How to Run a West Marches Sandbox

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  • čas přidán 19. 10. 2022
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    In this supplemental video I show you how I ran my randomized West Marches-style “Forbidden Lands” campaign!
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Komentáře • 177

  • @danj1101
    @danj1101 Před rokem +185

    I have to assume the final boss of a 30-year West Marches game is the slow gentrification of the frontier :p

    • @direden
      @direden Před rokem +4

      Hahaha 😆

    • @richardextall2002
      @richardextall2002 Před 10 měsíci +1

      LOL 😂 Excellent

    • @simontemplar3359
      @simontemplar3359 Před 4 měsíci +1

      OMG that is bloody hilarious! Day made!

    • @Licjr
      @Licjr Před 4 měsíci +4

      Once they get a Whole Foods it’s all over

    • @DMInverse
      @DMInverse Před 3 měsíci

      Adventurer: a boss is the ultimate challenge that must be defeated.
      Karl Marx: interesting, please tell me more

  • @greystorm9974
    @greystorm9974 Před rokem +15

    Oh, I had a simple rule for travelling back, in my West Marches with Forbidden Lands.... 1 silver per day, if you traveled back off screen. My players took a lot of responsibility on getting the adventure done. Other times they had a great haul and took the easy way out, which worked as a money sink

  • @barge489
    @barge489 Před rokem +42

    My very first campaign was actually 3 campaigns (when I started running DnD, I texted everyone in my phone thinking I would get maybe 2 or 3 players... I got 13). I being an idiot newbie DM, tried to run all 3 separately for a while... It didn't take me long to figure out that west marches was a much better solution for my situation. So I got all of the parties to a singular point, where they acquired a pirate ship. I called it "west sails" and I sort of ran it like star trek, in that I tried to always start and end each session on the ship. The players elected a captain and a first mate who became the shotcaller/master of schedules and the captain delegated other roles related to party inventory management and communications. In particular, I lucked out when they decided the needed a crewmember to be the "Chronicler" who was in charge of logging the crews adventures for everyone in their discord. It made it easy to see what they knew/remembered/cared about and I never would have thought about it.
    It worked gloriously. The players really bought into the gimmick of being a pirate crew and it solved the built in conceit of the campaign by explaining where the other players were. The absent players had to stay with the ship of course.
    I was able to drip feed the crew the map by giving them incomplete pieces of the world map they would acquire from different places and it allowed me to generate landmarks and hooks as I needed them and made the discovery pillar of the West Marches Campaign feel very natural. It makes sense that they would get treasure maps or hear rumors of ruins in a tavern and such. It sort of accidentally managed to create an over arching narrative of them tracking down the footsteps of the BBEG.
    The ability to easily generate content was a life saver during the early days of the pandemic when basically my entire party had nothing but time and I was running 3-4 sessions a week.

    • @metallsnubben
      @metallsnubben Před 11 měsíci +3

      What did you use to generate stuff?

  • @GaBbY-gs3uo
    @GaBbY-gs3uo Před rokem +27

    i doubt Trevor will see this but i love your videos me and my dad loved to watch your channel. my dad passed away not long ago but I'm still here

  • @mrmiffmiff
    @mrmiffmiff Před 2 měsíci +6

    It is worth noting that the West Marches concept is *extremely* similar to the Open Table play of the Lake Geneva and Twin Cities crowds back in the day. This kind of thing is essentially the foundation of the hobby. It was the West Coast crowd (and later TSR itself, especially come Dragonlance) that led to D&D being run in a significantly different way.
    All styles have their place imo.

    • @driver3899
      @driver3899 Před 4 dny

      how did people back in the day make the content / point of interest on the map, was it random tables on the fly like this did they pre generate lore and adventures to fill it before they started?

    • @mrmiffmiff
      @mrmiffmiff Před 3 dny

      @@driver3899 Random tables, on the fly decisions, and not actually caring about a consistent lore. If you want to see some campaign records from back then do a Google search for Ryth Chronicle.

  • @boredomaster
    @boredomaster Před rokem +10

    We run 1 IRL day = 1 game day in our game. Higher level PCs can get henchmen and followers who in turn become low level PCs. 6 person table with each player having about 2-4 PCs each. Their higher level PCs often pass on quests and jobs to their lower level PCs.
    1:1 time allows the DM time to move factions and characters over the map. Players text or email character actions and receive news and results from me. 90% of downtime activities occurs between sessions. As a fun aside: PCs can use plane shift to go to another participating DM's campaign.

