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After viewing the first episode of Critical Role Campaign 4, it becomes apparent that labeling this new venture as "rotating-player format" was somewhat misleading. The new Dungeons & Dragons story set in the realm of Aramán, crafted by Brennan Lee Mulligan, promises to be an grand and entertaining tale, yet the first episode shows it will not follow the West Marches structure.

The Elements That Defines a Rotating-Player Game

Campaign 4 features an expanded group of 13 players who will take turns at the session by splitting into three rotating groups. While changing participants is a fundamental concept of a West Marches campaign—first pioneered by game designer Ben Robbins—the actual execution and structure differ significantly from what Critical Role is presenting in this newest season. But, if you are curious about West Marches and want to know why it might be a good option for your own campaign, read on.

The Beginnings of the Player-Rotating Format

This style started as the setting for a campaign led by Ben Robbins, who also designed the games Microscope and Kingdom. To address the frequent issue of inconsistent player availability, Robbins introduced the idea of not having a fixed group. Since he could draw from a large pool of players, he allowed them to schedule sessions on their own. When enough players settled on a date, the game would proceed ad hoc.

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

As a Dungeon Master, however, it demands a specific mindset 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 expedition. This is essential to allow DMs to run a game with changing players and ad hoc scheduling. Consider crafting a big, epic narrative, packed with villains, factions, and plot key points, but without being sure who the main characters will be at any given time.

Why West Marches Prevents Plot Cliffhangers

I'm sure every DM has experienced a session conclude on a massive cliffhanger featuring a specific character, only to find out that the player was unable to attend the following session. It's similar to if Frodo had to step away from Mount Doom briefly before tossing the Ring. West Marches prevents this by essentially removing the main plot. But, that doesn't mean a West Marches-style campaign has zero narrative.

According to Robbins: "There was history and linked details. Clues discovered in one place could shed light elsewhere. Rather than just being an interesting detail, these clues lead to concrete discoveries."

How The Show Diverges from the Sandbox Model

At first, I thought something similar would happen with Critical Role Campaign 4, with the lore 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 pre-existing lore, and there is a strong, dominant plot that drives the characters. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but West Marches provides a pretty different gameplay from many D&D campaigns, one that is worth trying at least once.

Tips for Managing Your Own West Marches Adventure

In my first, long homebrew D&D campaign, I began from a premise similar to the classic The Keep on the Borderlands D&D module, which in turn inspired Robbins’ first West Marches. After an introduction, the players were placed in a frontier town, a classic "last outpost of civilization" environment. From there, they have the chance to explore the surrounding wilderness, either prompted by missions found in town or by their own curiosity. This style of play is heavily focused on places, so if you're planning to attempt it, ensure to stock up your wilderness with interesting places to explore. The last thing you want is your players saying, "Today we want to check out the mysterious ruins in the Swamp of the Dead," and having no content prepared.

• For me, I like having a defined plot in my campaigns, so I also scattered several story leads for an overall narrative, both in town and in the wilderness.
• I believe that complete sandboxing and purposeless dungeon crawling can grow boring after a while, but Robbins made an important point in this aspect when he explained the genesis of West Marches.
• "The reason in setting things up this way was to overcome player disinterest and mindless 'plot following' by placing the players in control of both scheduling and what they did in-game."

Achieving Equilibrium in Any Game Type

The lesson here is that regardless of the type of campaign you're running, it's crucial to strike a equilibrium between your role as a DM in steering the narrative and players’ freedom. Whether you're creating a complex death maze for a classic dungeon crawl or determining the fate of the world in a narrative-heavy campaign, consistently think about what your players may want to do. You set up the table, but they choose what to eat.

The Present Is a Perfect Time to Begin a West Marches Campaign

It might be the best time to date to launch a West Marches-style campaign. D&D’s latest starter set, Heroes of the Borderlands, is a return to the Keep on the Borderlands, providing the perfect setup to draw new players into this format. The following add-on suggests how to better connect the various quests in the set, but you can also run this as the core of a sandbox campaign and develop it as it continues.

Actually, the most interesting aspect of the first West Marches is the interaction between the rotating players. The town tavern had a map of the surrounding areas etched into a table, where adventuring parties added information and drew 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 evolved naturally as the players ventured through it. If you're a DM who is trying to build a custom campaign or world for the first time, West Marches could be just what you need.