CWM Players Guide Text

The Colvillian West Marches
A Player's Guide to the Colvillian West Marches Campaign.
Last Update: 8/21/2017 1230 PST
Report Errors to: @Triaxcore[Spurius]
Triaxcore
Author
Version: 1.03
Development: @Metalmine, and the planners and DMs of the Colvillian West Marches
Editing: @Emerentia
Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

Contents
The Colvillian West Marches .......................................... 1
Introduction...................................................................... 3
General Information ............................................................3
General Rules .........................................................................3
West Marches Campaign ...................................................3
How Can I Help? ....................................................................3
Part 1. Character Creation ........................................... 4
Character Sheet .....................................................................4
Paid Tools and CWM ......................................................4
Starting Level .........................................................................4
Hit Points ..................................................................................4
Ability Scores ..........................................................................4
Rerolling Abilities ............................................................4
Character Races .....................................................................4
Character Classes ..................................................................4
Feats ...........................................................................................4
Starting Equipment .............................................................4
Spells ..........................................................................................5
Character Development .....................................................5
Gods ............................................................................................5
Backup Characters ...............................................................5
Character Backstory .......................................................5
PC Registration ......................................................................5
Part 2. Questing ............................................................... 6
Quest Format .....................................................................6
Requesting a Quest ..............................................................6
Quest Summary .....................................................................6
Part 3. Downtime Activities ........................................ 7
Doing a Job or Operating a Business ............................7
Crafting ......................................................................................7
Crafting Magic Items ...........................................................7
Gem Mining .............................................................................7
Mine at the Yeti Mine! .........................................................7
Pearl Diving .............................................................................7
Training ....................................................................................7
Part 4. Downtime Management ................................. 9
Always Questing ................................................................... 9
Secondary Characters ........................................................ 9
Examples ................................................................................. 9
Part 5. The World ......................................................... 10
Guild and Factions ............................................................. 10
Part 6. Settlements ...................................................... 11
Part 7. Submitting Ideas ............................................ 12
Example 1: Player Controlled Farms ........................ 12
Example 2: Monster Training ....................................... 12
Part 8. DM Guidelines ................................................. 13
DM Basic Rules .................................................................... 13
Gold Rewards ...................................................................... 13
Magic Item Distribution .................................................. 13
DM Rewards ......................................................................... 13
DM No Show ......................................................................... 13
Canceled Game XP Reward ....................................... 13
Appendix. ........................................................................ 14

Introduction
Welcome to Farwater, a small outpost on the frontier of a newly discovered continent. Although not known to the inhabitants of Collabris, it cannot be said that no one has been here before. Great dangers lurk in the wilderness. Orcs, sahuagin, grung, yuan-ti and other vile things wait for the brave, curious, and greedy.
General Information
This section covers the basic information and general rules of the campaign. Welcome and enjoy!
Contact @West-March-Planners in Discord if you find any typos or inaccuracies.
General Rules
Before you start play, consider the following:
• Don’t be a wangrod!
• Use common sense! Don't be that guy!
• Timeout: if you are uncomfortable with anything that happens in the game, just say “timeout” and the DM will take a break and give everyone a chance to address the issue.
• By default, PvP is not allowed. No non-consensual PvP. If the situation requires PvP, try to make it non-lethal. Includes touching other people’s possessions.
• #randchar_rolls and #general_bot channels are not for chatting. #randchar_rolls should only be used for !randchar rolls. Any other rolls belong in the game channel you are playing in or #general_rolls.
• #General is for general chat only. Questions should go to #Questions. All channels have a purpose and their names are good indicators of what should go in them.
West Marches Campaign
Matthew Colville recorded a video on West Marches that can be found here. West Marches is a campaign style coined by Ben Robins, though its basic principles reflect how D&D was typically played. This campaign is played using Discord and Roll20.
Once you have created a character, you can find adventurers in either #dm-quest-posting or #player-quest-request channels. You are free to join any of these sessions (though we do prioritize players who haven’t played in a long time) by messaging the DM or the player posting the quest, or asking in the #request-discussions channel.
The adventurers begin in the town of Farwater. The town has an inn and access to basic goods. The town of Farwater and any potential future settlements can be upgraded with the money you earn from your adventuring.
The DMs have access to an objective hex map, but players and their characters do not know the exact layout of the world, and thus must figure out the layout of the land based on their adventures.
How Can I Help?
There are many ways you can help make the campaign fun and successful. Engaging with your fellow players is a fantastic way to start. Make everyone feel welcome!
You can always go the extra mile by signing up to be one of our terrific DMs using the Dungeon Master Application.
We are always looking for innovative ideas for improving the campaign. Any ideas you may have can be submitted through the Idea Submission form.
As we all know, sometimes things can get heated when people are discussing something they love as much as D&D, if you would like to help people and build the community in an official capacity, please apply here: Moderator Application.
Organized play programs require a lot of coordination. Rules updates, campaign direction, and arguing over minutia are in your future if you dare to submit a Planner Application.
• If you have ANY ideas, make a detailed suggestion (including exact rules of how it would work) to organizers and they will discuss it. If you feel the game is missing crafting rules or you want to establish a faction, don’t expect anyone else to do the work for you - just write up rules for it and bring it to the organizers for review. Check Chapter 7 for details.
• If you promise to do something and if you for any reason don’t want to do it anymore, PLEASE tell someone!

