# The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - your experiences?



## Quasqueton (May 25, 2004)

Fourth thread of a series on the old classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules. It is interesting to see how everyone's experiences compared and differed.

_The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh_








Did you Play or DM this adventure (or both, as some did)? What were your experiences? Did you complete it? What were the highlights for your group?

Did you also play the second and third modules of the series: _Danger at Dunwater_, and _The Final Enemy_? How did that go for you?

Quasqueton


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## Crothian (May 25, 2004)

I've played and run this one, and its been great every time.  I've never ran or played in either of the follow ups.


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## Duncan Haldane (May 25, 2004)

I ran this game numerous times.  Only ran the second part once, and don't think I ever ran the third.

I had fun running it, and I think my players had fun playing.

Recently I played a Neverwinter Nights adaption of the first two, and they were very good translations.

Duncan


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## 3catcircus (May 25, 2004)

Hmm - I DM'ed the U1-U3 series a few months ago, using the Forgotten Realms as the campaign world.  My group seemed to enjoy it, especially when, after clearing out the pirates, they argued over whether they should take the mansion over as a base of operations, knock it down and plant fields, or turn it into an orphanage...  I set it in Daggerford (get _The North_ boxed set from WoTC - it's free) and had Oryv the Cloth Merchant be a contact for the pirates.  The Lizard Marsh is just to the west of Daggerford along the coast, so it tied in quite nicely for all 3 modules.  The one thing I would caution you on is the potential for U3 to turn into a slog-fest.  If you and your players don't want to explore every single area of U3, make sure you use an overwhelming number of Sahuagin so that they get the hint that it is best to sneak around and only explore the areas that are necessary.

After I ran this series, one of the other guys took a turn DMing - he used the Pirate Ship (which the party captured) and Oryv the Cloth Merchant as a plot hook to get the group up to Waterdeep (where drydocks exist that could repair the ship) in preparation for a journey into the ocean (down near the Nelanther Isles) where he ran a quite successful follow-up using X1 Isle of Dread.  He also tied in the paladin's orphanage idea into the Lathanderites in Waterdeep and the idea that the main reason for going to the Isle of Dread was to stop Banites from getting the thing.




			
				Quasqueton said:
			
		

> Fourth thread of a series on the old classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules. It is interesting to see how everyone's experiences compared and differed.
> 
> _The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh_
> 
> ...


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## Emirikol (May 25, 2004)

The first one's a  classic haunted house that's not really haunted.  The last two kinda blew.

jh


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## Caspiar (May 26, 2004)

I've DM'd this series two times (i may even try it 3.5)....... It's a great series, but both times the party could not defeat the Sahugin in part three and had to rely on the outsiders to resolve the problem.......and poor Oceanus (the sea elf NPC) died horribly both times (the sharks in U3)...... We did have some fun expanding on the whole Rapture weed angle and even contemplated a D&D Scarface campaign.....

It's a great beginner DM series..... The first focuses on setting a mood (with the mystery of Saltmarsh), the second module introduces negotiation, can the party get the help and support from the Locatah without having an all out war at Dunwater.....and the final a classic killer dungeon crawl complete with Underwater levels.....and sharks.....

What more could you ask for in a series..... three great modules..... even Desert of Desolation had the the sometimes clumsy 2nd part (Oasis of the White palms)


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## Morpheus (May 26, 2004)

Great module! I ran it once and we had a blast.


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## Sir Whiskers (May 26, 2004)

I played this module almost 20 years ago and it was a lot of fun. I do feel the module is a bit too heavy-handed in trying to take away treasure from the party (tolls?charges? from the city council, IIRC), but a good GM can modify that. I remember it as a module that rewarded smart players, which is always a good thing.


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## Connorsrpg (May 26, 2004)

*Saltmarsh*

Yeah, I have run this several times in the past and have been contemplating a rerun on 3.5 too.

I have used  U1 a lot (either as a whole or in parts) and have found it to be a good module.  Especially the scenes for fights: in a house where the floor falls out from under PCs, water cave, deck of a ship etc.

When I next run this I think that I will make the 'assassin' an actual ally or at least real captive, so that those who know a little about the module (and many of my players do) will be in for a surprise - especially if they are very suspicious...

BTW is there a converted 3.5 ver of the modules?  I am sure I have seen them somewhere...

