[REDACTED] game project revealed!

Today is the beginning of Darrington Press’ Daggerheart open beta playtest! <link href=”https://www.daggerheart.com/>” replace=”” to=””/>https://www.daggerheart.com/>

And, with the release of these materials, I can now say that I have been consulting for Darrington Press as a designer on the game! It’s been so hard keeping this under wraps, especially since it represents a big development in my game design career.

2022 – self-published The Only Logical Solution is Hijinx (one-page RPG), working on the Genrenauts RPG
2023 – working on the Genrenauts RPG, short consulting job on Candela Obscura
2024 – multi-month contract as a game designer on Daggerheart


It’s been an amazing experience working with the Daggerheart team, and I’ve had the chance to apply and refine my game design skills and delighted in how much my existing writing skills apply over to the world of ttrpgs. 

If you’ve been curious about Daggerheart, or if you like the story-forward kinds of ttrpgs I talk about and tend to GM, I’d strongly encourage you to take a look at these playtest documents and give the game a try. You can get started with this video made by the Critical Role/Darrington Press team and tonight (Tuesday) there will be a live one-shot of Daggerheart at twitch.tv/criticalrole.

Game Design Era

I haven’t posted here in a while, so I wanted to provide a short update for folks that don’t visit my Patreon, which is updated much more frequently.

Since May of last year, I’ve been much more active in ttrpg game design. I was a design consultant and provided additional writing for the Darrington Press game Candela Obscura, a supernatural investigation game using their Illuminated Worlds system. I did more consulting from October through February, but the NDA means I can’t talk about it until it’s out in the world. But rest assured that once I am allowed to talk about it, you won’t be able to get me to stop. 😛

In other news, I stepped down from being a co-host of Speculate in January, after helping make the show for many years. In my last year co-hosting, our show Valloward, which I produced and GMed, was an official selection at five web festivals, including the New Jersey Web Festival, currently the premiere festival for actual play. You can read more on my departure from Speculate here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-news-from-96627620

The Pitman Sculpture, an Apocalypse Keys miniseries, is the last show we completed while I was still a co-host. You can listen to the complete miniseries at speculatesf.com now or on your podcast app of choice.

Nebula Conference 2023 Schedule

I’m heading out tomorrow for my first in-person SFF book convention since ConFusion in 2020 – a cross-country trip to Anaheim, CA for the 2023 Nebula Awards Conference. I’m very excited to reconnect with colleagues, talk shop on panels, learn from colleagues, and to meet people new to the field and/or SFWA.

I’m participating in three panels, two on Sat and one on Sunday. All times PDT. Virtual-only memberships are available, and the Control Your Book Promotion panel will be streamed. More info at https://events.sfwa.org/

Saturday, May 13th

1:30 pm – Power and Politics in Worldbuilding
2:30 pm – I’ll be signing at autographing table A for almost a half-our before…
3:00 pm – Unionize Publishing

Sunday, May 14th

1:30 pm Control Your Book Promotion

Promotional card for Power and Politics in Worldbuilding panel. Purple background with a divine figure and a stylized image of space.
Promotional card for Unionize Publishing panel. Purple background with a divine figure and a stylized image of space.
Promotional card for Control Your Book Promotion Panel. Purple background with a divine figure and a stylized image of space.

Speculate Marathon + Fundraiser Nov 12th

Speculate Marathon Schedule graphic

Hi folks! I haven’t been very active on this feed, mostly because I’ve just now started returning to in-person cons and I’ve been hard at work on writing without as much news to announce.

But now I have news!

If you’re a long-time viewer or fan, you know that I co-host an actual play show called Speculate with my friends Gregory A. Wilson and Brandon O’Brien. We’ve played games from D&D to Blades in the Dark, Girl by Moonlight, and more. We’ve been making actual play shows for several years, we love making these shows, and want to make more!

