Roshan John

Putting the love in Lovecraftian horror with some Valentine’s Day Cthulhu: Death May Die! #boardgames

Had a blast this past weekend at #TantrumCon in Charlotte, NC!

#boardgames

That’s also why I love teaching this game. Its complexity and scope slows people down and invites real attention to one another.

This weekend, I’m headed to TantrumCon in Charlotte, excited to share it with some Tolkien-loving friends we’re reconnecting with!

That’s the part that resonates with me. No optimizing your way out alone, no quietly carrying consequences. We stay at the table, name our worries and needs, help where we each can, and trust others to carry the weight with you too.

What the game seems to refuse to do is let decisions rest on one person. Choices are encouraged to be named out loud. Risks are carried together at keep them under control. And when something goes wrong, it belongs to the fellowship to overcome, not just the player who took the action.

Every turn asks the “fellowship” to earn small, meaningful steps forward. Evil is always advancing, and progress comes when others are willing to share the burden. There’s even a literal hope track - if it hits zero, despair wins and the game ends.

At its core, it’s a cooperative game using the Pandemic system (shoutout to Matt Leacock @mattleacock.bsky.social), but not in a way that lets any one character be the quarterbacking hero. Each player manages two #LordoftheRings characters. No single piece feels stronger than the whole.

Last time at our local #boardgames meetup, I taught Fate of the Fellowship (again!). With some deluxe component upgrades to make it feel more grand 🤓

Teaching it and watching it unfold reminded me why this game sticks with me so deeply.

#Comics #ComicBooks #GraphicNovels #DCComics #TomKing
#Superman #Supergirl #MisterMiracle
#Storytelling #Reflection #WritingCommunity #OC

Across these stories, heroism is quiet and costly.

Love shows up as attention, patience, and care when no one is watching.

They don’t promise everything will be okay.
They offer companionship instead.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

Mister Miracle turns inward.

Survival itself becomes the point. He sits with doubt, depression, and the disorienting work of staying alive when meaning feels thin.

What’s powerful isn’t triumph. It’s persistence.

Superman: Up in the Sky may be the clearest picture of faithfulness.

Superman crosses impossible distances and endures humiliation for a single child. Not because it will save the world, but because she matters.

Heroism here looks like keeping a promise.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow moves through grief without pretending it can be undone.

Justice can be pursued, but it doesn’t heal everything. Loss still remains.

What stands out is her refusal to let pain turn into cruelty or indifference.

Tom King writes superheroes in a way that feels deeply human.

These stories aren’t really about winning or spectacle. They’re about endurance. About staying present when clarity, relief, or resolution don’t arrive on schedule.

Three comics I keep returning to are Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Superman: Up in the Sky, and Mister Miracle. All written by Tom King.

They all seem to ask the same quiet question:

What does it mean to keep choosing goodness when the world feels exhausting and the outcome isn’t guaranteed?

It’s always great to be back at Quest Game Night! Tonight we finally cracked open and played the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game (a mouthful!)

This game was a sweet gift from our friends who knew about Becca’s love for Middle-earth and mine for co-op #boardgames!

The hypnoglasses seem to be working as intended. #Superman

All credit to Becca for this idea and doing a good job with putting these outfits together!

Last month, I really enjoyed showcasing Cthulhu: Death May Die to a few friends! They did a great job getting the win on their first attempt, though it came down to the wire! #boardgames

Finished a game challenge I had set for myself this year, as a #PandemicGame superfan, with our second play of #FateOfTheFellowship — which was out first win!

cc @mattleacock.bsky.social

Back at it again - taught Forbidden Desert to some new folks at our local games meetup! It was a hit, with 4 out of 5 being new to the game but fully immersed in table talk the whole game (that they nearly won, but couldn’t make it at the end)

www.meetup.com/game-nights-... #boardgames

This LOTR game adds some really neat complexity and variety to the core Pandemic puzzle, building on the original system in brilliant ways. And the mechanics nail the narrative of the original story. We’re quite impressed. Can’t wait to get back into this one.

#BoardGames #FateOfTheFellowship

Combine my favorite game system with Becca’s most cherished fandom, and this game was a guaranteed win for us (even as we lost our first time around). But I’d say if you’re winning a Pandemic game on your very first try, you’re probably messing up a rule or two… 😄

Our first quest in Middle-earth! Earlier this week, Becca and I played #LordoftheRings: Fate of the Fellowship, designed by @mattleacock.bsky.social, for the first time. It’s the latest board game based on the system from my all time favorite board game, #PandemicGame, also created by Leacock.

Do we ever really escape Scott Free?

#MisterMiracle #DCcomics #TomKing

This incident—a major video game pulling content in real-time due to a dark narrative shift—is a powerful testament to that commitment. My hope is that the profit-oriented interests of DC's partners and parent companies won't erode this refreshing creative momentum over the long term.

In comparison, the vision James Gunn is executing at DC Studios seems to be intentionally telling stories that aren't necessarily palatable for everyone, unafraid to touch on problematic or difficult realities.

Their approach often feels covered in a thick, corporate lacquer designed to flatten anything remotely controversial or sensitive, ensuring the broadest possible appeal.

As a fan who bought the Peacemaker character and the now-unusable emote, I was struck by this entire sequence of events. This is a stark contrast to what I've come to expect from Marvel/Disney's storytelling.

The removal seems to be a direct response to a major plot development in the latest episode of Peacemaker Season 2. (I won't spoil the details, but the context of the move appears to have changed drastically.)

I'm a bit of a #DCcomics nerd, so I found something in the world of video games fascinating this morning. Last night, Epic Games removed the "Peaceful Hips" #Peacemaker dance emote from Fortnite, an item they had just introduced a couple of weeks ago as part of a collaboration with DC.