I only got to U2 & U3 once.  In U2 it was all over rather quickly with the PCs successfully negotiating a truce.  All those well detailed rooms and cool dungeon description = wasted as they simply sought audience with the leader first up.  (So I had to later use the rooms/map for a dirty tribe of hobgoblins )

U3 was very challenging and I back what has been said.  If approached as a slog-fest then the PCs are in trouble.  My particular group were in trouble too, when they returned to the surface to find the surrounding swamp levelled by a cyclone....no sight of the ship awaiting them either.  From memory they high-tailed it out of the swamp (as they had taken a few sahuagin out and were sure to make the others angry once discovered) and never returned without finishing the module.

Overall, they are some of my favourite campaign modules from 1E.  (Not one shot dungeon/tournament-like modules, but ones you CAN run as part of a campaign).

Cool thread.  

How about some ideas re changing some of the parts to make them more interesting, or 're-playable' for those players that have had some experience with the series in years gone by?


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## smetzger (May 26, 2004)

Its a good adventure that I have run numerous times.



			
				Sir Whiskers said:
			
		

> I played this module almost 20 years ago and it was a lot of fun. I do feel the module is a bit too heavy-handed in trying to take away treasure from the party (tolls?charges? from the city council, IIRC), but a good GM can modify that. I remember it as a module that rewarded smart players, which is always a good thing.




Actually I was going to say the module is way to rich.  Most likely the PCs will end up with a ship, its cargo, a bunch of platinum pieces, and the gratitude of a town.  Plus they could end up with a Psuedo Dragon.


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## Sir Whiskers (May 26, 2004)

smetzger said:
			
		

> Actually I was going to say the module is way to rich.  Most likely the PCs will end up with a ship, its cargo, a bunch of platinum pieces, and the gratitude of a town.  Plus they could end up with a Psuedo Dragon.




In which case, I suggest the GM cut back on the treasure awarded, rather than give it to the party just to take it away later - players really _hate_ that sort of thing.

BTW, I forgot about getting to keep the ship. I think the townfolk insisted on keeping it when I played through the module.


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## DragonLancer (May 26, 2004)

I had the opportunity to play in the module several years ago, and I loved it, and when my (then) DM sold it on Ebay last year I was lucky enough to win it. 

I played a halfling rogue named Maxwell Underhill, although he did not last the whole scenario. He died when the party was engaged in another combat, and Maxwell backed into a corridor and straight into a gelatinous cube. Poor Maxwell.

Top notch module.


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## Aaron2 (May 26, 2004)

Connorsrpg said:
			
		

> I only got to U2 & U3 once.  In U2 it was all over rather quickly with the PCs successfully negotiating a truce.  All those well detailed rooms and cool dungeon description = wasted as they simply sought audience with the leader first up.  (So I had to later use the rooms/map for a dirty tribe of hobgoblins )




This happened when I played as well. Really, who is going to waste all that time and effort assaulting the lair? The flavor text made it pretty clear you didn't have to. Talking first avoids 80% of the adventure.


Aaron


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## Umbran (May 26, 2004)

Long time ago, when my older brother decided it was time to introduce me to D&D, he bought a 1e DMG, PHB, and The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh for me for Christmas.  This was the first module, the first D&D thing I ever played.  Had a blast, and the module is near and dear to my heart.

Even better, years later I ran it for a bunch of folks who hadn't played before, and discovered that it held up without my nostalgia. Darned good adventure, this one is.


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## Khayman (May 26, 2004)

We've only played the first instalment, but something like three or four times. The first time was something like 15 years ago. The two most recent times were last year, and within a month of one another. 

Our DM in a Weird War Two campaign used the Saltmarsh maps for a smuggler's hideout on the coast of Normandy. A couple of weeks later, another DM used the same maps in another campaign --- in this case, our evil band of pirates moseyed through and ran afoul of a good-aligned party of adventurers. (Poor buggers never had a chance, arrrrr!) 

On the downside, during the pirate adventure I kept expecting Nazis to walk around the corner...


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## milotha (May 26, 2004)

I've played in this one and the two sequels.  Our group had a blast, but we did get our buts handed to us in the second one, though the GM had augmented the module.


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## Thotas (May 26, 2004)

Played this ages ago, me DMing for a bunch of first-time players.  So long ago I only really remember two details; one is the green slime falling on one PC, while the party had a half orc that carried a lot of beer with her wherever she went.  So she passed around the bottles, they shook 'em up and got in a circle spraying beer foam on the victim hoping it would kill the green slime.  It didn't, of course, but I did like the imagery and the creative attempt at problem solving.  They also for some reason cast a sleep spell on the suit of plate armor that they found.  This one put me in a quandry, since yes, there were rot grubs in the armor, but can rot grubs sleep, really?  (In 3.x, of course, I'd say they're vermin and not affected, just like common sense was telling me then.)  I decided that this was good instincts and more creative thinking though, and I wanted to reward that trend in a set of newbies, so I went with the RAW and decided it would work.  Never played any sequels, though.


