Save vs. Tangential Thoughts

I’m delighted to share the news of my big Fall 2026 project, HOPE DIES LAST, a triptych of Daggerheart-compatible campaign frames in the genres of heroic fantasy, cyberpunk, and space opera! I’m teaming up with the brilliant minds at Infinite Citadel to bring you this amazing collection of frames for telling stories of defiant heroism. The project includes:* The first physical printing of the…

Presenting – the cover for Bastion of Hope, my campaign frame of defiant fantasy, for use with the Daggerheart rules! Cover art by Shaun Ellis, cover design by Andrew Beauman Pdf forthcoming in Spring 2026 on DTRPG, itch.io, and Heart of Daggers.In Bastion of Hope, Dragons and Necromancers rule the world with sorcery and spite. They loom over bustling cities and use precarity to keep workers…

The Kickstarter for the Dungeons of Drakkenheim – Daggerheart Campaign Guide is now live! I’m Lead Designer on the project, working with the Dungeon Dudes, Ghostfire Gaming, and in an official partnership with Darrington Press!https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dungeondudes/dungeons-of-drakkenheim-daggerheart The campaign funded in just 13 minutes, and now we’re charging forward and looking at…

(content note – pet illness/death)Oreo the dog is no longer with us. He has gone on to the big dog park in the sky, crossed the rainbow bridge, and all of the other pleasant stories we tell ourselves to try to lessen the pain of having a portion of our hearts missing due to the absence of a beloved pet.Within the last year, Oreo had a stroke that left him basically only able to turn to the right,…

Some career updates to keep everyone current with what’s going on for me:First, I am pleased to announce that I am now represented by Eric Showers of Morhaim Literary. Not changing agencies which means this transition has been blissfully straightforward. While I am focusing a lot on game design right now, I still have fiction projects I want to make progress on and of course still have my…

I’ll be returning to GenCon again this year, appearing on a few Writers Symposium panels and walking the floor to chat with people and find new games. If you’re hoping to catch me at the con, here are the best times to do it: Thursday, 1pm EDT – Marriott Ballroom 4How to Navigate the Industry Saturday, 4pm EDT – Marriott Ballroom 2Building a Long-Term Career If you’re a representative of a…

Daggerheart is finally here! The project was a huge undertaking with many incredible collaborators across disciplines, and I’m honored to have been one of the game’s designers. I helped develop adversaries, environments, campaign frames, and more. I’m so excited to share the game with you all. 🙂Learn more at www.daggerheart.com and decide how to get your copy.For longer thoughts on the game,…

I’m delighted to announce that my found-family space opera novel ANNIHILATION ARIA is back in ebook and paperback form. The book has been unavailable in those formats since 2021 when the book’s original publisher, Parvus Press, shut down operations and reverted the rights to me. The book did really well in the short time it was available, despite my only being able to do one in-person event (an…

For over 10 months, I’ve been working as a (freelance) game designer on Daggerheart, Critical Role’s forthcoming fantasy ttrpg. Today, the game’s pre-orders went live, including an amazing limited edition.You can find all the information at Darrington Press’s website. There will also be information about pre-orders and the state of the game in an update stream today at 5pm EDT (2pm PDT) on…

After a couple of years of conflicts and bad luck (I got sick last year right when I was going to travel), I’m attending ArmadilloCon in Austin, TX for the first time this weekend as a panelist!As of the time I post this, there is *one* spot left in the Daggerheart one-shot I’m running at the con – playing “Marauders of Windfall”, an adventure I was the lead designer for.Here’s my schedule (all…

Summer con season is here and I’m traveling more than I have since the start of COVID. With the combined powers of multiple vaccines, masks, air filters, and nasal sprays, I hope to come through the summer healthy and good to keep trucking into autumn.First up is GenCon next week, where I’ll be participating in programming with the GenCon Writers’ Symposium.Here’s my schedule. All of these will…

This week Darrington Press released an update to the Daggerheart playtest, along with a livestream + Q&A with Daggerheart Lead Designer Spenser Starke and Critical Role’s Matt Mercer. There’s cool stuff in this update and I am excited to see what people think about these updates! If you have been testing Daggerheart, please take the time to leave some feedback at http://www.Daggerheart.com or…

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…

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’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.…

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…

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…