West Marches

>>52410423
>Białe Szczyty
>Góry Smocze
>Suddenly Goldice Bay
Fucking decide yourself if you want to make Polish map or English one.

Also, who made this map and where can I contact him, since I need a map for upcoming builder game and this is some top-notch premium stuff.

>>52410432
https://beastworm.wordpress.com/
Just a random map I grabbed. Hope you know Polish.

>>52410432
[email protected]

>>52410483
How else I would notice you are using Polish map and use Polish letters myself?
Thanks a bunch!

A ja mam bidę robić jakąkolwiek mapkę Hexographerem...

>>52410423
You gone full retard with that naming Seba

>>52410514
Give us the link for the hexographer anon

>>52410547
It's not his. That map is literally 6 years old for someone's else D&D game.

>>52410557
http://www.hexographer.com/

>>52410676
But full version? Anon, gimme a break

>>52410691
The difference between free and full version is literally another bunch of hexes. Which you can download separately, also free of charge.

It still won't make the program any less clunky for me. I gave up on making my own maps looooong time ago, as this shit ain't worth the effort, especially when you are using it for a builder game.

>>52410691
Pirate it yourself, Seba. It's like you can't use chomik

>>52410758
>Implying I will send a sms to those greedy jews

>>52410774
>Implying you need more than the free 50mb limit
This is what you get for finishing your education with gimnazjum - a moron too thick to think and act for himself, but sensing Jewish conspiracy on every step

>>52410423
Check the OSR threads. West Marches is always popular. I'm up for a game
...

>>52410801
>Thinking that what I wrote is for real
spurdo.jpg

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>>52410824
Daily reminder that if you pretend to be retarded, you really are retarded. For different reasons, but still retarded

>>52410827
>Le rage comics

Who is the Seba now? :')

I am HOPING my DM will run a game like that soon.

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>>52410863
>Being this new

I'm thinking about running a West Marches game in 5e, I really like the session day flexibility.

What I'm not sure about is how to handle friendly forces and settlements in the "wilderness". Obviously there will only be one true "safe haven" walled city where the players spend their downtime, but I also want to pepper a handful of farming villages in the wilderness so I can run a werewolf module once in a while. The tricky part is going to be making the towns still feel unsafe, so that players won't think of them as forward bases.

Any thoughts?

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>>52410863
>showing your newfaggotry.

>>52411067
My other idea was to let players develop their own safe haven. The players would be part of a colony, and when they first arrive the settlement would be little more than a few wagons and tents. Over time, in no small part thanks to the player's efforts, the settlement develops into a larger town, attracting more people and developing access to more goods. Maybe the players can even have some say in the development of the town, if they so desire.

I'm not so sure about this idea though, since it doesn't give the players much of a safe zone to start with.

>>52410432
But it's just an old campaign cartographer map. Anyone can make one.

>>52411233
Uh, Hexographer, I mean.

>>52411067
Even though this is West Marches people will still want to meet NPCs. The first time they get to a village make sure you have a shop keeper, a bartender, or some other random person who is cheery and helpful to get them attached. Later while they are gone from the village, let it burn. Don't kill the NPC, let them join the party as a servant or something. The idea is to show that when the party gets a quest it's not because the villages are actually in danger rather than it being some dumb gameplay mechanic that states they need XP (even though it is). West Marches still has a living world and can still have quests, it's just most of the time people will be dungeon delving and exploring. Or who knows, maybe the players will try to build a walled town father in the wilderness than anyone else has?

>>52411325
>maybe the players will try to build a walled town father in the wilderness than anyone else has?
This sounds like a fucking dream to me. Use something like Roll20, and have one map screen that's entirely dedicated to your haven. Players could even directly take terrain features from the dungeon maps to use in their town/buildings.

