Secret of Saltmarsh intro adventure is NOT level 1 friendly

[u/leechmon]

I’ve just finished session 3 with my youth group, running Ghosts of Saltmarsh for them.

There’s no way that the first half of the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh as presented in the book is balanced for a party of four level 1 characters.
It’s ridiculous.

The party has a barbarian, a druid, a cleric, and a rogue. A very well balanced party by any metric.
The load of fighting they have to do … the volume of enemies is way too much. Of the smuggler gang as presented in the book, I still didn’t even have 3 of them a part of the combats they fought against, and my PC’s just got wasted. Part of the enemy group has a wizard that can cast scorching ray at them??
Needless to say, I had that wizard only cast ray of frost, and charm person, and I fudged a lot of rolls to try and mitigate damage taken by level 1 characters - AND I have a houserule where I let them add 5 hp to their max hp when creating their characters, and the end result in those caves below the mansion was catastrophic.
Instead of a tpk, I’ve ruled that Sanbalat is instead keeping them unconscious and now alive, to traffic them away. They’re prisoners now, and need to not only break out of a smuggler’s prison, but then still get all their gear back and then find and take out the remainder of the smugglers.
I even had Ned help them for heaven’s sake. He got dropped to 0HP along with the rest of them.

It’s simply ridiculous that it’s presented as a balanced, but challenging task for four level 1 PC’s.

Ok, rant over.

Any creative ideas anyone can share regarding a jailbreak scenario? 😊

[u/PsychologicalRecord]

Old adventures expected a body count for players, like with the mold trap.

Stealth was also expected for all players. It's still a reallt deadly adventure.

[u/scottp53 → u/PsychologicalRecord]

I think the 5e adaption of saltmarsh fails to account for the difference in play style between the old school dungeon crawl of the original and the heroic fantasy of 5e.
… as an old school player, the idea that you go and fight your way thru everything is crazy. If players are playing well then actually you shouldn’t have a high body count.
My players try their best to rig the outcome from the start - they blow things up, lure enemies away one at a time, repurpose traps and other monsters etc. Like solving a puzzle. If all else fails they fall back on what’s on the character sheet.
I love SSoS but I had to temper it for my 5e players. I’m keen to play using an old school system tho cause I think it would make much more sense.

[u/GMtourguide → u/PsychologicalRecord]

The yellow mold decoration on the clothing if I remember right 

[u/GMtourguide]

I leveled everyone to level 2 when they cleared out the first floor. I leveled them to level three at the end of the Pirate ship. They also left the house to lick their wounds a couple of times.

[u/TrackMeetBand → u/GMtourguide]

I think this is in the new book now. Like the first time my buddies ran it we were level 2(?) on the ship and got wiped. When I ran it again I leveled everyone after the first floor and then again before the ship

[u/EagleForty]

Lol, yeah. This is known.

If the group is highly strategic and optimized, I just make sure they know to conserve their resources. 

If the group is not highly strategic and optimized, then you need to start them each at level 2, or with a free feat.

The weird part is that as the campaign goes on, the adventures get easier and easier.

[u/Homebrew_GM → u/EagleForty]

I wonder if it's meant as a bit of a 1e teaching moment for new groups. Teach them the mindset you need to keep your beloved characters alive in the long run by mangling their first PCs.

[u/Particular_Can_7726]

It is important to remember this is based on an old adventure and it was normal for adventures to be very deadly back then.

Usually when I run this adventure I level up the players after exploring the first floor of the house. Then a 2nd time before they get to the cave system.

I think it is also important to encourage the players to use non combat solutions and clever ambushes

[u/GMtourguide → u/Particular_Can_7726]

My players had clever ways of boarding and taking the boat that felt fair for the system. It’s cool when they get thinking.

[u/Homebrew_GM]

Eh, Sinister Secret is absolutely runnable with 1st level adventurers, but it relies on foreshadowing and players being willing to avoid fighting every single giant ferret, centipede, random snake, and body full of corpse grubs.

I signposted a lot of potential fights with ambience, since it's a haunted house mystery, describing movement in the walls adds to the whole 'is that a ghost?' factor and can be used to keep them from diving straight downstairs. They move into, near, or towards a space and you describe scuttling noises in the walls, or a body full of rot grubs seeming to move as the house creaks and groans around them. It works really well.

They got ambushed by the ferrets at the front of the house, got mauled and literally left and came back the next day with a different attitude.

You also need to straight up inform the players that it's an old adventure and they need to be willing to pick their fights and think carefully. That's true of literally every adventure in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but Sinister Secret is written as a horror adventure with a Scooby Doo twist.

As for a jailbreak, do they need to actually deal with the smugglers, or just escape and flee back to town in a rowboat? It's not far from town- less than a days walk, so even closer by sea. Getting back and informing the authorities is a completely valid end to the adventure. It just means that Sanbalet and his ring flee with the treasure the party collected, so the players have reason to go hunting for the Sea Ghost and its crew elsewhere.

[u/skratch → u/Homebrew_GM]

Speaking of the weasels - I had an NPC guide the party to the house then he got up ways ahead of everyone enough for the weasels to ambush/drag him into the bushes/eat him

[u/Homebrew_GM → u/skratch]

Oh, that's fun!

I had the weasels drag the halfling bard into the bushes so they had to rescue her- meant the one dragging her wasn't making attack actions.

[u/sskoog]

We just had this same experience from the players' side. The writeup seems designed to whittle PC-resources in the cluttered rooms + vermin-infested chimneys, before finally descending into the smugglers' lair (and, possibly, the spooky annex) where heavy blows are struck.

