Bree Battle of Five Armies & The Third Age of Middle-Earth The current year for our Middle-Earth campaign is set during the year of 2946 of the Third Age. Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien

The air in Bree is different from the sweet, quiet breezes of the Shire. It carries the scent of pipe-weed smoke, coal fires, and the hustle of folk going about their business. As you approach the village, the land rolls into the sizable, rounded Bree Hill, at the western foot of which the village is nestled. The land around it is open and well-tended, but the wild is never far off. The village itself is surrounded by a deep ditch and a thick, thorny hedge known as the Bree-hedge, with gates that are closed and guarded at nightfall.

Bree is perhaps most renowned for the curious mix of inhabitants who call it home. Here, you find Hobbits—known locally as 'Breelanders,' distinct from their rustic cousins in the Shire—living alongside 'Big Folk,' or Men. This mingling of races is a rare sight in Middle-earth, and it gives the place a vibrant, if sometimes wary, atmosphere. The Men of Bree are a sturdy, rustic people, with a long history of living in these parts, proud of their ancient ways and their small, stable community amidst a darkening world.

The layout of the village is practical and compact. Sturdy stone and timber houses cluster along winding, often muddy, lanes. You can find essential services here: a smithy where the ring of the hammer is a constant sound, a general store stocking everything from rope to dried salted fish, and a pony stable, crucial for anyone looking to travel the roads. The architecture speaks of resilience—built for comfort and defence alike. The heart of the village is the common ground where the main roads meet.

The true pulse of Bree, however, beats loudest at The Prancing Pony Inn. It is a large, rambling, and famous establishment, well-known to all travelers on the East-West road and the Greenway. The inn is a haven for wanderers, offering warm firesides, good beer, and sturdy fare. Its landlord, a stout and reliable fellow named Barliman Butterbur, runs a tight ship, though he is often flustered and prone to forgetting things. The common room is where news and rumors from all corners of Middle-earth are traded freely amongst Dwarves, Men, and the occasional wandering Elf. Life here is steeped in tradition and routine, a small beacon of civilization that has persisted for centuries while greater kingdoms have fallen to ruin. The Breelanders take pride in their self-sufficiency. They farm the fields of the Bree-land, raise a sturdy breed of pony famed throughout the region, and trade with travelers. Their culture is a unique blend of Hobbit practicality and Manish hardiness, resulting in a people who are cautious of outsiders but hospitable to those who mean them no harm.

Yet, despite its outward cheer and domesticity, Bree exists as a small island in an increasingly dangerous world. The roads leading in and out are often shadowed by uncertainty. Rangers of the North pass through occasionally, offering quiet protection from the darker things that now roam the lands beyond the hedgerows, a service the folk of Bree half-appreciate, half-ignore. The presence of these watchful, weather-beaten men is a silent reminder that safety is not guaranteed here, merely purchased through constant vigilance and the sturdy gates of the village.

For your company of adventurers, Bree represents a crucial crossroads—a place to resupply, gather information, and rest their weary bones before continuing their journey into the unknown. It offers the last true taste of warm civilization before the wilder, darker realms of the East or the desolate, forgotten paths of the South.

As evening falls and the gates close with a heavy thud and scrape of bolts, the true nature of Bree settles in: a tiny bastion of light and community, huddled against the encroaching night of Middle-earth, where the fires of the Prancing Pony burn bright with stories of lands both near and far.

Notable Locations
• Hobbit's Hearth
• Prancing Pony
• The Bree Library
• Town Hall
• Lalia's Market
• Scholar Stair Archives
• Smithy
• Market Square
• Sherriff's Office
• Lockhouse
• Woodworker Shop
• Chissa's Patisserie Shoppe
• Moneychanger's Shop
• General Store

Notable People
• Chissa Underhill