What is a West Marches Campaign?

The Core Elements

At a bare minimum, a West Marches campaign is likely defined by these core elements (as discussed in this RPG Stack Exchange discussion):

• Variable player groups

  They don't have a regular group of players, but pull from a larger pool each session

• Self-contained sessions

  Each session will be entirely self-contained

• Focus on exploration

  There's probably a focus on exploration

Beyond the Basics

These core elements naturally lead to several practical features that help organize and run West Marches campaigns:

• Multiple GMs

  One or several Game Masters run different adventures in the same persistent world

• Shared home base

  All adventures start and end at the same hub (like an adventurers' league)

• Persistent world

  Actions from one session affect the world for all future adventures

• Flexible character participation

  Players can bring different characters on different adventures

• Community-driven

  Players and GMs participate in creating the world

How West Marches Campaigns Work Online

Created by Ben Robbins, the West Marches style has become increasingly popular in online gaming communities. Originally coined to describe a sandbox playstyle, the term now broadly covers any community where players pick which adventures to join and which persistent characters to bring. These campaigns are perfect for Discord servers and online groups: they accommodate varying schedules and time zones while maintaining a shared world.

Most are run entirely online, using Discord for chat and scheduling alongside virtual tabletops like Roll20 or Foundry VTT. The “marches” represent dangerous frontier territories beyond a civilized starting point. Think of it as an adventurers’ guild where heroes gather before venturing into the unknown.

The Organizational Challenge

Running a West Marches campaign with multiple GMs and dozens of players creates complex organizational challenges. Most communities rely on a patchwork of tools that quickly become overwhelming:

• Discord chaos

  Sessions announced in chat get buried, players miss opportunities

• Google Sheets overload

  Multiple spreadsheets for characters, adventures, experience, and loot

• Character management

  Tracking dozens of characters across multiple GMs and adventures

• Session coordination

  Managing signups, player limits, and level requirements

• World consistency

  Ensuring all GMs stay synchronized with world changes

• Reward distribution

  Manually tracking and distributing experience points and loot

Perfect for Online Communities

West Marches campaigns thrive in online communities because they naturally accommodate players across different time zones and schedules. Whether you're running a small Discord server or managing a large gaming community, this format lets you offer consistent gameplay opportunities without requiring fixed groups or weekly commitments.

West Marches explained by Ryan Doyle (no affiliation)