>>52411145
I like that as an option for a West Marches game. I always though of West Marches as being D&D's wild west (duh, yes I know) so one of the first things that comes to mind is Oregon Trail. The players start out in a large city that makes the edge of civilized land. There are other walled cities in the distance, but they are few and far between. The players should probably just go around with small quests and minor dungeons until they have some cash and are level 5 or so. Then they can probably use their loot to build a keep on a hill somewhere in the wilderness. That's a start right there.

Does anyone have good recommendations for West Marches-friendly modules? I know the PDF share threads are a thing so it's not a matter of where to find modules, it's a matter of filtering for actual good ones.

So far I've found that modules from Dungeon Crawl Classics work well. I have Sailors on the Starless Sea and Intrigue at the Court of Chaos. The new 5e book, Tales from the Yawning Portal, also looks neat.

>>52411233
Since when "anyone can make one" is equal with "anyone can deliver high-quality hex map that doesn't look like underworked shit"?

>>52411781
Wasn't Kingmaker campaign for Pathfinder basically a west marches campaign?

>>52411949
Since always, when you have a crazy easy to use program?

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>>52412007
>Missing this point this bad
Hey anon, since everyone can use pencil and piece of paper, why only a handful of people can draw and sketch for shit?

>>52412118
Maybe since drawing requires skill derived from years of training, while placing pre-mad hex pieces on a grid takes hardly any effort or time at all?

If you don't understand the difference, I really don't think I can help you.

>>52412265
>Still missing the point
I can't use Hexographer. At all. I literally make better doodle maps on a side of a newspaper with a ballpen than with this soft. The interface is unintuitive as fuck for me, the mape scaling is shit (you never can adjust the distance right, so either you see too many tiny hexes or too little big-ass hexes up close), it's so hard to suddenly change the map size it's easier to just start over and most importantly, I just don't "feel" it. Even if I'm covering some pre-made shape or map outline with proper hexes, I either end up with highly unsatisfactory results or realising I used wrong size of the hex and the map is not detailed enough/so detailed it takes hours to fill in just a piece of it. I grow tired, bored and restless, and just drop it. Or rather - that what happend in the past, because I no longer use that or any other soft for map making - I just doodle them, since it's faster and I "feel" the paper, so I know what size I want to make everything.
The biggest irony is that I can draw, but I can't even make a straight line when using computer, unless of course picking a tool for making straight lines.

But I can't draw a map for a builder game. I need a fucking electronic one, preferably grinded/hexed already.

>All this map drama
>No replies related with OP's question

>>52414543
What I'm getting here is that many people want to play a West Marches game, but nobody has.
Guess that's the perfect opportunity.

>>52412494
Got any specifics? Aside details being at least around OP's map?

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>>52414759
I need map roughtly twice that size, with similar size of hexes, each representing 5 or 8 miles (still didn't decide, but probably 5). The terrain must be rugged, with a lot of hills and mountains, preferably also cliff-style river going through most of it. It's for post-apo setting, so obviously the amount of lush areas needs to be toned down (it doesn't mean it needs to be barren land everywhere), with lots of bogs, sand, dead places etc. It would be nice it it had shore with at least two bigger isles out there, but it's not mandatory.
I've kinda-sorta have an inspirational map for that, but like I've said, purely inspirational for the basic topography
Yes, that mini-map is copyrighted, but the company that made it doesn't exist for at least 20 years now.

>>52412494
>>52416279
Have you tried looking for already made maps that will suit your purposes?

There's tons of sites that have collections of the things.

>>52417934
Tried. None had what I need. I need a map that combines two things never coming together:
- post-apo type of terrain, so lots of dust, not much of vegetation around
- (relatively, as pic related) extensive river system in hilly terrain

It's always either first or second, never both. And since 3 out of possible 8 factions have bonus for water transport and water units, it kinda-sorta needs specific type of map, not to mention pre-written quests and other shit.

But anyway, let's see what depositories you can give. Maybe there are some that I still didn't see.

>>52418426
I've never used hexographer or campaign cartographer either.

