New Sci-Fi D&D Adventure Launches on Kickstarter, Surges to $3.7 Million in First Day

Avantris Entertainment is on track to surpass its previous Kickstarter achievement. The Dungeons & Dragons actual play group raised an impressive $4 million in 2023 for its folk-horror adventure, The Crooked Moon.

Their latest venture, Neon Odyssey, is a space opera trilogy designed for D&D using the 5e system, described as “Star Wars meets Cowboy Bebop with a synthwave twist.” After launching on Tuesday morning, the campaign quickly overwhelmed the Kickstarter platform, obliterating its $60,000 goal in under 30 minutes and soaring to $3.68 million within hours, with 29 days still remaining.

This explosive start positions Neon Odyssey to potentially become one of the largest third-party D&D crowdfunding campaigns ever, highlighting the growing demand for high-quality, system-expanding content in the 5e landscape.

“Drawing inspiration from iconic sci-fi films, retro video games, classic animation, and synthwave nostalgia, Neon Odyssey equips players and Game Masters with everything they need to forge their own cosmic journeys. This includes a vibrant campaign setting, cinematic space battles, new player options, alien creatures, bizarre worlds, bounty hunts, starships, factions, and thrilling cosmic adventures,” the company stated in a press release. The trilogy also introduces a unique space combat system, vehicle rules, and a new Machinist class, while reimagining existing classes for a sci-fi context. Additionally, it offers over 40 subclasses for current D&D classes and more than 30 distinct species.

A three-minute hype trailer released in February has already garnered over 1.7 million views on YouTube. Created in a retro animation style by Brazen Animation and geologiq, it features characters reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop’s main cast. The trailer also doubles as a music video for the catchy track “Among the Stars” by Max Cruise, featuring Ollie Wride and Nikki Flores, with lyrics that resonate: “Out among the stars, that’s where you’ll find me / With starlight in your eyes, you set the world on fire / Come join me on this neon odyssey.”

The trilogy consists of three books: the Outrunner’s Handbook, which focuses on characters and rules; the Cosmic Codex, detailing the primary setting for the Stardust Rhapsody campaign, complete with a bestiary and magical item index; and the Overdrive Expansion, which adds further details to the other two books, including optional advanced rules.

The Neon Odyssey Kickstarter campaign is set to conclude on June 3 at 11:59 p.m. ET.