Have you run a West Marches style campaign? What else would you suggest?

Ran West Marches with AD&D back before it had a name, roughly 1989. Before too long it settled into 3 regular groups with regular schedules and lost a lot of what made it different but it was still very sandboxy. That campaign ran through 2e as well and eventually ended as just a traditional one party campaign.

Went back to the well and started a Shadowdark West Marches game this past October, and it is absolutely thriving. Running online with all the resources available today, and being able to learn from so many other people's experiences make it so much easier today.

In both games, the key mechanic behind the campaign is rumors. I currently have a table of 200 rumors that I update regularly. When characters level they 'hear' 3 new rumors (+ or - charisma bonus, min 1). They can get an additional one per level by joining a guild. They can also get rumors through carousing rolls, or just by following/participating in the "in character" channels where NPCs might drop tidbits.

Creating that "in character" channel was pure genius.

I run sort of an inverse West Marches. I am running the megadungeon Barrowmaze and I currently have 8 players. We play almost every weekend. The way the maps are set up, it is safest to be back in town by nightfall. And every session has to end back in town. So whenever there is a new session, whoever is available to play, then their character is one of the characters that woke up early to adventure. Players have multiple characters, only three players have single characters and you can only take one character with you. So no matter who is available to play, they will field a decent group.

The key to this game is slow consistency. They are exploring some dark and dangerous environs, so light becomes as valuable commodity as well as life saving measures. Before they head out I ask them if they are all stocked up. More than once they have got well into the dungeon only to find they didn't bring any crowbars to get through that bricked up corridor. Or maybe they only brought one, so now it will take 3 turns instead of 2 or 1 turn which means more wandering monster checks.

Tracking time does make for some tense moments which heighten the experience. The western Marches style of play in this case is the variability of who is able to play. As long as two people want to get together, I'll run them through the adventure. If only two cans make it then they can run two characters each, but that is the only time.

If I was going to run a sandbox campaign, one of the best areas, I think, is the Nentir Vale from 4e. Find the 4e DMG and at the end of the book is the small worle aetting of Nentir Vale along with the small town of Fallbrook. There are so many good hooks in that area as well as a starting adventure and even 3 published adventures that are quite good, but would need some revising if you weren't running 4e.

Going to try & run a west marches game using DCC. The crawl community is great and I love the way spells work in DCC. 💖 😺

This was a very helpful insight into running this thing before I actually got started. I'm very appreciative!

I love the book Into the Wyrd and Wild. It was the engine for the best campaign I've personally run. It's system agnostic, but definitely a little D&D-minded.

Great advice! This will take my current West Marches campaign to the next level.

Very helpful as I’m starting to pull together people to dive into the Cosmere RPG over Christmas break - i hadn’t thought of players having multiple PC’s for multiple locations/parties before!  Literally a game changer

Haven't run one but im planning to co dm one for a buddy who's putting one together. This video was incredibly informative and has deepened my enthusiasm for the idea. I Thank you for making it.

I've been running a West Marches game in my own homebrew world for the past year. We're a 14 player strong group and we play in discord. I thought this was a really great breakdown of what is required to run the game! ❤

Great advice. I've been thinking about running one.

I absolutely love the mug shot of Brett.

I Subbed as Soon as I he said he chose Shadowdark. The rest was all a bonus.

I've been working on and off on starting one in Stars Without Number revised and I'm definitely going to steal the expedition leader idea. Thanks.

I have been dying to run a west marches for a couple years now!  nice vid, subbed.

Super informative! I'll be coming back to this video for resources when I start my solo west marches campaign soon. Thank you!

😊 that was great, super great

1) For some reason, probably cuz I’m off most social media, I didn’t realize you were out here posting stuff. So I’ve subscribed!

2) fantastic video!

3) Love hearing about someone else who has discovered the glory of stingbat laden Shadowdark!!!

I hadn't heard the term West Marches until 2024, and I had been running them since 1989!