Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Content

Greetings Readers!

Starting today, with the first strip of Chapter 4 of A Chronicle of Thieves, Chronicle will officially be making the move to providing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition content.

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If you followed us in the past, you may have seen content produced for Pathfinder and wonder why we made the move to Dungeons & Dragons and specifically 5e. The truth is that Dungeons & Dragons has always been the rule system of Chronicle. It began as an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign and evolved into a 3rd Edition campaign. Pathfinder, in my eyes, was always seen as an extension of D&D especially when I found it hard to convert my already written content to 4th Edition. That being said, I don’t have that problem with 5th Edition, as I find it easy to create and convert content for 5e.

So, what can you expect from the D&D content? Well, each week there will be some piece of game material that accompanies the strip. It may be a stat block for a cast character, NPC or monster, it may be a new subclass or subrace, it may be a new magic item, or it might even be a one-page encounter.

This week, we’re starting off with something basic, the Brotherhood Guards. These guards bring a bit of muscle to back the investigators of the Ebon Path like Algernon.

These will all be collected under our The World of Chronicle section. If you have ideas for the types of content you would like to see, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think.

We’ll see you next week with our first cast member stat block for Kereth!

The Chronicler Returns.

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A familiar face walks in and sits down next to the fire. This face is older, with a few more lines and a bit more greying at the temples and in the beard, but it is him. How can this be? He disappeared almost two years ago! Some say he died, some say he burned out and walked away, and some say that he has been imprisoned in a troll’s den these past months. Whatever the case, he has appeared again, ready to continue his story and tell new ones.

He looks over at you and says, “Now then, where did I leave off.”

Your eyes are not deceiving you! This is a brand new post in the The Chronicler’s Notes! I have been gone for some time and have a lot of catching up to do but I am indeed back and ready to get back to it.

First off, let me say thank you to all of you who waited patiently and supported me while I was away. I never stopped thinking and writing about Chronicle, but life got in the way of producing a weekly comic strip. Let me answer a couple of questions.

So, what specifically happened?

Well, lots of life changes. The first was that I got a new job (again) that required a lot of focus as I got into the groove there. My children started school and suddenly we had homework, Cub Scouts, and piano lessons at night! Finally, there was my health. I was finding it harder and harder to stay awake at night to even be able to work on Chronicle. I would literally fall asleep with my stylus in my hand and wake up two hours later with no progress to speak of.

So, what changed?

The good news is that most of this has righted itself. My new job is great and I have lots of co-workers who support my comic. My kids are getting older and becoming more self-sufficient. They’ve also figured out that I’m a comic artist and want me to draw more. My health - well, I’m losing weight and have been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I’m getting it under control, but there’s still a ways to go.

I started writing for Meeple Mountain, a tabletop gaming news site and that stirred the creativity a bit. Go give them some love, they helped me get back on track and are great people.

Also, I just got back from GaryCon XI where I was able to talk to so many wonderful people about my work and they were genuinely interested and wanted to check it out. With that kind of energy boost, now is the time to get back into it.

So, what can you expect from Chronicle?

  • First, weekly strips as often as possible. I can’t guarantee there won’t be a gap, but there won’t be another hiatus if I can help it.

  • Second, I really want to put out more of the RPG material that I’ve written for Chronicle. I have converted most of it to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and want to share that with people.

  • Third, new stories! I have a few ideas for Chronicle stories outside of The Chronicle of Thieves. Which leads us to the big one…

  • Chronicle turns 20 years old this year! This all started out as a self-published comic book back in 1999 and has been building ever since! To celebrate, there will be some 20th anniversary material showcasing Chronicle’s roots. More to come on that down the road.

Starting today, there will be a new strip each week and it will begin with the “lost last strip of Chapter 3.”
I actually drew this last strip before I headed off to interview for my new job and I never got around to publishing. That was quite the cliffhanger to leave you guys with!

Come back again next week for an all-new Chronicle strip with some surprise guests!

See you then…

THAN

Character Codex Round 4 - Dwarf Ranger and Dwarf Rogue

Welcome to Round 4 of the Character Codex!  If you're new here, the idea is simple:  I'm going to illustrate all 77 race/class combinations from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.  These are also the "traditional" races and classes you'll find in Dungeons & Dragons.  You can see everything so far in the Character Codex Gallery.

Before we get to the characters this week, I want to mention a couple of things we have going on here at Chronicle.  First, in conjunction with the Character Codex, there are now Virtual Tabletop Tokens of each of the Character Codex characters available for free download and use on Roll20 or any other virtual tabletop program.

Second, if you like the artwork you see here each week, you should enter the Name That Rogue contest!  It's a chance to have a FREE full-color character drawing done by your request.  So far, no one has named all 25 characters, so the chances are still good!

Lastly, don't forget to come back tomorrow for the latest Chronicle strip.  We introduce a new character in this week's strip!   Now on to the characters!

Dwarf Ranger

Dwarf Ranger

The first character this week is the female Dwarf Ranger.  She's an all-around explorer.  Many of the rangers in Chronicle tend to wander the mountain valleys around Jaxstein, the great dwarven vale.  This is reflected in her climbing gear, but she's got a wanderer's spirit and is willing to go wherever she needs to go.

The second character this week is the male Dwarf Rogue.  I wanted the dwarf rogue to show off his trapfinding and device disabling skills.  In the process of drawing a locksmith, this guy changed his mind and said, "Nope.  I want to blow stuff up."  So, yeah, he looks like a certain buster of myths!  I had a BLAST drawing him! (sorry, no more puns.)

Note the wrench built into the pommel of his shortsword.  I imagine that as a shortsword that gives +2 to Disable Device or Profession (Engineering) checks.  Oh and, yeah, the scabbard and strap are made of duct tape.

So, that's it for this week.  Next week, we have a MAGICAL week with the final two dwarves, the sorcerer and the wizard.  (Okay, so I lied.)

As always, if you like what you see here, Like, Share and Re-Tweet on social media.  Or, even better, click an ad, leave a tip, or buy a commission!

See you next week!

THAN

Dwarf Rogue

Dwarf Rogue