Which brings me to the news. We’re going to be streaming an all-day event on Saturday, November 12th, starting at 3pm EST at Twitch.tv/Arvaneleron

We’ll be bringing you several segments of gaming fun, with the hope that you’ll get excited about what we do and help us to be able to do even more. We’re very proud of the work we do, but it’s resource-intensive, not just in time, but in costs – games, tech, paying for audio editing (worth every penny), and more. Right now, our primary pain point is resources.

Our goal is to be able to release episodes more regularly, going weekly for at least a couple of months, with some other options if we reach higher levels, things like a website refresh, some new tech for regular cast members, and new shows/programming.

Here’s a rundown of our schedule! All times EST

3pm – Greg is running a D&D one-shot from Critical Crafting with Skiffy & Fanty show cast members Shaun Duke, Paul Weimer, and Trish Matson!

6:30 pm – Brandon, Greg, and Iwill dive into the world of Destiny 2, a game renowned for good shooting and interesting but largely underused lore. We’re excited to talk about the world and storytelling techniques Destiny is now utilizing to put the story more directly into the gameplay.

9pm – The Strange Friends Crew (as seen in The Case of the Cindered Seal and Fractal Spire) will be playing a one-shot of Blades in the Dark as we’ve done for Worldbuilders and other special events, but this time, with a major twist! We’ll be playing in Faerun’s famed city of Waterdeep in an adventure GMed by Iori Kusano!

Throughout the fundraiser, we’ll have special incentives for large donations, highlights/greatest hits reels from our shows to run during the breaks, and more!

So please mark your calendars and get excited about an entire day of storytelling awesomeness as we work to take Speculate to the next level!

Hexomancy returns!

Hexomancy, the third and final book in the series, is back out today in a new edition (lightly revised) with a new cover. 

Cover for Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood. 
Text reads "Hugo Award Finalist Michael R. Underwood - Hexomancy - Ree Reyes Book Three" A slim Latina holding magic-powered dice and a sword stands in front of a middle-aged white man with a salt-and-pepper beard wearing a brown trench coat and holding a science fiction-looking ray gun
Cover for Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood.
Text reads “Hugo Award Finalist Michael R. Underwood – Hexomancy – Ree Reyes Book Three” A slim Latina holding magic-powered dice and a sword stands in front of a middle-aged white man with a salt-and-pepper beard wearing a brown trench coat and holding a science fiction-looking ray gun.

Ree Reyes has been fighting to protect her town for a couple years now, using her Geekomancy to draw on her love of superheroes, movies, comics, and more.

When Ree’s long-time nemesis Lucretia is finally brought to trial and found guilty for the deadly attack on Grognard’s, the Geekomancer community breathes a collective sigh of relief. But Ree and her crew soon discover that Lucretia has three very angry, very dangerous sisters who won’t rest until Eastwood—a fellow Geekomancer—is killed.

Ree agrees to serve as Eastwood’s bodyguard, despite their rocky relationship. Along the way, she’ll have to face a gauntlet of foes, hexes, curses. Plus the growing ache in her heart for a certain dimensionally-displaced gadgeteer.

You can get Hexomancy at – Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo
Paperback editions will follow soon!

This means that the entire Ree Reyes series (GeekomancyCelebromancyAttack the Geek, and Hexomancy) are all now available again. These books launched my career and they’ll always have a special place in my heart. It’s been great to give them a fresh coat of paint and send them back into the world, and I hope you’ll enjoy them – either for the first time, revisit them some years later, maybe in a new format. I’m excited to return to conventions when it’s safe and see people with paperback copies walking around. I’m especially excited to sign your copies and hear about your own geeky stories.

ALSO

Valloward, the Court of Blades series I’m GMing for Speculate, kicks off this Friday with our first actual play session in Court of Blades proper. This is a great time to jump in with the series if you’re interested to see how I GM or watch a group of professional fantasy authors create a setting together through play in this game of power politics, gunpowder diplomacy, and romantic skullduggery.

