West Marches: The Open Table Method
- Karl Otto Kristoffersen
- Jul 16, 2025
- 3 min read
From a Gap to a Book
I started running a West Marches campaign at my local game store Manaheim in 2024. To prepare, I read plenty of good blog posts and watched plenty of videos, but there was no simple and complete book on the subject. No single practical resource for new game masters. So I decided to write the book I wish I had.
The Game World That Never Stands Still
West Marches is not one specific campaign, but a way of playing. Instead of one fixed group following a prepared story, you play with an open world and a rotating cast of players. The players take the initiative themselves. They decide where to go, who to bring along, and what to explore.
Everyone starts from the same home base, for example a town, a fort, or a village. The adventure takes place out in the unknown. You head out from the base, discover something, and return home.
What one group does affects what the next group encounters. If one group destroys a bridge, the next has to find another way across. If a group takes out a faction leader, the ripples can be felt across the whole region. It is a living world that evolves in step with, and as a direct result of, the players' actions. And if you have several play groups, they will notice the consequences of each other's choices.
A Haven for Game Masters
What appeals to me most about West Marches is not just how it gives players freedom, but how it lightens the load on me as a game master. Planning suddenly becomes far more flexible. I don't need to know who will show up for each session. I don't need to plan many sessions in advance. I only need to know what exists in the game world and be ready to react to whatever the players choose to do.
That makes this style remarkably well suited for game clubs, busy modern lives, and everyone who wants to play more but can't always make it work. To me it simply looks like a sustainable way to play roleplaying games.
A Practical Handbook for Freedom in Play
I ended up writing a system-neutral little book, based on what I have read and what I have learned. It is written first and foremost for the game master, but it can also be useful for anyone curious about how these games work. It shows you how to build an open world, organize sessions with rotating groups, and handle maps, time, travel, and factions.
The most important thing for me was that this should not become a theoretical treatise, but a tool. A book you can use, look things up in, and plan with. That said, this was actually the format I pitched to Kongsberg Municipality and had imagined Silverheart would become, but it ended up growing far beyond that frame.
I hope the West Marches book can inspire more people to dive into this style of play. Not as a replacement for traditional campaigns, but as an alternative that opens up something new, and that lightens the load of playing in a modern world.
📖 You can find it here:
A Positive Reception
So far the book has received glowing reviews, sold over 1200 copies globally, and been reviewed in positive terms on YouTube. For example, you can check out Dungeons and Dyslexia's review here.
To be continued!
-KO
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