Leacock’s Lab: Announcing The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship!

The new Pandemic System game based on The Lord of the Rings™ is coming in 2025

TM & © MEE

I’m excited to announce that the newest game in the Pandemic System line is coming this June!

The Lord of the Rings™: Fate of the Fellowship will feature thematically rich cooperative gameplay. Players take on the role of heroes to defend the havens of Middle-earth from advancing shadow troops while helping Frodo evade the hunting Nazgûl as he travels to Mount Doom to destroy The One Ring.

Three years in the making, the game will include 13 playable characters, 14 event cards, and 24 objectives, providing an enormous variety of play experiences. The game will also come with an 11-inch constructible Barad-dûr Dice Tower, Nazgûl miniatures, original artwork of iconic characters, and more.

This feels like things coming full circle for me. I started my cooperative games journey after playing Reiner Knizia’s The Lord of the Rings game in 2000 and that game was a major influence on the design of Pandemic. Now, 25 years later, I’m honored to be able to offer my own take on Tolkien’s masterpiece of fantasy literature.

UK Games Expo attendees will have the first opportunity to pick up the game as early as May 30th and I’ll be at the show to sign copies.

TM & © MEE

I’ll be sharing more over the coming months as well as pulling together a design diary. I can’t wait to tell you more about it!

Daybreak Wins the 2024 Spiel of Approval Award

I was honored to learn that Daybreak was the recipient of the Spiel of Approval Award for 2024. The Spiel writes, “This year of all years, Daybreak is such a worthy recipient of our meeple crown for the way it pairs complex strategy and communication with a sense of relentless optimism.”

The organization behind the award also runs the remarkable Spiel Foundation which has delivered thousands of bundles of games to millions of recipients, including those in hospitals, senior and community centers, boys and girls clubs, domestic violence and homeless shelter, halfway houses, libraries, schools, and prisons.

Coverage on NPR’s Here and Now

Running up to the holiday, James Mastromarino talked about some of his favorite games from the past year and Daybreak got some good coverage (around the 26:50 mark). They also covered Wilmot’s Warehouse in the segment. That game (also from CMYK!) is like building a memory palace cooperatively and feels like a magic trick. Each time I play, I’m amazed at what storytelling brains can accomplish together.

Daybreak in Real Life

The devastating fires in Los Angeles are fueled in large part by climate change. I’d encourage folks to help by donating to a relief organization if they can. Global Citizen has a list of organizations you can support—as well as information on better understanding how wildfires and climate change are linked.

And I’ll leave you with this photo of Donna and me from yesterday in New Orleans! The city largely shut down yesterday as it saw 10” of snow—tying the record set 130 years ago. Climate change is mostly heating up the planet, but it’s also weirding our winters. Looks like my winter beard came in just in time.