  • @EricVulgaris
    @EricVulgaris Před rokem +46

    I ran like a 70 session west marches forbidden lands campaign with over 30 active players. Friends say it was their favorite game! I have a lot of thoughts on organizing one and keeping it going as a single GM. My biggest advice to a dm new to west marches is that your system will not survive contact with the campaign. Show up with a plan and procedure, but you must be prepared to design, tweak, and iterate on it! Or you'll burn yourself out or wishing you did something one way but feel it's too late to change.
    I solved that by creating "adventuring blocks" which work like scrum sprints for you project managers out there. Don't ignore time and don't do 1:1 real/game time. I found pegging something like 5-7 sessions of irl time to a season of in game time worked best. Came out to be about 2 weeks irl = 1 season in. At the end of each block I'd release the next scheduled block of games folks organize in, gather feedback, do faction turn stuff, take a break from the game, and iterate my processes (how to schedule sessions on discord, max adventures you can sign up for per block, mechanics and downtime rules etc) so each block was smoother than before.

    • @Robert-gd6yf
      @Robert-gd6yf Před 9 měsíci +2

      Could you explain more about the adve ture blocks? Like, a story arc?

    • @egisshield
      @egisshield Před měsícem

      I'm not sure I understand.

    • @EricVulgaris
      @EricVulgaris Před měsícem

      @@egisshield you don't have to track every day. Instead what I'd do is every 5 sessions is 1 season (3 months in game). And just progress time that way. You could do every 2 sessions is 1 month in game or every 10 sessions is a year. The ratio is what matters. Made faction stuff and downtime stuff easily manageable

  • @jacobdavidlet
    @jacobdavidlet Před 9 měsíci +9

    I have been running a West Marches game for several years now and I have found that:
    "Time played passes for all characters."
    Works best for my table. It is the easiest way for us to keep track of the passage of time.
    (So if Jack and John go to the mountains on a 3 day trip. The next time a group meets, even if it is Mary and Jane 3 days have passed on the calendar.)

  • @ArkhansMadness
    @ArkhansMadness Před 3 měsíci +5

    This guy gives off major Robin Williams energy and I’m here for it!

  • @markbruno72
    @markbruno72 Před rokem +17

    OMG perfect timing. I'm starting a hex crawl with Forbidden Lands and I need a bit more direction. Thank you for this!

  • @valmorgul708
    @valmorgul708 Před rokem +10

    This is in substance how I run our forbidden lands campaign for more than a year! The game run itself with tables, legends, exploration, survival and obviously consistency, it was a great success and everyone had a blast and tales to tell. Sandbox campaigns, if supportedby systems like FBL are exciting for the GM as well. I loved to discover with them what was behind the corner in each hex. Well explained as usual, Trevor!

  • @carpelo
    @carpelo Před rokem +24

    Fantastic! You could also use Delve from ironsworn to populate and describe what your characters may find in the next hex

  • @SabinAndAsher
    @SabinAndAsher Před rokem +4

    Brilliant! I wanted to try west marches as a style of play, but I didn't understand how to guide players by having to randomly create the map.
    But having already a predetermined geography, things become much clearer and "simple".

  • @victormoreno9785
    @victormoreno9785 Před rokem +1

    Love your GM advice. Definitely helps with planning and using the resources I have. Thanks Trevor

  • @blackoathentertainment5617

    This is my favorite style of gameplay, it's so much fun both for the PCs and the GM. Fantastic video, as usual.

  • @booksbricksandboards783
    @booksbricksandboards783 Před rokem +3

    Really enjoy your insight into world building and practical application of that at the gaming table. Been playing since the 80’s and I still learn something from most of your videos.

  • @JasonMartinRF
    @JasonMartinRF Před rokem +2

    I've always meant to look into what this was all about. Thanks for a great primer into West Marches!

  • @whaarp
    @whaarp Před rokem +1

    Absolutely fantastic video, with great reminders of the important elements of a consistent world being explored. Just bought Forbidden Lands and I think we're about to have a blast!!