I don't know what you've tried, but I use deviantart and cartographers guild to find tons of cool overland maps, as well as several campaign setting books to have overland maps that are tied together like the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign book.

https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1142&s=4e536b4423d1fa1c42f355d8c1a9e87f

can show you how to use free to use gimp to make the map you want

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpW0d5by-8w
http://www.fantasticmaps.com/category/tips-and-tricks/

can show you how to draw one on paper by yourself

http://inkarnate.com/ makes very samey looking maps but it's easy to use

http://www.oldmapsonline.org/ has a collection of real world maps

http://deepnight.net/tools/tabletop-rpg-map-editor/
is pretty cool at making more zoomed in battle maps

There's probably tons of other places to find decent maps I've never looked at.

Good luck.

>>52418711
I've already told you - I don't "feel" it, when drawing with mouse. Starting with the fact that I'm lefty and mouse is, well, right-handed. So it's not a problem to make an "analog" map by hand at all, but the moment it has to be digital, it's trendemous pain in the ass combined with mediocre effects. The only thing that "works" is making uneven shores with GIMP, but that is mostly automatically generated aside initial land shape, so that's something I could probably do with my feet if I had to.

I know all of those, aside http://inkarnate.com/

But thanks anyway.

>>52418711
Cool. Never saw those old world maps before.

>>52419633
He also suggested just drawing it on paper and scanning it in if you're really trying to make something unique.

Btw, you know they make left handed as well as ambidextrous mice, right?

>The map drama continues
But what about West Marches?

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This is the map I'm using, with players starting on the south west peninsula and moving inland, all while clearing keeps that serve as a kind of "check point" for whatever character has been there.

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>>52424595
I like to use this one, because it's vague enough an undescriptive enough to use it for all sorts of games.
And it looks nice

>>52410691
>>52410717
>>52410758
I forgot how I did it but there's a map generator that uses these hexes. It might be on that site but I use the hex maps for my Game of Thrones campaigns and such. I'm on the shitter so I can't check but the random hexmap generator is pretty damn good.

>>52412494
Just tossing out an idea: what about placing hex tokens on a Roll20 map? Anyone ever done that?

>>52429031
>placing hex tokens on a Roll20 map
Explain

>>52429047
You take a token, shaped like a hex, then place it on the virtual board.

>>52429031
>>52429047
>>52429063
Sounds really time consuming, although that is possible, you just need to make/find hex map tokens for roll 20

52429075 (You)

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>>52429082
???
Just need to work on making the .png/.jpg file to be the right size so hex is perfectly aligned with the map ones

>>52429063
And this differs from using Hexographer... how? Aside apparently being just different soft to do the same shit?

>>52429153
So let me get this straigh - your solution for harrowing work with Hexographer is... to use subpar program that is even clunkier and requires further trimming and work?
Wow.
Just wow

>>52429181
I'm not that anon, just showing that his method is possible, although I'd probably use hexographer myself, much less fuckery than making it work with roll20

>>52410423
It's been ages since I ran a hexcrawl but I am interested in doing one now.

I recall there being some good blogs about these things but I can't remember any off the top of my head. Any recommendations?

>>52429231
http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

Here's one.

>>52429254
The Alexandrian
http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17308/roleplaying-games/hexcrawl

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I own the Wilderlands of High Fantasy boxed set, but I have no idea where to start playing. Is there a good location for beginners?

Goblin Punch blog monster index, including Flying Snails and Candy Fairies.

>>52431021
https://goblinpunch.blogspot.ca/2015/08/the-bestiary.html

Bamp

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This here's a little hex mapper app:

http://rhysmakesthings.com/gm_friend

Seriously, anyone? Anything? No players?

>>52437275
We prefer to spend our time arguing about mapping software, thanks.

>>52437437
I guess this is what I've got for posting map rather than anime girl or some other stuff.

>>52437464
With an anime girl you wouldn't have gotten any responses from the OSR crowd.

