Endeavors of Empathy

Endeavors of Empathy is the first West Marches-style RPG campaign set in my world of Eochora. A West Marches-style campaign is one that allows for dozens of players to participate in an ongoing story. There will be a list of quests, some generated by the GM (Chris) and most by the players. At any time, a player can choose to organize a session by choosing or creating one of these quests, assembling a team of player characters to undertake it and finding a time that works for the players as well as the GM. There is no consistent game night or single party of characters. This provides much more flexibility than a normal campaign in terms of time commitments and number of players involved. It also frees the GM from having to do as much work to write quests and stories that a party is motivated to undertake, because it is the players who mostly create and choose which quests to undertake.

Endeavors of Empathy uses the Volition RPG. A full ruleset can be found here. This is a system developed by Chris to encourage unique characters, engaging stories, and player-driven narratives. You don't have to know all the rules, but one read through it will help you get a strong understanding of the basics. In addition to that rulest, Endeavors of Empathy will be tracked on this website, Kanka. All characters, session notes, items, and quests will be stored in the appropriate categories here. Much of the information an everyday citizen of Eochora would know about, including nations, gods, races, and history, can be found here as well. Finally, Chris's Discord server, Heroes of Eochora, will be used for day-to-day communication as well as voice chat for online sessions. Other tools, such as virtual tabletops, may be used as well, but these will be discussed as needed.

Your character has, for one reason or another, been invited to and chosen to join The Fatebound. This organization, headquartered in a pocket dimension known as The Eternal Instant, seeks to bring lasting peace to the war-torn lands of Eochora. As a Potential, you have been given a Fatebound Ring. This item allows you to travel to and from the Eternal Instant and Western Eochora as you embark on various quests for the sake of bringing peace to the realm. When you join a party of player characters on a quest to Eochora, the actions you take will change the world of Eochora in one way or another. You'll be taking notes on what you encounter to share with other player characters in the Fatebound, making contacts and building a reputation for the organization, and enhancing your own skills and resources. These quests will take you to all sorts of different places across Eochora, and even to realms beyond. No one, not even Chris, knows how the future of Eochora will unfold, but as the many players in this campaign continue to work towards everlasting peace, more and more people in this realm will find happiness and joy where once there was suffering and misery.

First, let Chris (Lord of Realms/Tyrzaphir in Discord) know you are interested so that he can add you to the appropriate channels. Then read through the Volition Core Rules at least once to get an idea of the basics.

Now, you are ready to make your character. This Google Form will walk you through each step so that you provide all the details the GM needs to know about your character. Keep in mind that you will need to write a bond with another player character already created in Endeavors of Empathy. Ask Chris if you need someone for this. Feel free to reference anything written in Kanka as you write your character's details. Anyone across Eochora with drive and ambition is a welcome member of The Fatebound, so do not feel restricted in what sort of character you can make, as long as you follow the rules of Volition. 

Once the Google Form is completed and submitted, let Chris know and he will import your character to Kanka. In addition to the starting skills and gear for all Volition characters, you will start at level 1 in the Fatebound Reputation skill with a Fatebound Ring, granting you transportation to and from the The Eternal Instant. You will then need to create an account in Kanka, and write your first quest. Once this is done, you are all ready to go! The last step is to join a party preparing to embark on a quest, or organize your own quest!

For anyone to play Endeavors of Empathy, some player needs to organize a quest. First, click “Available Quests” on the left side of Kanka to view the quest board. Find a quest that seems exciting to both you and your character. Think about what you will need to do to accomplish the quest, where you will need to go, what resources you will need, and most importantly, who should go with you. Feel free to browse other player characters on Kanka to see their skills and personalities. Then, you'll need to choose one of the three types of sessions below:

• In-Person: The session will take place at Chris's house. All players must be willing and able to participate in person. Bring either a cell phone or a laptop for accessing your character sheet, but Chris will provide everything else that is needed (battle map, minis, dice, etc). However, it is highly appreciated if you bring your own, or if you bring your own food/snacks/drinks to share with the others!
• Online: This session will take place in Discord voice chat. Make sure every player has a good internet connection, a webcam, and a microphone. Depending on the nature of the quest, Chris might be using a virtual battle map, or might not. 
• Play-by-Post: This method is best suited for smaller parties with long-term, simple quests, such as research in a city or general exploration of a large area, where few dice rolls are involved. Chris will create a dedicated Discord text channel, where the party will describe in messages what their characters are doing, and Chris will respond with the results of their actions.