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## DiamondB (May 26, 2004)

This thread has inspired me to use this series in my upcoming campaign.  I actually have never had the opportunity to run or play in this series of adventures, though I've owned all three modules for some time.  I'm now really looking forward to getting some use out of them.  Hmmm... Maybe I'll go dig through all my 1st edition stuff and see what other inspiration I can find.

For those curious, I did some checking and there has been a conversion done, available here on EN World.


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## Barendd Nobeard (May 26, 2004)

Ran it two years ago (the entire series) for my kids and some other children.

It was a great introduction to the game, because it requires investigation, combat, negotiation, and stealth to complete all three modules.  A nice variety.

Their party was a bit over powered, but for children that was fine--it made up for some poor tactical decisions.  I think we had 6 PCs and 2 NPCs going through the mods, in a 3.0 conversion.


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## MerricB (May 26, 2004)

I love the series, but the levels they are for are dreadfully wrong.

U1 and U2 work pretty much "as is", but in U3 a normal party will be destroyed. Either you have a kind DM running clueless opponents, or the party needs a _knock_ spell - and probably a few fireballs.

Unfortunately, U1 took my group 2 sessions and U2 only 1. I was using 3E, and even with its fast advancement rates, the party was only at 2nd level.

Not good.

Cheers!


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## Sholari (May 26, 2004)

The first two of the series are really well designed modules.  They have an interesting story line and plot twists without railroading PCs. I'm even more impressed, however, by all the little details that really give these modules texture (e.g. descriptions of items, logic behind the room layout, etc.)

One memory.. after exhausting all of his spells in combat, I had the smuggler illusionist, Sanbalet, make a hasty escape out of the caves and toward the beach.  The party mage, who was also out of spells, broke off from combat to chase down Sanbalet.  It ended up turning into a fist fight between two mages on a sandbar.  The party mage ended up with just 1 hp left, but returned dragging Sanbalet's onto the beach.


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## diaglo (May 26, 2004)

Emirikol said:
			
		

> The last two kinda blew




say what?

blew only if your group was a bunch of kick in the door hack n' slashers.

and the referee couldn't keep track of things.

i ran this series many times for all n00bs, all veterans, and various combinations of the two types of players.

the key is to know your audience.


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## schporto (May 26, 2004)

Ohh boy.  Yes we played that about a year ago.  I DM'd it.  The party only got through the first 1/2 of U1 and didn't give a damn about the pirate ship.  Or the town.  Took the smuggled goods in the mansion and left after clearing it out.  But the single absolute best part was Ned.  Poor Ned has become a joke in our group.  I tried to make him a chalenge when he finally 'turned' bad.  But well, 1 critical with a battleaxe later, there was only 1 dead Ned.  OK it may have taken  1 prep hit, and then the critical, but still was definately not the challenge I was looking for.  Very funny though.


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## spectre72 (May 26, 2004)

I am about to start running the series in my PBEM.

And something that you have to remember is that in 1st Edition assassins were deadly, in fact much more so than any other version.

We had a group of 6 2nd level characters and a bunch of 1st level guards all slaughtered by 2 1st level assasins in a 1st Edition game we played many years ago.

Built a healthy respect for assasins in those days.

I plan on altering the Assasin in the 3E convert that I have to make things tougher.


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## Connorsrpg (May 26, 2004)

*Again*

Gotta say it I just love these threads.  

I too loved the details in these modules, inc good room descriptions.  

Again, what a variety of environments for the combats:  I forgot to mention; up to waists in mud, surrounded by lizardman 'eggs', in flooded rooms (with seaweed beds, the list goes on...

Have to agree big time with Merric.  May need something b/w U1,U2 & then U3.  If played as intelligent beings (which the module has ideas on) sahuagin would wipe the floor, or 'dirty the whole room actually - what, with body parts and blood and guts floating everywhere...hey there is another cool combat environment, blood/mist filled water-filled room...oh where was I)???

Yeah, yeah, will need another adventure between U2 & U3 in order for the PCs be an appropriate level.  I would want a standard-sized (small) group to be 4-th lvl before taking on U3.  easier to bump up some of the suahuagin villains (and there is a couple of rippers), than to scale down standard sahuagin in their own watery environment.

Another cool memory; the detailed and 'different' sahuagin leaders/personalities, not just stats for the different rooms.

