The Western Canadian Marches

The Rundown The Maps On Tuesday will be the beginning of season 2 of our campaign. It all started from this map... The map that was found inside a partially burnt book in Wave Echo Cave.  This "map" is placed in the adventure to take players beyond the start set adventure The Lost Mine of Phandelver .   I used it to hook in the new players for the West Marches Campaign. The 'X's on the map were points of interest for them to explore with rumours associated with them. This was a fun approach where the players were really left not knowing what was out there. My intention was for them to explore, make notes, and mark on the map where they find things. Afterwards, the next group could build upon that information as is the style of the West Marches. Following all of the events of the last 15 sessions or so, here is the map I will be giving the players on Tuesday. The colorful areas represent the collective knowledge of all of the characters. What they ...

I'm a big proponent for running session 0 for campaigns. When I had initially started playing and running D&D I always wanted to pack in as much action into a session as possible, to squeeze out the most fun and excitement. Without the foundation well set however, the campaign can crumble for any number of reasons. What is "Session 0"? A session 0 is a gathering of all participants of a campaign where the goal is to talk about what the campaign is going to be about, do some world-building , and most importantly character creation. My primary praise for session 0 is the ability for players to get the chance to understand what world they will be playing in. Will they be sailing the high seas as pirates? Scouring forgotten dungeons and delving deep into the underdark? Fighting battles on the open plains for their kingdom? Trekking deep into the mountains to confront the giants in their stronghold?  This understanding will help in guide the players to create char...

Just like how the game is run,  we're going to jump right into the score with our first obstacle in many TTRPGS, character creation. Pun intended. Character creation is fluid and organic. Each choice informs the next and it is all grounded within the setting. It is an 8 step process that begins by choosing a playbook  or your character's "class". In Blades, player's take on the role of   diverse scoundrels; or rogues in the typical fantasy setting. So rogue players rejoice, this game is for you, though a lot of players can get enjoyment out of it. Blades does not exist in your typical fantasy setting however. Next you choose your heritage , a detail of where you're from, and your background , with a note of what you did before joining your crew  and becoming a scoundrel. Step 4 is assigning your four action dots , which are essentially the skills of the game. These cannot be placed willy-willy. One must be placed to reflect the character...

The deep and rhythmic thump, thump, thump, wakes you from your light sleep. A dark, low horn blasts somewhere in the distant night. Suddenly, a massive boulder smashes into your home, taking down a large section of the wall and roof. Stunned, you see and hear more boulders crash against other homes and the walls of the town. Trumpet horns bleat in alarm throughout the town. The horde has finally arrived. The battle for the Vale begins. Ending a Campaign Inspired by How to be a Great Game Master 's  video . By the end of January my West Marches Season 1 will come to a close. For many months the players have striven to stop the approaching Hobgoblin horde as it marches east towards their home. Following Tuesday's session that I felt was not as good as it could have been, I'm looking to refocus and nail down what will happen at the end, and what will happen next for season 2. I will be using the 5 Cs as outlined in the video linked above. Making it Cool Keep ...

I may have been too ambitious with the time available. What I intended to happen in this session was to have the players accomplish a set number of tasks in the defence of their "hometown" and looking back, there are some things I would change for the future. I personally have not run something of this nature before so I am giving myself that at least. Here is a copy of my outline for the 3 finale sessions. The orange are player encounters, the grey is a choice of where to send NPCs for support, the yellow is another player encounter, and the final red block will be the finale session, a massive 10 player combat and epilogue of season 1. Part 1: The War Council I was definitely overzealous with the NPCs at this part. My intention was for the players to play a pivotal role in the planning of the defence of the town. I included way too many NPCs, many served no purpose, they were just in attendance for the "Hey, thanks for helping us out in the past adven...

Season 2: 5 Years Later The Music Perfectly captures the feeling I want to create a legacy. A little dramatic, but I want to create a shared history of this world with the players in my West Marches campaign. Over time they have grown attached to their characters, as have I. I want their choices to have impact, and see the effort that they put into the game be put to use. Therefore, following the conclusion of season 1, which took place over the course of 15 four hour sessions over the course of 5 months, the next season will start 5 years in the future. In addition, following the final session, the players will be given a chance to create their own epilogue for their character, briefly describing what they would like to accomplish over the 5 year time skip. This time skip will allow the players and I to write in the history that takes place between the seasons. What new locations will arise in that time, what old ones will fall into ruins, what characters will pass on and ...

Music is powerful, as I'm sure you are well aware. Music can invoke an immense range of emotions, the chaos of a fight, the thrill of a chase scene, the dread of the monster around the corner. I personally draw on inspiration from film and video games when creating my RPG playlists for sessions. Playing music can really set the mood and ever since I have started DMing, I have always had some form of audio to support my verbal descriptions of scenes. I attest my education and personal experiences for providing me with the point of view that everyone learns new information in different ways. As a result, when running the game, I will try and touch on a multitude of styles throughout a session. Incorporating music to set the mood and tone, providing evocative visuals when my words falter,  and writing out "boxed text" to verbally describe when players encounter new areas, are just some of the ways I can spark player imagination during a session. In the heat of t...

A little background... Since September of 2017 I have been hosting a weekly drop-in Dungeons & Dragons campaign at a nearby local cafe. In D&D there are two main types of sessions: one-shots and campaigns. One-shots are typically a self contained story and only last one night. Campaigns typically last longer and can often span years if done well. For my game I designed the structure around the West Marches  style codified by Ben Robbins . This style of campaign differs from the traditional style where there is 1 Dungeon Master or Game Master that facilitates a story and game for a group of about 3 - 6 players. Some D&D groups will have more or less players, but they typically hover around that range. The West Marches hearkens back to older editions of D&D when there would be a large group of players (20+) and multiple DMs, all playing together in the same shared setting . Why West Marches? I decided to create this modified West Marches campaign in order to ...