>>52437588
he still hasn't gotten any responses from the OSR crowd

>>52410423
I'd love to play in such a game, but have never done so. Are you amenable to finding players online? Do you mind if I'm completely new?

>>52437609
He has.
But he would get more in the OSR thread

Tried something like this once where the goal was to get from one side of the map to the other as fast as possible to get away from an advancing army. Didn't work and fizzled out pretty fast. without simple rules to keep track of encumbrance and fatigue and interesting encounters/random events table people will lose interest

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Its a hexcrawl sandbox heavily inspired by WM.
Currently trying to make nice concise rules for faction turns. I stole most of the rules from Reign.

Given that its 5e it doesn't have much of a bite to it. I frequently ignore the CR ratings of things and throw things way too strong at my players. We end up with a lot of close calls but they always manage to survive.

Pretty fun campaign so far.

>>52437275
Ask in the OSR general >>52414491

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>>52410423
In terms of running one, or similar sandbox games, I will say that one of the big pitfalls you will encounter is getting players who are self-motivated but at the same time willing to cooperate and work together, especially if playing completely online.

Sandbox games require players or PCs that are particularly driven. For this reason too you can't have a sandbox that's too perfect or idyllic or stable; if there are no opportunities that the PCs can perceive. Don't underestimate player inability to perceive what you feel is an *obvious* hook - this isn't necessarily their fault, either, but the consequence of playing a game with few sensory cues outside of your narration.

Keep in mind that while players may say they "want" a sandbox game, it's quite possible they might take some time to actually come to grips with the idea, especially if they have never played before. I'd say a recurring problem I run into with sandbox campaigns is that energy is high initially, players roll up PCs, you drop them in with some sort of intro adventure - and then everything comes to a halt because either the PCs cannot agree on a direction or the majority become completely lost once they're off the trail of pre-plotted breadcrumbs.

>>52440502
Good summary of stuff that can go wrong on the playerside, but there's some hazards on the GM's side too.

Since sandboxes are rarer GMs tend to be less practiced at them. Particularly long-running ones, you'll find there's quite a lot of info around on starting up sandboxes but not a lot about the long haul and how to keep them fresh.

A problem I had when running a sandbox was as I would just keep giving the players more of whatever they were interested in, i.e. following the plots that they themselves were driving, it 1) started to get samey and 2) plotholes began cropping up. Since they were pursuing the same stuff all the time I began running out of ideas and aside from just scaling up the powerlevel really struggled to give them what they wanted.

I guess a possible solution would be to make the player aware that if they don't want their current favourite plotline to become boring they should change tracts to let the GM recharge? Maybe I was just getting burned out.

>>52430408
City of the Invincible Overlord.

>>52440502
>>52440775
Those.

Especially the bit about lack of sensory cues. Playing and running sandboxes is in general harder than just running a typical campaign. Playing them online is near impossible.

>>52410691
> But full version? Anon, gimme a break
It's a full version, last time I checked. You simply need to enter the right password. And the algorithm for password validity is written right there in plain Java. No assembler knowledge necessary. In fact, you don't even need to actually know Java (I don't) - just check the syntax in the online manuals to see what it's doing and put the right numbers.


That said, I prefer inkarnate, since I don't need anything fancy.

>>52444117
>I'm a hacker, but shhhh, that's top secret
Seriously, nigga? You gonna be baiting this bad?

>>52444309
> it's a thoughtcrime to point out that Hexographer has no real security measures
> you are baiting us
We literally have Da Archive thread next to this, you inbred fuck.

>>52444397
>Missing the point this bad
>Meming thoughtcrime
Did you just call yourself inbred fuck?

Bamp

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>>52416279
As discussed here >>52447268, I'll make something like this for you.

I'd be more comfortable if you could sketch me out a map. A shitty photo of a hand-drawn sketch is fine.

>>52447357
I guess I will have to provide a compilation made on PC - I have no means to transfer the photo from my phone to the computer.
Give me a while, k?