  • @PossumMedic
    @PossumMedic Před rokem +4

    "You can not have a meaningful campaign if strict time records are not kept!" 🤣
    Great tips thanks! 😃

  • @_grumpytoad
    @_grumpytoad Před rokem +3

    This was awesome, Trevor! Thank you for sharing. I've heard of "West Marches" style campaigns for years and read about them, but have never run or played one myself. I HAVE, however, made several homebrew campaigns that were designed with the idea of the West Marches style: I called them "rotating cast" campaigns. One I based in Balder's Gate in the Faerun world where the PCs played the city's "superheros" (in my game, they were referred to as Gate Keepers). Then I went on a long kick of trying to make videogames into tabletops, also with the idea of rotating players. I tried Dark Souls (which in the videogame has a perfect, in-game logic to why characters might be appearing and disappearing with the time dilation of the world of Lordran). And then I took two swings at building a Planescape campaign that would use Sigil as the central "hub world" and each session saw the PCs getting sent to a random dungeon somewhere in the multiverse at the whim of the Lady of Pain. Currently, however, I am running a more traditional campaign with a single cast of PCs. But I have ideas in the works for another "rotating cast" campaign for the future that would be a mix of the Labyrinth film and the Darkest Dungeon videogame which would see a campaign world that existed entirely within an endless dungeon! And this video has given me a lot of ideas for things I could use to make it work! So thanks again!

  • @bobr4024
    @bobr4024 Před rokem +3

    I posted a few times with the URL to the Wilderness Hexcrawl. I guess you have to approve it before it shows up here. Great work Trevor. Lots of fun and very interesting. And useful

    • @valinorsdawn
      @valinorsdawn Před rokem

      If you refer to the FbL Hexcrawl Sequence that Trevor built and uses as a reference, yep! I’d also be interested to use as a fab framework to adopt and adapt. Thank you, Both!

  • @adrianwebster6923
    @adrianwebster6923 Před rokem +72

    Great video, I second the request for a solo version. However, I am curious how you track and manage all of the randomly generated content and connections so you can keep that world consistency.

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +34

      Each hex is numbered, so I keep a separate document with notes pertaining to each one. All the pertinent information, typically in point form, is listed there. If there are monster stats or NPC stats, I list them there as well.

    • @thehermitthetower1126
      @thehermitthetower1126 Před rokem +1

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG of course you solo'd a west march, lol

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +7

      I didn't. I ran it for my group of players.

    • @thehermitthetower1126
      @thehermitthetower1126 Před rokem +1

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG ahw, im gearing up for one in my own group but i also just landed a dream job that requires travel, so, this may be hard to do, lol

  • @EpicSolo
    @EpicSolo Před rokem +4

    Such a great video Trevor. I am currently running a West Marches sandbox and apparently great minds do think alike! I am definitely inspired to borrow a few ideas I had not considered such as the "return to keep and update the map on the table." A great communal way to integrate every player's experience and contribution to the campaign in a meaningful and tangible way. "Retroactively create consistency," what a concise means to describe a great many tasks the game master needs to perform to make the campaign setting extra and special.

  • @heathentongue
    @heathentongue Před rokem +1

    Great job! we love the West Marches style! Islands are great for this!

  • @bizzy5439
    @bizzy5439 Před rokem +5

    AWESOME tutorial! Rolling to return is brilliantly simple and helpful for me. Also I didn't know anybody else who used that Ruins & Relics pdf haha Thank you, Trevor. Very cool.

  • @joshgiroux1758
    @joshgiroux1758 Před rokem +21

    This video couldn't have come at a better time! I'm starting a West Marches game in a couple of weeks!

    • @Chad-xh8zs
      @Chad-xh8zs Před 9 měsíci

      How did it go?

    • @joshgiroux1758
      @joshgiroux1758 Před 9 měsíci

      Hey! It's been going great. I run a weekly game with about 10 players right now in rotation. All my players came from 5e and love the OSR playstyle. @@Chad-xh8zs

  • @IIiBERTT
    @IIiBERTT Před rokem +26

    Hot damn. I love forbidden lands. It was really foundational to the way that I GM. Mechanics are what actually drive the roleplay in my group. So, instead of having an idea of what you want your character to be, randomly rolling stats and subjectiving yourself to the dice and that being the basis for what you roleplay is so much fun. Especially if your group is as funny as mine.
    Edit/ps:
    If your group is cool with you randomly rolling stuff, it essentially eliminates GM prep (you still need to keep track of stuff, like Trevor says, it helps the world make sense). Might be hard for some GMs to convince there group that rolling random stuff in front of them is perfectly fine 🤷‍♂️.

  • @thomaslesperance6256
    @thomaslesperance6256 Před 5 měsíci

    Super well done, sir! Definitely helped me on a few things as I design my own campaign!