Another option is to be generous on the XP for a party that takes the diplomacy approach for U2.  I am sure most of you do this, but would you award the full XP that the party would have gotten by beating every lizardman to a pulp...I don't think I would go that far, but about half that would do nicely.

Batterly low..gotta go.

 Connors


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## Rel (May 26, 2004)

Love, Love, LOVE this module!

I've owned it for longer than any other module in my collection with the exception of Keep on the Borderlands.  I trot it out any time I get a group of new players because it is fun, varied and teaches good habits in my opinion.

The Haunted House has a few small combats (mostly with vermin as I recall) but also shows how painful and deadly the simple things like rotted floors can be.  Then there's Ned who, if used effectively, teaches you not to trust everybody you meet.

The sea caves are a great scene for some combat, a few traps and with Gnolls, Skeletons, Rot-Grubs and Sanbalet there's plenty of variety.  I also don't recall another 1E adventure featuring an Illusionist as the BBEG.  The fight aboard the ship is yet another interesting tactical situation and follows up the "Ned situation" with Oceanus by way of contrast.  Add in the Lizard Men, the weapons being smuggled and it is a nice mystery.

U2 is a cool continuation of the first module and teaches the value of diplomacy in lieu of brute force.  And there's a lot more mystery elements to continue the theme of the first module.

I never played U3 and from having read it, I'm not terribly sure that it would live up to the first two.  I think that a big limitation to the enjoyment would be that almost all of it takes place underwater.

Anyhow, as other posters have aluded to, I have used the maps from U1 much more frequently than I've played the module.  One module with maps of a mansion, some sea caves and a ship deck plan is something that you just have to keep handy.


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## Joshua Randall (May 26, 2004)

In my opinion, the U-series (Saltmarsh, Dunwater, Final Enemy) is the finest module series of its era, bar none. It's got varied types of challenges, great writing, and enemies who are both evil and smart - the best kind.

I agree that U3 can be deadly for careless or underpowered parties. And I agree with Rel that the fact that two-thirds of U3 takes place underwater is a major bummer. If I were to run the adventure these days, I would say that the sahuagin haven't yet flooded their fortress; but I'd leave plenty of clues that that is their intention, and that once they complete the floodling they will unleash a wave of terror upon.

Even without flooded levels, the PCs will have their hands full with the masses of sahuagin. But if you emphasize the information that the town council needs (which is explained in the module), you can hopefully steer the PCs towards a stealthy info-gathering mission, rather than a kill-everything-and-loot-the-bodies style of game.

Although come to think of it, an assassinate-the-sahuagin-leader mission would also be sweet. Hmm... _rushes off to jot down some notes_...

Anyway. I adore this series. It is well worth acquiring via eBay or SVGames if you don't already have it. Even if you never run a single adventure in Saltmarsh, you will learn a lot from reading them.


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## Vindicator (May 26, 2004)

I played Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (not the follow-ups, though).  To be honest, as soon as I found out that the house wasn't haunted but that the hauntings were faked, I was immensely disappointed.  My buddies and I called it the Scooby-Do adventure--I still resent it to this day.


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## Connorsrpg (May 27, 2004)

*Sooby doo mishap*

Yeah, I can see where you are coming from Vindicator.

My advice for DMs is NOT to play up on the haunted approach.  PCs automatically think that it is NOT haunted so go along with that and they may begin to feel 'maybe it is'..but don't push that it IS.

They may get sucked in, but are more likely to recognise the spells in place anyway.  Like the 'See we knew it wasn't haunted' when they meet the antagonists too..just as good as the intended surprise...which as Vindicator said isn't really there anyway.

Connors


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## Emirikol (May 27, 2004)

I had a neat experience while playing U1 the 2nd time.  I was a well-known, GUEST player.  I got to play Ned Shakeshifter as an NPC.  The other players though i was joining the campaign.

Oh, man, I got them good about the time that the green slime hit them, as well as some skeletons.  I was also deliberately making sure that I was 'missing' my find trap rolls.

It was almost a TPK.

jh


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## Sholari (May 27, 2004)

Emirikol said:
			
		

> I got to play Ned Shakeshifter as an NPC.  The other players though i was joining the campaign.
> 
> Oh, man, I got them good about the time that the green slime hit them, as well as some skeletons.  I was also deliberately making sure that I was 'missing' my find trap rolls.




Dude, you rock.


