The Troubled Waters of Ghosts of Saltmarsh As OSR Adventure Campaign Fodder Plus Free Material

So I spoke the other day about using Fifth edition's latest Dungeons & Dragons title Ghosts of Saltmarsh & somewhat how I would OSR the book out. But I didn't get into too much detail but now I want to dive right into the deeper parts of the book. The first thing I would do is to establish a bit more detail about the fact that this takes place around the Greyhawk setting. But me being the dungeon master I'm I would switch things around by using Ghosts of Saltmarsh to flesh out some of the other adventure elements that are presented in the book into a whole sale complete campaign. How? 


I'd take the events described in  “Dunwood” & then take grab my copy of the classic 

L1 The Secret of Bone Hill By  Lenard Lakofka & flesh out more of the region described in the book then set it around Lenore isles. Yes I know that the village of the fishing port of Restenford described in L1 The Secret of Bone Hill has been used as stand in for Saltmarsh village  in the past. 

With a bit more work on the DM's part the events of Saltmarsh while expanded upon could be changed up & perhaps  the fishing port of Restenford might still be another overlap location to the war of Saltmarsh where the Deep One invaders try to take over. So let's say that your group of players plays through  Ghosts of Saltmarsh and the module is all done or are events are concluded well not quite. Down the coast from Saltmarsh  the peculiar town of Port Greely   severed all ties with outside partners. Subsequent attempts at renegotiation were shunned. This leads our adventurers into the heart of another beach head of the coming war with the Deep Ones. The Mystery At Port Greely is the perfect add on ad junction to bringing this expanded fifth edition module into a full  blown Sword & Sorcery campaign. Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea might be the perfect retroclone to actually bring this campaign off. 





By taking Ghosts of Saltmarsh & setting within Brigand's Bay from AS&SH we get a dangerous situation in which the Deep Ones of "Dunwood” are encroaching dangerously close to the Hyperborean capital city & its environs. Do you want even more detail for the areas around 'Dunwood'? Well earlier I mentioned L1 The Secret of Bone Hill By  Lenard Lakofka . Well for years now Lenard Lakofka has been doing some excellent free  campaign expansions for the Lenore Islands on Dragon's Foot called the Kroten Campaign Companion for the L5 module. 

"This manual describes the Town of Kroten and the nearby area, which is located on Lendore Isle in the World of Greyhawk. Details include nomenclature used by the author, world background, and local features. Also included is a detailed description of the Town of Kroten, excepting three key areas: The Fane of Syrul, the Fane of Pyremius, and the Castle Kroten itself. These areas are described in L5B: The Kroten Adventures"

This material makes an excellent background setting for Ghosts of Saltmarsh or the original U1 The Sinister Secret of Salt Marsh adventure for first edition AD&D. The fact is that there's plenty of material here to lay out many years worth of an epic campaign. In point of fact this entire adventure arch would make an excellent Castles & Crusade or Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure having the PC's surviving on of the earlier raids on their villages. They survive to take up the life of an adventurer.