The new campaign by Critical Role is happening for the first time in a completely different style

Campaigns in Dungeons & Dragons are never the same yet follow similar patterns. However, there is another, slightly different type of campaign that is now also utilized by one of the most famous groups in the game.

The Player’s Handbook (2024) describes a campaign in Dungeons & Dragons as follows:

A campaign is a series of adventures with a fixed group of adventurers that follows a narrative. Some campaigns are episodic. The adventures are their own stories, essentially connected only by the player characters. Others contain complex overarching plots, a selection of recurring NPCs, and themes that span multiple adventures culminating in a final climax.

And this is how campaigns are generally set up – A group of adventurers embarks on a journey filled with various small to immense challenges to overcome. Ideally, this results in an adventure where not only do the characters grow, but an exciting story is also told.

This is how one of the most famous groups has made its mark in Dungeons & Dragons. We are talking about “Critical Role,” which has streamed its first three main campaigns in this style on Twitch and YouTube – until now.

Today, on October 2, 2025, the fourth main campaign of Critical Role starts, which will utilize a new campaign style with new and familiar faces, and a new Game Master, which we have not seen in Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein, and Bells Hells: A campaign in the so-called “West Marches” style.

Here you can see the trailer for the animated series adaptation of the second main campaign of Critical Role, The Mighty Nein on Amazon Prime:

The Mighty Nein – First Sneak Peek of the New Fantasy Series on Amazon Prime

Autoplay

What distinguishes a West Marches campaign from a “regular” campaign?

A West Marches campaign involves a different approach than a typical D&D campaign, which follows a linear plot line responsible for character and story development. The adventures do not travel through various locations and civilizations to get from plot point A to plot point B.

In a West Marches campaign, there is less of a clear narrative and more of a central location that is considered a safe starting point for the adventurers. From this location, the adventures embark on different missions that lead them into the surrounding area. At the end of the missions, they return to the starting point to begin the next adventure.

Metaphorically, one can think of a West Marches campaign as akin to an open-world game with a safe base and distributed side missions, while a regular campaign is often regarded as more linear and story-heavy.

This method allows each session to look very different from the previous one due to the absence of a plot line that binds the players and locations together, without having to ruin a story.

Quests can be started spontaneously, regardless of which players and at any time. And it is from this problem-solving that the campaign style ultimately emerged.

Where does the West Marches campaign style come from?

The creator of this style is game designer Ben Robbins, who adjusted the regular flow of a typical campaign to better suit his players. He reported on his blog in 2007 that he created a campaign for a total of 14 players and made corresponding adjustments:

There was no fixed schedule. Each session was planned spontaneously by the players.
There was no fixed group: Each session consisted of different players that could come together from his 14 participants.
There was no fixed plot, but an overarching environment.

The overarching environment Robbins mentions in his blog post is the namesake border region where the campaign was set – “West Marches.” And the campaign style carries this name to this day.

Advantages and disadvantages of a West Marches campaign

In the case of a West Marches campaign, its advantages are also simultaneously its own disadvantages.

Advantages:

Enormous flexibility (in the campaign and the planning of sessions): This can be especially beneficial for adult players due to work hours and schedules.
More players can be part of the campaign since not everyone needs to be present at every session and can still be part of the world.
A lot of freedom of choice as there are no set plot points from the Game Master.

Disadvantages:

Players at the table as well as their characters can not grow together as strongly as a well-knit group over many sessions.
Less potential for character growth and individual personal storylines that include the backstory of a character.
Less focus on deep storytelling since many smaller missions are in focus.

Why might this style suit the new campaign of Critical Role?

Given the new number of players, which has increased from 7 players and 1 DM (Dungeon Master) in Dungeons & Dragons to 13 players and 1 DM, the West Marches style is suitable to prevent overloaded sessions. The players will, as already announced, be split into three subgroups (the “Soldiers”, the “Planners”, and the “Seekers”), all of whom will be a part of the new world.

And the new world is already the next point: The fourth campaign is set in “Aramán”, a completely new place and not in “Exandria”, which has already been explored in campaigns 1 to 3. Through the West Marches style, many different locations of Aramán will be unveiled in the individual missions to expand the world further.

More about Critical Role