  • @thomasranney8913
    @thomasranney8913 Před rokem

    Thanks, Trevor. Needed a kick in the butt for my next campaign

  • @mikepearse5196
    @mikepearse5196 Před rokem +6

    The beauty of the human mind and this type of collaborative story telling is that it will become real.
    22 years ago I started work on. Neverwinter Nights Persistent World that was based on a friends 6 year homebrew.
    That world evolved and grew into something beyond what anyone thought possible.
    To see it still growing when I can remeber the first live room is amazing.
    I am going to go reminisce about creating MUDs now.

  • @derek_davidson
    @derek_davidson Před rokem +1

    I love this style of running the game

  • @etnaicholas
    @etnaicholas Před rokem +11

    The map idea at the home base is real good. I like the concept of my character's actions feeding back into the action of other players, and it gives low level characters a way to interact with higher level characters. Surviving the sight of a dragon, and getting back to base in one piece to write "Here there be dragons" for the higher level characters to investigate, is a very organic way to run a sandbox.

  • @carlwoods4564
    @carlwoods4564 Před měsícem

    Only just found your channel. You are hilarious. All the best from Lancashire, England.

  • @Lee_Adamson_OCF
    @Lee_Adamson_OCF Před rokem +3

    This is my prefered way to DM. I used to prepare stuff, but they always went off the rails anyway (and good on them for that, no complaint), so I was always just winging it anyway lol.
    It's very interesting how the players will read some cohesive idea out of a bunch of random stuff, and then you can change their own idea enough to keep it interesting and feed it back to them. :D
    The d20 supplement published by White Wolf/Swords & Sorcery called "Wilderlands of High Fantasy" replicates *some* of the tables in that old JG supplement you're using. I *think* that one is still available.

  • @shaunb8294
    @shaunb8294 Před rokem +4

    Now we need to see a Sage's Library on Forbidden Lands...

  • @mathewsnyder97
    @mathewsnyder97 Před 6 měsíci

    Fantastic overview. I want to use the same Forbidden Lands map!

  • @TatumVayavananda
    @TatumVayavananda Před rokem +4

    I really hope the next campaign is back in the Ironsworn or Starforged system! I loved your campaign when you played them!

  • @abuzuhm
    @abuzuhm Před rokem +4

    Great video. Also, three cheers to manufacturers like Free League who facilitate this sort of gaming.

  • @Bargletheinfamous
    @Bargletheinfamous Před rokem

    Great topic. 👍 I will be watching this when I get off work!

    • @Bargletheinfamous
      @Bargletheinfamous Před rokem

      This was a great video. I feel like this is a great way to have active players in the game who are invested and interested instead of trying to force the interest. I am hoping to get back to running games next month and will try and run a West Marches in Mystara using BX rules.

  • @Usammityduzntafraidofanythin
    @Usammityduzntafraidofanythin Před měsícem +1

    13:30 - A gonzo world, aka the World of Warcraft method of world building.

  • @Number01
    @Number01 Před rokem +2

    Could you make a video and go through your night day encounters rules and calendar journal? There was some notes below your hexcrawl procedure that was just out of frame for rests and night encounters.
    Perhaps this could be a very cool how to video playlist series for the "MM&D Style" West Marches campaign.

  • @zero_ngo
    @zero_ngo Před rokem

    Now i NEED to see your West Marches campaign :D

  • @b.k.8515
    @b.k.8515 Před rokem

    Fantastic video

  • @BigVillyStyle
    @BigVillyStyle Před 2 měsíci

    Fantastic stuff

  • @antigrav6004
    @antigrav6004 Před rokem +1

    I've got everything put out for forbidden lands but have not had the pleasure of running it yet. Even better is I already bought perilous wilds from your previous video on it.

  • @AshersAesera
    @AshersAesera Před 3 měsíci

    Thank you for the video! ^^

  • @peterevans6661
    @peterevans6661 Před rokem

    Good ideas, thanks

  • @AminWT
    @AminWT Před rokem

    Your stuff rocks! 😄

  • @liamtaylor4955
    @liamtaylor4955 Před rokem +3

    I'd have stage fright doing all that rolling from tables and generation at the table. Not sure if it would work but maybe a little preparation, say populating a half dozen hexes in advance, generic enough to fit various terrains the players might point to on game night...

