Whispers of the Nexus - A West Marches Campaign and Setting

A tale as old as time...

Your group can't meet consistently. Campaigns stall, players get apathetic or disappear entirely. Stories wither and die halfway through. 

Stories that you care about, with real time and energy invested. Stories you spent weeks, months, or even years fleshing out. Stories you loved for real.

It's a tragedy, and it's happening at tables all over the world.

I built Whispers of the Nexus to fix it.
 

Okay, what is Whispers?

Whispers of the Nexus was designed for the inconsistency that kills other campaigns. 

It is a West Marches-lite campaign set in Eldrathia, a realm of wild frontiers hiding magical confluences within overgrown ruins. It is the endpoint for many unexplained portals across the multiverse, making the setting extremely versatile for the players and the GM. 

How It Works at the Table

Episodic format: Each session is a self-contained story, beginning and ending at the hub. One-shots fit in nicely because, for all intents and purposes, every session is a one-shot.

No more retconning required: Since every session is a one-shot and because of the multiversal nature of the setting, all one-shots can be canon and you can include anything you want in your games - we did the K'Chain Che'Malle from Malazan and it wasn't a problem for continuity.

Player-driven engagement: Players are not included in a session by default, they sign up to join. If a player wants to sit out, their character simply hangs out in the hub while the others go out on their excursion. This makes it easy for players to take turns as the GM as well.

Designed for 5e but highly adaptable: Easily adapted to work with most systems with minimal GM reworking.
 

What You Get as a Backer

All backers will receive monthly updated digital copies of the work in progress. Upon completion, these will become digital copies of the finished project. They will be downloadable for all backers after the release of the first version in April 2026.

Everyone who funds above the base tier will have their name included in the acknowledgements.

Backers at higher tiers can gain access to a development discord when they can contribute ideas, get more frequent updates, and chat with other supporters of the project. 

If you would like to preorder physical copies, that is an option at a higher tier of backing as well. These will be hardback source books with full cover art. After fulfillment of the campaign, these books will be available to buy publicly at full market price. We will also explore a paperback release at a later date.

Signed copies of the books can be pre-ordered for an additional price. All signed copy purchases will come with limited edition Kickstarter-exclusive stickers based on the books.

Our highest tier of backers will receive Limited Edition prints of the books with alternate cover art and inclusions. There is no limit on the number of Limited Edition orders through this campaign but they are Kickstarter exclusive and will not be available after fulfillment of this campaign. This tier will also receive access to a VIP role in the development discord which will give them more access to the author, including things like Q&A sessions.

ADD-ONS

There will be 10 named characters from the book which I will let backers help name. (limit 1 name per backer)

There will be 500 limited-edition custom dice sets available for purchase (limit 2 sets per backer). These dice will be unavailable for purchase after fulfillment of the campaign.

All physical rewards, including add-ons, will ship as one order per backer in August 2027.
 

Timeline

The exciting part about offering early access to all backers is that deliverables will start rolling in immediately after the end of the campaign. Here's when you can expect to see updates and fulfillment. 

Please note that the timeline is an estimate and subject to change as demands of the project require. 

April 2026 - First release of Work In Progress (WIP) of Whispers. Development Discord Server will start receiving meaningful updates.

Monthly throughout 2026 and 2027 - Continued updates to WIP documents.

July 2026 - Artist fully onboarded and delivering first drafts.

December 2026 - Midway progress review. First draft is finished by this point and editing is in full swing. Update video will be shared in Development Discord. VIPs will have access to Q&A.

March 2027 - Late Backer option closes, all orders are finalized.

July 2027 - Printing and fulfilling all orders.

August 2027 - All orders shipping out.

September 2027 - Whispers will be published for the public to purchase.
 

Why do I want to do this?

For as long as I can remember, fantasy has been my favorite genre. Whether I was watching a movie or television series, reading a novel, or playing a video game, it was likely that I was consuming media that allowed me to experience worlds of magic, whimsy, adventure, and exploration. Tabletop roleplaying games may seem like a natural extension of my passions but it took me until my mid-twenties to discover them.

I dove in head-first and have wasted no time in catching up to the seasoned veterans. Most of my experience as a player or game master is in the 5e system, though I have experimented with others and even created my own one-shot prototypes. Having read much of the official content for the 5e system and several third-party sources besides, I was still left wanting for something a little different than a traditional campaign.

This longing was exacerbated by the fact that my groups constantly fell victim to the classic and universal struggles of scheduling conflicts. I compensated for our downtime between sessions by organizing one-shots and mini campaigns but these methods had their issues, the most glaring being that many of us wanted to play our main character without hurting campaign continuity/canon. After over a year of looking, I finally found the answer: West Marches.

West Marches style campaigns allow the party (or parties) involved to schedule sessions with greater flexibility and even allow for multiple GMs. It presented a workable solution for nearly all my long-standing gripes. There were new issues with West Marches, however: to understand the format fully, I needed to crawl forums, watch videos, and read more than a few articles. I yearned for a comprehensive source book which would explain all that I needed to know about the system and help me easily create a new campaign. I couldn’t find a book that perfectly matched my requirements.

So I decided to write the book, and Whispers of the Nexus was born.
 

How is the project coming along?

Whispers began as a single booklet that would contain a few pages on a setting suggestion, another section with some suggested updates to the 2014 rules 5e system, and some notes on best practices for running a game West Marches style. It was only ever intended to be a homebrew tool for my own game.

