Campaign Breakdown & Update The Valelands & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Valelands campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

The empire is dead. Its roads still wind across the land, its watchtowers still stand against the horizon, and its crumbling keeps still whisper of an age when Nerath united the frontier beneath a single banner.

But those days have long since passed. The fall of the empire shattered more than kingdoms—it broke the fragile order that held civilization together. What remains is known as the Valelands, a vast frontier where scattered settlements struggle to survive while the wilderness slowly reclaims all that was built by mortal hands.

The Valelands stretch far beyond the Nentir Vale itself, encompassing haunted forests, rugged mountains, windswept downs, ancient marshes, and forgotten borderlands once linked by imperial roads. Today, these regions stand isolated from one another, separated by leagues of monster-haunted wilderness. Abandoned villages, ruined abbeys, and broken fortresses litter the landscape, each serving as a silent reminder that even the greatest civilizations eventually fall. Long before Nerath's rise, these lands witnessed the destruction of the ancient Nentir Forest, the burial of the undead city of Andok Sur beneath the Old Hills, and the brutal wars between Arkhosia and Bael Turath.

Every generation has left behind ruins, relics, and battlefields steeped in blood and magic. The past has never truly died here, and many believe the oldest evils still sleep beneath the soil, waiting for the unwary to disturb them.

For a brief time, Nerath brought hope to the frontier. Gardmore Abbey stood as a beacon of faith, Hammerfast guarded the eastern mountains, and thriving towns such as Fallcrest became centers of commerce and civilization. Roads were made safe, trade flourished, and noble families carved prosperous estates from the untamed wilderness. It was a golden age that many believed would last forever.

That dream ended with fire and blood. Gardmore Abbey fell to the orcs of the Stonemarch. The Empire of Nerath collapsed beneath invasion and ruin. Then came Clan Bloodspear, whose savage horde burned towns, slaughtered villages, and left the Valelands scarred beyond recovery. Though the invaders were eventually driven back, civilization never regained what had been lost.

Now the wilderness advances once more. Forests swallow abandoned roads, monsters roam where imperial soldiers once marched, and forgotten ruins beckon treasure hunters with promises of wealth and power. Yet every ancient keep, buried crypt, and crumbling temple hides dangers equal to the riches they contain. Beyond the safety of the remaining settlements, survival is never guaranteed. Welcome to the Valelands—a realm of shattered kingdoms, forgotten legends, and looming darkness.

Here, every road leads toward mystery, every ruin holds the echoes of fallen civilizations, and every victory is hard-earned. The empire is gone, and no great army will come to save these lands. Their future now rests in the hands of those few bold enough to stand against the darkness and forge their own legends amid the ashes of history.

Goodbye WotC/Hasbro The Valelands & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Valelands campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

This guy touched on a lot of stuff he pulled from Twitter, all of these people are affiliated with Hasbro/WotC as editors, writers, executives and content creators. They publically say stuff that is pure racist and WotC/Hasbro looks the other way, and as a matter of fact Hasbro/WotC does its best to go along with these people and what they say. It's disgusting and embarrassing.

It's bad enough with how WotC/Hasbro tried to redo the OGL to screw everyone over, sure they backed down but only because the entire community rose up against them and forced them to back down. These are just a few of the tweets that were found on Twitter. Dominique Dickey posted a couple of tweets here and here. How much of a racist can someone be?

Then you have Sadie Lowrie who assisted as a writer for Call of the Netherdeep making tweets like this. I send her a tweet asking her about her tweet and this is the reply I got from her. Instead of explaining herself, she blocks me. Typical racist hiding from what she has done. The exact same thing happened with Sarah Madsen . . . when I sent her a tweet about these tweets that she made and I got another reply just like I got from Sadie Lowry.

Lets look at Makenzie De Armas with her tweet or how the one and only Christopher Perkins tweeted this and to think, it pretty much all started with this from Kyle Brinks. Now the latest news is WotC is saying they are removing the Half Elf and Half Orc races or half ANYTHING from D&D because it's racist. It's just gotten out of control. I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons since it was called Basic D&D, hell . . . even before Basic, back when it was called Chain Mail and I've never been this dusgusted with a game, it's people and it's company than I am right now.

You know, back when we played classic Dungeons & Dragons, we didn't have all this drama, it was all about the game and we had one community that stuck together. It's simply not like that anymore. This game is a mess. I am now 100% an Old-School Essentials DM. Wizards of the WOKE simply doesn't give a shit anymore.

Ready, Set, Go! The Valelands & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Valelands campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

I have some things that I would like to touch on with those of you that are first time readers on this blog. The first thing that I kind of want to get into is what many call the "Matt Mercer Effect". I think one thing we all can agree on is Matthew Mercer is ranked in the top level of Dungeon Masters.

The man knows his stuff, but it isn't just about Matthew, his players bring a huge part of what makes Critical Role special to the table. To quote an old saying ... "it takes two to tango", or in this case, it takes a Dungeon Master and a group of players to make a game special.

One thing I very much want to emphasize on is "I am not Matthew Mercer" and if you expect me as a Dungeon Master to be like Matthew Mercer then I would say "go find you another campaign to follow" because I am not on his level, nor will I even try to be and to be perfectly honest I am not sure if the world has a Dungeon Master that even comes close to his level of story telling "well maybe but I have yet to see one". I try to run a good game where my players have a good time (plain and simple) and in the past my players have all had a great time so I guess I am doing something right.

Critical Role is a staged game, with some scripting involved - Matthew and his players are all voice actors. When you watch his campaigns, this is not what Dungeon & Dragon games are really like. His campaigns are strictly constructed to bring entertainment to his viewers.

What we try to do here is get together as friends (this is important) and enjoy our time playing Dungeons & Dragons like it was played 35-40 years ago. We don't bring anything from the real world to our table, we simply get together as friends and enjoy this beautiful game called Dungeons & Dragons in all its glory.