I'm planning on starting the Ghosts of Saltmarsh. While I know Saltmarsh was originally set in the World of Greyhawk I was wondering where a good placement for the port town in the Forgotten Realms could be located.
I have just finished running the first section of Saltmarsh, as the intro to my campaign. I placed it on the South East of the Moonsea region, not far from Elmwood on the far NW edge of the Cormanthor forest.
I'm shooting for a blank space on the south side of Aglarond. Story wise, to me, it should for as the kingdom is on one of it's many breaks in hostilities with That. It gives a huge amount of space to play with on the Sea of Falling Stars. I've Cormyr mentioned as a location as well. It helps to break up the monotony of always being on the northern end of the sword coast.
I'm shooting for a blank space on the south side of Aglarond. Story wise, to me, it should for as the kingdom is on one of it's many breaks in hostilities with That. It gives a huge amount of space to play with on the Sea of Falling Stars. I've Cormyr mentioned as a location as well. It helps to break up the monotony of always being on the northern end of the sword coast.
In my FR Saltmarsh game, I placed Saltmarsh just north of the Mere of Dead Men, not far from Leilon. Much like in the maps that were posted above by Ythulths. I've found that it works very well as a location and the Mere is perfect for the Lizardfolk and such things. Plus it's between Waterdeep and Luskan, and Luskan fills in really well for the Pirates the adventure needs.
In my FR Saltmarsh game, I placed Saltmarsh just north of the Mere of Dead Men, not far from Leilon. Much like in the maps that were posted above by Ythulths. I've found that it works very well as a location and the Mere is perfect for the Lizardfolk and such things. Plus it's between Waterdeep and Luskan, and Luskan fills in really well for the Pirates the adventure needs.
Off topic question
Is it Luskan or Nelanther that’s a pirate haven in the Realms? Or are they both pirate towns?
Both of them are pirate-y. Luskan is a city ruled by pirate lords, while Nelanther is a series of islands run by pirates. If I remember correctly, Luskan is more human-dominated than Nelanther.
Both of them are pirate-y. Luskan is a city ruled by pirate lords, while Nelanther is a series of islands run by pirates. If I remember correctly, Luskan is more human-dominated than Nelanther.
I used that blog post in my game and it's done wonders for my game. It's one of the most logical places to put the town, and the other suggestions from that post are quite helpful.
And if you are planning on running this game, one thing I've found is that depending on your playgroup, they may well wish to take that old haunted manor and turn it into a base of operations. If your players do want to do this, I recommend taking them up on it for sure. What I did is had Saltmarsh grant them the deed in return for shutting down the smuggling operation. The haunted manor does have docks and a hidden smuggler's cove, which makes it perfect for the PCs.
To be honest, I'd honestly recommend offering them the manor's deed as a reward even if they don't bring it up themselves. The manor makes a fantastic money-sink for those DMs (like me) who have a habit of giving out too much treasure. Plus it gives them a much bigger stake in things when you get to the Final Enemy. I've got some actual rules on how to upgrade and pay for the manor house if you have an interest.
Some other modifications I made in my game:
I changed the Temple to a Temple of Valkur, but Selune would also work well. Might consider making it a joint temple. Valkur is the closest analog to Procan in the realms.
I kept the Traditionalists mostly as they were in the book, not much needs changing.
The Loyalists I changed to the Lord's Alliance. I gave them strong ties to Waterdeep.
The Scarlet Brotherhood was changed to the Zhentarim and I made them slightly less antagonistic as well and more focused on making money.
I ditched the Dwarven Mine angle in the adventure, as it's honestly not referenced all that much. Instead I put in a grove of magical trees in the Mere of Dead men. The trees are very valuable for wands and ships. Instead of dwarves for the mine, I made it elves who wanted to safely harvest the trees. I also put in a faction of firbolg in the mere who had problems with harvesting, creating a social problem for the players.
I made Keledek a Red Wizard.
I changed the Faithful Quartermasters of Iuz to the Merchants of Waukeen. It makes them less antagonistic and grey area, but it fits the setup better.
The Sea Grove of Obad-Hai becomes the Sea Grove of Eldath, though it's also dedicated to Silvanus.