Friday Sep 23rd at 8pm ET / 5pm PT at twitch.tv/arvaneleron – if you can’t watch live, the video will archive at youtube.com/arvaneleron.

I’m A Game Designer Now

My first ttrpg design, The Only Logical Solution Is Hijinx, is now available on Itch.io!

Here’s the description:

You are Tolvan, members of a people committed to logic above all else in order to constrain and channel your deep passions towards unity and innovation.

You are visiting or serve aboard the IGS Adventure! – a galaxy-traveling ship with an expert crew, dedicated to the missions of exploration and diplomacy.

Unfortunately, something deeply silly has happened and logic dictates that the best way forward is the embrace hijinx until you are able to resolve the predicament.

A game for 2-6 players inspired by the deeply silly science fiction adventures of deeply serious people.

I’ve been playing TTRPGs for about 30 years now, but only in the last couple of years have I gotten genuinely involved in game design with the Genrenauts TTRPG. But since that has become a large project, it’s not surprising that this game, created in one go over a weekend, would hit the finish line first. I’m still actively working on the Genrenauts game and playtesting more this weekend.

Today is also an Itch.io creator day, where Itch waives their fees. So it’s a great day to pick up this game (which is PWYW) and/or any of my other self-published books available on Itch (Genrenauts Season One, Genrenauts: The Wasteland War, Geekomancy, or Celebromancy).

Celebromancy Returns!

Today Celebromancy, the second of the Ree Reyes books returns in a new edition!

The new edition is available in ebook and paperback forms from major booksellers. Geekomancy is already available and finding new readers and joining paperback collections.
You can request Celebromancy from your local library or special order from a friendly local bookstore! The rest of the Ree Reyes series will be returning throughout the summer/fall. Attack the Geek arrives in August, then Hexomancy in September!

Handy bookstore links:

Itch.io: michaelrunderwood.itch.io/celebromancy
Amazon ebook: https://www.amazon.com/Celebromancy-Michael-R-Underwood-ebook/dp/B0B5SDCJQB/
Amazon paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/099806064X
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6443025628
B&N paperback: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/celebromancy-michael-r-underwood/1114192916?ean=9780998060644
B&N ebook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/celebromancy-michael-r-underwood/1114192916
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/celebromancy-1

Fame has a magic all its own in the no-gossip-barred follow-up to Geekomancy!

Ree Reyes gets her big screenwriting break, only to discover just how broken Hollywood actually is.

Things are looking up for urban fantasista Ree Reyes. She’s using her love of pop culture to fight monsters and protect her hometown as a Geekomancer, and now a real-live production company is shooting her television pilot script.

But nothing is easy in show business. When an invisible figure attacks the leading lady of the show, former child-star-turned-current-hot-mess Jane Konrad, Ree begins a school-of-hard-knocks education in the power of Celebromancy.

Attempting to help Jane Geekomancy-style with Jedi mind tricks and X-Men infiltration techniques, Ree learns more about movie magic than she ever intended. She also learns that real life has the craziest plots: not only must she lift a Hollywood-strength curse, but she needs to save her pilot, negotiate a bizarre love rhombus, and fight monsters straight out of the silver screen. All this without anyone getting killed or, worse, banished to the D-List.

Geekomancy is Back!

Today marks the return of my debut novel Geekomancy to the bookstore shelves in a new edition, with gorgeous new art.

The new edition is available in ebook and paperback forms from major booksellers.
You can also request it from your local library or special order from a friendly local
bookstore! The completed Ree Reyes series will be returning this summer/fall.
Celebromancy returns in July, Attack the Geek in August, and then Hexomancy in
September!

Handy bookstore links:

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/geekomancy/9780998060637
Amazon: https://t.co/VqAjXPhXEa
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1620987421
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/geekomancy-michael-r-underwood/1110049211?st=AFF&SID
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/geekomancy-1

Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comicshop minion to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter.

