chrisshorb's review against another edition
4.0
Good mix of adventures. As an anthology, of course they have different places in anyone’s given campaign/game night. There are a couple I plan to use right away in one of my campaigns, potentially giving my players a choice between these and one or two from Yawning Portal.
snazel's review against another edition
4.0
The updated central adventures were fun (already ran a modified version of one and I'm definitely going to offer the others as options to my players), but I think my favourite parts were actually the new-to-this-edition parts— the character creation options at the front and the maps and possible adventures at the back.
The character options in particular have just got such a sense of buoyant joy and relishing the possibilities that mechanics can give you, story-wise— and the map adventure threads go in such wildly different tonal ways— I'm just delighted and applauding over here. If this is Kate Welch's handiwork, 5e is in good hands. (If it isn't, whatever you have in the coffee at WotC, keep buying from that supplier.)
The character options in particular have just got such a sense of buoyant joy and relishing the possibilities that mechanics can give you, story-wise— and the map adventure threads go in such wildly different tonal ways— I'm just delighted and applauding over here. If this is Kate Welch's handiwork, 5e is in good hands. (If it isn't, whatever you have in the coffee at WotC, keep buying from that supplier.)
dylansmphillips's review against another edition
3.0
Ghosts of Saltmarsh by Wizards of the Coast is an immersive non-setting-specific campaign that allows DMs to take their players to the coastal cities of a fantasy world and engage in naval-related combat and travel. While this does sound intriguing on the surface, there are a few issues with what this book attempts to sell itself as. While the campaign information and world-building certainly lends itself to being a great setting for either an entire campaign or a piece of a bigger world, the mechanics are incredibly clunky. There is next to no exploration of naval mechanics, combat, or travel, instead just making it a throwaway as part of the coastal setting. For someone who was looking to make naval travel and island hopping an exciting part of their own homebrew world, the promise of these mechanics being tested and used in an official WoTC let me down when it ended up being such a minuscule part of this book's new additions.
TL;DR: Intriguing setting and campaign prompt, but falls very short of the promise of boat mechanics, and water travel for more island-based adventures.
TL;DR: Intriguing setting and campaign prompt, but falls very short of the promise of boat mechanics, and water travel for more island-based adventures.
ddavis3739's review against another edition
5.0
Seafaring and adventure ahoy! The actual sea-based parts of the adventure require homebrew on the part of the DM but even so this is an excellent book for setting, enemies, and adventures. There are plenty of guides for linking the adventures into a campaign but each one can be run independently as well.
michaelpoley's review against another edition
4.0
Solid RPG adventuring, somehow I managed have run every campaign in this one for a team of adventurers.
As a new DM, this was a great learning experience and a fun way to explore thematically similar but very different campaigns across the entire history of D&D.
As a new DM, this was a great learning experience and a fun way to explore thematically similar but very different campaigns across the entire history of D&D.
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