few extra encounters along the way and use the Random Encounters Tables probably more than I should. For a level gap I'm inserting the A 0-4 Slave Lords Series, tieing them to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Also there's nothing wrong with adding a caravan assaulted by lizard men or stranded villages in the swamps that need rescuing. Another addition I'm using is a personally level scaled "The Tomb of The Lizard King" (which I relocated to the Hool Marshes) also to assist with the level gap. I try to use the maps from the original TSR and Dungeon Magazine Modules whenever I can. (Nostalgia, you gotta love it)

I'm going to be running this for Tabletop Simulator group. Will be running the book. The intro will be that they are all captured slaves on a slaver vessel. They get attacked by the Kraken that shows up later in the book, and their bodies end up being rescued by some fishermen and taken to Saltmarsh. Enter story book. I feel that between each of the modules, I'll send them off on random missions whether it be hunting certain beasts in the forests, or hunting a pirate ship who is causing some havoc with the fishermen. there is so much that this book has to offer. Who knows, they might thoroughly enjoy owning a ship and taking it out for some laps.

I bought Ghosts of Saltmarsh. I like to have the small adventures, I feel you could play any of them as a one shot and have a lot of fun. I purchased it on Roll 20 as well and those modules can drop into an existing campaign. Although they will likely stand out because of the black and white maps, which is a minus.

I am a DM, I bought it. Thing is, "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" really fits the lovecraftian tone all of my games trend toward. The first adventure is the only one I have run so far and the only issue I have with it had to do with the usual issue of low level adventures: That they are meat grinders, with encounters with numerous bug swarms, giant animals, and thugs. Most of these elements are not deadly, but giant centipedes, giant poisonous snakes, and rot grub swarms ARE DEADLY, especially the grubs. I do like the town of Saltmarsh, it fits the rest of my homebrew setting like a glove. I attribute to the popularity of "Game of Thrones" how more and more campaign settings and locations have a political struggle between two sides that ostensibly have good and bad points, while at the same time having individual members with their own goals. I have two minor complaints with the material surrounding the town, the first is that on the random encounter tables for the surrounding sea there are 4 pirate ships mentioned... only 3 of which are actually described, minor oversight, but it is there. The other issue has to do with the two maps, the maps of the town and the maps of the surrounding region are laid out weird; the map of the town has the North Arrow pointing to the left, the regional map has it pointing to the right, which requires the maps' user to mentally flip their perspective each time they switch referencing between the two maps.

TOO BAD! I ALREADY BOUGHT IT! HAHAHAHAHA!

In what I’ve played and ran of 5e: Unless the Leveled quest call out to a specific needed spell (like you need fireball/banishment) to advance. Then the players usually can do things above their recomended level after they hit 4. And most certainly if they have 5+ members. Seeing as CR and leveling is designed for 4 party members, no feats, no magic items, no monster races, and before the more potent “DLC” spells for XGE. Players can fight above their recommended if DM allows them these advantges So I wouldnt bother with a supplement adventure between the GoSM unless I read that a certain class feature that is level locked is REQUIRED to advance

Pretty new to dnd. Right now I have the big three books (phb/dmg/mm) and I have scag. I’m looking to add all the books one day, so if I was looking to get another one which would be the best one to get next? For dm use or player use don’t matter.

I have the book and plan to use it for the next campaign. With a healthy dose of homebrew