Part 1. Character Creation
The Colvillian West Marches has guidelines for character creation. These rules help to keep the game fair and balanced for everyone involved. The rules are reviewed in Planner meetings and by DM voting. Many Homebrew and UA options have not been reviewed at this time. Others have been reviewed and explicitly allowed or denied and are noted below.
Character Sheet
Dungeon Masters may run games using any variety of media. This may include their own Roll20 server, Fantasy Grounds, or in Discord using Avrae.
As such, you are not required to create your character in any specific format, nor are you required to have any DM or Organizer inspect your character sheet. Paid Tools and CWM Our West Marches game is open to all. While you are free to use a tool such as Fantasy grounds to run your games, you must be able to offer that option free to players. This typically means having the Ultimate version in the case of Fantasy Grounds. You can always run your games on Discord using Avrae or Roll20. Other options are possible, if they cost the players no money.
Starting Level
All new characters start at 3rd level with 900/2700 XP. Upon PC death, where Dead PC's level is X, a new PC may be made at the lowest level of the level tier X is in:
• Tier 1: 3
• Tier 2: 4-7
• Tier 3: 8-11
• Tier 4: 12-15
• Tier 5: 16-20
The new character can also be the lowest level of a lower tier. I.e. Peggy dies at level 11, the new character can be a maximum of level 8, but could start at level 3 or 4 or 8.
Hit Points
You may either roll your hit points or use the average. If you choose to roll, you must keep it. Each level you may decide which way to generate the HP for that level.
Ability Scores
Ability scores are rolled in the #randchar_rolls channel in the discord. No chats are allowed in that channel and any questions should be asked in the #ask-dm-questions channel.
Use the !randchar command. This command will roll using the 4d6 drop the lowest method, rolling for all six ability scores. The scores are assigned to the abilities in order [Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha]. Rerolling Abilities You may reroll until either of the following two occurs. • You are satisfied with the roll • You have rolled at least two abilities that are 15 or higher Abilities will be confirmed by an Moderator or DM.
Character Races
Character races have the following restrictions
• No races with a flying speed
• No monstrous races
o Bugbear
o Goblin
o Hobgoblin
o Kobold
o Orc
o Yuan-ti
• No Unearthed Arcana races
Character Classes
The following character classes are allowed
• Player's Handbook
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• Accepted Unearthed Arcana
Feats
The following are the feats allowed or disallowed
• NOT Allowed - Lucky
• Accepted Unearthed Arcana
Starting Equipment
Players may choose to use the starting equipment given by their characters class and background or they can roll the starting wealth. Either way, they also start with an additional 1d4x10 gp. If you have gotten this far in the guide, please message @metalmine with your favorite fruit

Spells
The following spells are not allowed;
• Unearthed Arcana
Character Development
Character development relies heavily on the player. Please be sure your character has a reason for having come to Farwater. From there you can develop your character in the role-play channels. You may also request quests that help to progress your characters story or goals.
Individual DMs are not likely to know the narrative of your character. You will need to share that with them if you expect it to be written into a quest.
Gods
The pantheon used is the Forgotten Realms one.
Backup Characters
You may create a single backup character. That character may be used for RP purposes only, until your primary character dies or is permanently retired. Character Backstory New characters must have a dissimilar persona and name from your previous 3 characters, at the discretion of the Planners and Moderators.
PC Registration
If you have not yet filled out the PC registration, please register your characters here. You may also View Registered Players.

