Within these pages lie the laws of the realm — a complete guide to gathering your fellowship, rolling the bones of fate, and surviving whatever the Dungeon Master conjures in the shadows ahead. Read carefully, brave soul. Your legend depends on it.
Getting Started
The Chronicle is a cooperative fantasy adventure for one to four players. An AI Dungeon Master narrates the story, reacts to your choices, and brings the world to life — no human referee required. Your party votes on each action together, rolls dice for fate, and builds a living story that is genuinely yours.
Creating Your Hero
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Choose an AdventurePick a scripted module from the adventure shelf, or choose Free Roam for an open-ended sandbox with no fixed goals or script.
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Name Your HeroEnter any name you like. Set a 4-digit PIN to save your character's XP, level, and equipment across sessions. Guests may skip the PIN but cannot resume progress.
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Choose a ClassYour class determines your starting HP, Armour Class, damage die, and the four special actions available to you in combat. See Section II for full class profiles.
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Share Your Room CodeAfter joining, a unique Room Code is generated. Share it with up to three friends so they can join your party. The host starts the game once everyone has assembled.
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Begin the AdventureThe host presses The Adventure Begins. Every player starts with one Healing Potion in the party inventory. The Dungeon Master narrates your opening scene.
To join a game someone else created, tap Join Existing Party on the main screen, enter the Room Code your host shared, choose your name and class, then press Join. You will land in the waiting room until the host starts the game.
The Six Classes
Your class is your identity on the battlefield. Each brings a different playstyle — the Warrior soaks punishment, the Wizard erupts in arcane fire, the Rogue dances between shadow and blade. Choose the role your party needs most.
| Class | Role | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Tank | Highest HP, stun ability | Lower burst damage |
| Rogue | Striker | Highest attack bonus, Sneak Attack | Lowest HP in party |
| Wizard | Blaster | Fireball hits all enemies | Fragile — dies quickly |
| Druid | Support | Can heal allies 2× per combat | Lower AC and damage |
| Paladin | Hybrid | Highest AC, party-wide shield | Limited heal charges |
| Ranger | Sniper | Hunter's Mark persists, ignores AC | No area abilities |
Adventure Modes
The Chronicle offers two distinct ways to play. Both use the same rules, the same combat, the same loot — the only difference is how the story is structured.
Crafted modules with named acts, goals, and an epilogue. The Dungeon Master tracks your progress through specific objectives — some required, some optional. Complete all required goals in an act to advance. Finish the final act to trigger the victory epilogue and complete the adventure permanently.
No script, no goals, no ending. The Dungeon Master generates emergent narrative — evolving NPCs, escalating stakes, and a world that reacts to every choice. Play for as long as you like and forge your own legend.
In scripted adventures, the Party tab in the right panel shows a progress bar with one segment per act, a list of goals for the current act, and a checkmark as each goal is completed. Optional goals are labelled — they are not required to advance.
Taking Turns
Outside of combat, the game flows in narrative turns. Each turn the Dungeon Master presents your situation and offers three choices. The whole party votes — the most popular choice wins and drives the story forward.
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Read the NarrationThe Dungeon Master describes the current scene in vivid, atmospheric prose. Pay attention — choices are drawn from this context.
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Vote on an ActionTap any of the three choices listed at the bottom of the screen to cast your vote. A checkmark shows which options have votes. Once all active players have voted, the turn resolves automatically.
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Write a Custom ActionDon't like the options? Type anything in the Write your own action… box and press Act. The Dungeon Master will react to whatever you write — this is your freedom to surprise the story.
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Dice Are RolledA d20 check is rolled automatically for the player whose vote won. The result influences how the Dungeon Master interprets the outcome — a 19 and a 3 tell very different stories.
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Host ControlsThe host can press Host: advance turn to skip waiting for all votes — useful if a player is AFK. Only the host can also manually save or save-and-quit.
The Dice
Every narrative action calls a d20 check — a single twenty-sided die roll that shapes how the Dungeon Master interprets your attempt. Fate is fickle; even the right plan can stumble, and a bold gamble can succeed beyond all expectation.
| Roll | Result | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| 19–20 | Critical Success | The action succeeds spectacularly. Extra rewards, stunned enemies, bonus information discovered. |
| 14–18 | Success | The action works as intended. The story advances in your favour. |
| 9–13 | Partial Success | Something good happens, but with a complication, cost, or incomplete result. |
| 4–8 | Failure | The attempt fails. The situation may worsen or a new obstacle appears. |
| 1–3 | Critical Failure | Something goes badly wrong. Consequences are significant and immediate. |
In combat, you roll the dice yourself. Tap the die icon on an action card to roll your d20 to-hit, then tap again to roll your damage die. The Dungeon Master never fudges combat rolls — what you see is what hits.
