The West Marches

The West Marches is a type of D&D campaign created by Adam Koebel. Coincidentally, it is also most likely the game you are playing right now. So consider this your introduction to D&D on E House, and the world of Esai. In this page, I'm going to lay out how this campaign works, along with a number of central links you can start from if you want to delve into the world. So far I've written over a hundred pages, so it can get intimidating. So lets just start out with what the West Marches is and how it ties into the world presented in this wiki. I'm going to be using some terminology you might not be familiar with, if you get confused head over to this glossary of terms.

The West Marches was designed for a single game to be able to span large numbers of people without dealing with massive parties and clashing schedules. Classic D&D has a set party of player characters that adventure in a linear manner, hopping from place to place going on an adventure with the same group forever. The main difference with the West Marches is that there is no set party. Instead a number of people participate in a shared world and go out for individual adventures with any players that happen to be ready to do so. I'm not sure how many people will be interested, but if we get around 10-12 people, we could possibly have three different sessions going on simultaneously. This allows groups to be made on the fly without worrying about scheduling conflicts and massive parties.

Another large difference is that there is no set DM. I, Ryan Malley, am going to be overseeing the game, DMing sessions, and playing a character, but I will not be running all or even most of the games. Instead, anyone who has an adventure ready for people to participate in can simply post it on the message board and anyone who wants to go on it can do so when they wish. There are going to be some rules about how things like wealth distribution and setting design, but for now if you are curious to dip your feet in running a D&D game, just go and try it.

As for the game itself, this campaign takes place on the continent of Esai. It is modeled very closely off of the world of Khalgun from Aram Vartian's Godsfall podcast. I would prefer you did not listen to that podcast because I steal things from it liberally, but you won't lose much if you get too curious. Once the Gods ruled over the entire world, constant presences in the world. Then a massive war broke out between the God of the Sun and the God of Man. During this Godswar, the Gods all perished, and magic died with them. It has been a hundred years, and while the world has recovered, much of it is now the domain of beasts and monsters of all varieties. Inside the central country of Brennis, a town has been raised as a bastion of humanity in an otherwise hostile world. Through some way or another, you have all been summoned to one of the hunting lodges of Solaris, the call to adventure coursing through your blood.

Some of you have noticed changes in yourselves. Perhaps it was a chord on your lute that seemed to make your audience unnaturally charmed, or a spark of arcane energy gone awry. Whatever the case, magic is seeping back into the world, and a few gifted people have found an ability to channel that energy to seize their destiny. In a world that magic destroyed, you may have been outcast by those closest to you. Solaris has no such judgments for the most part, but you may want to hide these talents from prying eyes.

If youre reading this hopefully I've already explained the intricacies of the game, but if you have any questions please feel free to ask. Here are a couple of background links on the world that may help you in designing a character or an adventure.

Countries, a list of the nations of Esai

Gods, the pantheon of the world. When you design your character, pick a god your character might have felt a connection to. It doesn't have to be serious worship, just a connection in some regard.

Early Histories, if you liked the Silmarillion, this is like that but poorly written.

Godswar, probably the most linked article in the entire wiki.

Between those links you should be able to jump around and see what you like. As a reminder for character creations, the humanoid races of Esai are as follows.

* Human, jacks of all trades, good at everything, great at nothing in particular
* High Elf, proud and pretentious, and they have every right to be. Natural arcane gifts
* Wood Elf, guardians of the Ironwood Forest and nature enthusiasts. Agile and nimble
* Drow (Sun Elf), former slaves of the Duergar. Well adapted to darkness
* Dwarf, stout and strong.
* Halfling, theyre hobbits but better.
* Orc (Use half-orc stats), you know what orcs are. They are big and like to smash things
* Gnome, smallest playable race. Goofy tinkerers who possess a soft heart and a keen mind
* Tiefling, the children of fallen devils. Often feared and hated, gifted with natural magic
* Aasimar, the children of fallen celestials. Paragons of truth and justice that carry divine will
* Gensasi, beings born of an energy maelstrom. Diverse and rare, each element has a variety of Genasi.
* Aaracockra, they're bird people. They can fly. High dexterity. And they can fly.
* Goliath, highly competetive giant folk. High strength and constitution.
* Tabaxi, cat people. You want to be a furry? Be a Tabaxi.
* Triton, fish people. You want to be a weird furry? Be a triton.

Dragonborn do not exist on Esai. If you see them in the players handbook and feel a strong desire to play one, come talk to me and we can try and work something out.

Downtime:

When you are not adventuring it is assumed that you are working for your keep and training your skills with the mentors in the lodge. Any actions outside of this need to be given to Ryan before your character goes on an adventure.