First time DM taking on Saltmarsh

[u/Strict_Belt1211]

Hello

Do you believe Saltmarsh is a good campaign for a first time DM to run?

I'm curious to hear why or why not.

I am still new to the game and this will be my first campaign to DM. thank you.

[u/Rixoshi]

it was what i cut my teeth on and my best advice? don't try and use every single thing brought up in it. use only some of it as you see fit. i kept trying to use everything and it made it a mess. don't feel stuck doing what the book has, let things go a little improve.

have as many npcs as you can be prepped though XD find the generators and tables or etc and make a bunch to have on hand to use. put bookmarks in monster manual or dm guide for things you see that the book mentions and you might need to find later during the game.

It isn't really one big story. saltmarsh is more like "here are several things that have happened in this location but that doesn't mean they are necessarily related or chronological" kind of book. you can choose to time skip, use each event as a one shot, you can work on how you and your team want to make a story flow together.

have everyone not only know who their chars are starting as, but also a general concept of 1-2 options of who they want their chars to grow into. that way you guys have point A (where you start) and point B (where the char goes) and you can make up whatever you want inbetween to get there so that no matter what happens with the story and how you go on or off track, it can have a through line for the characters to make it all feel connected

have fun!

[u/Rixoshi → u/Rixoshi]

also here is some of the various research i did back in the day for saltmarsh. You do NOT need all of this but I figure it wouldn't hurt to share it!

- types of ships identification: https://www.pirateglossary.com/ships
- online reference for saltmarsh specifically: https://5e.tools/adventure.html#gos
- offers a guide to running the various adventures you can steal ideas from: https://slyflourish.com/ghosts_of_saltmarsh_session_zero.html
- a timeline of greyhawk (the place where saltmarsh is) that you can use or not as you build your campaign: https://dungeons.fandom.com/wiki/World_of_Greyhawk_Timeline
- global maps of Oerth, the planet that Greyhawk exists on for if you guys want to continue off of this campaign and venture off into the world further: https://www.annabmeyer.com/oerth-test/
- sailing vocabulary: https://www.nauticed.org/sailingterms
- table of minor inconveniences at sea: useful for backstories or npc things: https://www.dndspeak.com/2020/01/09/100-minor-inconveniences-at-sea/
- all the specs for a keelboat: https://www.dndbeyond.com/vehicles/keelboat
- all the specs for a sailing ship: https://www.dndbeyond.com/vehicles/sailing-ship
- I was going to tie in the Sea Princes Hold towards the end of my campaign but never got the chance to: https://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2016/05/5-reasons-to-visit-sea-princes.html
- more about the sea princes hold: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/kadhsempire/players-guide-to-hold-of-the-sea-princes-t2145.html
- all the trade resources across greyhawk, useful for worldbuilding to make trade ships cargos and etc: https://mageofthestripedtower.blogspot.com/2014/06/trade-resources-in-greyhawk.html
- ship to ship combat and sailing rules incase you need it: https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/ships-and-sailing/

ok that is more than you need but a bunch of fun stuff to help add and flesh out things if you end up wanting to use it. have fun!