The Stand Stones are actually dedicated to Umberlee. I had a small faction of hidden cultists in the town who secretly sacrifice a few visitors a year to Umberlee to ensure good fishing. This makes for a tense investigation adventure if the PCs want to stop it.
For the Adventure order, I also changed that up. I broke it into two difference sections. The first is dealing with the Smugglers and Sahuagin threat. What I did was go Sinister Secrets > Danger at Dunwater > Homebrew > Salvage Operation > Final Enemy. I also dropped hints very early that the Smugglers in the first adventure were Umberlee worshippers.
Now, the jump from Danger at Dunwater to Final Enemy is a pretty big one. So I padded out Danger at Dunwater a fair bit more. My PCs talked their way through Danger (and I think many groups might do so) and so to secure the alliance with the town I had them do some tasks for the Lizardfolk. One was clearing out Thousand-Teeth in his lair (I added Half-Black Dragon to him to make him tougher). Finding his lair required working with the Firbolg to act as guides (a nice social encounter).
Once they had cleared out Thousand-Teeth, I had the lizardfolk ask them to deal with a tribe of very aggressive bullywugs. I had them raid and take over a small wood elf village, that when cleared, could be given to the firbolg or the elves in town.
This is when you can sneak in Salvage Operation as a nice change of pace. I also used Sharkfin Shipwreck (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/441-encounter-of-the-week-sharkfin-shipwreck) to pad it out a bit more. The addition of Sahuagin brings up their danger that will have to be addressed in Final Enemy. I actually suggest running Sharkfin Shipwreck after the salvage operation, as the PCs should be around 5th level by then and adding in more Sahuagin is a good thing.
From there I ran Final Enemy. Given that my party is 6 players, I didn't have to scale it much at all, since it's balanced for 7th. If your party is smaller and book standard, you might have to downgrade things just a little bit.
After that, I went The Sytes > Isle of the Abbey > Tammerauts Fate. The Styes really doesn't need to be such a high level adventure, and I find that Tammerauts Fate is a better campaign capper. At this point I replaced Orcus with Umberlee, as she just fits way better.
I used that blog post in my game and it's done wonders for my game. It's one of the most logical places to put the town, and the other suggestions from that post are quite helpful.
And if you are planning on running this game, one thing I've found is that depending on your playgroup, they may well wish to take that old haunted manor and turn it into a base of operations. If your players do want to do this, I recommend taking them up on it for sure. What I did is had Saltmarsh grant them the deed in return for shutting down the smuggling operation. The haunted manor does have docks and a hidden smuggler's cove, which makes it perfect for the PCs.
To be honest, I'd honestly recommend offering them the manor's deed as a reward even if they don't bring it up themselves. The manor makes a fantastic money-sink for those DMs (like me) who have a habit of giving out too much treasure. Plus it gives them a much bigger stake in things when you get to the Final Enemy. I've got some actual rules on how to upgrade and pay for the manor house if you have an interest.
Some other modifications I made in my game:
I changed the Temple to a Temple of Valkur, but Selune would also work well. Might consider making it a joint temple. Valkur is the closest analog to Procan in the realms.
I kept the Traditionalists mostly as they were in the book, not much needs changing.
The Loyalists I changed to the Lord's Alliance. I gave them strong ties to Waterdeep.
The Scarlet Brotherhood was changed to the Zhentarim and I made them slightly less antagonistic as well and more focused on making money.
I ditched the Dwarven Mine angle in the adventure, as it's honestly not referenced all that much. Instead I put in a grove of magical trees in the Mere of Dead men. The trees are very valuable for wands and ships. Instead of dwarves for the mine, I made it elves who wanted to safely harvest the trees. I also put in a faction of firbolg in the mere who had problems with harvesting, creating a social problem for the players.
I made Keledek a Red Wizard.
I changed the Faithful Quartermasters of Iuz to the Merchants of Waukeen. It makes them less antagonistic and grey area, but it fits the setup better.
The Sea Grove of Obad-Hai becomes the Sea Grove of Eldath, though it's also dedicated to Silvanus.
The Stand Stones are actually dedicated to Umberlee. I had a small faction of hidden cultists in the town who secretly sacrifice a few visitors a year to Umberlee to ensure good fishing. This makes for a tense investigation adventure if the PCs want to stop it.
