DB

The West Marches campaign is a campaign idea that I found about out via Matthew Colville. This was discussed originally from the wonderful game developer of Microscope, Ben Robbins, but in summary, here is the idea of West Marches campaign:

You have a wide group or cast of players. It would be a big roster of players–we’re talking more than five–and enough players to create multiple parties. The idea of the West Marches campaign is to have that roster of players schedule game sessions, unlike a traditional game where the GM schedules.

So, there’s a couple of things from this that was appealing to me. Before I get into that, I need to get into the conversations that talk about Dungeons and Dragons and the gaming culture that is popular in regards to the GM to its players.

Unequal weight

So, for Dungeons and Dragons as both a game and in the game’s culture, there’s an expectation that the game master will provide a story and a world for the party to adventure in. You can come in with a blank template of a character (you don’t have to come in with ambition) and the GM will present the table with the adventure. Metaphorically, the GM will present you with the skeleton and meat of a game. Then, it is the player characters who act as the muscles to move,this body around to create a little dance and a jig that will be your game session. This is the expectation when it comes to Dungeons and Dragons, and about par for the course when you think about a gaming store’s Adventurer’s League experience.

Let’s compare that to other systems like Powered by the Apocalypse games. PbtA games are different in that they give onus and power to the players to create the world, and have greater power over the narrative. In a PbtA games, where players determine their capabilities through Moves, there are some things that you can do–with or without a dice roll, or at a currency cost, depending on the game. They can use a weapon to drive off an opponent. They can ease someone’s pain, if only for a moment. They can deal with the devil. These are abilities that inform their character, enforce the fiction of the game, and advance the narrative.

In other games, you may have to roll for these things, but that isn’t guaranteed in a PbtA game. For PbtA and in the spirit of other storygames, what’s more important is telling a story together with people at the table–where everyone is contributing something to react off of and to inspire one another. That’s not necessarily the same in other games–not without that being baked into the play culture at that table.

I come from text RP where each player has equal agency and weight to the story as every other player. And because I come from this background, I don’t like having all that responsibility singularly on me. I don’t enjoy orating a story singularly to my players…expecting them to give me all the laurels by playing with pieces I handed them. I want them to bring some of their pieces to the table too!

My ideal game is more like a potluck than a dinner party. I want to be able to give them a difficult decision like whether to quell a rebellion and then be surprised by their choices–and react to that as well, as we continue to pile on to make this story together.

I was reminded of the imbalance of player vs. GM when I was read an article written by Rowan Zeoli about BlackwaterDND’s actual play, Godkiller Oblivion, which uses Connie Chang’s Godkiller.

The discussion of Godkiller Oblivion touches on the give and take between player and GM. And most important of that discussion is the feeling of being a fellow player at a table. Yes, I want to see the things that you create and do–and I want to react off of it. Initiating scenes and games all the time gets tiring, and sometimes I want to play off of someone else. That’s all.

Do we need the GM anyway?

I like having really high player agency to the point where the GMless game is my ideal game. But, that might not be a realistic ask of most people and their gaming groups, assuming that they start in a culture and with the assumption that one of them will be running the games for the group.

And maybe the West Marches has some answers to moving some of the GM responsibilities.

When I had learned about the West Marches, I didn’t know that you could put the scheduling onto the players. If West Marches can be adopted for scheduling, perhaps there are other ways that we can offset the load to our players as a GM. One of the ways that I do that already is that I am not the rule lawyer at my table.

I have two players who are mechanics monkeys. I will make rulings for things that are beyond whatever is written down, but for anything else that is in the rules…? I will lean on them to figure that out and let the rest of us know.

Hell, why stop at rules? How about NPCs? Aabria Iyengar does it with Brennan Lee Mulligan in D&D Chaos 2. She has Brennan play an NPC to help out and play at the table.

And why stop at characters? How about a world? Ben Robbins has quite a bit of games that can be slapped before and in-between all sorts of campaigns. I highly recommend In This World for making worlds together.

My role as a GM at the table that I really like, is cueing characters for questions about how they’re feeling after a moment, highlighting some instances of a scene (that they may not have indicated through their play or narration that they have noticed). I will edit scenes. I will cut when they are completed and I will cut between scene and scene. That’s really my strength (I think). Making sure that pace isn’t dragging and that each person feels invited and welcome at the table…and that they each have their time to shine.

So, can we share the labor together in our games and at our tables?

I think we can.