Part 2. Questing
Questing is the primary source of experience and gold in the campaign. You may join a quest posted by DMs, but the spirit of a West Marches game is that the players decide what quests they wish to endeavor on. Quest Format ``` Name: <Quest Name> Time and Date: <Time Zone / Time> Run time estimation: 100 hours Type: <Exploration/RP/Town/Raid> Recommended Level: <Level Range: i.e: Level 13-24> Slot: <Insert Number> Signup Deadline: <date> Signup: Open/Closed (DMs List the players once the application is closed) Roll20 Game link if played on R20: <link> ``` *include the ``` in the beginning and end to create a code block.
DM’s are to prioritize players that have played less frequently. They should also not list players that have signed up until the close date for signups, so that players are not discouraged from signing up.
When you message a DM to request joining their Quest, include the date of the last game you played.
Requesting a Quest
Post your request in the #player-quest-posting channel. You may @player in the #request-discussions channel to find players to join your quest and @DM to locate a DM to run the quest.
For Player Quests, you may collect the other players you would like to join in your quest or take people who request to join. Player Quests do not require prioritizing people who have played less frequently.
Quest Summary
Every player that posts a quest summary receives a DM Inspiration point that can be used in their next quest to reroll any Saving throw, Ability Check, Attack roll or Skill check.. Session summaries are posted in the #session-summaries channel.

Part 3. Downtime Activities
If you aren’t doing a specific downtime activity, it is
assumed that you are earning enough money to pay
for food and lodging.
Doing a Job or Operating a Business
You make enough to live a modest living. Period.

Crafting
Crafting can be done as per the rules in PHB. Crafting progress is 25 gp per day of labor.
Upgrading Mundane [Non-magical] Weapons:
Masterwork: Giving +1 to Attack(hit) Creation Cost: 300gp
• Requires relevant proficiency: Smithing for metal weapons / Carpentry for Wooden weapons.
Crafting Magic Items
Crafting magic items is done at a rate of 25 gp/downtime day spent crafting.
CREATION COST LISTED MUST BE PAYED IN FULL BEFORE THE CRAFTING BEGINS
Consumable items: You must have the relevant proficiencies or features.
• Herbalism Kit for Potions of Healing
• Poisoner's Kit for Poison Vials (any kind) (Requires poisonous harvested parts)
• Spellcasting Feature for Scrolls Level 1+
Magic Item Crafting Cost (consumables are half as much)
Item Rarity Creation Cost Minimum Lvl
Common
100 gp
3rd Uncommon 500 gp 3rd
Rare
5,000 gp
6th Very Rare 50,000 gp 11th
Legendary
500,000 gp
17th

Gem Mining
Once a mine has been established, you can go mining for gems. You pay a fee that would cover equipment etc. costs and spend a day of downtime to roll on a gem table.
Mine at the Yeti Mine!
Step 1: Spend 1 Downtime Day and 10 gold
Step 2: Get a witness and go to #bot-channel and roll a 1d100
Step 3: Keep what you need, sell the rest at 1/2 the value of the gems. Unless You are proficient in jeweler's tools. Then you can spend a downtime day to raise the value of the gem by 25gp/day up to a maximum of 100% gem value.
Note: Assume pearls were part of jewelry
1-10 Nothing Valuable
11-50
Ores enough to pay for the entry fee 51-70 Roll 1d4, then Roll that many 1d12's on the 10GP Gemstone List
71-90
Roll 2d4, then Roll that many 1d12's on the 10GP Gemstone List 91-99 Roll 1d4, then Roll that many 1d12's on the 50GP Gemstone List
100
Roll 2d4, then Roll that many 1d11's on the 100GP Gemstone List, if you roll an 11, you get a diamond worth 100gp
Gemstone Table on page 134 of Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Pearl Diving
Requirement: Athletics: +2 or greater and Constitution Score of 15 or greater [If you have a swim speed, or can hold your breath for enough time, you don't need to meet this.]
Step 1: Take 1 downtime day off the week
Step 2: Notify a witness/dm/organizer. DO NOT ping a group
Step 3: Roll in #bot-channel the following: !r1d10000
Diving for Pearls
Step 4: Read results:
• 777 gain (1) 100 gp pearl
• 7777 gain (1) 100 gp pearl that also has 1 charge of the Identify spell
Gem stones can be sold for half value to NPCs or whatever is agreed upon between players.