For the Adventure order, I also changed that up. I broke it into two difference sections. The first is dealing with the Smugglers and Sahuagin threat. What I did was go Sinister Secrets > Danger at Dunwater > Homebrew > Salvage Operation > Final Enemy. I also dropped hints very early that the Smugglers in the first adventure were Umberlee worshippers.
Now, the jump from Danger at Dunwater to Final Enemy is a pretty big one. So I padded out Danger at Dunwater a fair bit more. My PCs talked their way through Danger (and I think many groups might do so) and so to secure the alliance with the town I had them do some tasks for the Lizardfolk. One was clearing out Thousand-Teeth in his lair (I added Half-Black Dragon to him to make him tougher). Finding his lair required working with the Firbolg to act as guides (a nice social encounter).
Once they had cleared out Thousand-Teeth, I had the lizardfolk ask them to deal with a tribe of very aggressive bullywugs. I had them raid and take over a small wood elf village, that when cleared, could be given to the firbolg or the elves in town.
This is when you can sneak in Salvage Operation as a nice change of pace. I also used Sharkfin Shipwreck (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/441-encounter-of-the-week-sharkfin-shipwreck) to pad it out a bit more. The addition of Sahuagin brings up their danger that will have to be addressed in Final Enemy. I actually suggest running Sharkfin Shipwreck after the salvage operation, as the PCs should be around 5th level by then and adding in more Sahuagin is a good thing.
From there I ran Final Enemy. Given that my party is 6 players, I didn't have to scale it much at all, since it's balanced for 7th. If your party is smaller and book standard, you might have to downgrade things just a little bit.
After that, I went The Sytes > Isle of the Abbey > Tammerauts Fate. The Styes really doesn't need to be such a high level adventure, and I find that Tammerauts Fate is a better campaign capper. At this point I replaced Orcus with Umberlee, as she just fits way better.
I used that blog post in my game and it's done wonders for my game. It's one of the most logical places to put the town, and the other suggestions from that post are quite helpful.
And if you are planning on running this game, one thing I've found is that depending on your playgroup, they may well wish to take that old haunted manor and turn it into a base of operations. If your players do want to do this, I recommend taking them up on it for sure. What I did is had Saltmarsh grant them the deed in return for shutting down the smuggling operation. The haunted manor does have docks and a hidden smuggler's cove, which makes it perfect for the PCs.
To be honest, I'd honestly recommend offering them the manor's deed as a reward even if they don't bring it up themselves. The manor makes a fantastic money-sink for those DMs (like me) who have a habit of giving out too much treasure. Plus it gives them a much bigger stake in things when you get to the Final Enemy. I've got some actual rules on how to upgrade and pay for the manor house if you have an interest.
Some other modifications I made in my game:
I changed the Temple to a Temple of Valkur, but Selune would also work well. Might consider making it a joint temple. Valkur is the closest analog to Procan in the realms.
I kept the Traditionalists mostly as they were in the book, not much needs changing.
The Loyalists I changed to the Lord's Alliance. I gave them strong ties to Waterdeep.
The Scarlet Brotherhood was changed to the Zhentarim and I made them slightly less antagonistic as well and more focused on making money.
I ditched the Dwarven Mine angle in the adventure, as it's honestly not referenced all that much. Instead I put in a grove of magical trees in the Mere of Dead men. The trees are very valuable for wands and ships. Instead of dwarves for the mine, I made it elves who wanted to safely harvest the trees. I also put in a faction of firbolg in the mere who had problems with harvesting, creating a social problem for the players.
I made Keledek a Red Wizard.
I changed the Faithful Quartermasters of Iuz to the Merchants of Waukeen. It makes them less antagonistic and grey area, but it fits the setup better.
The Sea Grove of Obad-Hai becomes the Sea Grove of Eldath, though it's also dedicated to Silvanus.
The Stand Stones are actually dedicated to Umberlee. I had a small faction of hidden cultists in the town who secretly sacrifice a few visitors a year to Umberlee to ensure good fishing. This makes for a tense investigation adventure if the PCs want to stop it.
For the Adventure order, I also changed that up. I broke it into two difference sections. The first is dealing with the Smugglers and Sahuagin threat. What I did was go Sinister Secrets > Danger at Dunwater > Homebrew > Salvage Operation > Final Enemy. I also dropped hints very early that the Smugglers in the first adventure were Umberlee worshippers.