  • @anthonysmith2645
    @anthonysmith2645 Před rokem

    i'd love to give this system a try, thinks forthe great vid

  • @LeeAlanBerg
    @LeeAlanBerg Před rokem +2

    In the middle of writing up / prepping a 5e Ravenloft Westmarches game - this is immensely helpful! taking notes!

  • @KromKrausser
    @KromKrausser Před rokem

    Thanks You Runehammer i SEE allnyour icrpg videos

  • @mistergoats4380
    @mistergoats4380 Před rokem

    Fantastic video. Thank ye

  • @joshgiroux1758
    @joshgiroux1758 Před rokem +10

    Really good idea to use the Perilous Wilds. That thing just comes in handy all the time. I'm going to be using Basic Fantasy RPG for my West Marches game so im curious as to how it's going to run and develop. For me the biggest thing is not bogging the game down when rolling for new hexes and possibly random dungeon layouts. It's going to be a fun learning experience. My plan is to start a blog to write down all the triumphs and hurdles that will happen.

    • @crapphone7744
      @crapphone7744 Před rokem +6

      The perilous wilds may just be the best supplement ever. You can run a whole campaign out of it even if you don't do dungeon world.

    • @joshgiroux1758
      @joshgiroux1758 Před rokem +2

      @@crapphone7744 I couldn't agree more. The "Plumb The Depths" chapter is brilliant and I find myself reading the book just for fun.

    • @joshgiroux1758
      @joshgiroux1758 Před rokem +1

      @@NefariousKoel great ideas thank you. I know Dysonlogos has a bunch of maps one can use.

    • @johnathanrhoades7751
      @johnathanrhoades7751 Před rokem +5

      Perilous Wilds is one of the best resources ever. I use that, Tome of adventure Design, Universal NPC Emulator, and Worlds Without Number for basically all my adventure design.

  • @ThiagoPetruccelli
    @ThiagoPetruccelli Před rokem +5

    I've been reading and watching videos about hexcrawls, but I don't feel that I got it yet. Maybe you could make a solo hexcrawl play video? I would love to watch it

  • @norwolf01
    @norwolf01 Před rokem +1

    Good reference I came across is Izirion's Enchiridion of the West Marches.

  • @ruolbu
    @ruolbu Před rokem

    the perfect video for me right now by the perfect creator =)

  • @Dr_Dorian
    @Dr_Dorian Před 2 měsíci

    Great video btw.

  • @bensdecoypoondummy1189
    @bensdecoypoondummy1189 Před rokem +3

    The only part im curious about is - if you do all the generating randomly as the players enter the hex or discover something, how are you able to do so without stopping every 5 minutes to flip through pages and pdfs :) i feel like id take so long to generate on the fly

  • @mavfan21
    @mavfan21 Před rokem +2

    Just a note: you might want to update your Savage Worlds links to the newer edition of the Fantasy Companion and Adventure Edition. New players can easily get confused by the names. I say this from experience, I started playing Savage Worlds thanks to season 1 and I love it! I bought Savage Pathfinder and it is GREAT.

  • @aslotkin
    @aslotkin Před rokem +2

    Loved the video! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at a more hexcrawl/West Marches campaign, so this definitely got my gears whirring. By the way, do my eyes deceive me or are you sporting an old-school AD&D Emirikol the Chaotic T-shirt?!?

  • @BenjaminMarra
    @BenjaminMarra Před rokem +1

    Love this video. Boils down sandbox gaming-my preferred way to run games-into the key pillars I'd known about but hadn't seen spelled out so clearly. Super helpful. Would love to see a video about solo version of this approach, just to see if there were any concepts I was overlooking in my own solo campaigns. I love the Forbidden Lands Year Zero Engine core mechanics. I've been merging that with Risus and the classic WEG Star Wars system for my solo games and it's been working great.

  • @themotleycrusades
    @themotleycrusades Před rokem

    Great video, I am very curious about the content of the "Forbidden Lands hexcrawl sequence" document you were referencing during the video. That seems like a useful tool. :)

  • @pricerowland
    @pricerowland Před rokem +1

    Oh my gosh, it's me, I'm interested in running an open world West Marches style sandbox and don't know where to start!

  • @duieb
    @duieb Před rokem +2

    Sounds awesome!
    I just wonder what do you do with adventure prep? Say the players found a mine and want to explore, you need to have a dungeon ready. But since it's all random, you didn't know there's going to be a dungeon! How do you deal with it?

