Notice: You MUST read the following article on West March style games. If you rather not read the whole thing, then you ought to turn around now. <a href="http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/" rel="nofollow">http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/</a> [1] As you can see, if you are not the kind of player that likes to communicate after games, then this is not the session for you. I am looking for players that like to produce content after the game in the forms of journals, game summaries, and dialogue between players. If this is not something you are willing to do, then you are better off finding another game. Westland Westland is a homebrewed "hexcrawl"/sandbox campaign setting. Based off of West Marches style of a game, where one-shots are hosted in an ever persisting world. The land outside of civilization is a dark, dangerous, horrorfilled, and wild. Are you ready to delve into the deepest of dungeons? Or maybe unconver the mysteries of the shoreline castles? In these adventures you will go where few other adventurers have gone before. It is up to you to decide where you will explore. Will you follow the rumor the town guards told you about the Black Vale? It is possible that you have already been there before, and know that it is too dangerous to currently adventure. Townsfolk and Rangers will keep players informed, but the choice still rests with the players. The world of Westland is packed with landmarks. Some of which may not have been touched for centuries. Some of them will be known- some will be rumors (and some rumors will be false!)- and much will be entirely unknown. Since the game is a based of the West Marches style, there will be no permanent party. One-shots will be ran that players can sign up for, or plan themselves. If you are interested in this sort of game read on to see how the game is structured. As a Player: Why you are an adventurer varies from player to player. The safety of the massive walls that surround The Kingdom of Elen may have bored you - you are driven to the town of Riverton, an expansion town, far outside the walls. Regardless of why you came here, you are an adventurer that wants to explore the uncivlized lands. As an player you choose where you will be going each session, there will be hints and rumors on what you can do. But you do not need to follow them, the adventure is in your hands. Here are the rules for Westland: Players can join sessions as they're available, on an at-will basis. There is no assumed 'set party.' You may join any session that is not filled. Attendance is never mandatory, and you may choose to come whenever you please. So if you have a schedule that changes often, this campaign is for you. As of now there will be 10-14 players in the world of Westland. The standard adventuring party will be 3-4 players. However, sometimes adventures require more strength and parties could reach 5 players. I do ask that players attempt to join AT LEAST 1 game every two weeks. If you are unable to do so, this campaign is not for you. You will not be playing every single session. A majority of sessions will be ran on Sunday mornings at 10 AM Central time (Subject to change). However, players may form together and attempt to post an adventure themselves. Or I as the DM will post other available time slots. Rules of Scheduling: The rules of scheduling are simple: The GM has to be available that day. The players have to tell the GM where they plan on going well in advance, so he (meaning me) has at least a chance to prepare anything that’s missing. As the campaign goes on this becomes less and less of a problem, because so many areas are so fleshed out the PCs can go just about anywhere on the map and hit adventure. The GM can also veto a plan that sounds completely boring and not worth a game session. Each session is presumed to be a one-shot. Players venture into the wild, find or are found by adventure, and return home each session. New characters start at level 1. Characters keep whatever gold and XP they earn from session to session, and characters may (until further notice) group with other characters of any level. Every character starts each session in Riverton. If characters have not returned home by the end of the session, they automatically return after play has ended. Players are penalized a cost of 1GP/Lvl per mile they must travel back home after the end of a session. The world of the Westland persists beyond each session. If players have made a change in one session, other players will see that change if they follow the same path in a later session. The town of Riverton is, for whatever reason, safe. Adventure is found beyond civilization's edge. Characters can rest here between sessions and come to no harm. Adventure is found in the wilds beyond. There is nothing to be found by going back to The Kingdom of Elen. XP is awarded every session, according to not only the monsters you've defeated (defeated, not necessarily killed.) but also according to what secrets, locations, or artifacts you've discovered in the Wild, or if you accomplished what you set out to do in the beginning of every session. How the game will be played and Character Creation: For the most part the game will be theater-of-mind. Sometimes I will have maps provided, but never have any tokens. All characters that are created use the standard array of 15,14,13,12,10,8 (This could change in the future). As of right now I am not limiting anything from the standard rules. All races,classes, and spells are allowed. NO HOMEBREW CLASSES OR RACES. You are encouraged to write a background, but keep it short and concise. It is what your character experiences in the wilderness that will shape his background and personality. Alignment does not play a big part in the campaign, so don't worry about it. However, I appreciate it if you are loyal to the Adventure Society (Up to players to truly name it). A word of warning : Adventurers in Westland are most often very short lived. Don't build a character expecting him to reach level 20. The toughest and smartest adventurers will survive, and get to explore the Wilderness further, finding more ancients and wonderful artifacts : survival of the fittest if you will. You might have two or three characters die before you get one that survives enough to get stronger, if that's not something you're okay with, the Westland is not the place for you to explore. Another warning, just in case, the West Marches is a weird, creepy, sometimes horrifying setting. If you're easily offended by description of graphic violence, you're probably going to have a rough time. Requirements of players: All players must have Skype and good mic, I want to stress GOOD mic. For now we will be using the standard forums that come with a Roll20 Campaign. But we may soon use Obsidian Portal. I do not want to stretch out all the information, so I want to keep it centralized. You must be able to write some stuff outside of game, like what you tell the players that were not on the adventure when you get back to The Gathering (the local tavern). These kinds of things will not be rewarded, but are EXPECTED. It really only takes a few minutes to prepare an entry for this. You must also fork over an email address that you actually use. All of the players will be provided this email list so that when they post an adventure they can advertise it to the other players. I also will be advertising the games that I specifically plan. All potential games are posted in a forum thread, then linked in the email.