>>52449064
of course. Take your time. Even something made in mspaint would be fine. Broad strokes, no need for detailed coastlines or anything like that. I can figure that out.

You can do mountains(dark brown strokes) and hills(light brown strokes) if you'd like, but I don't need it.

>>52449126
Well, it will be in MS Paint, because that's the best I can do on the laptop I'm sitting on right now. Will provide it within next 30 minutes, when I will finally have free time to make a compilation out of it.

>>52411145
>The players would be part of a colony
Im running a colonisation game in dnd basic and ill say that works real well

When the players take part in the building of a settlement they get much more attached to it than otherwise.

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>>52449126
Ok, finally done. Jesus, touchpad kills me more than mouse. And since this laptop is still using XP, MS Paint was just painful.

Either way, it will be a three-parter to explain what I need. And when I say "badland" I mean badland like those in Dakotas. Also, I figured out you are going to do just basic topography map, right?
Anyway, I would be VERY glad if it was 5000x5000 pixels in the end. I'm planning to divide it into a map 500x500 hexes, each hex representing 1 km (finally figured out the size I want)

>Part 1
Basically, like the original description said, I need a hilly area with numerous river valleys and one big river going through the area. Originally I was going to just pick a map of Oregon meshed together with Washington, but that wouldn't exactly work with the players, since coincidently most of them come from Pacific North-West. But maps of those two stares are a good start.

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>>52451775
>Part 2
The terrain is supposed to be mostly like pic related, with river shores also like pic related. So it's not about making exactly mountain ranges, but make the terrain extremely uneven instead, due to extensive runoff erosion.

Of course I had to mess-up file attatched... this one should be with photos, the previous one with Washington state

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>>52451855
>Part 3
The original, cheesy map from >>52416279
is still a good reference, since it has all I need, but in shit quality and small resolution, not to mention being cheesy map from fantasy-themed trading game. But it has massive river system cutting through the entire area, sea that allows to access the land from two sides and two large island close to the shore. This pic related is the best I can produce on this laptop and with my mediocre skills on PC.
The land orientation doesn't really matter - it doesn't matter where the "sea" is. What's important is that it plays almost no role on the map as such, but is still there and still accessable and connected with the main river outlet

Also, the valley part is important here to notice around rivers. To keep it semi-readable, I couldn't exactly "circle" the valleys, but just give their general border. So when they go a bit away from river, then it's intended and not just random jagged away.

Any additonal features are welcomed, but those are the things I need by default.

>>52451775
>>52451855
>>52451903
In short - a massive clusterfuck of erosion, shattered land and few flat places, usually also of very low height when compared to sea level.

Plus it's for post-apo game, so the clusterfuckery can go as much extreme as you feel it. Just remember that I will still have to put somewhere some highways and ruins of cities on it, so don't go TOO extreme

>>52451953
Also, aside the topography - could I also please get the basic land outline + waterways? Without topography proper.

>>52412494
have you tried just printing out blank hexes and drawing over them?

>>52451775
>>52451855
>>52451903
>>52451953
>>52452004

I dig it. I'm gonna start working on this. won't be able to finish it today but I'll create a thread offering more mapmaking and I'll use yours as the opening image.

I can get you much larger than 5000 x 5000, since I'm working in vector this time.

>>52452004
Also, yes, absolutely. I'll have a few things for you

>>52452263
I'm in no hurry with this, as long as I will be able to get the map before Easter.
5000x5000 png will do just fine.

>>52451775
>>52451855
>>52451903
>>52451953
>>52452004
>>52452263
Holy shit, he actually begged his way for the map and from Indigo.
Ain't even mad anymore, that's pretty impressive persistence. Especially HFY faggots would like it

>>52414543

OP fell for the classic blunder.

Using an image that's far more interesting than the question.

>>52454549
Well at least the Easter Bunny will deliver first Post-Apo Builder Game, so it's still something good coming out of it.

