Image by Martin Grip
Eriador Adventures and Expeditions
Take your fellowship into the wild North, where forgotten kings whisper beneath ancient barrows and rising shadows test every spark of hope.
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Thursday - 7:30 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3–3.5 hours
0 / 5 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
Do you fancy trying something new, other than D&D? Eriador Adventures and Expeditions is a journey into the wild, windswept North of Middle Earth. A land of crumbling watchtowers, haunted barrows, lonely roads, and small communities trying to hold on to hope as ancient shadows stir once more. This is a campaign for players who love mystery, exploration, and the unravelling of forgotten histories. If you enjoy stories where courage matters more than strength, where the land itself feels alive, and where every choice leaves a mark on the world, you’ll feel right at home. Set in the years before the War of the Ring, the campaign explores Bree‑land, the Barrow‑downs, the Greenway, and the scattered remnants of Arnor. You’ll meet ordinary folk trying to survive extraordinary times, scholars chasing dangerous truths, and spirits who remember the world as it once was. While there is a story in the background, this will be a mostly sandbox game, explore middle earth. Make your own journeys but be aware as a certain hobbit once said...“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” The tone blends grounded, character‑driven drama with the melancholy beauty that defines Middle‑earth. At the table, the game will lean into fellowship, atmosphere, and meaningful decisions. Journey will feel like real undertakings and the Shadow creeps in not through jump scares but through doubt, temptation, and the weight of old oaths. Combat is impactful and violent; but exploration and roleplay will take centre stage. The campaign is designed to be welcoming to new players with no experience of Middle Earth or the ToR rules. If you’re looking for an adventure where your fellowship can uncover forgotten legends, confront rising darkness, and carve their own place in the long memory of the North, Eriador Adventures and Expeditions is your road into the wild.
Game style
Sandbox / Open World
Theater of the Mind
Hexcrawl / Exploration
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(12)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
5 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Rule of Cool, Knows the Rules
Average response time: 19 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hi, I'm Ed and I've been running TTRPGs for over 40 years. I got my start in South Africa with the red-boxed D&D set, guided by my dad—my first GM—and never looked back. From fantasy adventures to sci-fi cops and mech pilots, I’ve always been drawn to immersive storytelling and worldbuilding. Shadowrun became my lifelong RPG love: elves, dragons, cyberware, and magic in a gritty near-future Earth. That discovery led me to conventions, community, and decades of GMing for friends, family, and strangers. I’ve always leaned toward sandbox-style play, where rules serve the story—not the other way around. During Covid, I ran Kult 4th Edition for the Mud & Blood podcast (now Toa Tabletop) and streamed for 3 Skulls Publishing. I later helped demo Free League's Twilight 2000 4th Edition’s work-in-progress rules—the first GM to do so publicly. I now co-host the Stories with Dice podcast, where you can hear my GM style in action. I run most genres, with a preference for gritty, grounded narratives. Whether it’s superheroes, horror, or old-school classics, I aim to make every game immersive, inclusive, and fun. If you’ve got a story to tell, I’d love to help bring it to life.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation will happen during a session 0 and offline before our first session. ToR is a game of fellowship so it is always worth taking the time to create characters together. We will follow the guidance for character gen as per the book, which we will go through during session 0. The characters will be created on Foundry VTT, where you will also be able to build a history and back story to your characters and fellowship.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
I use Foundry VTT through The Forge Foundry hosting site. You will need to sign up to this for free here. https://forge-vtt.com/signup Please also sign up to my Discord. You will be assigned a TG (Transvaalers Games Player) Role and have access to your game and the community. Feel free to chat with my other in person and other gamers here too. https://discord.gg/YJuURNsVYZ I use Zoom to chat and see each other- if you are using a webcam (not necessary but I find it helps with the experience, so please can you download the free version here. https://zoom.us/signup You can also join up using your browser if you don't want to sign up for Zoom. I will share the link to Zoom and Foundry in my Discord nearer the time (usually about 30 minutes before the start of the game). Thanks for signing up to the game and if you have any questions feel free to get in touch before the game. Cheers, Ed
What Transvaaler (Ed) brings to the table
You do not need anything but a sense of adventure, everything else will be provided. You will have access to the full information on Foundry VTT (including full sets of rules and all supplements). The most important part of the game is the players, the whole reason behind this is to have a good time and to tell a good story. Without the players, there would be no story, no interactions and mostly no fun. I very much love telling a good story and this takes precedence over the rules, which are more of a guideline to tell these stories. If you are a rules lawyer I'm afraid my game is not for you, but your input in my games is always welcome as long as its not disruptive to the other players or the story. I have a lot of game systems rattling around in my head so sometimes I miss a rule or 3. I love open sandbox games, creating a place to let the player live and explore that world. This challenges me on the fly and its where I get the most enjoyment. I love to see what players do and what decisions they make (and how I will incorporate this into the story) I'm enthusiastic, which makes up for my lack of voice acting (it always ends up sounding wrong, so feel free to mock me haha) and love riffing off of players decisions and backgrounds on the fly. I want my games to be immersive, inclusive and above all fun. I never take for granted the power of stepping out of our world into another to escape bills, family, work and other real life commitments. if its not fun for everyone then I've not done my job as a GM.
Homebrew rules
My general view on homebrew rules is one of making them up as we go. You never know when a player comes up with a better explanation or rule that sits better with the table. We can discuss this as they come up and implement them as we go. Every gaming group is different and I am flexible in this regards.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Headphones
Internet
Microphone
Webcam
Platforms used
Safety
How Transvaaler (Ed) creates a safe table
For clarity - my general rules are to use common sense during play relying on clear communication from players and an X card with the lines and veils to be discussed in session 0. Also feel free to walk away at any time, I'm also happy as I'm sure others will be for a quick comfort break or to refill a cup of tea or coffee. If you have any hard stops you wanted to keep between us rather than discuss in session 0 feel free to get in touch. This worked amazingly when I ran a Kult game for a podcast, as not all players want to discuss their very personal concerns with a group of people they have not met. As a rule of thumb I tend to stay away from any excessive subject matters relating to anything kid related and sexual violence. In a worlds where this happens, this can all happen "off screen" and doesn't need to be described in any way. Unless otherwise stated, most of my games aimed at a mature audience and there are mature themes explored in most of my games
Content warnings
Safety tools used