Then it became a full book with new mechanics and a bunch of tables. Now it's two books and I'm barely comfortable calling it West Marches, often referring to it with the disclaimers "-lite" or "-inspired." I've also tested the system in the game at my home table and we're having a great time. 

I have a lot of ideas re: how to bring everything together into a beautiful product. I want to work with an artist that will bring the world to life as I never could visually. I want to make special editions of the books, custom dice sets, the whole nine yards, but I can't do it without your help.

What I want is a proof that this concept is viable as a product on the market. If funded, it will be my full focus. I've set the projected delivery date for August 2027 but I honestly think I can get it done much sooner. 

This world has been developed over the last two years alongside full-time work and the needs of a growing family. Funding allows me to complete it at the level of quality it deserves.

So I'm asking you, fellow adventurers, to take a look at some of what I have so far. If you like what you see, please consider backing the campaign. It would enable me to put this project front and center in my life for the next year. I'd finally get to tell this story to the world.

I can't wait to share Whispers of the Nexus with all of you. Thanks for reading.

Isaac
 

A sneak peek at the World

In Whispers, three factions from the Western Lands struggle to gain territory and influence on an unexplored continent across the sea. This "new world," known as The Verdant Expanse, is the former domain of a lost and technologically/magically advanced civilization. The Factions, having recently come to the Expanse, are locked in a struggle to discover the secrets that the land and its ancient ruins hold. 

Players can explore on their own or take jobs from the Factions. Their choices will shape the way that the continent develops: power dynamics within the Faction struggle, development of new outposts, and a greater understanding of what happened to the precursor civilization long ago. 

The Factions

For a taste of what awaits in Eldrathia, here are some concepts and early information about the factions.

I am nobody's artist but I tried my best to give you a peek into my imagination. It is my goal to collaborate with an artist who can do this world justice!

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AETHERIUM DOMINION

The scholars of the Aetherium Dominion make their home on (and in the skies above!) Lorelia, the sub-arctic Northern continent in the West. Here floats the island city Luminaris, powered by a crystalline tower which harness raw magical energies found throughout Eldrathia. This wonder, known as the Nexus Arcanum, is said to be a remnant of an ancient society - the Dominion did not create it, but through intense study they have mastered levitation along with many other advanced magical arts.

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ELDERMYST ENCLAVE

This religious society, ruled by celestials, makes its home on Eldrathia's central continent in the West: Astrendor. It is a land of perpetual light and ethereal beauty, full of sun-soaked valleys bathing in the glow of the Celestial Radiance which lingers mere miles overhead. The Enclave's capital city is Radiant Haven, nestled directly below the Heart of the Radiance. Villages and hamlets dot the surrounding lands, inhabited by a hearty people who enjoy a simple life of deep spirituality and honest trade work.

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UMBRALAND CONFEDERACY

In the South of Eldrathia lies Shadowfen. Rocky highlands give way to murky swamps, dark forests, and blasted tundra. Upon this seemingly inhospitable continent has sprouted a surprisingly sophisticated society. The Umbraland Confederacy has over the centuries become the envy of the world in terms of wealth, power, and (of course) fashion.
 

Due Diligence

Kickstarter requires creators to outline how funds are allocated and to share information about shipping. If you’re curious about the nuts and bolts of bringing this project to life, you can review the breakdown below. 

Cost Breakdown

While these figures are only estimates, here are the costs I predict to be associated with the project.

COSTS
Printing: $28,000
Writing and Editing: $15,000
Artwork: $7,000
Dice: $12,500
Incidentals: $12,500
TOTAL: $75,000

Book Printing: I am estimating a cost of $14 per printed book. If the average backer buys 2 books and we have 1000 backers (this is the minimum to hit funding if all backers buy the $75 tier) then our minimum cost to print the books needed for fulfillment is $28,000. This is before we consider incidentals in the process, the development and printing of special editions, etc.

Writing and Editing: Writing, developing, editing, and system design across a 15-month production cycle.

Art: I intend to hire an artist to collaborate on this project. I don't want to just pay someone a couple hundred dollars on fiverr and be done with it - I am looking for a partner. I plan to work with them for an extended period so I want to make sure they're well compensated.

Dice: Working with a dice manufacturer, I will have 500 sets of custom dice premade for the kickstarter at an estimated minimum cost of $25 per set. These dice will be limited edition - when they're gone, they're gone. ($25*500=$12,500)

Incidentals: I want to set aside about 15% of the budget (16.7% here as projected) to cover incidentals in development and fulfillment. This could include software licensing, unforeseen increases in shipping costs since I am charging shipping up front, extra funds to pay an artist or editor if we need more people, etc.

Shipping

Shipping is charged up front for all project tiers with physical rewards. These are the final shipping costs incurred by backers. Any unforeseen costs will be covered from the incidentals budget. 

Shipping costs vary for worldwide backers based on tier - US shipping ranges $10-15 USD, international ranges $25-40 USD. Please refer to the pricing in the Rewards section for the tier you are interested in.

Shipping estimates are based on USPS (my intended carrier) estimates for 2lb and 4lb packages and include customs estimates for international shipping. Where USPS International is unavailable, I will use UPS or DHL as needed.

All physical rewards, including add-ons, will ship as one order per backer in August 2027.