>>52410423

Have been playing in one for four years, half-homebrewed retroclone stuff set in Greyhawk's March of Bissel. It's not as much my bag (I work in logistics and don't really like worrying about logistics in my free time) but I like the people. The GM is a professor and perfectly suited for the level of detailed work needed to make it all work, but it makes my head spin.

>>52454549
I just picked the first half decent looking hex crawl map I could find.
Oh well. I've learned that a lot of people want to try out West Marches. Guess I should start working on one for when I'm done with my current campaigns.

>>52411781
Keep on the Borderlands?

>>52412494
if you can't manage to figure out hexographer you're fucking braindead

>>52452218
That's what I do when I need a map for tabletop - print hexes, draw the rest by hand.
But I need a digital map, not a piece of paper.

>>52454549
Well, that's still less of a failure than starting a landwar in Asia

don't die

>ctrl+f
>no wraith world
come one /tg/, be proud of your stuff !

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Since I don't want this thread to die, I'm gonna talk about how I run sandbox campaigns. This is gonna be long and rambling but hopefully my method can help other's in their sandbox campaigns.

My players are scattered all over the country so we use Roll20. I've attached an example of what my world overview map looks like.

Each of the symbols represents a place-of-interest.

I use input from my players to generate information & rumors about these places.

At the start of every session we ask each other questions. Where their character's are from, where they've been and who they met in those places.

I use that information to help fill in the map.

Let's say the players see smoke on the horizon. I have everyone roll a perception or knowledge check. Maybe their character recognizes the type of smoke or knows there is a town there.

I then ask questions. The questions can be anything from "if you've been there before, what did your character notice about the place" to "what rumors have you heard about this place" or "do you know anyone who lives in this town."

I use these answers to fill in the world. Their answers might not end up being true but it adds flavor while engaging them and giving them more to care about in the world.

If a player makes up an npc friend of theirs that owns the tavern in Gedwynne, they're gonna care more about the town, that npc, their tavern.

It also significantly reduces my workload. A sandbox can be hard to run unless you're really good at improvising or spend weeks filling in the world.

Giving your players the option to contribute makes them invested, eases the DM"s burden and it just makes sense.

Their characters have lived in this world. Why would everything be new to them? Why wouldn't they 'know' the tavern owner in Gedwynne? Why wouldn't they 'know' not to go to Fallowbrook? Why wouldn't they 'have heard' that people have been dissapearing from Ravendeep?

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>>52452004
Here's what I've got so far. The southwestern section is the closest to being done but the rest of it is still pretty rough.

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>>52466583
Let's treat pic related as the most adequate reply

>>52466583
Since I've finally get a hold of myself:
I especially like that deepening of the river valley where the two main rivers connect. It's always the tiny details like this that make maps epic.
Top notch stuff

>>52467870
>>52468063
aww, thanks!

I try to be accurate and it's nice to have y'all notice those little details.

Don't you die on me!

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>>52452004

Bump with map update.

Bump for all the map fags who keep this thread alive

Also, good stuff, even if there is no game to be had here

So. Since we're apparently talking about hex mapmaking tools and all anyway, here's another random dumbass question to throw into the pot.

For various reasons, I don't have a computer at the moment, and don't foresee that changing anytime soon, which means things like hexographer are out as far as options might go. That said, is there an android-based app that doesn't completely suck which might work for thowing together maps?

If not, well, fuck it, paper worked for decades already, but it'd be nice to faff around with ideas digitally on occasion.

>>52475274
You're better off with paper, my dude.

I can't imagine making a map on a phone would be a fun thing to do.

Or, you could cut index cards in half, fill them out and use them as a map, revealing it as you play.

>>52475274
Simply pick some squared paper in your local stationary. They are sold in all sizes and often with different size of squares, too.

Bump for the bump god!

>>52479691
Bump for the MAP god, you filthy heretic!

