At the end of the Second Age, Sauron was thrown down from power. At the beginning of the Third Age, his ring, the One Ring, vanished from all knowledge of man and dwarf, elf and Maia. But Sauron was only defeated, not destroyed. And the One Ring was only lost; and what was lost, can once again be found.
The year 1650 of the Third Age finds Sauron gathering his servants to him once more within the mountain fortress of Mordor, mind and will bent on the discovery of the One Ring and the conquest of the lands of Middle-earth. The Free Peoples of Middle-earth, devastated by the Great Plague, are weakened, scattered, divided. But there is strength still, in the hearts of man and in the mines of the dwarves, and the elves are not yet all gone from the land. And there are yet other nations, independent empires who have managed to remain apart from the struggle between Sauron and the Free Peoples. But who, for good or for ill, will surely play a part in the coming months of conflict.
(Note: this module assumes that Sauron makes his bid for domination of Middle-earth shortly after Gondor’s watch on Mordor ceases, a thousand years before his invasion occurs in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”.)
There are 25 nations of Middle-earth in the Third Age 1650 Module.
Nation Map Ranges & Blind Hexes (Third Age 1650)
The content in the Third Age 1650 section is from The Middle-earth PBM Guide by Middle-earth Games.