Training
A proficiency or a language takes 21 days of downtime to learn, an expertise takes 28 days, every day costs 30gp, once you’ve had any number of days downtime you can pay the cost for those days and gain that number of days trained. Once you have accumulated the full 21/28 days, you gain proficiency/expertise in a skill of your choice or learn a language.

Part 4. Downtime Management
As a rule for the purposes of construction
and downtime, in game time is equal to real world time. A construction project requiring 14 days to complete will take 2 weeks of out of game time to be finished and available. Any single downtime activity takes a full in game day, and for every eligible out of game day one single downtime activity can be chosen.
This extends to mission length, up to a point. Every real-time week, a character has 7 in game days to work with. These can be spent performing downtime activities. Every in-game day spent on a quest subtracts from the available downtime days for the week. However, any days spent adventuring that surpass this 7-day limit are reset at the end
of that real-time week (unless the sessions are continuing and you have not yet returned to town.)
The 7 available days for any given week may be spent at any out of game rate you choose. If you go on a 2-day long quest on Monday, you do not need to wait until Wednesday to take another quest. Also, time spent within a week need not be chronological. However, time spent week to week must be.
Always Questing
You may always participate in a quest. If your character is involved in a multisession quest, they may still play in other quests in-between sessions.
Secondary Characters
Secondary characters can be rolled, but cannot be active in quests until your primary character has died or permanently retires. They may participate in role-playing.
Examples
1 The Rogue goes on a quest on Monday. The quest takes 4 days in game. He spends Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday (or any other combination of 3 days throughout the week) doing downtime activities.
2 The Cleric goes on a quest on Monday. The quest takes 4 days in game. On Tuesday, he goes on a quest that also takes 4 days. He is finished with his activities for the week, as he has no remaining downtime days.
3 The Bard has no quests scheduled for the week. He spends each day of the week performing a downtime activity, for a total of 7 days.
4 The Ranger goes on a quest on Monday. The quest takes 10 days in game, and they are stuck in a dungeon, with the continuation planned for the following Monday. He is finished with his activities for the week. The next Monday, they finish the quest, taking 2 days in game and returning to town. He spends 5 days that week performing downtime activities.
5 The Fighter goes on a quest on Monday. The quest takes 2 days in game, and they are stuck in a dungeon, with the continuation planned for the following Monday. He spends 5 days that week doing downtime activities, as they could have occurred before the quest. The next Monday, they finish the quest, taking 2 days in game. He spends the 5 days that week performing downtime activities.

Part 5. The World
This world is ancient. The player begins in the coast town of Farwater, a new settlement where brave adventurers have landed, along with colonists from the old world. The continent was once inhabited by intelligent and civilized beings, but centuries later, that age remains only in the ruins of their world.
Finding themselves in an unmapped and ancient world, the lands are theirs to explore! As long as the players remain within town, they may rest their heads peacefully at night.
Beyond the borders… who knows…?
• Languages are important. Natives do not speak common, and if they speak races from the old world, it is decently twisted, but loosely comprehensible. Some natives speak no languages from the old world
• Some of these lands have not been treed by civilized folk for a thousand years
• Small towns are beginning to grow along the coastline, but none but grizzled adventurers have taken the risk to travel more than a few miles inland
• The first colonists arrived around 27 years ago
29 years ago, the brave adventurer known as {name here} travelled from the continent of Collabris, in search of new lands. After two years of hard sailing, he finally came upon lands anew. After reporting back to the crown, a group of settlers was sent to this land, to begin the lengthy task of colonizing this new land.
Now, the town of Farwater, where the settlers first landed, has a stable population of around 1000? people. The town is run by representatives of the guilds who seek influence in this new land. What started as an experiment is beginning to grow, as stories of this new land of opportunity and riches reaches the old world.
Guild and Factions
Any player can establish a guild or a faction. To do so, you need to write a detailed explanation of possible upgrade tiers, renown, services and so on, including their costs. This will be reviewed by the organizers. Approval for running a guild or faction is not given lightly and approvals will be rare. The more detailed and balanced your request along with your time in the campaign will help get your request approved, but is not a guarantee.
Any money the faction makes by providing services etc. is earned by other players paying for those, and that money can be used for upgrading your faction or town features. Any money a faction would make from selling services to NPC’s is assumed to be used for upkeep.

