Ghosts of Saltmarsh: Session Zero

This is for DMs only. There are SPOILERS for Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

As a piece of housekeeping, most of my players are underage (they are my daughter and her friends), so I won’t be using their real names. I’ll just refer to them by their character names only. Let’s get started.

My very first suggestion for preparing for a session zero for Ghosts of Saltmarsh is to go to Sly Flourish’s website and download Ghosts of Saltmarsh Player’s Guide. Either update it as you see fit or send it out as is. This was great for getting started. I sent it to all the players beforehand so that they could think about what kind of character they wanted to build. Your players will ignore it at their own risk. I also told them to come up with at least two ideas.

For session zero, I had read through most of the book, printed out several copies of maps of Saltmarsh along with area descriptions, and had a notebook nearby to take notes about each of the characters. We sat around the table and I said that I could veto their character idea if it wouldn’t work in the campaign and their character must have one tie to another character. I then asked what their character ideas were. I had one player who had a very strong idea and they asked to go first. They pitched their character, a human former smuggler that had witnessed a miracle, and walked away from that life to become a paladin of Procan. Everyone liked the idea and the campaign had its first character. The rest of the players went one-by-one pitching their characters (I only said no to a Satyr).

Here is an article (Character Build for Ghosts of Saltmarsh) that you can present to your players about what to think about when designing their characters.

Maps

I created player-friendly maps and adjusted the descriptive text to not reveal any of the area’s secrets.

Player’s map of Saltmarsh.

 
 

Player’s map of the region around Saltmarsh without the lizardfolk lair.

Locations in Saltmarsh

 1.       City Gate – 2 or 3 older guards, the wall is leftover from the older Saltmarsh settlement

2.       Barracks and Jail – Built on a low hill

3.       The Wicker Goat – Inn frequented by the town guard and dwarven miners; owned by Lankus Kurrid (human)

4.       Eliander Fireborn’s home – Loyalist on the town council (human)

5.       Mining Company Headquarters – Once a mansion owned by the Drallion family now headquarters for the dwarves

6.       Keledek’s Tower – Three-story tower home to the town’s resident sage and wizard Keledek the Unspoken (human)

7.       Faithful Quartermasters of Iuz – Trade delegation from Iuz, led by Captain Xendros (Tiefling). Large buyer of fish from Saltmarsh.

8.       Empty Net – Inn frequented by smugglers, mercenaries, assassins, and even pirates; owned by Kreb Shenker (human)

9.       Green Market – Open market for everything that is not fish, salt, or nautical wares.

10.   Sharkfin Bridge – Single large bridge that spans the river with shops and homes along its length

11.   Kester’s Leather Goods – Tannery run by Kiorna Kester (human)

12.   Hoolwatch Tower – Armory and lookout; the official base of the town guard; Job board for tasks

13.   The Snapping Line – Inn frequented by sailors and fisher; owned by Hanna Rist (human)

14.   Council Hall – Large brick building that contains the offices of the town council

15.   Weekly Market – Built around the first well where merchants gather on the first day of each week

16.   Primewater Mansion – Traditionalist on the town council (human)

17.   The Dwarven Anvil – Smithy owned by Mafera and her son Jasker (both human)

18.   Fishmonger’s Plants – Large fish processing buildings

19.   Oweland House – Eda Oweland (human), Traditionalist, lives here; she is on the town council

20.   Solmor House – Anders Solmor (human), neutral member of the council

21.   Mariner’s Guildhall – Run by Guildmaster Tabeth (human; devout follower of Procan)

22.   Ingo the Drover’s House – Group of buildings to hire guards, marines, and muscle

23.   Carpenter’s Guildhall – Run by the snobby Jilar Kaklesten (Gnome); Pays for rare woods (can get jobs from her)

24.   Crabber’s Cove – Abandoned houses taken over by thousands of crabs

25.   The Leap – Traditionally, the people of Saltmarsh leap from the cliffs into the water below when a loved one drowns at sea. The jump is usually not fatal.

