Mikey Gilder Shares Legends of Avantris’ Journey from Actual Play to Published 5e Adventure

Since they first started recording their gameplay six years ago, Legends of Avantris has amassed a dedicated following in the actual play podcast space. Their adventures follow the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition system, but are set in their own magical world of Avantris. Since leaning into Shorts on YouTube, Legends of Avantris has gained an even greater following, letting them expand into new territory. After a massively successful Kickstarter campaign, the creative team is about to release their first 5e adventure tome, The Crooked Moon. This folk horror adventure is currently available for pre-order, with a planned release this summer.

Recently, ComicBook had the opportunity to talk with Mikey Gilder, the CCO at Avantris Entertainment and Creative Director and Lead Writer for The Crooked Moon. We chatted about the journey from starting an actual play stream to creating a published 5e adventure and more.

Legends of Avantris began with their first campaign back in 2015 when they first started playing their homebrew Prime adventure, but didn’t make their way to livestreams until 2017. From there, the team has created several adventures in Avantris, including a few inspired by pre-written modules like Wild Beyond the Witchlight and the iconic Curse of Strahd. From the beginning, Mikey hoped the team could one day create an adventure of their own, and it has finally become a reality in 2025.

From Actual Play Fan to Creator and Beyond

During our chat, Mikey shared the original inspiration behind starting Legends of Avantris. He first encountered Dungeons & Dragons via a Wizards of the Coast store at his local mall, where he “found the 3rd edition or 3.5 edition Monster Manual” and, when flipping through, thought “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Atlhough he bought the books and read them, Mikey shared that his “12-year-old brain couldn’t figure out how it worked.” So, while Mikey collected D&D books, it wasn’t until watching actual-play from Critical Role that he felt he could “understand how D&D is played” and thought, “I might be able to do this.”

From there, the home game that would eventually become Legends of Avantris was born. Mikey created the Prime campaign and, at first, started playing at home. The team transitioned to live stream through a happy accident, when “two of the people at the table” moved to Brooklyn. To keep playing, they bought cameras and mics so “we could still be at the table and they could be on camera.” From here, the team realized they already had all the equipment they needed to start streaming, which they did, starting with Facebook Live and eventually moving to Twitch and YouTube.

As Mikey shared, the real impetus was “streaming to have an audience to keep us accountable, who would keep us playing D&D.” Since then, Legends of Avantris has slowly grown, and Mikey shared that one of “the coolest things” about having a popular actual play is when they get comments where people say “I started playing D&D because of you guys.” For Mikey, this is how they know they’ve done a good job. “In my opinion,” he says, “tabletop RPGs are the greatest hobby in the world” and helping introduce people to that is part of what keeps Avantris going.

But the actual play podcasts and livestreams aren’t the only way Legends of Avatris is leaving its mark on the TTRPG world. Mikey and his brother Richie have always been interested in making games, but after college realized “we just knew too little and weren’t prepared.” So, they set that dream aside for a while, but once Legend of Avantris started gaining a platform, they decided to invest back into the dream of creating their own TTRPG adventure. In late 2022, they decided to “launch a whole publishing wing to our company” to bring The Crooked Moon to life. With this new project, Mikey and Richie would “make that dream from [their] youth a reality.”

Crafting a 5e TTRPG Adventure with a Folk Horror Flair

Despite having the drive and the dream, Mikey shared that creating The Crooked Moon “ended up being a lot harder than we realized.” The project has gone through a lot of revisions to become the beautiful, folk-horror adventure it is today. One of the biggest challenges, Mikey shared, was “realizing that what works for our table doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.” While writing The Crooked Moon, they had to figure out “how to take what we do or try to have some of that magic that makes us love the game” translate into “stuff that works at any table, or at least many tables.”

Eventually, along with the help of Lead Designer Dan Dylan, the Legends of Avantris team was able to create what they think is “a really good balance of the Avantris take on 5e.” And clearly, the folk horror adventure resonates, as the Kickstarter campaign for The Crooked Moon hit its first goal in just a minute, then soared past several stretch goals to hit over $4 million by the time the campaign ended. This means that, along with the adventure book itself, several supplemental items were developed. This includes a theme-appropriate Tarot deck featuring the same folk horror vibes that the adventure book brings to life.

During our chat, Mikey also shared a sample from one of the minis for The Crooked Moon. One exciting element of the TTRPG adventure is the decision to get “boss miniatures and their minions in a fun, custom colored plastic.” Because Mikey knows not everyone has time to paint minis, he and the Avantris team decided that The Crooked Moon bosses like The Wicker Man should come in colors that are still “a little bit more thematic and immersive,” even if you don’t have time to custom paint them.

With The Crooked Moon coming this summer and several ongoing adventures, Mikey closed our conversation by sharing how projects like Legends of Avantris thrive on “the love of the game and just having fun doing it.” The passion is what kept the team going, almost forgetting the camera was on while enjoying “telling great stories.” For those interested in pursuing their own TTPRG project, Mikey shares it’s important to focus on “realizing that if you have a strong vision and you are very committed to your work and your talent,” then you can bring your good ideas to life with “work ethic and the hustle and the persistence to make it a reality.”

Legends of Avantris streams via Twitch and YouTube, and you can check out their ongoing campaigns at their website. The Crooked Moon is now available for pre-order, with a variety of options from the Core Box, Deluxe Box, and Digital Editions of the book or full bundle.