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## TheAuldGrump (May 27, 2004)

Another of my favorite 1st ed. scenarios. I have even converted it to run with a couple of different games besides AD&D.  I _like_ adventures with mystery,

The Auld Grump


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## frankthedm (Jun 1, 2004)

Dissappointed? I would be glad to find out i was not haunted back in the 1e days of permenant aging and level drain from the undead! 

on Flooding
I would like to see the map on U3. 

Rather than just unflooding the complex, place trapped pockets of air in appropriate locations. These might be useful to PCs if they use them strategicly. Also makes a fine trap if the sahaugin find a way to poison the air of a pocket or two. Might even worsen the DC for the poison a fair amount or make the dose double strength.

_ Your final stroke brings your head into the trapped pocket of air.  You draw in a deap breath of the air you lungs burn for. To your dismay the air here only worsens the burning.  You try to force as much of the toxic gas from your lungs as you begin to swim away, do you swim back the way you came as you try and keep the burning blackness in you mind from taking over or do you pray to your gods that the next pocket is close ahead. Things look grim…_


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## Kalendraf (Jun 17, 2004)

I played in it during the 1e days.  We solved U1 without much hardship, seeing thru the fake hauntings and then taking out the bad guys without much difficulty.  We moved on to U2 and solved it diplomatically in like 10 minutes.  The DM was a bit pissed that we'd figured that out, I think.  We moved directly to U3, but of course our diplomatic solution had left us fairly inexperienced and the tougher combats in U3 shredded us.  After suffering heavy losses, what was left of our group left.

I obtained the adventures from my previous DM, and ran them for a different group in the late 90's using 2nd edition rules.  They handled U1 w/o much problem, and they too managed to reach a diplomatic solution to U2 after just 1 minor skirmish outdoors.  I ran a small adventure in between U2 and U3 to boost them up and then provided them with dozens of lizardmen and human guards as extras for assaulting U3.  We used tokens on a smaller sized grid and managed to achieve the objectives in U3 w/o suffering any party losses.  But most of the lizardmen and other guards bit the dust.  They managed to conquer a few of the bigger foes like the priests and one of the giant sharks.  The shark actually swallowed one of the characters, but the party cut them free before they died.

I wound up using U1-U3 as a prelude to the Evil Tide/Night of the Shark/Sea of Blood series.  The underwater gear found in U3 was of great aid here.  IIRC, the party completed the first one, but the campaign ended due to other reasons before they finished all 3.


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## jasper (Jun 17, 2004)

Salt marsh is the only series IMC which has been totally locked. Locked being module will never be replayed but maps maybe reused or new pcs can visit old pcs who are now located in Salt marsh. 

The players and I had ball running it. I located it just outside the City state of the invincible overlord. Between adventures the group visited the city state. Had a PC free slaves, get married, and buy the manor. 

And while he was in the city state met back up with an npc from the ship. Got the npc to join the party after the players played a game of who can we get tossed in jail.  As the group got released from jail a typhoon came up. While most of players wanted to stay indoors, Bola bob pc remembered he was married. Literally slapping himself. And dashed back to the manor to the waiting sight of his dear wife unloading a crossbow bolt at him and how dare leave a poor defenseless woman alone. She had bought a dog (cool Joe and yes it was base on the other dog) and cat. 

With the side adventures and npc help the final module was hard but I don’t think they lost anyone permanently.  Three of pcs have become npcs imc. Of the three npcs one is still kicking around my campaign and the other two died recently in a low level adventure. (criticals yuck).


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## Style (Jul 12, 2004)

Only run these a couple of times but they were fine stuff - a nice change from the dungeoneering of other 1e products.  Once we had gotten past the usual oddities that plague my games ("So, I can actually buy 200 chickens with the money I have left over?  Will they come with me on adventures?") the adventure settled into cool mystery/horror territory.

The giant weasel did for one PC in the entryway (2d6 bite damage - ouch!) and the rot grubs came close to getting another in the cellar.  Still, the PCs were very pleased at their magical armour so counted it worthwhile.  Ned the Evil NPC duped both groups - the first let him get away and the second did very, very bad things to him before killing him.

Oceanus joined the group as an NPC and later as a PC and the various townsfolk became regular faces as well.  A local beer (Saltmarsh Muddy) ended up being a permanent fixture in the game.  Many years later war came to the Saltmarsh coast and the village was deserted.  The (by then) high level PCs went to great trouble to get the brewery equipent, the brewer and his secret recipe to safety before the Hordes of Evil NPCdom descended upon the region.

I agree with the assessments of U2 - all too easy to bypass the "adventure" part and reduce the module to 20 minutes of chatting and then a crocodile and a dragon.  Hmmmm.  It was fun to play and great for the players to realise that they had found a "shortcut" but I'd have preferred more bang for my buck.  Or less buck.

