The open table / west marches format is a bit different from what we think of as the traditional Dungeons and Dragons campaign. This format is much more player driven and player centric. This can feel more like a world your characters inhabit instead of a book your characters star in. With that in mind here are some tips to get the most out of this game
- Give your character a medium term goal and a couple short term goals to pursue
- Having these goals allows for quests to be created in the pursuit of those goals. If you need to, as an example, slay a dragon to create a particular magic item you can reach out to other players to see who would want to join you in that hunt and an adventure can be built around it.
- Take notes and share them with others
- This can give others a heading to allow them to explore on their own and can help you to remember what you did last time.
- Be open to exploring the wilds to find new dungeons or adventures
- Sometimes there can be fun in just exploring the wilds or going for a dungeon crawl. Hex crawls in particular can be a fun source of random fun.
- Play with people and characters you haven’t before
- The general idea of an open table is to allow for more frequent and lower prep play. By being open to playing outside of a set group you can get into the adventures you are interested in more frequently and adds a feeling of verisimilitude to the world
- Embrace the world as dangerous
- Because this game is meant to be low prep understand that the world can and will be dangerous at points. Knowing this, treat combat not as sport but as war. Set traps, ambush, out number, hire mercenaries, and be ready to run if things don’t work out.
- Be prepared for characters to die
- Much like the last point, I cannot guarantee your characters make it to retirement. It is ok to mourn them, but be ready to accept their death. If another player loses a character be patient and understanding with them and allow them and their character the moment.