The Western Horizon
Repository: https://github.com/cdhagmann/western_horizon Live Site: https://cdhagmann.com/the_western_horizon/
A design philosophy for running West Marches campaigns where players drive the story through their goals, the GM generates content responsively, and the world is built collaboratively.
Vault Structure
- OVERVIEW — Full project overview, status, and key decisions
- Sections/ — The main framework document chapters (converted from the Jekyll site)
- Notes/ — Research notes on source systems (Ex Novo, BF&B, Street Magic, etc.)
- Drafts/ — Work-in-progress content and design explorations
- Handouts/ — Player-facing reference materials
- Blog/ — Published and draft blog posts
How This Relates to the Repo
The repo (the_western_horizon/) is the blog and public reference document — the polished, published version.
This vault is the scratch space and working document — where ideas get developed, notes get organized, and drafts get iterated before they’re ready for the site.
The Five Pillars
- Goal-Driven Play — Players bring goals, not reactions to GM hooks
- Responsive Generation — Content created when needed, not before
- Collaborative Authorship — GM as referee and co-author, not primary storyteller
- Canon Integration — Generated content becomes permanent shared knowledge
- Scale & Scope — Different procedures for different scales