U3 was a real thinking man's adventure.  No way a frontal assault will work - this is totally an underwater commando raid.  With sharks.  And a giant octopus.  Really enjoyed the imprisoned NPCs and the maddening claustrophobia of it.  One group managed to finish it too, but declined to join in the lizard man assault upon the lair.  Probably wise.  The chickens would only have gotten themselves killed.


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## BiggusGeekus (Jul 12, 2004)

I never played or DMd U2 or U3.

Ned was always a problem for me.  Played stupid he's a norma-to-easy encounter.  Played smart he can take out a party member or two and still get away.  He can be especially devestating if he frags the party wizard or cleric.  I never could figure out how to strike a good balance between those two extreems.


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## Squire James (Dec 26, 2004)

I remember assigning the party 12 lizardmen and about 6 men-at-arms going with the party to help secure the fortress in U3.  I wrote a little program on my powerful computer system (16k of memory!) that randomly determined, given the number of attackers, how many attacked each lizard man, man-at-arms, and actual PC.  There was a room with over 100 sahuagin that I (correctly) guessed would need such a program, since I had never heard of playing with minis back then.  It took hours, but it was an epic fight and fun was had by all!

No PC's died, but all the humans and all but 2 of the lizardmen "took one for the team".  Since it was the computer program that decided the targets, it wasn't like the PC's were using these guys as shields or anything.


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## painandgreed (Dec 26, 2004)

Loved U1, but never played any of the others. Most of the groups I DMed never trusted Ned enough to free him let alone allow him any weapons. When they did, he was largely ineffective and sometimes he joined the party (breifly) because they had obviously won already.


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## Prince of Happiness (Dec 26, 2004)

painandgreed said:
			
		

> Loved U1, but never played any of the others. Most of the groups I DMed never trusted Ned enough to free him let alone allow him any weapons. When they did, he was largely ineffective and sometimes he joined the party (breifly) because they had obviously won already.




My memory of Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is taking a pass when painandgreed wanted to run it.


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## tec-9-7 (Dec 26, 2004)

I ran this module a year and a half ago as a 3.0 conversion and it went peculiarly.  The party found the haunted house - went thru it - found the caves, fought the smugglers, never realized that the contraband (silk and brandy) might be worth anything and left it all in the caves when they burned the house down...  They didn't even attempt to locate the pirate ship.  I didn't force things, so that drew the curtain on Saltmarsh, or Southwaite as I renamed it...


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## JamesL85 (Dec 27, 2004)

I fondly recall U1.  This was my first time playing D&D, and it was my DM's first time DM'ing.

About three quarters through the module, he realized that he hadn't been having me roll to hit, just roll damage....SWEET!!!!!

I'll always remember this module fondly......

Never played the other two, but own the series in PDF form.....

James


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## DarrenGMiller (Jan 27, 2005)

The U series were some of the few adventures I ever played that I did not DM.  I do not remember the outcome of the entire series and am not even sure if we finished it, but I do remember thinking it was great.

Recently, I ran this series, converted over to 3E and we had a great time with it.  These adventures are VERY well written and play well.  There are also lots of things hinted at that can become adventures in their own right.  My players captured the pirate ship and renamed it after their recently deceased bard Andarel.  There were some great moments in those adventures.

DM


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## tec-9-7 (Jun 9, 2005)

MerricB said:
			
		

> U1 and U2 work pretty much "as is", but in U3 a normal party will be destroyed. Either you have a kind DM running clueless opponents, or the party needs a _knock_ spell - and probably a few fireballs.



Merric, I really disagree w/ this assessment.  It is a meat-grinder if the party plays it as a standard dungeon crawl.  If they are clever, go heavy on the stealth, and find the deus-ex-machina treasure room, they can complete the objectives of this module w/o too much problem.   If they treat it as a 'plod from room to room; kill the monster; take the treasure' or if the DM punishes creative thinking, then yes - they are basically doomed.

Paul


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## rowport (Jun 9, 2005)

tec-9-7 said:
			
		

> I ran this module a year and a half ago as a 3.0 conversion and it went peculiarly.  The party found the haunted house - went thru it - found the caves, fought the smugglers, never realized that the contraband (silk and brandy) might be worth anything and left it all in the caves when they burned the house down...  They didn't even attempt to locate the pirate ship.  I didn't force things, so that drew the curtain on Saltmarsh, or Southwaite as I renamed it...




That is *really* funny.  I am amused.  Heh.    