26.   Temple of Procan – Temple led by the one-legged priest Wellgar Brinehand (human)

27.    Saltmarch Cemetery – Caretaker is Krag (half-orc)

28.   Winston’s Store – Owned by Winston (Halfling); “Solid goods at honest prices.”

29.   Sea Grove of Obad-Hai – A gathering place for seagulls, sailors, and swamp folk; led by Ferrin Kastilar (halfling druid); Obad-Hai is the deity of nature (neutral)

30.   Aubreck Drallion’s house – Merchant that has fallen on hard times, sold his mansion to the dwarves and lives here (human)

31.   Standing Stones – Two enormous runestones.

32.   Ylana’s home – Mother of Amar; Works for the Strymons

33.   Strymon House – Farmers and horse sellers

34.   Orban Dashly’s House

Regions and Locations in the Area

 Dreadwood – Is a home of horrid monsters and vicious raiders. Keoland maintains a ranger patrol that sweeps through the outer reaches of the forest. The inner depths of the forest are a place where the planar bindings to the Shadowfell are thin.

Drowned Forest – Is now the most dangerous region in the area. It was once a verdant region, but a few decades ago the marsh began to encroach on this area. The trees remain standing but long ago lost their foliage. Mushrooms and fungi sprout everywhere

Hool Marsh – Notorious for pools of water that seem easy to cross but hide deep wells and layers of mud. None but the desperate venture into this place, making it the ideal hiding place for outlaws and raiders.

Silverstrand – Home to several wood elf clans. Part of the Wild Flame Pact between Keoland and the Treeants to protect from incursions from the Dreadwood.

Burle – A fortified outpost always on guard for monsters emerging from the Dreadwood. It is a small keep on a hill surrounded by several farms. Commanded by Kiara Shadowbreaker. An ancient Treant named Wander Root lives in a copse of trees in the middle of the keep.

Dwarven Mine – Dwarven prospectors from Keoland have been mining here for the past three years. Protected by soldiers from Keoland and the members from the Copperlocks clan.

Haunted House – The old home of an alchemist that died twenty years ago. Many have gone to find the alchemist’s legendary horde of gold, but have only returned with naught but grim tales of decaying chambers presided over by monstrous perils.

Seaton – The folk of Saltmarsh point to Seaton as an example of the fate they want to avoid. For years, Seaton was about twice as large as Saltmarsh and enjoyed prosperous fishing and shipping industries. Seaton was chosen by King Skotti’s generals as the base of operations to fight the Sea Princes. Today, Seaton is a drab fortress with a heavily fortified harbor for the king’s navy. Led by Duke Marik Feldren, an unpopular leader that took the role when his war-hero brother Obertus Feldren died a year after being granted the position by King Skotti.

The characters that were made for the campaign were:

  • Amar: Human, paladin, and former smuggler

  • Tidal: Genasi (water), sorcerer, and current smuggler

  • Whisper: Genasi (air), druid, and fisherman

  • Mac: River gnome, bard, and shipwright

  • Wind: Tabaxi, rogue, and alchemist who had stolen a text and was on the run

Once they had all made their choices, they picked up their dice and rolled their stats. I had them do the version where they roll four d6s and drop the lowest die. Once they had all six scores, they could then place them wherever they wanted. I witnessed one of them roll an eighteen, which was pretty awesome.

Then the stories started. Amar had grown up poor in Saltmarsh, living with his mother and brother in Crabber’s Cove. To escape poverty, Amar had turned to crime and became an infamous smuggler after the Spirit of the Whale incident. Amar had been the one to smuggle the tabaxi, Wind, onto the ship he was on. I suggested that the ship be The Emperor of the Waves. As they crossed the Azure Sea, a storm-tossed the ship. Wind was swept overboard and Amar dove in to try and save him. Procan, the god of the sea, calmed the storm then created a wave that brought the two characters back onto the deck of the ship. That was the last time that Amar sailed the sea as a smuggler. He walked off that ship and went straight to the temple.

Wind went into hiding once they reached Saltmarsh. He went to work for an alchemist, who was a friend to his old mentor. The alchemist kept Wind hidden by casting Seeming on him daily to make him look human.

I suggested that the two players that were playing genasi be related. Here is where my knowledge of 5e failed me. In 2nd edition, genasi were the offspring of elemental beings and humanoids, I didn’t know that it had changed. I suggested that the two characters have different mothers and the same father. Right now, you all are saying, “That’s not how genasi work.” And you’d be right, but I didn’t know any better and that’s the route we took.

