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The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, apart from being an exercise in alliteration, is the first of three modules for beginning characters set in the township of Saltmarsh and were notable for the time for being the first modules designed and developed in the United Kingdom. The format is fairly typical for AD&D modules; a 32 pages booklet in a cardstock cover which unfolds to three panels. The cover and rear art (De Leuw) has appropriate scenes and with a rather unique style. The interior art is likewise appropriate to the text and of quite acceptable quality.
The module starts with some brief notes on the local township of Saltmarsh. The recommendation (other that the standard use of Greyhawk) to use a 14thC south-coast English fishing village as an example is particularly nice; we've played this module twice in historical fantasy games; once in the 9th century and once in the 11th with appropriate modifications and, for reasons that will be obvious in later reviews, we've set in a village of Lizard Point in Cornwall, with a dash of Daphne du Maurier/Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn thrown in. The notes for the increasing interest of the Town Council in the party's activities add a further sense of narrative. A little more work on the town would have been handy.
The hook to the adventure is explained on the cover of the module:
Desolate and abandoned, the evil alchemist's mansion stands alone on the cliff, looking out towards the sea. Mysterious lights and ghostly hauntings have kept away the people of Saltmarsh, despite rumors of fabulous forgotten treasure. What is its sinister secret?
Well, who can't resist a visit to a deserted haunted house on the edge of cliff that's allegedly full of treasure? OK, it could have been a little stronger than that. Perhaps a specific treasure rumoured to be within or a familial link to one of the PCs perhaps.
In any case, the haunted house is actually set up and played like a haunted house. The layout and design of the two-story building and grounds is exactly as one would expect from such a building. The description of individual locations give a sense of exploration and just a touch of being creepy (strange footprints in the dust, isolated notes with comments like "beyond skeletons", staircases that creak etc). The challenges are appropriate to the recommended strength of the party and to the setting - one in particular should be quite a surprise.
Underneath the house is a cellar (nota bene: not a dungeon), where things really hot up. Apart from being the location for the mysterious alchemist's laboratory there is also indications that the place is still being used! This leads the brave and noble PCs into the "passages and caverns" section, leading to the discovery of a smuggling ring.
With contraband (brandy, silk etc) recovered, the good folk of Saltmarsh reward the party and induce them into the second part of the story, the apprehension of the smuggler's vessel. This is achieved by with deductions from the smuggler's notes and a bit of subterfuge allowing the PCs to board the vessel and confront the smugglers. Like the house, the ship is appropriate in size, design, and contents. A variety of alternatives to boarding, capturing or otherwise defeating the crew are described. A further discovery is that the smuggler's are also engaged in a bit of arm's running for a neighbouring colony of lizard men, which neatly leads into the next module, Danger At Dunwater.
The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is an excellent module for low-level adventurers and new players. It sets up challenges which emphasise thinking, with more perceived than actual dangers (except for players who don't do the requisite planning and thinking), and encourages a relatively gentle introduction to game mechanics. There is an effective storyline with further development which manages to avoid a sense of being contrived. The organisation of the scenario is fairly good, with only a couple of opportunities for confusion. Overall, a highly recommended piece of work and extremely hard to fault.
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