About

Beaslandia – the roots of the name go back to the Gaming and BS rpg podcast. Fans of the show are referred to as BSers. Eventually a community Discord would be put into place – a central location to talk about our love of the hobby, play games, share creations and establish long-lasting friendships. The community lives past the life of the podcast and the Discord was named BSLandia.

What is Beaslandia?

Beaslandia is the name of the setting, region, of a fantasy world that is the backdrop of west marches style tabletop rpg campaign.

West Marches

Originally coined by Ben Robbins in a couple blog articles, it is also reminiscent of how some of us played rpgs in the past.

Long ago before the popularity of the Internet kids would take their three-weeks worth of allowance or money they earned mowing lawns or shoveling snow, and purchase an adventure module at a local hobby shop or book store. Then they would march to the house of their only game master and insist that they run it for us. Since the players knew the recommended level of PCs needed to complete the adventure, it’s noted right there on the module they purchased! the eager players would assemble their party from their stable of generated Dungeons and Dragons characters. While this highlights some elements that make up a west marches campaign, it is not entirely complete.

The key themes of a west marches and differences from a typical rpg campaign or group include:

• Player driven – See the example above. This includes arranging the schedule, determining who is going to play in a session – to include what characters, and the destination within the game.
• Episodic not serial – each game session stands on its own, but takes place in the shared world across different groups of players and characters.
• Large player base – a west marches campaign can have 10, 15, 20 or more players, rotating in and out of sessions (sometimes referred to as ‘drop in, drop out’) playing when they can. Participants for each session could be vastly different.
• Exploratory – players will originate from a safe haven, be it a tavern, village, ship, etc. The player characters have a drive to adventure beyond the safe haven and explore the world. Often times the exploits of each group’s session is shared amongst everyone signed up for the game.

Who is behind this game?