Questions tagged [west-marches]
"West Marches" is a player-driven style of RPG campaign (originally formulated for D&D by Ben Robbins). In contrast to traditional serialized campaigns with a consistent party, most West Marches games have no fixed time, party, or plot; these are often decided collaboratively by players and DMs, depending on player availability and interest.
14
questions
87
votes
2
answers
144k
views
What defines a "West Marches" campaign?
There are a few questions on this site that mention "West Marches", but they all seem to assume that a reader already knows exactly what a "West Marches" game is. Some questions link to multiple blog ...
19
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How can I satisfy two groups who want the same quest in a West Marches campaign?
I recently started a West Marches style game because of our group's increasingly deteriorating attendance. We still wanted to play when we get a chance to get together but not everyone will be able to ...
15
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How can I encourage player engagement between sessions in a West Marches style game?
I'm currently nine sessions into a West Marches style game with a pool of 20 players. The sessions are going well, and the players enjoying themselves, but I have a concern:
One of the central ...
15
votes
5
answers
2k
views
How can I manage a shared player map?
I'm running a West Marches style game and I'd like for players to have a shared map they can edit. What's a good way to handle this in a way that can be shared with all the potential players between ...
15
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How to manage rest with changing GMs and players
I have been running a west marches style D&D 5e game where the GM and the players (along with their characters) change between every session. Due to this, every session ends back in town and with ...
13
votes
6
answers
2k
views
What information should I give the players for them to draw their map?
I am going to start an online Westmarches-style campaign, using a slightly patched version of Pathfinder 2.
I expect the whole adventure to happen on one big island (where the PCs arrive in session 0),...
12
votes
5
answers
5k
views
How to balance encounters for unbalanced parties?
I am running a D&D 5e West Marches style game. We have a pool of around 10 players, who all have one character. This game kills off a character around once every 1.5 months due to the nature and ...
10
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Social Encounters in a West Marches Campaign
I am a new DM with one session under my belt and am planning to run the campaign as a "West Marches" D&D 5e campaign. One of my players requested I have some social encounters next time and I am ...
8
votes
1
answer
356
views
How does PC access to life-restoration magic affect a westmarchian game?
One of the hallmarks of a westmarchian game is danger, with a high likelihood of character death.
From Grand Experiments: West Marches:
The environment is dangerous. Very dangerous. That’s ...
6
votes
3
answers
563
views
As a GM, what can I do to make this player invested in my West Marches-style campaign again?
I am running a Pathfinder 2 Westmarches-style campaign, mainly through vocal chat+VTT, and it has been around 4 months since the beginning.
As time goes on I am seeing a drop in the average investment ...
6
votes
0
answers
229
views
West Marches campaign for settings other than medieval fantasy [closed]
The concept of a West Marches campaign is geared mainly toward fantasy/medieval campaigns, mostly, I think, due to the ease of creating wilderness areas and regions that are suitable to that style of ...
4
votes
0
answers
214
views
Where can I find experiential-based resources for West Marches/Open Table games? [closed]
I'm currently getting ready to run an Open Party/West Marches style game with a pool of about 16 players. We'll be using 5e, but my question is system-agnostic.
I of course started with Ben Robbins' &...
4
votes
0
answers
367
views
How can I import rules from B/X to D&D 5e to improve play with a large group? [closed]
Background
I am currently running a West Marches style game. In my world there is a particularly troublesome dungeon which certain players are extremely determined to explore. As they are still low ...
1
vote
0
answers
4k
views
Creating a map for a West Marches campaign [closed]
I'm about to start running a West Marches campaign and I am struggling with a way to build up a map that I can use. Here are my thoughts so far:
Create a DM only Hex based map that shows terrain and ...