Ghosts of Saltmarsh – The Most Underrated 5e Book

In my humble opinion, Ghosts of Saltmarsh is one of the most underrated and best 5e releases for any creative Dungeon Master.

You might ask: Is it better than Curse of Strahd?

Well, Curse of Strahd is, without question, the best campaign adventure in 5e, a tightly written gothic masterpiece set within a beautifully contained world. It’s been a D&D classic since the 1980s, from the original Ravenloft (I6) to the modern reimagining.

But Ghosts of Saltmarsh is a very different kind of book. It’s not a single campaign, it’s a setting, a collection of adventures, and a DM’s toolbox all rolled into one.

While you can link the seven adventures into a full campaign (and many DMs have), it takes some stitching together to make it flow smoothly, something I’m actively doing with my Legends of Saltmarsh project. Out of the box, it isn’t as cohesive as Curse of Strahd but its potential is far greater.

I think that’s part of why the book never reached the popularity it deserved. Many DMs expected a fully pre-built campaign they could just pick up and run. Instead, Ghosts of Saltmarsh offers something far more valuable: a framework that rewards creativity, improvisation, and world-building.

Why I Hold It in Such High Regard

1. The Setting

Saltmarsh has been part of D&D canon since the 1980s in the World of Greyhawk. Chapter 1 of the book is, in my opinion, the strongest part and I truly wish WotC had leaned into it more.

You get a fully realized coastal village, with local politics (Loyalists vs Traditionalists), a mysterious secret organization (Scarlet Brotherhood) weaving chaos into the world and a surrounding region filled with possibilities; the Hool Marshes, Dunwater River, Drowned Forest, Burle, the Ruined Tower of Zenopus, the Dreadwood, and more. Much of it officially part of the World of Greyhawk.

The village lies on the bordered by Keoland and the Hold of the Sea Princes, a place of political tension, skirmishes, smuggling and potential war.

The topography alone; marshes, sea caves, forests, rivers, and dwarven mines, gives DMs endless material.

It’s also ideal for West Marches–style campaigns, with Saltmarsh as a living hub. Something I am working on as part of the Legends of Saltmarsh project.

2. The Adventures

The book includes seven official adventures, with The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater, and The Final Enemy (U1–U3) being reimagined classics from the 1980s. Each can be run as a standalone adventure or woven together into a larger campaign.

Beyond those, Ghosts of Saltmarsh also recommends ways to incorporate seven additional adventures from Tales from the Yawning Portal several of which originally took place in the World of Greyhawk and serve as modern updates of early D&D modules.

But it doesn’t stop there. The book is filled with Easter eggs and subtle nods to other adventures from the Ruined Tower of Zenopus to other classic references scattered throughout the setting. I’ve even made a video highlighting over 40 adventures that can connect to Saltmarsh and its surrounding region. There’s truly a wealth of material to explore here.

In fact, I’d argue you’d be hard-pressed to find any other 5e book with so many adventures directly or indirectly tied to it.

3. The DM Toolbox

The appendices (A, B, and C) are a treasure chest for Dungeon Masters, filled with tools to spark adventure design, introduce new creatures, and enrich your nautical campaigns.

Appendix A features ship stat blocks and battle maps, guidance for designing islands, encounter tables, and even several mini-adventures, including a shipwreck scenario and underwater ruins ready for exploration. It’s easily one of the best appendix sections in any 5e book, serving as a genuine DM toolkit rather than simple reference material.

Appendices B and C broaden the world even further with six new magic items and over thirty creatures, NPCs, and monsters. Hidden among these entries are adventure seeds and encounters that can effortlessly grow into full quests. I often draw inspiration from them myself.

There’s a lot here for DMs who love to build, create, and explore a toolbox that goes far beyond a typical adventure collection.

My Thoughts on the Format

Anyone can bundle and update a few adventures into a book, but what makes Ghosts of Saltmarsh truly shine lies in its Chapter 1 and Appendix A. These sections elevate it from a simple adventure anthology into a living, breathing sandbox toolkit for creative Dungeon Masters.

If I were designing Ghosts of Saltmarsh, I’d expand Chapter 1 even further, adding more roll tables, random events, town developments, and quest seeds to help DMs bring Saltmarsh to life. I’d also flesh out the surrounding regions; the Hool Marshes, Drowned Forest, and Dreadwood and give more attention to Burle and Seaton. And of course, I’d add a proper dungeon to that dwarven mine (a missed opportunity if there ever was one!).

I’d also broaden the appendices, turning what’s already one of WotC’s best toolkits into a comprehensive resource for building new coastal adventures.

Wizards of the Coast was onto something with this format; a blend of setting, anthology, and toolkit, but sadly, they never built upon it. Compared to many later campaign books (which often feel rushed or fragmented), Ghosts of Saltmarsh remains one of the most flexible, replayable, and DM-friendly releases for 5e.

Of course, it takes a bit of elbow grease. This isn’t a plug-and-play campaign, it’s a sandbox that rewards DMs who enjoy rolling up their sleeves and creating.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the best 5e book for a creative Dungeon Master. You can absolutely run the included adventures as written, but the real magic lies in how it empowers you to craft your own expanding the town, weaving in new quests, shaping its politics, and even running a full West Marches-style campaign.

It’s not a traditional campaign book and that’s perfectly fine. What it offers instead are the tools and inspiration to build your own unforgettable campaign.

Availability & Greyhawk’s Return

Sadly, Ghosts of Saltmarsh is now out of print physically, though it’s still available digitally on D&D Beyond, Roll20, and possibly and hopefully in the future on Foundry VTT. You can still find physical copies floating around on eBay or other secondhand sites. Some have purchased it on D&D Beyond and converted it into a PDF, (while frustrating, it is feasable). One would think, why not just put it on DMSGuild.com as a PDF or Print-on-Demand (POD)? Perhaps we will see it there soon, as there is a lot of Ghost of Saltmarsh content already available.

With the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide bringing back Greyhawk as the default campaign setting for the first time in decades (see my video review), I can only hope we’ll see more official Greyhawk content and maybe even an updated Ghosts of Saltmarsh for the new ruleset.

In the meantime, the 2024 World of Greyhawk PDF is available on DMsGuild for just 50 cents and easily one of the best purchases you can make if you love this world.

Also make sure to check out the Ghosts of Saltmarsh subreddit with an active and engaged community.

My Mission

My goal remains steadfast; to build out the village of Saltmarsh as a living, breathing hub for your campaigns a place you can use to run official adventures, my own creations, or your own custom one-shots and West Marches games.

Legends of Saltmarsh continues to expand that vision connecting stories, filling in gaps, and bringing the coast to life.