Prep time. Don’t feel pressured by those who tell you to prep your sessions in 30 minutes or rely on random encounters as you go. If deep prep allows you to confidently GM, then don’t feel bad about it. What you don’t use can be recycled and has value as it adds to the coherence of your setting.

In the early stages of a campaign, go easy on lore. Most players will not take it all in and it can even be off-putting. Drip-feed it as they pursue storylines. This will add to the sensation of exploration. Before long, these ‘lore-branches’ will intertwine and a more complete picture will appear.

Maintaining a moodboard. This could be shared with your players via Discord. This will help you maintain the flavour and texture of your setting for your players whilst reminding yourself what you’re all about. 17th century woodcuts feature heavily in mine.

What I know about running a West Marches-style game. Flavour is important. Establish your setting before doing anything else. I chose a version of early 1600s Europe. No one is clunking around in chainmail. I wanted ‘real world’ faiths; Christianity is ascendant but the pagan gods linger.