Combat requires two separate rolls: first a d20 to determine whether you hit (your roll + Attack Bonus vs. enemy AC), then a damage die to determine how hard you hit. Both must be rolled before you can confirm your action.
Inventory & Items
Items are split between the Party Inventory — a shared pool visible to everyone — and a Personal Backpack for equipment each hero carries individually.
Restores 12 HP to any party member. Found frequently in combat loot and town caches. Every party begins with one potion per player. Used from the Party tab — tap Use then select a target.
Restores 20 HP. Rare and precious — save these for critical moments or revival of downed allies.
Restores 6 HP. Common in forest environments. Useful for topping off lightly wounded allies between encounters.
Gold accumulates in the party inventory and is tracked as a single merged stack. The Dungeon Master may call on gold for bribes, purchases, or unlocking story options.
Story keys, scrolls, map fragments, and other mission-critical items appear as needed. They are stored in the party pool and referenced in narration when relevant.
Outside combat, using a potion is a free action — it does not consume your turn vote. In combat, using an item costs your combat turn. You may only use items when it is your turn in the initiative order.
Equipment & Gear
When weapons and armour are found as loot, they go directly into the finding player's personal backpack — not the party pool. Open the Gear tab in the right panel to inspect, equip, or drop items from your backpack.
Items are classified into three tiers based on their name. Equipping a better item instantly upgrades your live stats — you will see your AC or Attack Bonus change in real time.
| Slot | Item Types | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Swords, daggers, staves, bows… | Boosts Attack Bonus and Damage Die |
| Armor | Leather, chainmail, plate… | Raises Armour Class (AC) |
| Off-hand | Shields, orbs, foci, tomes… | Shields raise AC; foci raise Attack |
Each player manages their own backpack. You cannot equip items belonging to another player, but you can drop items from your backpack — a dropped item is lost permanently, so choose wisely before discarding.
Combat Overview
When the Dungeon Master sets the mood to combat, the narrative screen is replaced by a dedicated combat panel. The world pauses — only blades and dice matter now.
Actions in Battle
Every class has four actions. Each belongs to one of four types — knowing which type to use and when is the difference between victory and a very embarrassing trip to the tavern floor.
Roll a d20 to hit, then roll your damage die. Attack total = d20 + Attack Bonus. Must beat enemy AC to deal damage. Crits (20) deal double damage. Some attacks have special effects — Shield Bash stuns, Hunter's Mark adds a d6 bonus die on all subsequent hits, Precise Shot ignores AC bonuses, Fireball hits all enemies at once.
Roll your heal die, then add 3. The result is restored to the chosen target. Healing actions can revive downed allies — a heal on a downed character brings them back at the rolled HP with all death saves reset. Select your target before confirming. Classes with healing: Druid (Healing Touch, 2×), Warrior (Second Wind, self only, 1×), Paladin (Lay on Hands, 2×).
Defend actions do not deal damage but protect the party. Dodge grants +4 AC until your next turn. Smoke Bomb applies −4 to all enemy attacks for a full round. Arcane Shield adds +3 AC to the caster. Holy Shield protects the entire party simultaneously.
Detect Magic (Wizard) reveals an enemy's weakness, permanently reducing their AC by 2 for the remainder of combat. Utility actions do not require a damage roll — roll once to activate, then confirm.
Most special actions have a limited number of uses per combat, shown as a small number badge on the die icon. When the badge reaches zero, that action is exhausted for the rest of the current fight. The counter resets automatically at the start of each new combat.
| Ability | Class | Uses | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack / Nature Strike / Spell Attack | All | Unlimited | Standard attack action |
| Dodge / Precise Shot | Warrior, Rogue, Ranger | Unlimited | Defensive or accurate strike |
| Second Wind | Warrior | 1× | Self-heal 1d8+3 |
| Shield Bash | Warrior | Unlimited | Stuns enemy for 1 turn |
| Sneak Attack | Rogue | 3× | High damage d12 strike |
| Smoke Bomb | Rogue | 1× | Enemies −4 to hit, 1 round |
| Fireball | Wizard | 1× | Hits ALL enemies |
| Arcane Shield | Wizard | 2× | +3 AC this round |
| Detect Magic | Wizard | 1× | Enemy −2 AC permanent |
| Entangle | Druid | 2× | Root enemy, deal d4 damage |
| Healing Touch | Druid | 2× | Heal ally 1d8+3 |
| Wild Shape | Druid | 1× | Transform — powerful attack |
| Divine Smite | Paladin | 2× | Radiant d12 burst |
| Lay on Hands | Paladin | 2× | Heal ally 1d6+5 |
| Holy Shield | Paladin | 1× | Protect entire party |
| Hunter's Mark | Ranger | 2× | Mark target, +d6 on all hits |
HP & Death Saves
Your Hit Points represent your life force. The HP bar beneath your name in the Party panel shows your current state. When HP reaches zero, you fall Downed — unconscious but not yet dead.