Now, the jump from Danger at Dunwater to Final Enemy is a pretty big one. So I padded out Danger at Dunwater a fair bit more. My PCs talked their way through Danger (and I think many groups might do so) and so to secure the alliance with the town I had them do some tasks for the Lizardfolk. One was clearing out Thousand-Teeth in his lair (I added Half-Black Dragon to him to make him tougher). Finding his lair required working with the Firbolg to act as guides (a nice social encounter).
Once they had cleared out Thousand-Teeth, I had the lizardfolk ask them to deal with a tribe of very aggressive bullywugs. I had them raid and take over a small wood elf village, that when cleared, could be given to the firbolg or the elves in town.
This is when you can sneak in Salvage Operation as a nice change of pace. I also used Sharkfin Shipwreck (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/441-encounter-of-the-week-sharkfin-shipwreck) to pad it out a bit more. The addition of Sahuagin brings up their danger that will have to be addressed in Final Enemy. I actually suggest running Sharkfin Shipwreck after the salvage operation, as the PCs should be around 5th level by then and adding in more Sahuagin is a good thing.
From there I ran Final Enemy. Given that my party is 6 players, I didn't have to scale it much at all, since it's balanced for 7th. If your party is smaller and book standard, you might have to downgrade things just a little bit.
After that, I went The Sytes > Isle of the Abbey > Tammerauts Fate. The Styes really doesn't need to be such a high level adventure, and I find that Tammerauts Fate is a better campaign capper. At this point I replaced Orcus with Umberlee, as she just fits way better.
Thank You!
There is some really good stuff here. I had not thought about the manor as a base of operations. My original thought was they get a derelict ship that is tied to the pier and not going anywhere the thought would be besides a base it would be a money sink into restoring the ship into sailing shape. As for the adventures, I'm mixing them with the Yawning Portal adventures as outlined at the beginning of Saltmarsh still it does not hurt to have an alternative order to play with.
Keep in mind that there's every chance the party ends up with the Sea Ghost as a ship, and that one is in good working order. Which means the derelict ship becomes a whole lot less attractive.
Keep in mind that there's every chance the party ends up with the Sea Ghost as a ship, and that one is in good working order. Which means the derelict ship becomes a whole lot less attractive.
Valid point. While I thought the idea of living on a derelict ship would be unique it may take away the excitement of the Sea Ghost when it appears.
I'm planning on starting the Ghosts of Saltmarsh. While I know Saltmarsh was originally set in the World of Greyhawk I was wondering where a good placement for the port town in the Forgotten Realms could be located.
How about Moonsea, top center of https://www.dndcombat.com/faerun/
I have just finished running the first section of Saltmarsh, as the intro to my campaign. I placed it on the South East of the Moonsea region, not far from Elmwood on the far NW edge of the Cormanthor forest.
On the Sword Coast up north near where the Trollmoors meet the western ocean? (can’t remember its name)
In the previous campaign I ran, I put it where Leilon is just south of Neverwinter. It is next to a swamp and close to forests, it fit great.
I was thinking Neverwinter. Somewhere in the far north near the Sword Coast.
I'm shooting for a blank space on the south side of Aglarond. Story wise, to me, it should for as the kingdom is on one of it's many breaks in hostilities with That. It gives a huge amount of space to play with on the Sea of Falling Stars. I've Cormyr mentioned as a location as well. It helps to break up the monotony of always being on the northern end of the sword coast.
on reddit: maps with and without salt marsh
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1o4C7iPgHwHBlpfVViBE9Ybbik7g9QQza?usp=sharing
Edit: latest version here
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/dypnry/updated_map_of_the_sword_coast_5e_final_version/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13k0v0Yk2mGuWr5knYAmCX12Ggyws3uCM
(P.S. I'm not the creator)
playing since 1986
I kinda like your idea.
In my FR Saltmarsh game, I placed Saltmarsh just north of the Mere of Dead Men, not far from Leilon. Much like in the maps that were posted above by Ythulths. I've found that it works very well as a location and the Mere is perfect for the Lizardfolk and such things. Plus it's between Waterdeep and Luskan, and Luskan fills in really well for the Pirates the adventure needs.
