Ghosts of Saltmarsh Nautical Adventure!
Adventure based in a seedy port town stuck between tradition and the crown. Determine the town's future and thwart a plot that could change the world!
$25.00
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Weekly / Saturday - 11:30 PM UTC
Oct 17 / Session 12
Session Duration / 3–3.5 hours
5 / 6 Seats Filled
Top Game Master
One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Schedule
Meet your party members
5/6
About the adventure
Smugglers! Pirates! Treasure! High seas adventure! Mystery! Political intrigue! All this and more can be found in Saltmarsh, a seemingly nondescript fishing village where piracy and banditry once flourished. The pirates who once terrorized the region have been put in check. Now the residents of the town are torn between keeping their traditions and risking the pirates returning, or aligning themselves with the crown and trading their old way of life for security and progress. What will the future hold for Saltmarsh? Will it continue to be a sleepy backwater port town frequented by smugglers? Will it become a powerhouse of shipping and mining with the backing of a mighty kingdom? Perhaps you will help Saltmarsh forge its own destiny and become something even greater! In this adventure: 🗺️ Explore a variety of environments from haunted mansions to dank caves to the open sea. 🏴☠️ Embrace lawlessness or put a stop to smugglers and brigands using the city for their own gains. ⛵ Engage in ship to ship combat with unique rules and mechanics! Tell Davy Jones "Not today!" 💰 Acquire vast wealth and hordes of treasure just like the adventurer recruiting posters promised! 📜 Join or undermine one or all of the various factions in the city each with their own goals. ☠️ Discover a greater evil threatening not just the city of Saltmarsh, but the entire region, and perhaps more. ⚒️ Forge your own destiny in this largely sandbox-style adventure.
Game style
Roleplay Heavy
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(22)
3 years on StartPlaying
333 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Rule of Cool, Inclusive
About me
My name is Robert and I am a life long lover of all things nerdy. I like to dabble in a bit of everything but my favorite hobbies are TTRPGs and video games. I've been playing and DMing starting in the early 90s with AD&D (2e) and Tunnels & Trolls, and continuing into 3rd edition. After a bit of a hiatus, I came back to the game in 5e and have really enjoyed getting back into the hobby both as a player and as a DM. Although D&D is my primary system, I have at least a little experience with quite a few others as well. I am a US Air Force veteran living currently living in Texas with my wife of 18 years and our 2 children, as well as a menagerie of pets including 2 dogs and 7 cats. I started running games on SPG as a side gig doing something that I love and am passionate about to help support my family. It has been an absolute joy to meet and play with so many wonderful people here and I hope to keep doing this for many years to come. I am always open to questions so if there is anything else you want to know, feel free to ask. I'm looking forward to adventuring with you! Lightning round! Here are (in no particular order) some of my favorite... Books - Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, Dresden Files, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Movies/Directors - Boondock Saints, SLC Punk, Star Wars, Guy Ritchie, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino Music - Metal, rock, punk Games - Borderlands, Fallout, Diablo, X-Com, Dark Souls, Brutal Legend, Elder Scrolls, too many others to list TV Shows - Futurama, Rick and Morty, Star Trek, Firefly Anime - Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Warhammer 40k armies - Chaos marines, Tyranids, Orks
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Characters can be made inside of the Foundry VTT or imported from D&D Beyond. All content in officially published non-setting source books is allowed as well as relevant setting related source books (examples here.) If you want something more exotic, feel free to ask and I’ll be happy to work with you to make something fun and flavorful that doesn't break the balance of the game. We will primarily be using 2024 rules and I prefer to have anything found in both rulesets to use the newer one, but exceptions will always be considered on request. Stats will be built using a modified point buy system that is slightly more generous and much more flexible than the default options.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You will need: 🖥️ Computer 🎤 Microphone (voice chat on discord) 🎧 Headphones (combined headset/mic is also fine) 🗝️ Free accounts on both discord and foundry Optional: 📷 Webcam is always encouraged but never required 📋 Familiarity with FoundryVTT (can be learned on the fly)
What Copperheade (Robert) brings to the table
👉 High quality microphone and camera with very fast internet connection. 👉 A hearty embrace of the Rule of Cool. I love to say "yes, and" but I also know when to say "no, but." 👉 Tough but not unfair combat encounters, but also variety. The stakes will often be high and death is always a possibility, but not every combat will be the same. 👉 Immersion and Verisimilitude: fancy words that mean NPCs will act realistically and stay true to their own internal motivations both in and out of combat. 👉 Many different voices/accents and personalities for the NPCs and creatures that inhabit the world around you. 👉 Player-driven story. The world and its inhabitants react to the characters' choices and the consequences of their actions. 👉 A willingness to accept constructive feedback and constant desire to improve.
Homebrew rules
I have very few house rules and most of them are focused on allowing you to play what you want, how you want, by removing limitations and some of the imbalance of the rules as written. I keep a document for house rules here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ry1qLvL9FIZQ1FArPkJLHQsTMiMjtmvbQJBsDOzoY14/edit?usp=sharing Brief overview of the house rules: Modified point buy system (slightly more generous and much more flexible). Guaranteed minimum roll when rolling for hit points. Allowing both feats and ability score increases at standard levels. Healing potions can gain more effectiveness when used as an action rather than a bonus action. Critical damage re-rolls to help avoid disappointing crits.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Copperheade (Robert) creates a safe table
A list of lines and veils will be maintained in a safety tools channel on Discord. We have a module in FoundryVTT for X-cards, or we can use any other method the group is comfortable with. I am generally available for a cool-down period immediately following each session. I will also be available for discussion on request any time that I am available. I will always do my best to make my table a welcoming and comfortable place for all my players to enjoy.
Content warnings
Safety tools used