News Roundup: Avantris Entertainment Seeks to "Soar" With Neon Odyssey Sci-Fi D&D Campaign

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Today, I am VERY excited to feature an EXCLUSIVE interview with Avantris Entertainment about Neon Odyssey, their upcoming sci-fi D&D 5e supplement that launches this week!

Interview: Avantris Entertainment Goes Full Space Opera in Neon Odyssey, the follow-up to the Successful D&D Horror Campaign Crooked Moon

Avantris Entertainment is, in many ways, one of the less-discussed successes in the TTRPG campaign. Originally an AP of friends at the table, their YouTube channel saw its subscriptions surge in the last few years thanks to their campaigns and an extensive series of animated shorts featuring ridiculous moments from the games. Avantris later crowdfunded The Crooked Moon, a horror Kickstarter campaign that raised $4 million in 2023 and has seen outstanding support in the TTRPG community to date.

Now the group is shifting themes and releasing Neon Odyssey, a space-opera-meets-80s-sci-fi epic. Based on a similar setting that Avantris ran on their channel, Neon Odyssey will include three new books as opposed to Crooked Moon’s one. The game has strong Starfinder influence, in that it creates its own setting using D&D rules but reflavours them for a more sci-fi setting, including the transformation of traditional D&D classes into sci-fi-flavored ones. Warlocks will be “Cryptists,” Bards are “Icons”, Barbarians are “Juggernauts,” etc.

TTRPG Insider spoke with Avantris Entertainment co-founder and head of Creative and Marketing, Mikey Gilder, about the story behind Neon Odyssey and what they hope to do with this new campaign.

1. What's the story behind Neon Odyssey? What inspired the decision to go from a local horror campaign to a galactic-themed Fifth Edition game?
   A: After spending over three years immersed in folk horror, we really wanted to pivot to a theme that was effectively the opposite. With the state of things right now, we all are craving spiritual fuel with bright horizons of infinite possibility and feeling nostalgic for the things that bring us joy. That sort of energy is what we’re bringing to Neon Odyssey, and we think space opera is the perfect genre for that.

2. How much of the game is original content, and how much of it is drawing from the various seasons set in Neon Odyssey's various campaigns?
   A: What’s going into Neon Odyssey was all determined first, and the various campaigns we are playing that take place in the setting are drawing from what was already determined. We want to make sure that there is a wealth of themes and tools that players can utilize, but fans of Avantris content will find fun Easter Eggs and nods to our various campaigns throughout.

3. How will this project compare to Crooked Moon in regards to new lore, art, and the work since it is multiple volumes?
   A: We have never been known to have restraint. While the Crooked Moon was absolutely massive, and we crammed as much as we possibly could into it while still keeping it one book, with Neon Odyssey we’re upping the stakes even more. The scope and scale of the trilogy is very ambitious, and we want to hand tables enough tools to have years of space opera campaigns.

4. How is Avantris Entertainment approaching Neon Odyssey differently in comparison to Crooked Moon?
   A: When we first launched the Crooked Moon Kickstarter, despite the tons of research we did, we really knew nothing about the game publishing industry. In the years since, we’ve learned lifetimes of (often extremely painful) lessons from writing, manufacturing, and fulfilling the Crooked Moon, and we’re applying all of those learnings to Neon Odyssey, with a team that we’ve built with the lessons we’ve learned.

5. How will this compare to traditional Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons? Is it a reflavoring of traditional D&D classes and features, or is it more like the relationship of Starfinder to Pathfinder, where there are new classes and traits to build around?
   A: This is very much a D&D project. We love D&D, and we want it to feel familiar and easy to pick up if you’ve been playing 5e/5.5e. We’re striking a balance between reflavoring / “reskinning” and also developing new, optional systems to add to your game to increase the space opera immersion to the
   level your gaming table wants.

6. Why should people play this sci-fi game over others?
   A: We hope people enjoy our approach to science fiction TTRPG, particularly the blend of science fantasy and nostalgic influence we’re injecting into it. We have a great team making it, and there will be so many species, subclasses, and other options that we think there will be something for everyone to
   live their ultimate space opera adventure.

7. What's something that you (or the Avantris team) is most excited about fans finding in this new book?
   A: While we’re super excited about everything in Neon Odyssey, the super flashy stuff is always the subclasses and species, along with our class skins and the new machinist class. We want people’s imaginations to go wild with character concepts.

Neon Odyssey Preview: The Shorgath

Avantris Entertainment was kind enough to share a short preview of a monster block from Neon Odyssey.

A horrific fleshy amalgamation of countless members of the galaxy’s fishlike elder race after a planet-wide catastrophe turned them into a soupy mixture.

“This is a gargantuan aberration that is a legendary “boss” monster that serves as an enormous and terrifying “The Blob’ like monster with tons of body horror and cosmic horror,” Avantris told TTRPG Insider. “It can consume its victims and turn them into shrieking fleshy masses like the countless beings that fused to form the Shorgath. It also can warp space around it and gibber maddeningly.”

“It’s not often that you find a gibbering fleshy horror archetype that is absolutely enormous and a super-powerful boss monster, so we wanted to have one that represented possibly a near-global catastrophe,” they added. “Basically, it’s the Lovecraftian Shoggoth meets the Third Impact from Evangelion, and we think that is pretty awful in the best way.”

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Wizards of the Coast Union Faces Pressure from Hasbro

I don’t have a ton to add on these, but I do think they are particularly of interest to our readers. United Wizards of the Coast is a newly formed union established this week by employees involved in the creation of Magic: The Gathering Arena. They formed to push back against the growing support for AI tools at Hasbro, but are facing pushback from WOTC leadership.

I highly recommend Rascal News’ reporting, which is staying on top of this story.

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