I like black and white maps. Because occasionally they use various shades of the same color making hard to see, or the color bleeds and hides information. As and Adventure league DM I would buy it at under $30 Here is my before and after review I have on my pc. 3 out of 5 rating for Ghosts of Saltmarsh I am writing this from an Adventure League (AL) DM viewpoint. YOU MISSED THE BLEEDING SHIPS. The good is 7 adventures with 3 being Classic AD&D modules which have been updated. So 7 for $7 is a good buy. The Bad Appendix A gives stats, blueprints, and information for ship to ship combat, but no combat exists. Also after a quick review, pcs will have to occasionally adventure in other modules to get to the min level to play in the chapter. Chapter 1 gives some decent encounters and backgrounds for the townspeople. However with no guidance from AL at this point, swap out the Brotherhood with Red Wizards. Since this is a town I would low ball or give no AP unless the encounters get the party to where they need to go. Chapter 2. Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. I ran the original and they do a good job of updating the adventure. 3 out of 5. Chapter 3. Danger at Dunwater. I ran the original and they do update the adventure. But if the group tries an out all attack it will go badly for them. 2 out of 5. Chapter 4. Salvage Operation. This a quick chapter. I will be surprise if the run time is over 4 hours. However the map is unusable. The blue on blue makes the grid lines impossible to see. 2 out of 5. Chapter 5. Isle of the Abby. It does have an interesting landing encounter section. It looks like it will be fun to run. 4 out of 5. Chapter 6. The Final Enemy. Reads like a straight update. 3 out of 5. Chapter 7. Tammeraut's Fate. This adventure will be either a great adventure or bore depending on what type of gamers sit at the table. An item to help the party is missing from the treasure list. 3 out of 5. Chapter 8. The Styles. Another adventure which depends on the players. 3 out of 5. Appendix A. Ships, more ships, crew numbers, and rules for crew. CCC-Priory-01 Maritime Mayhem had some similar skill checks to help out a ship. But none of the ships or rules are used in the adventures. I pray appendix A gets sold separately on DMs Guild for those DM who don't run AL or buy Adventure books. 1 out 5. Appendix B. The magic items add flavor to adventures. But nothing to float my boat. 3 out of 5. Appendix C. The new monsters are nice and in the future will add some nice encounters to later adventures. 4 out of 5. This will be a Season 0 book which means all current and future pcs get the full rewards from running in them. I would ask DM buy this from local game store if you have one. But if you are unhappy with seasonality, and your players want to run though them, buy at a discount. Edit to add since some ask to review things after play. Chapter 2 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. 2 out of 5. The stats have been updated for 5E but the play assumes the dungeon is static and the party will always take a stealth approach. If you have the monsters react to combats in other rooms this will be a TPK for the levels listed. add 11/1/19 AL rules changes to the adventures limit you to some GP per level. So you will generally not get the full gp in the adventure. Magic items are limited to your tier. You can hot swap your items with one you found. And VERY strange everyone can own the same permanent magic item after the module. Chapter 3 Danger at Dunwater 3/5. Up 1. The map could have included where A, B, C were mapped to the interior. This module does reward smart play and the point value is interesting. But murder hoboing will get you killed or have you DM giving you plot amour. Chapter 4 Salvage Operation. 2/5. No change. The map is still nearly useless. The escape rules are very interesting but you will be looking at least one death if not for smart play. It is a short dungeon crawl moved to a ship. Chapter 5. Isle of the Abby. 3/5 no change. The landing section on the sand dunes can be defeated with a great roll by one pc. I would drop the score by one but the interesting NPCs will play out well. That would bring the score up on. So still same score. Chapter 6. The Final Enemy. 3/5. It stilled played as the original with exception of the monsters are more deadly. If the pcs try to murder hobo their way thru; they will need plot armour. Chapter 7. Tammeraut's Fate. 4/5 it goes up. The Front loading of roleplaying in the town and harpies help. The combat from land, air and underneath the sea plays better than it sounds. Chapter 8. The Styles. 4/5 goes up. There is a lot of detail hidden if the various pages and you could lead the group on lots of false paths. The aftermath section applies more to homebrew.

I thought it was cool the backgrounds where actually nice, I liked shipwright well enough to come up with artficer with shipwright as his background.

Where do I find the actual item card for the Arcane Grimoire?

Can the Naval/Nautical rules fill in the level gaps? Sending the PCs off on long hex-crawl style voyages?

I already bought it and ran a game using it (my first module). I think it was fun (I hope the players had fun too). Although they did derail it quite a bit... which I expected so it's fine =D In the end they more or less got to where they were supposed to be based on the book =P P.S. I think it's actually a good thing that the maps were black and white and not fully illustrated since it saves a lot of printer ink (which is really expensive).

