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After viewing the first episode of Critical Role Campaign 4, it is clear that labeling this latest undertaking as "rotating-player format" was somewhat inaccurate. The fresh Dungeons & Dragons story set in the realm of Aramán, designed by Brennan Lee Mulligan, vows to be an grand and enjoyable tale, yet the first episode demonstrates it won't follow the West Marches structure.

The Elements That Characterizes a Rotating-Player Game

Campaign 4 features an large cast of thirteen players who will take turns at the session by dividing into multiple rotating groups. While changing participants is a core concept of a West Marches campaign—originally pioneered by game creator Ben Robbins—the real execution and structure are quite distinct from what the show is presenting in this newest installment. But, if you are curious about West Marches and wonder why it might be a good option for your own campaign, continue.

The Origins of the West Marches Style

West Marches started as the backdrop for a campaign run by Ben Robbins, who also created the games Microscope and Kingdom. To solve the common issue of inconsistent player availability, Robbins came up with the idea of not having a set group. Because he could select from a big pool of players, he let them to arrange sessions on their own. Once a sufficient number of players settled on a date, the game would proceed ad hoc.

Having a changing "group" is beneficial for players: It doesn't matter if you can play weekly or monthly, you will always have a place at the table.

For a DM, though, it demands a specific approach when constructing 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 go back to town to rest and plan their next foray. This is necessary to allow DMs to run a game with changing players and ad hoc scheduling. Consider crafting a large, sweeping narrative, packed with villains, factions, and plot key points, but without knowing who the protagonists will be at each session.

The Reasons This Style Prevents Plot Unresolved Endings

I'm sure every DM has experienced a session conclude on a massive cliffhanger involving a specific character, only to discover that the participant could not attend the next session. It's similar to if Frodo had to leave Mount Doom for a moment before tossing the Ring. West Marches prevents this by effectively eliminating the central plot. But, that isn't to say a West Marches-style campaign has no story.

According to Robbins: "There was background and interconnected details. Tidbits found in one place could shed light elsewhere. Instead of just being an interesting detail, these clues lead to concrete discoveries."

The Way The Show Differs from the West Marches Model

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’ decisions in each episode, but I couldn't be more wrong. Episode 1 is heavily charged with established lore, and there is a strong, overwhelming plot that guides the characters. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but West Marches provides a pretty distinct gameplay from many D&D campaigns, one that is valuable to experience at least once.

Tips for Managing Your Own West Marches Campaign

For my initial, extended custom D&D campaign, I started from a concept like the classic The Keep on the Borderlands D&D module, which in turn influenced Robbins’ original West Marches. After an introduction, the players were placed in a border town, a classic "final bastion of civilization" environment. From there, they have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness, either prompted by missions found in town or by their own curiosity. This style of play is strongly focused on places, so if you're going to try it, ensure to fill your wilderness with engaging places to explore. The worst scenario you want is your players saying, "Today we want to investigate the enigmatic ruins in the Swamp of the Dead," and having no content prepared.

• Personally, I prefer having a strong plot in my campaigns, so I also disseminated several story leads for an overall narrative, both in town and in the wilderness.
• I believe that pure sandboxing and aimless dungeon crawling can become boring after a while, but Robbins raised an key point in this regard when he described the origin of West Marches.
• "My motivation in setting things up this way was to overcome player apathy and mindless 'plot following' by putting the players in control of both scheduling and what they did in-game."

Achieving Balance in Any Game Style

The lesson here is that regardless of the style of campaign you're playing, it's crucial to find a equilibrium between your responsibility as a DM in guiding the narrative and players’ freedom. If you're creating a complex death maze for a traditional dungeon crawl or determining the fate of the world in a narrative-heavy campaign, always consider what your players may want to do. You prepare the table, but they decide what to eat.

Why Now Is a Perfect Time to Begin a Sandbox Adventure

This could be the best time ever to start a West Marches-style campaign. D&D’s latest starter set, Heroes of the Borderlands, is a comeback to the Keep on the Borderlands, providing the perfect setup to pull new players into this style. An add-on recommends how to more effectively connect the different quests in the set, but you can also run this as the center of a sandbox campaign and expand it as it progresses.

In fact, the most interesting aspect of the original West Marches is the collaboration between the rotating players. The town tavern had a map of the nearby areas etched into a table, where adventuring parties added information and sketched new areas as they found them. This not only ensured that players could assist each other even while not playing at the table at the same time, but also that the world of West Marches grew naturally as the players ventured through it. If you're a DM who is trying to create a custom campaign or world for the first time, West Marches could be just what you need.