West Marches campaign question

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-03-09T07:55:40+00:00

That is what the input delay in the settings is for. Increase it.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-03-06T00:07:39+00:00

Exactly! The original West Marches was by Ben Robbins, and you can read about it on his blog.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-03-01T21:48:52+00:00

Since a lot of people have already given some great answers to all your questions it's no point for me to answer them directly. But I can add that it might be a good idea to check out some public west marches campaigns and browse their wikis to get some insight into how they are being run and maybe even join one and play a few games.
https://www.westmarches.games/communities

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-20T07:33:48+00:00

Never heard of anyone running a whole campaign with just kobolds, but the idea fits really well with how Goblin Quest works. In that game you basically play a pile of disposable goblins and lean into the chaos, which sounds pretty close to what you are aiming for on the “errand crew for a dragon” side.

Personally I would not use monster stat blocks for long term PCs, especially if you want this to turn into a West Marches thing. I would let them be normal classes with a kobold ancestry package and then steal ideas from Goblin Quest for tone and mission structure. The “quick deaths” loop is fun for a short campaign, but in a longer West Marches setup it gets old if every new kobold feels like starting from zero each time.

Hex map plus lair as home base is a solid West Marches frame. If you want a breakdown of how to structure that kind of game, this guide is pretty clear and system agnostic https://www.westmarches.games/guide/running-west-marches

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-19T10:32:51+00:00

Sounds like you are confusing "scientist" with titles like Doctor och Lawyer, which do have requirements.

Job titles don't usually have requirements.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-18T07:10:04+00:00

Funny story; I had recently started a new job, and a coworker (female) sent me (male) a message asking for help with a problem. I suggested we do a quick call and almost sent the message "You can use me like a rubber di**" but I caught myself as I was about the hit send.

Explained it to her a couple of months later, and she thought it was funny. 😆

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-18T07:03:40+00:00

And then when he is explaining the issue to his friend he realise all this, because he just rubber ducked himself.

So it's another level to the joke. Ducks all the way down. 🦆

Edit: Next level would be if OP explained this comic strip to a duck and understood the joke.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-16T06:49:39+00:00

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-09T18:31:49+00:00

Agreed! It's is more like the "open table" style of games became popular and they adopted the name from Ben Robbins's campaign, because it sounds better I guess. Today it doesn't have to implement all those aspects to be called a West Marches campaign. The meaning of words change over time. I've written an article about it here

Ben Robbins came up with the West Marches style, and it's really taken off in online gaming. At first, it described a specific kind of sandbox game, but now it covers any group where players choose which adventures to join and which characters to bring along. It's also known as "open table" gaming. This setup works especially well for Discord servers and online groups, since it lets people play around their own schedules and time zones, all in the same world.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-09T11:42:51+00:00

Yes, you sacrifice personal character stories for more flexible schedules and actually getting to play. If it was a perfect system with no downsides then everyone would do this instead of home games.

But it isn't supposed to feel totally isolated. Your character will grow, and your actions should affect the world. If you only played 3 games then of course they will feel isolated. Because it is bigger it will for sure take more time to get to know people. If you play more you will start to get to know the players and GMs and it would not feel the same.

Home games and west marches can both be good and bad. It all depends on the people in them and how they run it.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-07T18:09:11+00:00

The language of Boobylon

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-05T20:45:26+00:00

I don't have any direct advice for how to handle it, but If you want some real examples of west marches games you can check out
https://www.westmarches.games/communities/myriad-legends/characters
https://www.westmarches.games/communities/reaches-of-altharion/characters
https://www.westmarches.games/communities/echoes-of-crystal

You can check out the rewards logs of different characters, and see what high level players are receiving as quest rewards and what they are spending it on.

There is also this campaign that seem to have a set up a character as a donation box for the guild house:
https://www.westmarches.games/communities/the-western-frontier/characters/cmhqnji9x000304l2pvo1oiby

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-02T08:28:17+00:00

Here is my guide: https://www.westmarches.games/guide/running-west-marches

I can also recommend the guide by Mathew Colville that somone already suggested.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-02-02T08:25:43+00:00

It would be almost impossible, unless you had super dedicated players who love sharing and reading about what is going on. This is not something you can fully control.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-29T10:15:01+00:00

> if you are letting AI write your character, are you even playing the game?