It might have not grown too much from there, but then Amar decided to roll on the This is Your Life tables in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Donivald was born. Who is Donivald? You may be asking. I’m glad you asked, Donivald became the face of all that is wrong in Saltmarsh. He was the father of Tidal, Whisper, and Amar (and Amar’s brother Remir). The characters would run into other children of Donivald during the campaign including the remains of a half-elf in Chapter 5: The Final Enemy and during the same adventure it was learned that the half-orc (who had joined the party after Chapter 4: Salvage Operation) Urgag was also a child of Donivald. The picture on p. 143 of GoS always drew my eye. In the long run, that was not who Donivald turned out to be but his ship was the Tammeraut.

To help spur ideas, the This is Your Life tables are a great resource to get inspiration. Don’t be shackled by the random dice rolls, but allow the story elements that work blossom into story ideas.

Mac, the river gnome, had been working on the river from Saltmarsh to Burle. He had learned to be a shipwright, and when his brother’s family died, he had moved to Saltmarsh to ply trade and keep an eye on his brother’s adopted son, Whisper. Whisper was an air genasi and had been a fisherman until the cries of the fish had driven him from that trade. It was the awakening of his druidic powers that allowed him to speak to animals. He became an apprentice to Ferrin Kastilar in the Sea Grove of Obad-Hai.

Whisper’s half-sister, Tidal, had grown up in a mansion on the hill. She was raised by the help after her mother disappeared until the money ran out. Now the house is mostly empty of anything valuable and she shares the house with several squatters.

The whole session took up the time we had that night. Then the work began.

I went through the list of NPCs and decided who would be connected to which characters. I created a few of my own to add to the cast. I wrote a brief history of each character with story elements that they had come up with along with ideas that I had to tie them to the campaign.

Here is an example of what I created for Mac:

 

Mac’s Backstory

            After your village was destroyed, you brought Whisper Seaspray to Saltmarsh. You stayed around to keep an eye on the young lad and even helped him to get hired onto Orban Dashly’s fishing boat. You found that your skills as a shipwright kept you busy during the day and your skill as a storyteller busy at nights in the various inns of Saltmarsh.

            Eda Oweland, one of the most respected councilmembers in town, asked you to come and live at her house and entertain her family in the evenings. Gellan Primewater might be the flashiest member of the council, constantly throwing parties and funding circuses, but if someone gets into trouble, they go to Eda for help.

 Contacts:

  • Eda Oweland – Traditionalist and head of the council

  • Gellan Primewater – Traditionalist and councilmember; You know that his legitimate ventures are only to hide his smuggling activity.

  • Anders Solmor – Neutral member of the council. He recently inherited his family’s fleet of fishing boats after the untimely death of his mother, Petra. He is outspoken in his dislike for smuggling and piracy. Has become very popular as his energy and tenacity for expanding the fishing industry in Saltmarsh has been very successful.

  • Eliander Fireborn – Loyalist member of the council. Captain of Saltmarsh’s guard. He was injured while driving out wild things in the Dreadwood. He lost the lower part of his right leg and now walks with a finely carved peg leg.

  • Manistrad Copperlocks – Female dwarf and loyalist member of the council. Leader of the newly established dwarven company. She was placed by royal decree onto the town council and has not done a good job of smoothing relations with the locals. She begrudgingly appreciates your ability as a bard, but still thinks that you pale in comparison to the dwarven bards of her homeland.

  • Lankus Kurrid – Innkeeper of the Wicker Goat (frequented by the dwarves and town guard)

  • Kreb Shenker – Innkeeper of the Empty Net (frequented by smugglers, mercenaries, assassins, and pirates)

  • Hanna Rist – Innkeeper of the Snapping Line (frequented by sailors and fishers)

  • Orban Dashly – One of the best independent fishermen in Saltmarsh. Known for being a tough but fair employer.

  • Mother Nightshade – Hag that lives in the forest. You’ve had run-ins with her, but were able to keep things from getting violent.

  • Wander Root – Treant that lives in a copse of trees in Burle’s keep.

  • Aubreck Drallion – Down on his luck merchant, who has had a string of bad luck that had him selling his mansion to the dwarves and moving into a humbler abode with his half-orc butler Vertheg

  • Jilar Kaklesten – The snobby gnome runs the Carpenter’s Guildhall and you have a strained relationship with her (most find her too unpleasant to be nice to).