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Seven Nautical Adventures Set Sail on Roll20

Ghostly ships, smuggler dens, and ancient underwater ruins await in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, a collection of seven classic D&D adventures reimagined for 5th Edition. 

This anthology combines beloved nautical tales from D&D's past with comprehensive rules for ship combat and seafaring adventure, creating a versatile toolkit for running campaigns on the high seas. Originally published between 1981 and 2005, these adventures have been carefully updated for levels 1-12 while maintaining their classic charm.

Want to begin your nautical campaign? Build unlimited 5E characters on Roll20 – and explore our fully-equipped digital module complete with everything you need to set sail.

A Coastal Setting Brought to Life

The sleepy fishing village of Saltmarsh sits at the heart of these adventures, teetering between its traditional way of life and outside forces pushing for change. 

The town serves as both a home base for adventurers and a microcosm of larger political conflicts, with smugglers, sahuagin raiders, and forbidden cults all threatening its peaceful facade.

What makes Saltmarsh work so well is how it provides a living, breathing setting without overwhelming DMs with excessive detail. The book offers enough intrigue and local color to make the town feel real while leaving plenty of room for DMs to expand and customize. From the bustling docks to the run-down manor on the hill, each location feels purposeful and ripe with adventure potential.

A Flexible Adventure Structure

One of Ghosts of Saltmarsh's greatest strengths is its modular design. The seven adventures can be run as a complete campaign, with characters gradually uncovering greater threats to the region as they gain levels. Alternatively, DMs can easily pluck out individual adventures to insert into existing campaigns or run as standalone scenarios.

The adventures themselves offer impressive variety:

• The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh introduces both the town and classic ghost story elements
• Danger at Dunwater presents interesting opportunities for diplomacy with unexpected allies
• Salvage Operation delivers a thrilling heist aboard a derelict ship
• Isle of the Abbey combines undead threats with classic dungeon exploration
• The Final Enemy culminates in an epic assault on a sahuagin fortress
• Tammeraut's Fate and The Styes round out the collection with horror-themed scenarios for higher-level play

What Works Well

The collection shines through its varied approaches to nautical adventure and attention to seafaring detail.

The Adventures Feel Distinct and Memorable

Each module brings something unique to the table. Whether exploring a haunted house with smuggler secrets, negotiating with lizardfolk allies, or staging an assault on an underwater fortress, no two adventures feel alike. This variety helps maintain excitement throughout a campaign while offering different kinds of challenges for different player styles.

Ship Combat Rules Add Depth

The included rules for ship combat and seafaring transform vessels from simple transportation into dynamic parts of the adventure. Ships have their own stat blocks and actions, making naval warfare feel strategic and engaging rather than just a backdrop for standard combat.

Rich Support Materials

Beyond the adventures themselves, the book provides extensive tools for crafting nautical campaigns. Random encounter tables, ship upgrade options, and detailed rules for weather and navigation give DMs everything needed to create their own seafaring adventures.

Potential Challenges for DMs

Some Adventures Need More Connective Tissue

While the adventures can form a cohesive campaign, DMs will need to work to create strong links between them. The book provides suggestions but leaves much of the connecting narrative work to the DM. This flexibility is both a blessing and a curse, requiring more prep time but allowing for customization.

Combat Balance Can Be Uneven

Some encounters, particularly in the higher-level adventures, can swing wildly in difficulty. DMs may need to carefully adjust these based on their party's capabilities and composition.

Ship Management Could Overwhelm Some Groups

While comprehensive, the detailed rules for maintaining and operating ships might be more complex than some groups want to tackle. DMs should gauge their players' interest in these mechanics before diving too deep into the nautical systems.

Setting Sail on Roll20

Running Ghosts of Saltmarsh digitally transforms potential headaches into smooth sailing. The Roll20 adaptation includes 26 adventure maps with pre-configured dynamic lighting, making it easy to run both ship-based encounters and traditional dungeons. The digital format particularly shines in managing ship combat, with drag-and-drop ship stat blocks and automated rolls streamlining what could otherwise be complex encounters.

Digital Tools That Save Time

The VTT format particularly shines in managing the nautical aspects of play. 

Ship-to-ship combat becomes intuitive with integrated stat blocks and automated features, while the extensive collection of rollable tables helps DMs generate everything from weather conditions to random encounters with a single click. 

For Plus and Pro subscribers, dynamic lighting brings coastal caves and ship decks to life, adding immersion to exploration.

The 250+ included tokens and handouts help DMs effectively set scenes, whether showcasing a smuggler's ship at midnight or revealing a sahuagin ambush. These ready-to-use resources maintain the adventure's seafaring atmosphere without requiring extensive prep time searching for appropriate artwork.

The Final Verdict

Ghosts of Saltmarsh stands as one of the most versatile collections in D&D 5E's lineup. While it may require more DM investment to run as a full campaign, its modular nature and comprehensive seafaring rules make it an invaluable resource for any group interested in nautical adventure.

Roll20's implementation makes the game even more accessible. The digital tools – from pre-configured maps to automated ship combat – significantly reduces prep time and technical overhead.

Not every group will want to deal with the complexities of ship management or the work of connecting separate adventures. But for those seeking swashbuckling action, coastal mysteries, and the freedom of the high seas, Ghosts of Saltmarsh delivers a treasure trove of nautical content that can enhance any campaign.

Ready to set sail for adventure? Get Ghosts of Saltmarsh on Roll20 now and receive everything you need to run these classic nautical tales, including detailed ship combat rules, dynamic lighting maps, and comprehensive token integration.