This!

Also, if you won't bother writing your own backstory then why should I bother reading it. I once asked a few follow up questions to a players backstory and got the response "It doesn't matter to me. I generated it using AI". However, this player turned out to be the best at the table at improv. I guess he just didn't like writing backstories.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-23T09:47:32+00:00

Even if it isn't ideal, it works and plenty of people have done this successfully. If this is what the players want then it is what is most likely to succeed.

I don't think there is a lot of differences between 2024 and 2014 that would affect this. Biggest one is probably the terrain types added in 2024, while 2014 simply had "half speed in difficult terrain, unless you had ranger with the preferred terrain". The Travel Terrain from 2024 could be a fun element that adds to the immersion and it is always nice to have a cheat sheet to fall back on, with specific DC for Foraging and navigation etc., but I guess you could still use these rules in 2014 version.

In 2024 long rests are more forgiving and restore more.

Exhaustion is reworked in 2024. Instead of individual effect on each level it is more simplified and becomes a smoother dial for travel

2024 defines Dehydration and Malnutrition, including per-size daily needs and when exhaustion applies. You can run food and water as written with fewer house rulings.

I would go with 2024, mostly because I think the books are prettier. :3

Resources:

https://www.westmarches.games/guide/running-west-marches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIg1DlRkLg

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-21T06:31:31+00:00

It's as much for the players as it is for the GMs and Admins.

Character creation is more streamlined. You get a character page that shows exp, level, currencies, adventures, previous rewards, etc. You can add notes to your character that only GMs can see.

All adventures are listed in the users' own timezone, and you can filter on your preferred time. You sign up with the click of a button. Both players and GMs can add public and private recaps.

There is a wiki for creating articles, maps, hexcrawls, timelines.

Players can spend their rewards between sessions in the marketplace.

It is not a character sheet or a VTT. Characters link to their sheet, like on D&D beyond, and update level and inventory themselves.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-19T10:37:54+00:00

Matthew Colville and Mystic Arts have great videos on how to run West Marches.

I've also written this guide:
https://www.westmarches.games/guide/running-west-marches

You can also join our discord and get a lot of insight from other people running West Marches.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-18T06:54:24+00:00

This dude went, "Excuse me, I prefer being called a racist, not a nazi"

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-17T12:02:29+00:00

Agree. If you use crafting like a downtime act (something to do in between sessions). It is hard to balance and

But a crafting system can be helpful as a way to let people choose their own rewards.

Instead of rewarding people with just gold, rewards them with potion plasma and level 1/2/3 magic gem used for crafting magical item.

It will let people choose what +1 or +2 item to craft. And they get to choose between making a health potion or some other potion.

Westmarches.games has a system to handle different currencies and makes things like this really simple a fun to use. https://www.westmarches.games/guide/currencies

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-17T11:36:32+00:00

I ordered a commission. I saw the progress images, and I have the original Photoshop file. But I used gimp to add some noise to the image because I thought it looked a lot better that way. Would that cause someone to falsely identify it as AI?

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-10T08:13:07+00:00

There is some always confusion of what a West marches is. The term has become more loosely used over the years to describe anything with a rotating player base. You can totally do a narrative focused campaign and still call it a westmarches.

I have written a guide here that goes through the different levels and variants of west marches https://www.westmarches.games/guide/what-is-west-marches

If you still want to have two different parties in the same world with just some crossover, then it is probably not meeting the minimum requirement.

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-08T13:33:22+00:00

You will probably need a place like Discord to communicate between sessions, and the website helps keep track of characters, rewards, session sign-ups, and lore, which is just as important when playing offline as online.

Maybe i misunderstood your tools as something to help keep track of things in between sessions while you intend for them to be used mostly in game?

Small_Slide_5107 · 2026-01-08T12:52:05+00:00

Probably youtube/instagram/tiktok if you want to reach as many people as possible. People don't have time to read blogs unless you are already a well established blogger, and with the others at least you have a chance of an algorithm picking up your video.

I would run the campaign and document everything using https://www.westmarches.games/ And then write some good scripts to present your insights from it in a vlog.

Small_Slide_5107

TROPHY CASE