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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worldbuilding considerations for a West Marches sandbox
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<blockquote data-quote="Yora" data-source="post: 8381342" data-attributes="member: 6670763"><p>Players exchanging stories of what they encountered and what they have seen is one of the most unique aspects of the West Marches structure, which you really don't get anywhere else. You get players acting on things they have been told, but it comes without the context of the GM feeding them the pieces that he has chosen to nudge them towards a desired path. The setting and its stories should be tailored with this structural context in mind to get the most out of it.</p><p></p><p>Storytelling in such an environment is possible, but with the players being spread out, any stories that come from the GM can't be centered around scenes that happen during play. But you can have stories in the marks that are left on the environment. Something that is done very interestingly in the Dark Souls games. There are almost no NPCs ever spelling out anything that happened, and any written down information is scattered in extremely tiny fragments. It's in noticing the connections between the fragments that a larger picture emerges.</p><p></p><p>For a West Marches campaign, this could be approached as adventures being expedition to collect data, but there also being a super-game (meta-game already being taken as a term) of the players analyzing, discussing, and inyerpreting the data that they all havr collected. This is an activity that all players can participate in between adventure play, regardless of scheduling.</p><p></p><p>Many rules system already have small mechanics or rules to go and consult a sage to do research in esoteric topics for a hefty fee. This could be a way for players to gain important pieces of information that they lack to make a clear connection between pieces of knowledge they have discovered. Rather than asking the GM to give them a hint, this can be one way in which they can spend their hard earned treasures in the game. Alternatively, they could do their own academic research as an activity that keeps a character skilled in these things occupied for several weeks. Which might be interesting for players with characters that are thus inclined and don't play particularly often.</p><p>Though I think it's important to keep such a thing as something that may potentially happen if players start feeling inclined to do so. Being something without real structure, it might very well be something that never takes off and the campaign should still be able to work regardless. But I still think it's worth considering how such efforts by players could be fed when creating the background information.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yora, post: 8381342, member: 6670763"] Players exchanging stories of what they encountered and what they have seen is one of the most unique aspects of the West Marches structure, which you really don't get anywhere else. You get players acting on things they have been told, but it comes without the context of the GM feeding them the pieces that he has chosen to nudge them towards a desired path. The setting and its stories should be tailored with this structural context in mind to get the most out of it. Storytelling in such an environment is possible, but with the players being spread out, any stories that come from the GM can't be centered around scenes that happen during play. But you can have stories in the marks that are left on the environment. Something that is done very interestingly in the Dark Souls games. There are almost no NPCs ever spelling out anything that happened, and any written down information is scattered in extremely tiny fragments. It's in noticing the connections between the fragments that a larger picture emerges. For a West Marches campaign, this could be approached as adventures being expedition to collect data, but there also being a super-game (meta-game already being taken as a term) of the players analyzing, discussing, and inyerpreting the data that they all havr collected. This is an activity that all players can participate in between adventure play, regardless of scheduling. Many rules system already have small mechanics or rules to go and consult a sage to do research in esoteric topics for a hefty fee. This could be a way for players to gain important pieces of information that they lack to make a clear connection between pieces of knowledge they have discovered. Rather than asking the GM to give them a hint, this can be one way in which they can spend their hard earned treasures in the game. Alternatively, they could do their own academic research as an activity that keeps a character skilled in these things occupied for several weeks. Which might be interesting for players with characters that are thus inclined and don't play particularly often. Though I think it's important to keep such a thing as something that may potentially happen if players start feeling inclined to do so. Being something without real structure, it might very well be something that never takes off and the campaign should still be able to work regardless. But I still think it's worth considering how such efforts by players could be fed when creating the background information. [/QUOTE]
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