  • @Scutifer_Mike
    @Scutifer_Mike Před rokem +1

    1:1 time makes time tracking so much easier.

  • @coreymayo8321
    @coreymayo8321 Před rokem +2

    This is great stuff! I'm inspired to pick back up my solo campaign of Forbidden Lands that's been dormant for 18 months. Especially now that I realize that I'd already partially been playing a West Marches-style campaign with 7 different characters (though one is already dead). I'd love to hear what alterations from the guidance in this video you recommend for doing it solo.

  • @abstractbybrian
    @abstractbybrian Před rokem

    Filing in the Blanks is brilliant for hexcrawling.

  • @N0m0r386
    @N0m0r386 Před rokem +3

    Hi Trevor! Awesome video, bravo! One thing: Why did you choose Forbidden Lands, and what do you think about the game? I did understand that it's a d6 pool system with an OSR kinda style.

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +9

      I love FL. Such a great system for this kind of survival/exploration game. I'll be doing a Sage's Library episode on it soon :)

    • @Sanguivore
      @Sanguivore Před 6 měsíci

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG Hey, Trevor! Any update on the Sage’s Library for Forbidden Lands? :0 I did some searching around and couldn’t find it.

  • @Nobleshield
    @Nobleshield Před 14 dny

    I've been curious about this approach, although my preference is less "do whatever you want" (too freeform for my taste) and more "episodic" like a Conan novel/comic where each "adventure" might take place in a different part of the world, with how the PCs got there as background only (also a great way to introduce a new PC) to set them up for the dungeon/adventure of the evening. It seems like it'd be very boring to more or less have a map and say "okay which hex" then roll and see what happens, without any rhyme or reason.

  • @leonardorinaldi8589
    @leonardorinaldi8589 Před 14 dny

    Wonderful video, thanks! As a DM I'd really like to try something like that, and yours are really useful insights.
    I have one question though: how to reconcile the hexcrawl random exploration with the necessity for the players to get back to the central hub at the end of each session? Either they say "ok we did enough work let's go back" whenever they want and roleplay the return as well, or they do a survival check to see if they have any problem and skip the travel. Is that correct?

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před 14 dny

      It depends how you want to do it. Five Torches Deep has a good rule about that; you make a survival check (or whatever) to see what damage or loss, if any, each character suffered on the journey back. All the players know this is the rule, so they tend to be more careful and husband their resources toward the end of the session, as they know they still have a return journey to make, even though it’s just one roll.

  • @Xenon451
    @Xenon451 Před 7 měsíci +1

    Sounds to me it is very suited to Twilight 2000😊

  • @toddzircher6168
    @toddzircher6168 Před 9 měsíci +1

    Would love to hear your thoughts on a solo West Marches campaign since I'm starting one. 😀

    • @Sanguivore
      @Sanguivore Před 6 měsíci +1

      Lemme know how that goes! :D I’d love to do the same~!

    • @toddzircher6168
      @toddzircher6168 Před 6 měsíci

      @@SanguivoreIt's doing great, I love world building on the fly. Using Fabula Ultima along with Four Houses in Chaos and the Mystical Manga tarot deck.

    • @Sanguivore
      @Sanguivore Před 6 měsíci

      @@toddzircher6168 Awesome! Thanks a ton for the feedback, and happy gaming, my friend! ^-^

  • @ChrisGeisel5000
    @ChrisGeisel5000 Před 9 měsíci

    Do you generate hexes on the fly, as players enter them? If you do, what do you do about a map of say, the catacomb you rolled up?

  • @Mind_of_MATT
    @Mind_of_MATT Před rokem +1

    Sandbox for solo & co-op play. Make that video when you get the chance.

  • @PsychesGamingAddiction
    @PsychesGamingAddiction Před 9 měsíci +1

    Any experience with doing a West Marches style game in Pathfinder2e perhaps? Since encounter building and the pf2 game design doesn't really do "random encounters" due to the creature level being tied to party level.

  • @abstractbybrian
    @abstractbybrian Před rokem

    I always thought you should start your PCs in a town/city.
    I like that you didn’t do this but how do they get their gear?

  • @MRdaBakkle
    @MRdaBakkle Před rokem +2

    The only thing I've found is that if you are going to run this, I would just run with a small group anyway. Because clicks form and then you are just running three games for three people. Just run a sandbox game but with 4 people. If you want you could have each player make 3 characters that they want to play and then for each adventure they could choose who they want to play. You get less of a feel of different levels in a party, but I think that's fine.