Once you've chosen a quest and type, invite other players to join you. All must agree to the same method, and all characters must be willing to assist with this goal. Single-player quests are permitted, but the ideal amount is 3 to 5 players. Parties larger than 6 players are not allowed. If this is not your first quest, it must include at least two characters that were not included in your previous one. This rule is to simply give everyone who wants it a chance to play and to prevent separated cliques from forming within the Fatebound, and only applies to the quest organizer. 

If not play-by-post, work together to coordinate 4-6 hours that are more than 1 week in the future, available for everyone in the party, and are open on Chris's calendar (you may need to request access to view this). The first games will not be until after August 1. Once you have a party and a time, then you can contact Chris, who will then begin prepping your quest. But you aren't done yet! Talk to your party, plan out what you want to do to complete your quest, and review notes from other quests as you prepare to enter Eochora. If it is a play-by-post quest, let Chris know, and you can start playing right away!

Once Chris has confirmed the quest is all set, he will grant you a Token of Empathy, which you can use even before the quest begins.

A quest begins with everyone in the party using their Fatebound Ring to teleport from The Eternal Instant to Western Eochora, arriving in a location of the GM's choice. Quests will never take place in the Eternal Instant, as that is a safe hub for player characters to perform downtime activities and share information and resources. Eochora is where the action happens, and every quest will take place there (or in another plane of existence). Where you end up, what you do, and how things resolve are entirely dependent on the nature of the quest! But you can expect to at least earn some experience points, learn more about Eochora, find valuable and powerful items, develop friendships with the other player characters, face intense challenges, and leave Eochora better than you found it. 

 If a quest lasts more than 1 session, even if the party doesn't return to the Eternal Instant between sessions, don't worry too much about keeping exactly the same party. If a player in the first session can't make the second, then their Fatebound Ring malfunctioned and automatically teleported them back to The Eternal Instant. Feel free to find a replacement player, who will be magically teleported to your party, or just continue on with one less player. It's better to keep playing and keep the story moving than wait weeks and weeks for a day that everyone is available.

A quest is completed once you have completed the objectives described in the quest, and the entire party has returned to The Eternal Instant. Returning is fairly simple. You must be in an outdoor area and have 8 hours or so at night to find the proper star so that the whole party can use their Fatebound Rings to return. Once the quest is completed, the party will receive the following benefits, in addition to any bonuses described in the quest.

• 1 Token of Empathy to each player for each session of the quest
• The benefits of Recuperation

The beauty of a West Marches-style campaign is that there are plenty of ways to be involved even when not in a quest! Below are some of the best ways to participate, each of which will earn you a Token of Empathy upon completion:

• Organize a quest.
• Write a recap of a single session you recently finished and post it in Kanka.
• Write a skill, flaw, NPC, item, or artifact for the Volition System, and have Chris approve it and add it to the system.
• Write a piece of lore about anything in Eochora, and have Chris approve it and add it to Kanka.
• Write a new quest and add it to Kanka.
• Buy/create a mini for your character and use it in an in-person session.
• Plan/bring food for an in-person session.
• Create/commission a piece of art/music based on something (even just a player character) in Eochora.
• Invite a new player to Endeavors of Empathy and have them participate in at least one quest
• GM a session yourself.

You can also perform the below activities, which provide benefits in their own right:

• Spend your Tokens of Empathy, as described in the item, as long as your player character is currently at The Eternal Instant
• Spend your gold on any item in Volition, as long as your player character is currently at The Eternal Instant
• Talk to other players in the Discord server about thoughts and ideas for the ongoing events in Eochora.
• Review notes and lore in Kanka to inspire new ideas about your character and potential quests.

For those of you in my Secret Swords campaign, that will not be impacted whatsoever. We will continue to play at our normal times using D&D 5e, and I expect it to continue for many more months, if not years. However, events that happen in Secret Swords and Endeavors of Empathy are both canon to Eochora, so you might come across members of the Fatebound and they might see the results of the actions of the Secret Swords in their quests. Feel free to play in both campaigns, and rest assured I'll never cancel a Secret Swords session to accommodate an Endeavors of Empathy session.