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.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
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 ...
Secespitus's user avatar
  • 7,055
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 ...
daze413's user avatar
  • 28.6k
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 ...
Ladifas's user avatar
  • 8,959
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 ...
polm23's user avatar
  • 399
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 ...
aceofmuffins's user avatar
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),...
Anne Aunyme's user avatar
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 ...
GPPK's user avatar
  • 3,374
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 ...
AuWiMo's user avatar
  • 124
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 ...
Jack's user avatar
  • 31.2k
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 ...
Anne Aunyme's user avatar
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 ...
Paul Schifferer's user avatar
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' &...
solutionorppt's user avatar
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 ...
Ladifas's user avatar
  • 8,959
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 ...
GPPK's user avatar
  • 3,374