RosstoFalstaff:
So perhaps limit it to one small group (four) people to start and then go out from there?
Should I allow players to have multiple characters (but not both at once in one group) at later times?
Should I try to keep everyone roughly the same level or allow level discrepancies to crop up?
Should I have a roster of npcs to fill holes in parties if the numbers only work out to three people being interested in an adventure?
What is the most advisable level of work to put in? Is really fleshing out the core town important or should that be left to a ways in the future to see what the players want out of the town first? I'm a fairly deft hand at improvisation so I'm leaning towards adapting but I don't want the world to see boring and empty.
1: I started with three groups (two with six players, one with four), but the number you start with is however many you feel like you can handle. Best to dip your toes in before trying a dive.
2: This is a surprisingly tough question. I allow multiple characters, but have a cap on it. In my experience, if I were to start all over tomorrow, I would limit it to two or three character total. Players tend to spread their attention thin if they gather too many characters, or stop caring as much as 'I always have the other four if this one dies'. You're right to keep multiple characters away from each other, though.
3: If you keep everyone together, the game will feel much more on-the-rails. Level discrepancies are perfectly fine to have; the lower levels will reach an acceptable point before hitting something that would threaten their 'big brother' as it were.
4: No. The focus of a West Marches game is on the PCs. If three people want to go out together, let them. It's their choice and their consequences. Hiring mercenaries or trained individuals (NPCs) to join your expedition should only be done if necessary.
5: The town can be left alone for a fair while. I only started with a tavern and a general store, and that's plenty. Intentionally leave the town bare-bones, and let returning PCs build it up as they wish. Maybe the cleric spends some of his share of the dragon's horde to build a temple to his God. Maybe the fighter wants to build a rudimentary gym to train at in-between adventures. Let the PCs fill in the town with small locations like that. Only focus on the major ones (stores, the tavern, one or two major locations).
Smoot:
Frankly, the GMs went out of their way to make the local authority figures really ass- which I can see the logic of. But if you don't want PCs dreaming of showing them up, deposing them or winning them over, but out in the world, "bland" is probably the better way to go. The original WM articles, sfaict, just had 'town' be the place where adventure isn't happening, not an adventure in and of itself.
I think I know of the game you're talking about, and I agree with you. The NPCs should never be jerks unless necessary for something in the future (IE: the merchant who always ramps up his prices turns out to be robbing graves, or something). Not all NPCs need to be bland, though. They can have personalities; just don't make them the focus of the game.
DaCuseFrog:
And also remember that between OOC threads and the party meet-and-greet, a person can reach 50 posts fairly quickly. That's not to discourage using that as a number; most of the West Marches I've been in on here use that as a baseline. I'm just saying don't be surprised if people are requesting their second character only halfway through their first adventure.
That number of 50 posts? I've seen three other games that used it, and they all grabbed it from me (with my blessing, mind). To be honest, when I started, I just made that number up. Figured it was a good number. Nowadays, I would go more with 100 posts. That counts OOC, as well. The post requirement was meant to make sure they weren't just going to disappear the next day; 50 posts tends to take a while to get. 100 would likely be better, in my eyes, as I've seen some players reach that 50 mark really fast (thanks to OOC). Individually counting their IC and OOC posts to tell how close to 50 they're really at is far too much work and too time-consuming. Just setting the number higher is easier and gets the same result.