I’m running D&D 5e in an original setting that’s built specifically for a West Marches-style campaign, and I wanted to give the players something that might explain why they choose to stay in the frontier city.

The Harrowing Journey is the result of that effort. It’s been used both in a group prelude and as a solo after-the-fact tool, and in both cases the results were useful and entertaining. The rules are not specific to 5th Edition, nor indeed to D&D. All that’s required is a place in your setting where people are much more likely to fall afoul of terrain, elements, and monsters than usual.

As an aside, if a West Marches style campaign sounds like fun to you, why not helps us build one that spans the entire community in the province? You can find a group trying to do just that at Marches on the Rock.

The Harrowing Journey

A Collaborative Storytelling Party Origin Generator

These rules allow your group to create an interesting origin story for their new adventuring party with plenty of seeds for both bonding and conflict.

They were created for use with a West Marches-style setting where return to civilization is difficult or impossible, but they can be adapted to any party which has originated out of an unexpectedly difficult journey.

Rules

Each player creates 3 character outlines. These are their “companions”. They may designate one companion as “Primary”, indicating that is the character they intend to play after the origin story is finished. Doing so will affect how the funnel works (see below). It is recommended that either all players designate a primary, or none do.

If Using Primaries

Several outcomes require choosing two characters, one of whom (the “hero”) will perform an action that relates to another (the “victim”). It is recommended that the “heroes” be the primaries of the current player in these cases, even when the action isn’t heroic. Players may, however, choose to “jump” to a new primary from among their own companions at any time during their turn.

Statuses: Living and Active

Companions start out as both living (ie they are still alive) and active (ie they are still adventurers). Characters may die, in which case they are neither active nor living thereafter. They may also become inactive, meaning they are still living but no longer count as active. The status of each companion determines their eligibility for different situations. 

Playing Out Situations

Each situation provides the outline for a bit of group storytelling. The DM sets things up and then players provide one or two new details to flesh out the situation. These outlines give a minimal structure, but if more detail is desired, narration can be rotated clockwise until everyone agrees to conclude. 

Creating Situations

1. The DM either picks or chooses at random the first player in the order.
2. The first player introduces one of their companions
3. Proceeding in clockwise order, each player introduces one of their companions, 
4. Repeat #3 until all companions have been introduced.
5. The DM then describes the setting into which this large company is journeying, as well as the first day or so of the journey. 
6. The next player in the order rolls against the Situations table.
7. The DM provides a setup for the situation.
8. If the situation involves one character, the player who rolled may choose any living, non-primary character in the company
9. If more than one character needs to be chosen: 
   1. The player who rolled chooses one character from their amongst their own active companions
   2. The player after them chooses any living, non-primary companion in the company
   3. The player who rolled then chooses the roles of the two characters in the situation.
10. Repeat steps 6-8 until each player has 1 character remaining
11. After each situation, any player who has no remaining active companions must take one living, non-primary character in the company as a companion. That character becomes active. If using Primaries, it also becomes the player’s new Primary.

Ending the Journey

When each player has 1 character remaining, the DM takes over again, describing the final leg of the journey.

Situations

Roll	Outcome	Effects	Narration
1	Someone kills someone else	Choose two living characters – one dies	Start with the dead character’s playerConclude with the killer’s player
2	Someone fails an important task, and someone else fails to save them.	Choose one living and one active character. One dies	Start with the failing character’s player.Conclude with the dead character’s player
3	Someone attempts something heroic and falls just short	Choose one living character. That character dies.	Start with the dead character’s player
4	Someone suffers a grievous wound	Choose one active character. They will bear a scar afterwards.	Start with the injured character’s player
5	Someone gives up	Choose one character. They become inactive	Active companions try to change their mindConclude with the character’s player.
6	One character swears off of adventuring	Choose one character. They become inactive	Each active companion may ask a favourConclude with the retiring character’s player
7	Someone invokes the power of the gods and gets more than they bargained for	Choose one character. That character invokes one or more gods to overcome mortal danger, but is transformed. They are no longer active	Start with the invoking characterEach other player adds detailDM provides details of the transformation
8	One character sacrifices themself to get everyone else through an otherwise impossible moment	Choose one character. That character is no longer living.	Other players tell of their failed attemptsConclude with the dead character’s player
9	Someone saves someone else in the nick of time	Choose two characters. The first nearly dies, but the second saves them	Start with the dead character’s playerConclude with the savior’s player
10	The entire group pulls together in a crisis	Everyone survives something difficult and/or terrible.	Start with the current player.Each character provides a one-sentence description of their contribution.Final character narrates their success.