Death Saving Throws
When a character reaches 0 HP they are Downed. At the start of each new combat round, downed characters automatically make a Death Saving Throw — rolling a d20 with no modifiers. Three successes stabilise the character; three failures mean death.
| Death Save Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| Natural 20 | Immediate revival at 1 HP — back in the fight! |
| 10–19 | Success (+1 to success track) |
| 2–9 | Failure (+1 to failure track) |
| Natural 1 | Critical fail — adds 2 failures at once |
Enemies may choose to attack downed characters. Each attack on a downed ally counts as an automatic death save failure. Prioritise healing downed allies quickly — or at least interpose yourself between them and the enemy.
Healing & Revival
Every party should carry a Druid or Paladin — or at minimum, several Healing Potions. Keeping your allies on their feet is just as important as dealing damage. A downed party member is a liability; a dead one cannot return.
Healing Methods
Open the Party tab, find a healing item, and tap Use. A target picker appears — select the recipient. Works on both healthy and downed characters. In combat, this costs your turn. Outside combat, it is free.
During your combat turn, select a Heal action (Healing Touch, Lay on Hands, Second Wind), choose a target using the target selector, roll your die, then confirm. The heal is applied immediately.
The Dungeon Master may award HP through narration — resting at an inn, consuming a camp meal, or finding a healing shrine. These appear as hp_changes in the turn result and are applied automatically.
Any heal — whether from a potion, combat action, or nat-20 death save — revives a downed character. They return to active status at the healed HP value with death saves fully reset. A Greater Healing Potion (20 HP) is the safest revival option when no healer is available.
| Healing Source | Amount | Revives Downed? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healing Potion | 12 HP | Yes | Combat turn / free out of combat |
| Greater Healing Potion | 20 HP | Yes | Combat turn / free out of combat |
| Healing Herbs | 6 HP | Yes | Combat turn / free out of combat |
| Healing Touch (Druid) | 1d8+3 HP | Yes | Combat turn (2× per combat) |
| Lay on Hands (Paladin) | 1d6+5 HP | Yes | Combat turn (2× per combat) |
| Second Wind (Warrior) | 1d8+3 HP | No (self only) | Combat turn (1× per combat) |
| Nat 20 Death Save | 1 HP | Yes — automatically | Free (replaces death save) |
Victory & Loot
When all enemies reach 0 HP, combat ends in Victory. A victory screen appears showing defeated enemies, XP earned, and items found. Previously downed characters are automatically revived at 1 HP.
Choosing this option takes time to search for loot but applies all found items to the party inventory immediately. The Dungeon Master then narrates the aftermath from a position of having searched.
Collect loot and move forward without searching. Useful when time is critical or the party is in good shape. Items are still collected — you just don't linger.
Weapons and armour from loot go directly to the backpack of the player who triggered the winning vote that led to combat. Gold and consumables go to the shared party inventory. Check your Gear tab after each victory — equipment may be waiting for you to equip.
Loot is drawn from contextual tables — dungeon loot differs from forest loot differs from town rewards. The Dungeon Master signals when loot is appropriate; the server rolls the actual items from the appropriate pool, ensuring variety and thematic consistency.
XP & Leveling
Experience Points are awarded after combat victories and occasionally for significant story milestones. All surviving party members share the XP equally. A golden bar beneath your HP tracks progress toward your next level.
| Level | XP Required | On Level-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Starting stats |
| 2 | 300 | +HP per class, +1 Attack Bonus |
| 3 | 900 | +HP per class, +1 Attack Bonus |
| 4 | 2,700 | +HP per class, +1 Attack Bonus |
| 5 | 6,500 | +HP per class, +1 Attack Bonus |
| 6 | 14,000 | +HP per class, +1 Attack Bonus |
On leveling up, your maximum HP increases by your class's HP-per-level value plus 2, and you gain that HP immediately. Your Attack Bonus increases by +1. A golden banner announces the level-up to everyone in the party. Leveling mid-session is saved to your character if you have a PIN.
Characters with a saved PIN carry their XP and level across sessions. If you join a new game with a PIN-linked character, your level and stats are restored — but HP resets to full, as every fresh adventure begins with your hero in top condition.
The Chronicle
As your adventure unfolds, the Dungeon Master maintains a living world record — a structured memory of everything that has permanently changed. This Chronicle is visible at the bottom of the Party tab and grows richer with every session.
