Several important events occurred in the year 2941 of the Third Age that ushered Wilderland into a new age: the death of Smaug the Golden, the Battle of the Five Armies, and the restoration of the Kingdom Under the Mountain and of Dale. The past five years (the year is now 2946) have seen the Free Peoples savor an unexpected respite: Men gather under the banners of ambitious Kings and Chieftains, raising their heads to look beyond their old and restrictive borders for the first time in a long while, and adventurers dare once again to follow forgotten roads in search of renown... and more substantial rewards.

(NOTE: For those unfamiliar with the game and/or the setting, this is the time between the end of “The Hobbit” and the beginning of “The Lord of the Rings”. My game will concern a mixture of the tales told in Peter Jackson’s movies, in the writings of J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien, and those built for this role-playing game by Francesco Nepitello, the author, and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and, while I will strive to remain as close to the Professor’s sources as possible, cinematic influence, and those from the RPG may have an effect on the game in places where I feel it would better honor the story we, as a group, are trying to tell.)