Defining the West Marches
This article contains affiliate links, meaning that if you decide to purchase a product through my link, I get a Commission at no additional cost to youI previously wrote about what a Hexcrawl is, and since the keywords I use to describe my game are a West Marches Sandbox Hexcrawl Roguelike, I should probably write about what some of those terms mean. Especially if I’m writing a blog about my experiences with West Marches. Maybe. I’ve noticed some people use those three terms interchangeably but they do mean different things. For example, you could swap out a Hexcrawl with a Pointcrawl. Or ignore both and use a different style entirely; the “crawls” are merely a means of locomotion. Today, the question is what are West Marches.
It Ain’t Key West, That’s for Sure
When I try to describe the West Marches game I am running, I will say that it is a West Marches game and if they need a definition. Most of the time, people ask for an explanation; I hope to skip this step to just pitch the game as I need as many bodies as possible. I state that a West Marches game is a “Drop in, Drop out game of Dungeons and Dragons”. People understand the idea of “Pickup Basketball” and I’m saying I got a way to do that with a roleplaying game. You need to play it cool, as people like low commitment because it sounds like a fun idea to imagine, even if most RPGs require dedication. At this point, I go into further detail if I see life in the eyes; I change the subject if I’m greeted with glazed over orbs.
The next part of the pitch is “I just need 3 players out of a roster to say yes and we play”. This is a lot harder than it sounds, even with my current roster of 40 players. Too many people say yes out of politeness with no intention of actually playing which drives me insane. Others might think “Oh, that does sound fun” but then the prospect of following up and changing their behaviour to allow for a new activity requires an inexorable amount of energy. While you find a role playing game fun, it isn’t something people are interested in. There is a reason why the common mantra is the board gaming community is: “It is easier to make board gamers into friends than friends into board gamers.”
I’ve also mentioned in the past about how I use board games to diagnose a person’s potential for compatability.
As I repurposed board games, so too, can you for West Marches. It doesn’t need to be a Hexcrawl or even a Sandbox. The West Marches is a roleplaying game you set up that is resistant to cancellation.
Super Marches
A really nifty example of a West Marches that does not involve travelling around like dorks is a Mutants and Masterminds game. It is a Supers game where you make your favourite heroes or entirely new ones and have to defeat your sworn nemesi or three. In a West Marches Mutants and Masterminds, the Director had people make a roster of villains for their characters. Each time a session fired, it would because the bad guys got together to form a team and only the combined might of the heroes could stop them. The cool part is that it was always about your character, as your character’s nemesis would always be in play. One of the drags I’ve seen is when a character in my game wants to complete his story mission but the rest either pull away to do something else or decide to help them. That wouldn’t happen with the Director balancing the plot of the week and your own personal character.
Investigation of the Week
Instead of cancelling a game because someone can’t make it, if you built a ‘West Marches’ conceit into your game, you can keep playing as long as enough people show up. West Marches leans towards a ‘repeated One Shot’ and an Investigation of the Week works. This could be a mystery game; such as a literal Monster of the Week for paranormal investigators to delve into. Each week there’s a new baddie to hunt down after an investigation, running your own game of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural, but where the cast changes up based on some reason.
With Mothership, a horror science fiction game, has the potential for everyone to make it home alive. It is unlikely after the Manifestation of the horrific reveal but possible. In this case, when a player cannot make it, they didn’t ship out on that job and perhaps get to enjoy some R&R before getting caught up in the next cosmic horror. Unlike most roleplaying games, it doesn’t matter if everyone gets wiped out, you can make new characters who might be sent in to resolve the previous mission mishap. I enjoyed the Warden’s Guide so much I mentioned it in a previous article about the TOMBS system if you want to see how thoughtful the system is.
There’s what I like to call the “Stranger Things simulator” with Kids on Bikes. Kids on Bikes takes place in the 80s with latch key kids roaming about, getting into trouble. This time, instead of inspiring a Satanic Panic, there could literally be a Satanic conspiracy to stumble into. With Kids on Bikes, you can recreate Stephen King’s It, the lighthearted Eerie, Indiana and of course Stranger Things. If a player misses out, it’s real simple: their parent won’t let them come out and play this time, which can really tie a narrative together of the lack of adult oversight in the 80s.
The Minimum can be the purpose
If you design any and all of your games with West Marches in mind, you can mitigate against cancellations. That is the most you can get out of a simple decision if you need RPGs in your life. Kobold Think Tank has an article regarding the mental health benefits of RPGs. I don’t know about you, but I begin climbing the walls if I don’t get my weekly dose. I do RPGs face to face because it is a way to share something special you can’t get in any other medium or method; fun stories that will last a long time because they allow for something bigger than ‘real life’.