>>52410423
Not really relevant but, does there exist a program to create maps like in your main pic?

>>52482426
This particular one was made with Hexographer and then altered slightly with GIMP (rivers and borders, but also all those "uneven" hexes)
Hexographer is probably the most user-friendly hexgrid map maker tool in existence. Especially if you use the premium version or just download premium content for it (it's really badly secured program, so you can access premium stuff without premium version)

>>52466331
So basically it's a semi-free form?

This kind of resembles me how builders work. You give your players basic world outline, they pick their part of it (or are thrown into one) and then interact with their "backyard". They not only provide world elements, but create interaction with it, so in the end you can literally pick what they've created together in their gameplay and use it instead as a setting for regular tabletop.

On the other hand, it makes me think about the Vallheru-backed games. They are kind of PBF, where two or players together write a story. There is no GM or anyone like that, so it's entirely based on player imput what is in their story and what content they create together, each trying to fit the other... or maybe intentionally going against the other one. This makes people extremely invested, because they not only create the world and game events, but the game itself exists only as long as they are invested in it, since that means dedicated work and effort. When they are not - it fizzles into nothing very quickly.
And unlike builder games, it's very easy to implement in rule-light tabletop games, because you focus on the narrative and expect from players to be more descriptive, just giving them basic cues and filling the gaps for NPCs, but it's their story otherwise

>>52485327
Sort of, but it's far more structured. I use the players to give character traits to npc's, rumors and information for locations, possible plot points involving certain points-of-interest, bits of trivia and history about an area. Things like that.

I still control the npc's, guide plot developments outside of player control, but I'm not having to come up with everything beforehand or on the fly as we play.

>>52485655
So like the Vallheru example, just with GM.

Out of curiosity - is Vallheru actually managed to get "global" or despite being free code, it's eternally Polish?

>>52485680
*did, not is

>>52485680
Yeah, pretty close.

I've actually spent a lot of time RP Chatting. I grew up in the AOL chats, like Red Dragon Inn and rooms like that. It's sort of a natural extension of that.

>>52410423
I'm playing in a 5e West Marches megagame at the moment. The players log in depending on who's available, so there are multiple different "expedition teams" heading out from HQ, and some players also act as guest GMs for plotless exploration sessions. It's ridiculously fun, and the sense of progressing into and taming a hostile world is great.

We're the adventuring arm of a multinational effort to colonize a mysterious and increasingly horrifying continent. Trying to unravel just what happened to the civilizations that used to rule here, and why they seem to have been replaced by Necromorph Roman Legions out to warcrime every non-human to extinction with a variety of creative WMDs and death camps.

There's a dwarf barbarian frustrated that she's yet to find an honourable death, a half-orc rural paladin raised by halflings, a polearm master human whose action surge has become a meme, a shounen hero monk who doesn't seem to know what genre he's living in, a birdman necromancer who treats his zombies as emergency rations, just to name a few.

The lone bard in a group of like twenty players is also the only genuinely evil character, and a total bastard. He stole a sample of what amounts to a genocidal soul-eating white phosphorous ooze, and has awakened it into an intelligent pet that he's keeping secret with a mask of disguise and heavy robes. He and the main GM keep referencing PM conversations. It's troubling.

>>52411067
>Welcome to our village

Just have a big sacrificial altar, Wickerman-style, and everyone paints their doorways with sheep's blood and iron nails. If the players ask, the town is under the protection of The Horned God, or The Man Beneath the Barrow, or some name like that. And you really shouldn't be caught outside at night here, traveler. He doesn't like outsiders.

>>52485830
>We're the adventuring arm of a multinational effort to colonize a mysterious and increasingly horrifying continent
A mini-clue for you GMing this: go read "Missile Gap"

>>52485830
>a shounen hero monk who doesn't seem to know what genre he's living in
It's intentional or the player is clueless too?

