The Legend of Il’Anor Awaits
The Light Guild Contract:
You here by sign your energy, life, sanity, and soul over to
"The Light Guild LLC" for a contracted fifteen year units.
Your actions and thoughts must maintain good faith to follow
all guild practices during the contracted time.
Your main missions during your employment:
1. Find new trade opportunities
2. Provide aid services
3. Discuss diplomatic ties
4. Map routes and resources
For payment plan questions please talk to your
Department of Trade and Coin representative.
Thank you for your service to spread the ideals of
"The Light Guild LLC" to the Underdark.
Sincerely,
Belofa Boyce
What is a “West Marches” campaign?
It is a way of running a roleplaying campaign that allows for multiple storylines to occur simultaneously. Players should be encouraged to play how often they want but should not be restricted to other player’s schedules. In the case of “The Light” all players are asked to start and explore as members of The Light Guild on their quest to help Il’Anor – located in the Underdark. In addition to engaging in guild politics and missions, the players are asked to explore personal goals.
How do we even play like this?
I will give you examples of how this could work in the beginning:
The GM acts as a collaborator with all players.
Session Zero
Players are invited to create a character. Additional players can jump into the story during any of the future sessions. Players can have several characters but will be asked to pick only one to use during a given session. Characters that are not played during a session might be involved in storylines that could alter their location or status. The point of this involvement aims in aiding the story but should not punish players for skipping sessions.
Session One
X, Y, and Z players can make it to game night on the first Tuesday of the month. They all meet at a bank, rob it, and get away. Their actions impact the city and fractions. People may or may not know who robbed the bank. This session is a type of “one shot” for the 3 players but also has larger story implications.
Session Two
Players X, Y, A, and B decide to play on the second Tuesday of the month. Now while at a bar, X and Y talk about the bank they robbed with Player Z (who is not currently present). A non-player character overhears this and reports Player Z to the city watch. The players decided to fight a rival gang while at the bar and gain loot for defeating these opponents except one who flees. This leads the rival gang to put internal bounties on players X, Y, A and B.
Session Three
Only player Z wants to play this week. Oh look a story line fits with the scheduling opportunity. So Player Z wants to go shopping and gets arrested by the city guards. After a cash sequence that did not favor the player. They land themselves in jail.
Session Four
Players Z, A and B decide to play on the fourth Tuesday of the month. They hear a rumor that Player Z was arrested and held in jail. Players A and B seek to break their friend out of jail. Meanwhile Player Z awakes in a jail being held for questioning of a previous bank robbery. Players A and B tunnel into the prison and somehow find Player Z’s cell. They fight off a few guards but cover their tracks.
TLDR. Basically it allows the players to guide the schedule and freedom of the adventure without proposing a dedicated “Game Night” to a select few. This system relies on the players to decide who and what to do: which players will investigate rumors on a given session. Take a look at The Light page to see a list of opportunities. Once the adventure is picked purpose it to other players to gather a group to set out. Let the GM know what you want to investigate and when.
Campaign 