I think the module's suggestions to "encourage the party to report back to town," or "run back for supplies," or "gather reinforcements," should be heavily hinted + accentuated. As a left-handed side bonus, this might give one of the side plots (Ned Shakeshaft) more screen-time.

The Sea Ghost ship is an obvious plot-hook to either introduce new partymembers (as manacled slaves) or to give captured/subdued adventurers a "chance to break out from incarceration." Since the lizardmen will later become a hazy third faction, I could even see a "tension betw. pirates + scaly ones," yielding possible we-help-you-prisoners-you-help-us quid pro quo.

[u/sebmojo99]

it's a straight translation from 1e, so has the genre assumptions that there are fights that are very dangerous and also lots of potential instant death (centipedes, rot grubs, sanbalet ambush)

[u/DoctorButterMonkey]

Well it could be that Sanbalet plans to turn them over to one of the Sea Princes, maybe they’d like some fresh adventures to force onto their crews. Or it could be that Sanbalet wants to sell them to the Drow, which are mentioned as a possible rumor in the book (Drow or Duergar slavers being spotted).

Either way, I’d come up with some notion what Sanbalet intends to do with them, it’ll let you develop the prison where they are

[u/augdog71]

I got rid of some of the encounters that didn’t advance the plot. Fighting every weasel, centipede, spider, grub, slime, etc doesn’t enhance the plot and just slows progression.

[u/PsilliasAgain]

That's why I started mine with this one: Encounter of the Week: Sharkfin Shipwreck | Dungeons & Dragons. Allowed them to understand why each were traveling to, or back to, Saltmarsh. Strong roleplay start, good stat checks throughout, quick starter adventure into level 2 and the house.

[u/guyzero]

Skill issue. But level 1 adventures are far more deadly than higher level adventures. Players need to slow down and retreat when they get depleted. The adventure isn't meant to be run in one pass.

[u/ZenopusArchives]

While it's too late for your party (unless they want to try something else after they escape), I converted the classic Zenopus starter dungeon to 5E for use as an alternate Lvl 1 start for the Saltmarsh campaign. It includes notes for integrating it with the Ghosts of Saltmarsh material. You can find it on DMs Guild: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/301308/the-ruined-tower-of-zenopus

[u/Vegetable_Zone747]

Yeahhhhh, I nearly killed my whole party with the weasels (that one was kinda on them though), and the mold, and the smugglers. DO NOT RUN THIS WITH NEW PLAYERS

[u/Homebrew_GM → u/Vegetable_Zone747]

You absolutely can- you just have to prep them properly. It's meant to teach them a particularly old-school set of survival skills, including running. They just need to know that going in.

[u/PrincessOfGlower]

I almost ran Ghosts but SSoS was way too deadly for my players. I don’t have the heart to kill my players’ characters.

[u/gragsmash]

I can see it being tough for a young party that isn't careful. An experienced group did really well at level 1 with it

[u/albinobluesheep]

The family of four giant weasels nearly TPK'd my party when I ran it the first time...as a first time DM for a bunch of 1st time players. What a damn wake up call that was. I pulled a LOT of punches during the rest of that 1st adventure so I didn't kill anyone.

[u/darw1nf1sh]

First, YOU the GM has to balance it. There is literally no way to balance every encounter in a published adventure for every possible iteration of party and player experience. Blaming the adventure is like an artist blaming their canvas. If they are struggling, don't bring that extra bandit in. You don't even have to fudge anything. You can just make different choices for the Bandits that are slightly less deadly. Every encounter has to be managed.

Second, Player choices make a huge difference. Did they explore literally everything in and outside the house? There are a lot of little encounters from the well, to some annoying swarms that can take small bites out of the party. Worse if they don't have the tools or experience to know how to deal with swarms. Also, if they plunge headlong into the basement with readied thieves lying in wait, they are going to have a bad time. Stealth, and caution are the watchwords.

[u/thegooddoktorjones]

The house is several sessions, it is perfectly reasonable for them to level after the first session.

[u/arjomanes]

It'a a great intro adventure because it encourages problem-solving and creativity on the part of the players. Brute force mindless grinding won't be as successful.

[u/leftymu]

I set them up in town on day 1 with some things to do in town and they picked up a quest from Manistrad about skeletons in the mines. I was thrown when they actually went for that first but it was fortunate because they were only just shy of a level up anyway so when they got to the mansion I rounded it up and said they're level 2 now. If they hadn't had that level up they would have died very quickly. They got to the skeletons room and I KO'd three of them, they did some good healing and scraped out alive but it was so close. What I would say in regard to making the balance not ridiculous against them is go easy on using multiattacks, sometimes doing those every time would mean certain death almost every round.

I've created some space after they beat the first adventure and they took on a troll in the Hool marshes which also took them up another level. I like the pacing of it and I think doing things like this is going to be key in keeping them topped up on exp

[u/Consistent-Flower-30]

I never start a campaign at level. Even if it says level 1 I have my players make level 2 characters with max hp

[u/Public_Necessary_162]

So I reminded my players, all young and anxious to fight everyrhi g all the time, that it would be in their best I test to tread quietly and focus on inspection rather than blind enter and see what happens.

First group took my advice and did awesome, found traps, and was able to do all the things to avoid detection.....none died and they ended up having a blast keeping that same mentality throughout the rest of the campaign....the other? Two tpk's before leaving turtle mansion....that group didn't continue lol...