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Having watched the premiere of Critical Role Campaign 4, it becomes apparent that describing this new venture as "West Marches-style" was somewhat inaccurate. The fresh Dungeons & Dragons story set in the realm of Aramán, crafted by Brennan Lee Mulligan, promises to be an grand and entertaining tale, yet the opening episode shows it will not adhere to the West Marches model.

The Elements That Characterizes a Rotating-Player Game

The new season boasts an large group of 13 players who will rotate at the gaming table by dividing into multiple rotating groups. While changing participants is a core premise of a West Marches campaign—first developed by game creator Ben Robbins—the actual execution and structure differ significantly from what the show is offering in this latest installment. However, if you are curious about West Marches and want to know why it might be a good choice for your own campaign, continue.

The Origins of the Player-Rotating Format

This style was originally the setting for a campaign run by Ben Robbins, who also designed the games Microscope and Kingdom. To solve the frequent problem of inconsistent player schedules, Robbins introduced the concept of not maintaining a fixed group. Because he could draw from a large group of players, he let them to arrange sessions freely. Once enough players agreed on a date, the game would run ad hoc.

Having a rotating "cast" is great for players: It doesn't matter if you can play once a week or once a month, you will consistently have a spot at the table.

As a Dungeon Master, though, it demands a particular mindset when building the campaign. West Marches is, at its heart, a sandbox campaign where players explore the world without being tied to an main plot. At the conclusion of each session, they return to town to rest and plan their next foray. This is essential to allow DMs to run a game with rotating players and ad hoc scheduling. Consider crafting a large, sweeping narrative, filled with villains, factions, and plot milestones, but without being sure who the protagonists will be at any given time.

The Reasons This Style Prevents Story Unresolved Endings

I'm sure every DM has had a session conclude on a huge cliffhanger involving a specific character, only to discover that the participant could not attend the next session. It's like if Frodo had to leave Mount Doom for a moment before destroying the Ring. West Marches avoids this by effectively removing the main plot. But, that doesn't mean a West Marches-style campaign has zero narrative.

As stated by Robbins: "There was history and linked details. Clues found in one place could provide insight elsewhere. Rather than just being an fascinating detail, these clues result in concrete discoveries."

The Way The Show Differs from the West Marches Approach

Initially, I believed a comparable approach would occur with Critical Role Campaign 4, with the mythology of the world developing organically and gradually through players’ actions in each episode, but I couldn't be more wrong. Episode 1 is strongly charged with established lore, and there is a powerful, dominant plot that guides the characters. No issue with that, of certainly, but West Marches offers a pretty distinct experience from many D&D campaigns, one that is worth trying at least once.

Tips for Running Your Personal West Marches Adventure

In my initial, long custom D&D campaign, I started from a premise like the classic The Keep on the Borderlands D&D module, which subsequently inspired Robbins’ original West Marches. After an introduction, the players found themselves in a frontier town, a traditional "last outpost of civilization" setting. From there, they get the opportunity to explore the nearby wilderness, either prompted by missions found in town or by their own curiosity. This method of play is strongly location-based, so if you're planning to attempt it, make sure to stock up your wilderness with interesting places to discover. The worst scenario you want is your players declaring, "Today we want to investigate the mysterious ruins in the Swamp of the Dead," and you have no content prepared.

• For me, I prefer having a defined plot in my campaigns, so I also scattered several hooks for an main narrative, both in town and in the wilderness.
• I think that complete sandboxing and aimless dungeon crawling can grow boring after a time, but Robbins made an key point in this regard when he explained the genesis of West Marches.
• "The reason in designing it this way was to address player apathy and mindless 'plot following' by putting the players in charge of both scheduling and what they did in-game."

Finding Equilibrium in Every Campaign Style

The takeaway here is that regardless of the type of campaign you're running, it's crucial to strike a balance between your responsibility as a DM in guiding the narrative and players’ agency. Whether you're creating a intricate death maze for a classic dungeon crawl or determining the fate of the world in a Critical Role-style campaign, always consider what your players may want to do. You prepare the table, but they choose what to eat.

Why Now Is a Great Moment to Begin a Sandbox Adventure

It might be the best time ever to launch a West Marches-style campaign. D&D’s newest starter set, Heroes of the Borderlands, is a comeback to the Keep on the Borderlands, providing the ideal foundation to draw new players into this style. An add-on recommends how to more effectively connect the various quests in the set, but you can also run this as the core of a sandbox campaign and expand it as it continues.

In fact, the coolest element of the first West Marches is the collaboration between the rotating players. The town tavern had a map of the nearby areas etched into a table, where groups included information and sketched new areas as they discovered them. This not only meant that players could assist each other even while not playing at the table at the same session, but also that the world of West Marches grew organically as the players ventured through it. If you're a DM who is attempting to build a custom campaign or world for the first time, West Marches could be exactly what you need.