Part 6. Settlements
Town building and shop upgrades are included here, as well as what items are available and how much they cost. This will vary by settlement as some are more advanced than others.
An item sold in the Town Shops will be discounted by 50% if it is available and one or both required shops are 1 level or higher than the required level to sell the item. This include improvements such as roads and bridges.
To view the shop information, see the document for Farwater and Lochedin.
Upgrades can be found in these links for Farwater upgrades and Lochedin upgrades.

Part 7. Submitting Ideas
If you have an idea that you believe would make our West Marches game better, please submit it using the Idea Submission Form. Your ideas are important to the improvements of the game we are building together.
When submitting a suggestion, please consider the following.
• How does the idea improve our game?
• What are the role-playing implications of the idea?
• How does the idea mechanically operate?
• Have you discussed the idea with fellow players and DMs?
• Are others interested in the idea, or only a couple?
• Does the idea affect the entire campaign or just a session or two?
o If it only affects a few games, take the idea to your DM
Remember when submitting an idea, that the more details you provide the more likely for the idea to be accepted.
Example 1: Player Controlled Farms
"I think that players should be able to buy and maintain farms. That way the town can be fed."
This is a weak suggestion, because it does not include very much information and has no mechanical effect on the campaign. You could easily say your character operates a farm for mechanical purposes. Operating the farm would make them enough money to survive, just as any other trade.
Example 2: Monster Training
"Having a trained monster could be a fun and exciting option for players. Characters would be able to take trained monsters on adventures with them or leave them at home. Training the monster would require a series of Animal Handling checks equal to the monsters challenge rating multiplied by 3. The DM of the session may increase or decrease the base DC of 15 based on the monsters nature and current disposition to the trainer."
Though this example could use additional details and playtesting, it has enough details for the Organizers to work with when discussing the suggestion.

Part 8. DM Guidelines
DM Basic Rules
1. You must claim a tile in the DM Tile Claim Spreadsheet in the DM folder
2. If your tile is already claimed, contact the person that claimed it to use it.
3. Make sure what you put in tiles make an iota of sense for where it is located, contact @Metalmine [peggy] if you need creature population notes or whatnot
4. If you are to plan a follow-up session, let your players know what you'll be doing in the follow-up.
5. If you would like to host a session on a tile outside of existing maps, make a map request in #map-requests. This does not allow you to put geography where geography doesn't exist.
6. Accept players based on regency, the more recent they've played, the lower their priority to join the quest.
Gold Rewards
There is a limit to the maximum gold value of treasure that can be awarded during a quest. This value includes art objects, gems, loose coins, and "vendor trash".
• Maximum Gold Reward = (15 GP) x (sum of player levels) x (number of in game days the session takes)
For example, if your party consists of 4 level 4 characters adventuring for 3 days, the overall maximum gold that the party can earn is (15) x (16) x (3) = 720.
Magic Item Distribution
• Magic items are rolled per DMG, err on the low side.
• Custom Magic items must be approved first!
• Make sure that you give enough loot for every party member to get something (prefer multiple low magic items rather than one powerful one)
• Permanent magic sources (or other similar major things) need to be discussed with the planners beforehand.
Magic items should be distributed with the level of the characters in mind:
Tier
Level
Rarity 1 1-5 Uncommon
2
6-10
Rare 3 11-16 Very Rare
4
17-20
Legendary
DM Rewards
Without our DMs we would not be able to run this awesome campaign. DMs are rewarded for running sessions in the following ways.
• The DM is awarded 1/2 the XP that each character receives.
• The DM is awarded 1/2 the GP that each character receives.
DM No Show
If you do not show up for a game the characters signed up for the quest receive rewards. This is true for short notice cancelations and no shows.
Canceled Game XP Reward
Level
Reward
Level
Reward
Level
Reward 3 180 9 1600 15 3000
4
380
10
2100
16
3000 5 750 11 1500 17 4000
6
900
12
2000
18
4000 7 1100 13 2000 19 5000
8
1400
14
2500

Appendix.
Avrae Commands
Dungeon Master Feedback
Dungeon Master Application
Dungeon Master Session Submission
Google Drive
Games Calendar
Idea Submission
Moderator Application
Planner Application
Player Registration
View Registered Players