I've been listening to all the actual play podcasts from Legends of Avantris related to their Neon Odyssey project to bring space opera to D&D 5.5e. Stardust Rhapsody: Overture was often silly smashing up with galaxy-shaking drama. It didn't always work, but I enjoyed the experience of listening to the campaign.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZsrxxME7K30p3DnoQMLoPTyJSwTyRbDs&si=kWDzGhXwpSCchPPc

#NeonOdyssey

I've been catching up on all the campaigns that Legends of Avantris have 'cast and Waltz for Eternity has stuck with me. It's mechs in space with heart, but it's more than just that. It's a good introduction to what they're doing with Neon Odyssey and has the third-best theme song from that project.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JKfed349hjI&list=PLZsrxxME7K30hIkaDuNgqXSx2tdnFVZ_E&pp=0gcJCUACo7VqN5tD

#NeonOdyssey #LegendsOfAvantris

God this is just... so good! Like I don't even really play 5e anymore because my group loves Draw Steel so much but this setting!

#NeonOdyssey
https://youtu.be/JOGdEIaa_V4

There's a new 5E setting/adventure on Kickstarter. It's heavily inspired by Cowboy Bebop, with some Star Wars and other influences thrown in. Even if you don't play D&D, the five-minute video is worth a watch.

(In fact, I doubt they could have made the video for less than the "target" funding amount.)

https://www.polygon.com/neon-odyssey-dnd-sci-fi-kickstarter-launch/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey

#dnd #NeonOdyssey

This week, among other little bits to boost and share, I chronicled my daily comics reading in the aftermath of Free Comic Book Day.

The Free Comic Book Day issue of Dungeon Crawler Carl was my first experience of the series. I wasn’t won over, as the main character seemed a bit mean-spirited and the treatment of his ex stunk of misogyny. The art was fine, and it’s well constructed as a comic but it’s not for me.

Tonight my bedtime reading was Mega Man Showdown Special, one of the FCBD issues I picked up Saturday. It’s a snappy, light little adventure comic with a Battle Network backup that’s equally light. It’s a fun kids’ comic that is as accessible as anything Mega Man can be.

I’ve read quite a lot of Conan, and was looking forward to reading the FCBD offering The Cimmerian: Xuthal Of The Dusk, which adapts the first part of the short story “Xuthal Of The Dusk”. It’s a brutal take on the Robert E. Howard original that doesn’t allow any squeamishness and leans into some of the more disturbing aspects of the character.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Inanna’s Free Comic Book Day issue. The setup is a classic god becomes a contemporary super hero story, and the tropes are thick in this introduction. Maybe there’s more novelty and fun in the larger story, but as much as I wanted to love this, it fell flat.

It has been fun watching the success of Neon Odyssey since its Kickstarter launched. This explainer video outlines ethos and appeal of the project to bring nostalgic space fantasy to D&D 5.5e.

https://youtu.be/3iAKOgt0CF0?si=SJ3CwfkP_c1X4GBd

Last night my bedtime comic was Flash Gordon’s Free Comic Book Day issue. I haven’t experienced a lot of Flash Gordon comics, but I found this was a fun space adventure and I’d be open to more.

I haven’t read any Mind MGMT before this Free Comic Book Day split issue. I enjoyed how it played with the comics form but the rough art was hard to digest. Fort Psycho was a more straightforward story with more conventional art and it was fine.

We started the day at Halifax Central Library for Saturday Morning Cartoons. The free event was run by The Animation Festival of Halifax (AFX) and featured locally animated cartoons. They served breakfast for the kids and Celestine had a great time.

PakaPaka was the highlight show.

Journey to the West was definitely the highlight of my Free Comic Book Day haul from last weekend. It’s a fun take on the classic story and Jim Zub’s English script works very well, even if the anachronistic mention of potatoes was a distraction.

It has been fun watching the success of Neon Odyssey since its Kickstarter launched. This explainer video outlines ethos and appeal of the project to bring nostalgic space fantasy to D&D 5.5e.

https://youtu.be/3iAKOgt0CF0?si=SJ3CwfkP_c1X4GBd

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey

#NeonOdyssey

This week I had my eye on some wonderful bits of fun, in games and comics, and found some bits of hope to boost.

I saw Neon Odyssey pop up on my feed a couple weeks ago. It looked like a neat retro-futuristic TTRPG, just my sort of thing. So I looked into it.

It’s 5.5E D&D reskinned for space opera, science fantasy play with a neon-drenched aesthetic. I was in.

The species are new but some riff on classics and classes reskin all the classes from the player’s handbook with one original class.

There are seriously high production values and a no AI commitment.

What I didn’t expect from Neon Odyssey was a killer theme song.

The folks behind the project commissioned songs by Max Cruise and “Among the Stars” is an astounding earworm. I can’t stop listening to it.

Celestine even got into it and plays it now and then without my prompting.

https://youtu.be/d3aq0uLNB6Y?si=zTnOcDhkwZgYsVds

I wasn’t familiar with Legends of Avantris before learning about their Neon Odyssey project, but now I’m at least a dozen hours into their actual play videos and will be diving into their backlog podcasts. It’s really fun D&D.

https://youtu.be/7FbTEHv_Ng4?si=1V4kzlYV7jmfOcSW

https://youtu.be/7vcNwWDA-BE?si=6ipc4JZFsyEeVzpF

After a long year of adversity, Zombies, Run! will be launching new, beginner-friendly missions again in a 8-part story next week.

I’ve loved running with the app for more than a decade and I’m thrilled to see it starting up again under the leadership and ownership of its writer, Naomi Alderman.

If you haven’t experienced it yet, I can’t recommend Zombies, Run! highly enough. It has kept me running consistently for years.

How fitting that my paper cutter matches the HeroQuest character sheets I used it to cut out of card stock.

Here in Canada (and the U.S.) it’s Free Comic Book Day/Comics Giveaway Day. Your local comic shops are probably giving away free comics and having sales.

If your shops are like those here in Halifax, they’re run by people who love comics and games and provide important access to both in our communities. Stopping in today is a great way to discover comics and support the people who bring them to our communities.

Celestine and I stopped in for Free Comic Book Day at Monster Comic Lounge and Strange Adventures. She was happy with the comics she brought home and is excited to go again next year.

Mia Johnson is kickstarting Tallest Tower, a solo, D&D 5e-compatible adventure that can be played as a standalone experience without D&D knowledge. Her work on Lost in the Dark with Limitless Adventures made backing this project an easy choice.

She also released free stat blocks for two NPCs from the book to get a sense of her design approach.