March Madness Primer

Welcome
The next campaign we'll be playing is called March Madness, inspired by the classic West Marches setting. This is an exploration-based campaign where the players are tasked with discovering and mapping a new continent filled with danger, exotic locales and, of course, tons of treasure to be found.

Reasoning
March Madness is not run like a normal DnD campaign. The first major difference is that the party will not always be comprised of the same characters. Rather than a set group of 7 or 8 players, each session will consist of 4-5 players drawn from a pool of 10-12 or more. In this system, there is a group chat or email list where players decide where they want to go and assemble a party to go with them, much like picking a party in an MMO. The players and DM then set a date for that adventure and play through it.

The point of doing it this way is that instead of waiting for the DM to write what comes next in the story, or canceling a session because some people can't make it, the game can go on. Players who can play every week can do that, and if they can only play once a month, that's fine too. Everyone wins.

Rules
March Madness comes with a few rules. In order of importance:
 * 1) You are an adventurer because you feel a strong call in your bones to adventure. The boredom of a calm life doesn't appeal to you – you are driven to leave behind the safety of civilization and explore the wilds to make your name. Regardless of what drives you, you are driven. You choose where to go and what to do. There will be a handful of obvious choices, but you don't by any means need to take them. The adventure is in your hands.
 * 2) Players can suggest or join sessions on an at-will basis. There is no assumed set party – characters can adventure in many different groups.
 * 3) Each session is presumed to be self-contained. Players venture into the wild, find or are found by adventure, and return home each session.
 * 4) New characters start at level 1. Characters keep whatever gold and XP they earn from session to session, and characters may group with other characters of any level.
 * 5) Every character starts each session in Roanoke. If characters have not returned home by the end of the session, they automatically return after play has ended. Players are penalized a cost of 1GP/Lvl per mile they must travel back home after the end of a session.
 * 6) The world of the West Marches persists beyond each session. If players have made a change in one session, other players will see that change if they follow the same path in a later session.
 * 7) All characters will be built using the 5th edition Players Handbook. Builds using Volo's Guide or Unearthed Arcana are not used, for simplicity's sake.