I had mostly the same thoughts and issues with this module. I think it'll be fun but require a lot of homebrew to make more interesting.

What books do you need to play Saltmarsh? PHB only, or do you need DM and/or Monster manual, and does Swordcoast book help?

Going to do anything like this for Tales from the Yawning Portal?

I'm both running it and using it for my chaotic neutral pirate campaign so it was perfect.

Haven't got through the vid yet but had to say... I own the original 'U' series and there was no way in hell I wasn't buying this! Loved these modules back then and I think I'm enjoying the other adventures even more plus all the other info. Doubt I'll ever play/DM them but it's a great resource/read none the less. ...waiting to finish the vid. Yep, good review, Luke. :) PS Along with the sad Magic Item list, I feel they missed a chance to come up with some water based spells. My wife plays a Triton Pally, I reskinned/changed racial spells; Fog Cloud became Grease reskinned to Seaweed; Gust of Wind became Gout of Water. Water centric spells are lacking in 5e.

So when i get the money I’ll buy one eventually but do i need the MM to run this or are all the monster stats included?

When he says level _ for the adventures is that the starting level for the adventure? I'm new and watch random d&d videos if you need a reason why I don't know this.

Nice throwback pictures of the original modules. Greyhawk master race you lowly FR peasants. ;) Keep up the good work.

Time to bust out the turtle dragon bone club of clubbing

May or may not run this, but I gave my DM for another game a word up on this since we're in a seafaring campaign right now.

Im so with you on these maps. I refuse to buy an adventure where the maps suck, at least i still have yet to run COS.

Is this book usable without the monster manual? Because another 50 dollars are very expensive

I got it for half price at a store closing sale, so I think I got my money's worth

I hated the full colour maps in some other books. I had to pull my original modules of the shelf for Yawning Portal. They didn't even rescale some of maps.

Is that this years GrandCon shirt?

To me as a German D&D DM, the most important question is: How many of all those new publications will be translated into German, and how soon, and for how much of a cost increase will I have to purchase them once they're translated? If at all.

I’m kind of upset about GoS because I was working on a setting that revolved around a coastal settlement then realized I was making Saltmarsh still love the book though

I guess Shatter against a ship doesn't do much huh? XD

I feel like it was a good purchase. It is definitely not a book for an entire campaign and requires content from other prewritten or homebrew modules. The content is great for expanding the world you already have. It can also be used to bloom a new campaign. But it can be somewhat bland if you use the one book by itself. If you're a DM you should buy it for the quests and monsters! If you're a player you should buy it for the backgrounds and character inspiration! If you want more content from Wizards of the Coast you should buy it!

This whole book reminds me of RuneScape for some reason

Use my full color maps!!!

Great channel and love your content... Now I just wondered something that I think many people are also wondering...why is everything DnD do located in sword coast.. Faerun is a big place why is it all world shattering epic adventure in sword coast... does people there even have to recover before next Armageddon ? they could release or locate adventure on other regions of Faerun... Like Unapproachable East, Hordelands or Utter East instead of sword coast it is a planet after all..not everything should be in sword coast ... Utter East has also big coast for instance haha... personally my favorite Country In Faerun is Semphar (last time they released something about semphar is 2nd Edition Hordelands) . Keep the good work.

At 9:55 awwww......you have to buy your books like everyone else? :'(

Shamelessly 3

When it comes to maps, usability is way more important than high art. Why waist money on maps the players aren't even ment to see? On top of that, the high art maps, while being beautiful, are not always high on the usability chart. Just saying...

I’m not a fan of these Frankenstein type books that Wizards have been putting out. Personally, I don’t want a book that’s a few random adventures, new rules, region source material and monster manual all in one.

The Ships and the whole system for naval is terrible. I know this has been out for awhile, but it's still disappointing. The rowboats size means it should be able to use a small sail. Where's the ships that a small party would use? Realistically? Where's the sub 60!!!!ft fishing boat that can be used by the party to get around?

Dude. No

if you want to play naval only, dont buy this book. you cant play naval without it but that doesnt matter. it aint a good deal

To be honest- it's a pretty boring adventure.