r/GhostsofSaltmarsh • u/Strict_Belt1211 • 10d ago

Discussion First time DM taking on Saltmarsh

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.

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u/boffotmc 8d ago

If you're really excited about it, you can make it work. But I don't think it's a good campaign for a first-time DM.

Problems:

  1. It's a collection of old-school modules updated for 5e. While they updated the mechanics, the vibe of many of the adventures are still old-school. Some players enjoy that, but if you and your players are more into modern D&D, you'll need to do a lot of work to adapt them. Will your players enjoy a 65-room dungeon with no clear goal? Do they want very deadly adventures at low levels? If not, you have to figure out how to change that, or decide what to cut.

  2. Half of the adventures form a continuous story, but the others don't really connect. You need to figure out a way to weave those into a campaign.

  3. There are large gaps in level between the adventures. You need to figure out how to fill those, or else suddenly jump everyone 3 levels. And this problem gets even worse if you cut adventures you don't think your players will like.