When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic “BOOM!” echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side. Here, astral cowboy hackers fight trolls, rubber-suited werewolves, and elegant Gothic Lolita witches while wielding nostalgia-powered props.

Ree joins Eastwood (aka Scruffy Guy), investigating a mysterious string of teen suicides as she tries to recover from her own drag-your-heart-through-jagged-glass breakup. But as she digs deeper, Ree discovers Eastwood may not be the knight-in-cardboard armor she thought. Will Ree be able to stop the suicides, save Eastwood from himself, and somehow keep her job?

If you’re not already familiar with Geekomancy, here’s what people have said about it over the years:

“Geekomancy is a glorious blender of genres, like a sweet candy shell filled with pop culture and high heroism. Absolutely stellar.”

  • Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the October Daye and Wayward Children series

“Magic in geekery, mysticism in celebrities, the Ree Reyes series by Mike Underwood is a celebration of everything that makes being a geek cool. Can’t wait to read what he has in store next.”

  • Stephen Blackmoore, author of Dead Things

“If Buffy hooked up with Doctor Who while on board the Serenity, this book would be their lovechild. In other words, Geekomancy is full of epic win.”

  • Marie Lu, author of the Legend trilogy

“If you took wish-fulfillment, ground it into a powder, and shot twice the recommended dosage into your eye socket, the result would look a lot like Geekomancy. I want to live in this world, where all the books and shows and movies and games I love are a source of power, not only in psychological terms, — which they already are — but practical, villain-pounding ones.”

  • Marie Brennan, award winning author of A Natural History of Dragons

“Modern, sleek, and whip-smart, Geekomancy is a wonderful blend of geek and pop culture — you’ll find yourself grinning knowingly at least every other page. And Ree is the perfect protagonist to navigate Geekomancy’s world — geek enough to hold her own, yet human enough for me to be deeply invested in her struggles. I can’t wait to read the next one!”

  • Cassie Alexander, author of Nightshifted

“Underwood’s Geek Fu is strong-and he’s not afraid to use it. Geekomancy is fun, fresh and full of geek culture references that will have you LOLing to the very last page. This book is one hundred percent pure awesomesauce and totally FTW.”

  • Mari Mancusi, award winning author of The Blood Coven Vampire series

Balticon+ArvCon schedules

I’m participating in a few online panels at Balticon this weekend, if you’re attending/viewing and want to catch me chatting about various geeky things.

Balticon activities – (All times EDT)

Saturday, May 28
Sat 2:30 PM   Virtual Consuite Readings  Session 1069
Readings: Michael Underwood and Leonardo Espinoza Benavides

Sunday, May 29th
1:00 PM    Virtual Panel Room 2     Session 374       
What Makes Video Games Genre?                   

2:30 PM    Virtual Panel Room 2       Session 451       
An Introduction and Reevaluation of Neon Genesis Evangelion

7:00 PM    Virtual Panel Room 2      Session 918         
Deep Thoughts on Giant Monsters     

   
And on Monday the 30th, I’ll be playing a one-shot with the Strange Friends crew at 10 am EDT and then running a game for scientist fellows at 1:30 pm.
Both for ArvCon, over at Twitch.tv/Arvaneleron        

Writefest Schedule!

I’m appearing virtually on panels for this year’s Writefest, a multi-genre conference run by Writespace. Find out how to register here.

You can see me on panels across the weekend:

Saturday April 30th
9am EDT
Podcasting: How Audio Can Grow Your Writing Career
Michael R. Underwood • Marshall Ryan Maresca • Meg Hafdal • Michael DeLuca

1pm EDT
The Query Letter: How to Land an Agent
Michael R. Underwood • Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam • Valerie Valdes • Cassandra Rose Clarke • Kate Pentecost

Sunday May 1st
6pm EDT
Worldbuilding: When Is Your World a Character?
Sean Morrissey Carroll • Georgina Key • Michael R. Underwood • Marshall Ryan Maresca • Valerie Valdes