May you always roll 20s
Off topic question
Is it Luskan or Nelanther that’s a pirate haven in the Realms? Or are they both pirate towns?
Both of them are pirate-y. Luskan is a city ruled by pirate lords, while Nelanther is a series of islands run by pirates. If I remember correctly, Luskan is more human-dominated than Nelanther.
Wow! Thanks for all the suggestions and information I greatly appreciate it.
Perfect 😊. Thanks a lot.
There's a bit more information here:
https://eventyrgames.com/2019/06/20/ghosts-of-saltmarsh-in-forgotten-realms-free-maps/
I used that blog post in my game and it's done wonders for my game. It's one of the most logical places to put the town, and the other suggestions from that post are quite helpful.
And if you are planning on running this game, one thing I've found is that depending on your playgroup, they may well wish to take that old haunted manor and turn it into a base of operations. If your players do want to do this, I recommend taking them up on it for sure. What I did is had Saltmarsh grant them the deed in return for shutting down the smuggling operation. The haunted manor does have docks and a hidden smuggler's cove, which makes it perfect for the PCs.
To be honest, I'd honestly recommend offering them the manor's deed as a reward even if they don't bring it up themselves. The manor makes a fantastic money-sink for those DMs (like me) who have a habit of giving out too much treasure. Plus it gives them a much bigger stake in things when you get to the Final Enemy. I've got some actual rules on how to upgrade and pay for the manor house if you have an interest.
Some other modifications I made in my game:
For the Adventure order, I also changed that up. I broke it into two difference sections. The first is dealing with the Smugglers and Sahuagin threat. What I did was go Sinister Secrets > Danger at Dunwater > Homebrew > Salvage Operation > Final Enemy. I also dropped hints very early that the Smugglers in the first adventure were Umberlee worshippers.
Now, the jump from Danger at Dunwater to Final Enemy is a pretty big one. So I padded out Danger at Dunwater a fair bit more. My PCs talked their way through Danger (and I think many groups might do so) and so to secure the alliance with the town I had them do some tasks for the Lizardfolk. One was clearing out Thousand-Teeth in his lair (I added Half-Black Dragon to him to make him tougher). Finding his lair required working with the Firbolg to act as guides (a nice social encounter).
Once they had cleared out Thousand-Teeth, I had the lizardfolk ask them to deal with a tribe of very aggressive bullywugs. I had them raid and take over a small wood elf village, that when cleared, could be given to the firbolg or the elves in town.
This is when you can sneak in Salvage Operation as a nice change of pace. I also used Sharkfin Shipwreck (https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/441-encounter-of-the-week-sharkfin-shipwreck) to pad it out a bit more. The addition of Sahuagin brings up their danger that will have to be addressed in Final Enemy. I actually suggest running Sharkfin Shipwreck after the salvage operation, as the PCs should be around 5th level by then and adding in more Sahuagin is a good thing.
From there I ran Final Enemy. Given that my party is 6 players, I didn't have to scale it much at all, since it's balanced for 7th. If your party is smaller and book standard, you might have to downgrade things just a little bit.
After that, I went The Sytes > Isle of the Abbey > Tammerauts Fate. The Styes really doesn't need to be such a high level adventure, and I find that Tammerauts Fate is a better campaign capper. At this point I replaced Orcus with Umberlee, as she just fits way better.
May you always roll 20s
I love your modifications.
Thank You!
There is some really good stuff here. I had not thought about the manor as a base of operations. My original thought was they get a derelict ship that is tied to the pier and not going anywhere the thought would be besides a base it would be a money sink into restoring the ship into sailing shape. As for the adventures, I'm mixing them with the Yawning Portal adventures as outlined at the beginning of Saltmarsh still it does not hurt to have an alternative order to play with.
Keep in mind that there's every chance the party ends up with the Sea Ghost as a ship, and that one is in good working order. Which means the derelict ship becomes a whole lot less attractive.
May you always roll 20s
Valid point. While I thought the idea of living on a derelict ship would be unique it may take away the excitement of the Sea Ghost when it appears.
Put Saltmarsh way to the south, in the Border Kingdoms (see this DMs Guild item https://www.dmsguild.com/product/244431/The-Border-Kingdoms-A-Forgotten-Realms-Campaign-Supplement).