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).
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!
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.
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!
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
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
After a hiatus where the rights reverted to me but I wasn’t able to work on them, the Ree Reyes books are returning this summer with new covers AND publishing in paperback for the first time!
Here you can see the first of the new covers, this one for Geekomancy!
I absolutely love this new cover. The giant d20-as-magical orb makes me so happy.
PLUS, the Deranged Doctor Design team also created an animated version of the cover:
I’m still working with people on production of the ebook and print versions, but when they are done, I will let everyone know the re-release date and share the pre-order information. Plus, there will be new cover reveals for the other books soon!
This weekend I’m attending Flights of Foundry, presenting on panels and teaching a workshop. Flights of Foundry bills itself as “The world’s biggest multi-disciplinary, round the clock, international virtual convention” with guests of honor such as L. D. Lewis, Jana Bianchi, and Tobias Buckell, an intensive workshops series, and activities to fill the whole weekend, there’s something for everyone and more than you’ll make it to.”
Registration is donation-based, so you can attend whatever your economic circumstances!
My schedule (all times EDT)
Friday 3pm – Reimagining TTRPGS 9pm – Workshop – Power & Politics in Worldbuilding
Saturday 9pm – Building an Actual Play Podcast
Sunday 3pm – Synchronized Storytelling: Collaboration and Co-writing
Tonight Speculate! (the actual play show I co-host with Brandon O’Brien and Gregory A. Wilson) is kicking off a new series called “Fractal Spire”, playing Girl by Moonlight, a Forged in the Dark RPG forthcoming from Evil Hat Productions.
In Fractal Spire, a group of dream travelers in a dystopian world fight both the State and a sentient dream conspiracy. After losing their leader and the person that bound their group together, the remaining four must find a way to patch up their wounded hearts and fight on, together.
Watch the series premiere of “Fractal Spire” Sunday, Feb 6th at 7pm EST at Twitch.tv/ArvanEleron.
I’ve decided to attend Worldcon virtually this year, given *waves hands at state of the pandemic*. I’m hoping to go down to DC for some very limited in-person socializing and meetings, but that’s still TBD.
But thanks to the programming team, I do have a full suite of programming:
All times EST (Eastern Standard/Eastern US time)
Wednesday 7pm – Breaking a Story, Hollywood Style (Older – Virtual)
Thursday 4pm – Building an Urban Fantasy (Older – Virtual)
Friday 2:30 pm – The Best Video Games of the Last Ten Years (Older – Virtual)
Saturday 5:30 pm – New TV: From Foundation to Squid Game & Beyond (Older – Virtual)
Born to the Blade, the magic swordplay + diplomacy series I created for Realm and co-wrote with Marie Brennan, Cassandra Khaw, and Malka Older, is now available on all podcast platforms!
When it was released, it was only available to buy or to subscribers at Realm (formerly Serial Box), but now the series is being released as a weekly podcast to listen for free (supported by ads).
I’m very proud of the work we did on Born to the Blade and I’m excited for this chance for it to find a new audience thanks to a very low barrier to entry for listeners. Two episodes are live right now, with new episodes coming every Friday.
You can find Born to the Blade on Apple Podcasts here and (hopefully) by title on all other podcast platforms!