I can only imagine the expression on your face when the PCs announced their intention to set the place on fire... "Wha..?  Oh, all right.  It burns."   :\


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## Grazzt (Jun 9, 2005)

Ive run and played through this module too many times to count anymore. I still use it to introduce new peeps to the game (when such a thing comes up). May even use it for my daughter (age 10) and some others when I throw Castles & Crusades at them.

As for the follow-ups, Ive used them (as DM), but not nearly as much or as often as this one.


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## Grazzt (Jun 9, 2005)

Emirikol said:
			
		

> I had a neat experience while playing U1 the 2nd time.  I was a well-known, GUEST player.  I got to play Ned Shakeshifter as an NPC.  The other players though i was joining the campaign.
> 
> Oh, man, I got them good about the time that the green slime hit them, as well as some skeletons.  I was also deliberately making sure that I was 'missing' my find trap rolls.
> 
> ...




 Awesome. I did this a long time ago (15 years ago maybe???) as DM (let a player play Ned). Pretty close to the same thing. He pretended to aid them, but somehow "missed" a lot of important rolls. He did backstab and kill one person before they did away with him.


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## Tuzenbach (Jun 9, 2005)

I hadn't heard of this Module prior to joining these boards (a couple of years ago). That said, I can't wait to pick up a copy and either DM or have somebody else DM this one for me.


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## Ratenef (Jun 9, 2005)

*Saltmarsh ROCKS!*

I first played this series back in 84(?) and I remember it very fondly. I remember the fact that the two of us players (in order to make the module do-able) each played 2 characters that were brothers. And in order to 'win' the last module, two of the brothers stayed behind to occupy the sahuaguin while the other two went to get reinforcements. I then remember the next adventure we played was with the intent to recover enough treasure to ressurect the two dead party members. It is the ONLY 1e module series I have ever completed, and that is probably what makes it most fond.

I recently ran it as a DM, using the 3ed conversions here on ENWorld, for my wife and regular gaming group and it went VERY VERY well. The fact that the party consisted of 5 -6 characters, made the high kill factor of the 3rd module less likely. Added to that I really worked on the idea that the island had been sunk by the acts of the Sahauguin god, and the last big battle I kicked the shark up a couple of notches (via a group spell effort of the sahauguin priests) and it was essentially a (very low level) avatar of the god. The climatic battle ended with the dwarf paladin smitting the avatar with a critical. Once the avatar had been slain, the favour of the god was lost and the island rose to its original level, forcing the sahauguin to flee.

The party has made Saltmarsh their base of operations and have build up this great rapport with their 'fixer' The Magistrate. Actually several adventures later they are working their way back to Saltmarsh (at his bequest) as a prelude to the Vecna Lives module (bwahahaha!!!!).

And the new DMG 2 has a very large write up of Saltmarsh, which not only rocks but allows me to use some of the listed hooks for 'side quests' while I build up the whole Vecna thing and ensure that their levels are adequate enough. I'm actually trying my hand at a conversion of the Vecna Lives to 3.5, I'll let you know how it goes.


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## tylerthehobo (Sep 5, 2005)

This mod's had quite a comeback, lately.  The NWN adaptation about 2 years ago, the Goodman Games revamp of it (smuggler's caves or something) and the DMGII usage of the town of Saltmarsh.  It's a classic.  The sequels are less brainy as I recall, but they still made a classic arc that helped level characters for some of the great higher level Ad&d mods of the early 80s.

hu-frikking-zah  Awesome stuff.


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## Grimstaff (Sep 5, 2005)

MerricB says:"Unfortunately, U1 took my group 2 sessions and U2 only 1. I was using 3E, and even with its fast advancement rates, the party was only at 2nd level.

Not good."

Don't forget, Merric, 1st edition rules gave more exp's for treasure than for monsters. Back in the day, the goal was more important than whether you killed the monster or not (though killing the monster was just as fun!)
As for the Sahuagin Caves being tough, the magic word is "Strategy". Draw the masses into a bottleneck where you can easily decimate them and force them to surrender, hand over the gold, and set out for kinder waters. Works every time.

And yes, Goodman Games' Secret of the Smugglers Cove is a great "homage" to the U series and an absolute blast to play!


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## Crothian (Sep 5, 2005)

One of these days, when I track down U3, I want to run all three in a row.  IMC the players unknowingly had a chance to go through this, but choose a differnet road.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Sep 6, 2005)

Grimstaff said:
			
		

> MerricB says:"Unfortunately, U1 took my group 2 sessions and U2 only 1. I was using 3E, and even with its fast advancement rates, the party was only at 2nd level.
> 
> Not good."
> 
> ...