>>52485680
I don't even know what the hell is Vallheru, but I assume it will be this:
https://launchpad.net/vallheru

File: mymap.png (2MB, 3440x2622px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3440x2622px

Been running a West March game for about a month now. Here's what I think

It's best to use an adapted version of the hexcrawl rules from the Alexandrian

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/17308/roleplaying-games/hexcrawl

Now, you can add flourishes to better fit this system with whatever widgets or necessities as demanded by your game system, but the most important thing I've learned is that in a West March game, ALMOST EVERY dice roll should be made in the open for every player to see EXCEPT for the navigation check made for the leader in the hexcrawl portion of your game, it should be made behind the DM screen by the DM. The reason for this is not only to avoid metagaming and give your players more agency, but to make your wilderness more dangerous and let your players discover more about the world on their way to their current goal.

My second piece of advice is that, if you read the Alexandrian ruleset, you'll notice that the day is split into "watches", that is where your player deliberation happens (as opposed to the crawl pace of exploring a 5" square measurement in a dungeon). This means you need to be mindful of line of sight, visible hex location sites of interest (inside and very rarely outside) landforms that are large enough to see from their current position such as lakes, mountain ranges, hills, etc. These are your "bottle-necks" that give your players agency to explore your world. A 12 mile hex contains a lot of empty space with not a lot of meaningful options, but a mountain to the east and a great hill land to the south with what looks to be a great keep built upon its tall ridges? That's what will keep your players invested in your game, and what will give incentives and tall tales for other player groups to learn about.

Thirdly, make it a fucking gonzo funhouse, do whatever the fuck you want, my map is four times the size of Washington state, it's big enough to have Polish sounding names in one part and German Orcs in another.

cont...

>>52487297
Fourth point, you have to run it OLD-SCHOOL. 3.x fans, I'm not putting down your game, but CR is only useful insofar that you adhere only loosely to it when designing random encounter charts for your regions (with arbitrary spikes of difficulty thrown in every now and then), it's the difference between 3 encounters with an Orc warband with scaling difficult and an Orc warband laying waste into a small motte and bailey style fortifications on the outlands. Your world will be stranger, more gonzo and dangerous the further you stray from your lone settlement.

Point number 5, it's not as prep heavy as you might think it is, and the prep you have to do is actually enjoyable. Obviously the appeal of having a campaign that is driven by player agency is that you don't have to write up dozens of dungeons but instead focus on what the players want to explore.

I've compartmentalized my world-building prep.

First you have hex locations of interest, your players will probably find them randomly while exploring, each of my 2048 hexes has at least one. (DATS RIGHT, and I enjoyed making up stuff for every single one) they are triggered by the exploration mechanics and your "happy accidents"

Second you have your random encounter tables, and these are also pretty damn fun, but they should have an ecology and underlying logic behind them as well, is there a hex location of interest in your swamp that contains a den of hags living among the hollowed roots of a great mangrove tree? They probably have servants and scouts patrolling their lands on the lookout for interlopers, reagents, old issues of Cosmo, etc. Maybe even some questline Macguffin? I dunno, who do I look like? Your D&D jukebox? But you get what I mean right? And these should be full of "monsters" that won't necessarily engage the party in physical conflict, if at all. One of my tables had a wandering bard that one of my players challenged to a lute-off because the "monster" had a gewgaw thingy...

>>52487558
Third, you have your actual adventure sites, these differ from the locations of interest keyed to my hexes because the players look for these deliberately, either through questing, rumor or jobs. These will most likely have a lot more meat to them and you can generally think of them as your "dungeons". The advantage to a West Marches game is that you don't have to worry about making a shit ton of these.

The fourth (and this is actually pretty optional if you just want your West March game to be more "gamey") is your relationship ecosystem, you've have all probably seen Steven Lumpkin's video on rpg ecosystems. You can probably just wing it, but there is an advantage to delineating the relationships of your NPC's, "monsters", etc because the underlying logic will help make your game world consistent and the consequences of the player characters matter consistently.