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +3

      Valid, but it really depends on the groups (s). I had a group of about 10 players spread across three cities, so we never really had the "clique" issue; people scheduled themselves to play (online) when they could, and that became the party of the moment. Alas, not everyone is so fortunate to have a large group! So a smaller sandbox game is more likely anyway for most groups, I would imagine.

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +2

      Also, your "multiple characters per player" recommendation is a really cool idea. I've never done that, but now I want to ;)

    • @MRdaBakkle
      @MRdaBakkle Před rokem

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG I played in the first few sessions of a birthright game that had many players. But since we were managing domains it was intended that all players were in the session together.

    • @NefariousKoel
      @NefariousKoel Před rokem

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG - Brings a variety that could be helpful to "alt-tastic" players who like to run different character classes/types. I've known it as "Troupe Play" ever since seeing it as the default style in Ars Magicka way back when.

    • @AlabasterJazz
      @AlabasterJazz Před rokem +1

      I think another spin on the multiple characters per player idea, is to have a guildhouse where all the characters reside. Then in any given session any player can choose any available character. You might lose a bit of character consistency from session to session, but if the character is randomly rolled and has detailed motivations/goals/personality, and no one is particularly attached to a specific character, everyone can play different archetypes as the mood arises. But even if you don't go that far with it, having 1 or 2 backup characters per player can achieve very much the same result.

  • @brads2041
    @brads2041 Před rokem +1

    Wondering about using west marches as a solo platform. It sounds like it might work out well for casual solo gaming

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +1

      I’ll be doing a series using d100 Dungeon (and Wilderness) that should demonstrate something similar.

  • @PickleRick65
    @PickleRick65 Před 9 měsíci +2

    Way to take it back to 1974- 1980...

  • @kaedegrv
    @kaedegrv Před 11 měsíci

    What are good systems to run a West Marches campaign? Was thinking about Pathfinder 2d edition but I'm starting to think this works better in less cruchy games because people might not be as used to the rules since they are not playing as often...

  • @HI-kb2cg
    @HI-kb2cg Před rokem

    I'm trying to do this for a single group can i do that it's working well i guess.

  • @beard6295
    @beard6295 Před 4 měsíci

    In regards to always being back at home base by the end of the session, have any GMs any issues with players trying to rush too fast in order to complete that encounter/dungeon at the expense of any exploration role-play? That's the only big thing to me that I'd have trouble with I think with my players

  • @Smittumi
    @Smittumi Před rokem +5

    How long did it take to roll the content while the players waited, and how hard was it to ad-lib the connections between NPCs?
    I *really* want to try this style, been waiting for a chance for years! Hopefully it'll be my next campaign.

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +8

      Great question! I'm pretty quick on my feet (see: seasons 1, 2 & 3 of MM&D), so pacing wasn't much of a problem for me; I knew those tables really well, so there wasn't too much time wasted flipping through pages. That said, when creating on the fly, there'll always be moments of "GM Pause"; rolling up random monsters using the FL book probably took the longest. However, I would always just be transparent with my players, and tell them to talk amongst themselves for a minute or two while I rolled up the challenge. No problem there.
      As for connections with NPCs, that's why I kept detailed lists, and always consulted them before the sessions to refresh myself with who's who, and what they all want.

    • @Smittumi
      @Smittumi Před rokem +2

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG thanks.

  • @Dr_Dorian
    @Dr_Dorian Před 2 měsíci

    I think I found the files that has the ruins and relics tables.. not sure if I’m allowed to drop the link though. XD

  • @GrungefolkBoy2010
    @GrungefolkBoy2010 Před rokem

    Would loved to have seen this session in progress, especially the part when they where searching for clues for the dwarven key, how did you determine what the clues where?

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem

      I wish I could remember, that was many campaigns ago :(

    • @GrungefolkBoy2010
      @GrungefolkBoy2010 Před rokem

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG I'm doing a solo Maze rats campaign and the party need to find a book of warding, just looking for an interesting way of finding it lol But brought Perilous wilds though(through your link of course😜) so at least the journey is sorted now 😁

  • @yinyangthang
    @yinyangthang Před 5 měsíci +2

    If Robin Williams and Richard Dreyfuss had a love child...

  • @MrPrimalAndrew
    @MrPrimalAndrew Před rokem

    Would you drop a link to the, “Wilderness Hexploration Table”?
    I’ve searched high & low, but I cannot find an official source at whom I could throw money!
    Thanks for your time, Trevor.