 Well, U3 is supposed to be a reconnaissance mission.  Get the information and get out.  If the entire complex is alterted, the PCs should die.


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## jcfiala (Sep 6, 2005)

So, what are the differences between The Sinister Secret and the Saltmarsh as presented in DMG II?


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## Christoph the Magus (Sep 6, 2005)

I remember sticking it to the pirates but good!  SOB's never stood a chance, lol.  I also remember killing a whole LOTTA lizardmen before figuring out that they weren't the bad guys.  The group fell apart after that, but I remember owing the lizzie's chief a bunch of gold.  Good stuff, and I'm sorry that I never got a chance to finish it.

Christoph


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## Quasqueton (Sep 6, 2005)

I find it interesting (in a good way) that almost all (or maybe "all") of the UK/British adventures were very good. Contrast these adventure modules with the TSR-main (especially the EGG) modules of the time. Few, if any, of them were simple (and illogical) dungeon crawl hack and slashers (though they had "dungeons", and there was plenty of opportunity for combat).

Quasqueton


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## Quasqueton (Sep 6, 2005)

> So, what are the differences between The Sinister Secret and the Saltmarsh as presented in DMG II?



Takes less time to tell the similarities: The name of the town. Other than that, nothing.

Saltmarsh in the modules was left open for the DM. Only the population (5,000) was told.

Quasqueton


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## Shadowslayer (Sep 6, 2005)

Definitely a fun module to go through as a player. Was my first experience with D&D and I remember nearly getting killed by falling through the floor, and getting my hand dyed blue by some tattoo-needle trap.   

Funny thing though. When I assumed the mantle of DM a couple years later, that was the first adventure I put my group through. One pc was killed by the giant weasel. Then there was a big  inter party fight over what to do with the assassin and half of them killed the other half. By the time it ended we were still on the upper levels and the players were so mad at each other that the game stopped right there, never to resume.

I went looking for more mature gamers after that.


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## EdL (Sep 6, 2005)

I've only played in U1 once, and never in the others. As this was 20+ years ago I can't recall many details. It was one of the first, and best, D&D modules I've ever played in. Ned was a total shock to us all! Green slime, weasles and pirates, oh my! Not sure if we actually lost any characters, but I do remember it was no cake walk. And the fight on the ship was a dozy. (Someone Commanded the captain or 1st officer, who was near the railing, to "Jump!" The GM had him go over the side in armor. Glub, glub. Decided later that he would have played it differently if he'd thought about it, but that was the turning point of the fight, so a good time was had by all.) So yeah, a great module!


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## Barak (Sep 6, 2005)

I played that a couple yers ago as a PBP.  It was a lot of fun..  Ned never did get a chance to really screw us over, as we were just about to go back to town for a variety of reasons, and we didn't really trust him as his story made little sense to my dwarf.  So we brought him to town, gave him 5 SPs, and sent him on his way.  We did end up killing him later when he was part of a "rescue mission" some of the pirates mounted to free people we had captured and had up for trial.


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## Mark Hope (Sep 6, 2005)

Quasqueton said:
			
		

> Takes less time to tell the similarities: The name of the town. Other than that, nothing.



Well, that and the fact that Ned Shakeshaft also appears in the DMGII version.  Otherwise, no real similarities at all.


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## Thotas (Sep 6, 2005)

Seeing this thread come back and seeing Saltmarsh in DMG II makes me want to run it as 3e for the current group!


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## ghul (Sep 11, 2005)

Thotas said:
			
		

> Seeing this thread come back and seeing Saltmarsh in DMG II makes me want to run it as 3e for the current group!




Are there any 3/3.5e conversions out there?  

I, too, am intrigued to go old school on my players and run this.  Last time I ran this was about 20 years ago, back when I was a pimple-faced, braces-wearing, virgin lad wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt . . . and a mullet.

--Ghul


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## Barendd Nobeard (Sep 11, 2005)

On this very site, in the Conversion Library.

Enjoy!


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## Shades of Green (Aug 2, 2006)

I've played Sinister Secret of Saltmarch in an IRC game in the late 1990's (1999 I think); the DM was Randy Bowers, and he've transfered Saltmarch to his world of Sulerin, renaming the city into Mendenton. He even has alot of information and the complete IRC logs here on his site.

This was one of the best games I've played in; Randy's description of the house were quite lifelike and inspiring, and the whole adventure was atmospheric; I recall that we've only finished half of the module (i.e. just the house and the smuggler caverns), but it has been a blast nonetheless.


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