  • @samchafin4623
    @samchafin4623 Před rokem +1

    A well run sandbox kinda game can be really cool (though I'm not a huge fan of the resource tracking mini-game), but I've found West Marches games suffer from having a core group which plays in most of the games way outpacing the rest of the player with the connections they have to the fiction of the world, so the less involved players get pushed more and more to the margins, and feel less connected to the other players as well as the world being made. It's unfortunate, but group dynamics and schedules being what they are, I don't see a good way to avoid it.

  • @kurtiswiebe8192
    @kurtiswiebe8192 Před rokem

    I'd love to run something like this, except I barely have two players on a good month since moving to Sweden. :/

  • @trioofone8911
    @trioofone8911 Před rokem

    Hey, I didn't know Robin Williams was into DnD! 😉

  • @timslack7568
    @timslack7568 Před rokem

    any chance we can get your hexcrawl sequence without your picture covering it? I ask because Ive been trying to create something similar for my own game and this looks to be perfect without my over complications Im running into, but cant read all of it.

    • @MeMyselfandDieRPG
      @MeMyselfandDieRPG  Před rokem +1

      www.memyselfanddie.com/resources

    • @timslack7568
      @timslack7568 Před rokem

      @@MeMyselfandDieRPG fantastic, thanks! now Ill finally be able to kick off my game Ive spent 2 years over complicating and burning myself out on before I even played it

  • @Zectari
    @Zectari Před rokem

    I've never played this type of gameplay, sounds fun. If they always start at a base, won't it take a lot of time (real time) to get to the dungeon that is aaaaaaaall the way over at the other side of the map every time they start a session?

    • @johnathanrhoades7751
      @johnathanrhoades7751 Před rokem +1

      Many systems (including Forbidden Lands) have a pretty easy travel procedure and with faster combat systems (again Forbidden Lands is much faster than say 5e) random encounters (that may or may not even occur) that result in combat (which many won’t) don’t take a ton of time. So even if they’re crossing the whole map, that can take between 10 and 30 minutes of game time depending on how much happens on the way. Then once they get to the place they want to explore, that’s where you can put most of your play time.

  • @Lee_Adamson_OCF
    @Lee_Adamson_OCF Před rokem

    I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of that JG supplement you're using for a good long while. :(
    It's too bad that Judge's Guild got banned from DTRPG after junior said certain things, lol. I mean, the old school JG material has historical significance regardless of the good or baddness of the current owner of the IP. Some of that stuff you just can't get anywhere, period, not even on the piracy sites. :(

  • @onealflynn2414
    @onealflynn2414 Před rokem +2

    Now I’m thinking you should cover the Strider Mode for The One Ring 2e.

  • @Daniel-Strain
    @Daniel-Strain Před 5 měsíci

    Absolutely, on my return, it will be one day back (DC 11) and I'll roll a 1 (attrib +2 for a 3) and take 7d6 (!!!!???) damage and die.

  • @Rich_H_1972
    @Rich_H_1972 Před rokem +1

    Ah, Verisimilitude. Definitely my favourite word. Least favourite: Moist. Glad you didn't use that one.
    Great video as always, Trevor! Love your enthusiasm and some fantastic advice too. I think an option for some sandbox games would be to have 2 or 3 characters for each player, that way if Gary's Elf was off doing something with Tina's Druid and the next session Gary was available but Tina wasn't then he could use his fighter to go on an adventure with Sue and Steve's characters. Danger of that would be having lots of hanging/ongoing adventures so would, perhaps, limit the amount of such things to just one at any point in time.

  • @ElReyFaifTien
    @ElReyFaifTien Před 11 měsíci

    Im quite late to this but I’m wondering, why not let your players make the map themselves and let it be prone to error?

  • @DestroyYouAlot
    @DestroyYouAlot Před 10 měsíci

    The delivery is just hard to take, here, sounds like you're doing an Arch impression.

  • @AxidentalDM
    @AxidentalDM Před rokem +1

    I never quite thought of doing a West Marches game, but I think I'm part of something similar. OMG have I joined a cult! 🤣
    We have a Discord server that runs Vaesen exclusively with HQs in Sweden, England, Poland, and now New Orleans. We have GMs that posts times/dates with a brief synopsis of a scenario to be run. Whoever is available then plays. And as a server, every game affects the overall world.