Significant events become permanent truths — "The bridge at Thornford was destroyed," "The city guard knows the party stole from the vault." The Dungeon Master references these facts in future narration, ensuring the world remembers what you did.
Named characters track their disposition toward the party — ally, hostile, neutral, suspicious, grateful. These relationships shift based on your choices and affect how NPCs speak, trade, and act in future scenes.
Death is permanent. Named NPCs who die are struck through in the Chronicle and never referenced as living again. Choose who you fight carefully — some deaths close doors forever.
Individual player actions of significance are recorded — oaths taken, items lost, betrayals committed. These become part of each hero's personal narrative thread.
Saving & Resuming
Sessions are saved automatically at the end of every turn. You can also manually save at any time using the 💾 Save button in the action row (host only). Progress is never lost mid-adventure.
The server saves the full game state — location, narration, inventory, player stats, world facts, and act progress — after every single turn. Even if the connection drops, your progress survives.
The host can press Save & Quit to formally suspend the session. All players see a confirmation and are returned to the lobby. The room is suspended and appears on the main screen's Resume Saved Adventure list.
On the main screen, saved sessions appear at the bottom showing room code, location, turn count, and players. Click Resume to go to the join screen. Enter your hero name and PIN, and the host starts the game to restore mid-session HP values and world state exactly.
A 4-digit PIN links your hero to a saved character file. Your XP, level, equipment, and backpack travel with you between sessions and between different room codes. No PIN means no persistence — you start fresh each time.
Once an adventure's final act is completed, that session is marked as complete and removed from the resume list. Your character's XP and level are preserved. Start a new room to begin another adventure with the same hero.
The Creature Compendium
Aldric's Compendium of Fell Creatures is a living field journal — a record of every monster your party has encountered, studied, and survived. It is not handed to you complete. It is earned, entry by entry, in the dark places of the world.
Access the Compendium at any time via the bestiary link on The Chronicle's main screen. Enter your hero name and PIN to view your personal journal of discoveries. Guests may browse the index, but only PIN-linked heroes carry their discoveries between sessions.
Discovery & the Shadow Veil
Every creature in the Compendium begins as a shadowed entry — its illustration obscured, its nature unknown, its lore sealed. Only by encountering a creature in play does its entry open. Common creatures of the realm are known to any adventurer who has spent time on the road; their images are visible from the first page. Rarer and more dangerous things must be faced before they are understood.
Undiscovered creatures show only a darkened silhouette and a brief rumour — the kind of half-truth heard in a tavern or whispered by a frightened farmer. Name, category, and habitat are withheld until first contact.
When your party faces a creature for the first time, its entry unlocks. The illustration is revealed, Tier 1 lore becomes readable, and the entry is added to your personal journal. A notification appears on your bestiary page if you have it open.
Each creature has three tiers of lore — field observations that deepen with repeated encounters. Tier 1 unlocks on first contact. Tiers 2 and 3 require surviving further engagements with that creature. The more you fight something, the better you understand it.
Reading a Compendium Entry
| Element | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
| Illustration | Aldric's field sketch. Revealed on discovery; common creatures are always shown. |
| Category & Subcategory | The creature's broad type — Beast, Undead, Giant, Aberration, and so on. |
| Rarity | How likely you are to encounter it. Common entries are well-documented; rare entries are fought by fewer adventurers and understood by fewer still. |
| Habitat Tags | Where this creature makes its home. Useful for anticipating what you might face before entering a new region. |
| Stats Block | HP range, Armour Class, Attack Bonus, and damage die. Appears on discovery; gives you a meaningful baseline for how dangerous this creature truly is. |
| Lore Tiers | Aldric's accumulated observations, unlocked through repeated encounter. Three golden pips on the illustration indicate how many tiers you have earned. |
| Field Notes | Personal annotations in Aldric's own hand — context, warnings, and hard-won wisdom from his own encounters with this creature. |
| Tactical Notes | Unlocked at Tier 3. A breakdown of the creature's known strengths and exploitable weaknesses — invaluable before a difficult fight. |
Three small pips glow on each creature's illustration — one for each lore tier unlocked. A progress bar beneath the entry tracks how many encounters remain until the next tier opens. At Tier 3, Tactical Notes are revealed: the creature's strengths and weaknesses laid bare for those who have survived long enough to learn them.
Filtering the Compendium
The Compendium can be filtered by category — Humanoid, Beast, Undead, Giant, Aberration, Plant — or narrowed to show only your discovered entries or only the shadows that remain. Use these filters to study what you know and anticipate what lurks ahead.
Aldric Voss compiled this Compendium over thirty years of wandering the Known Realms. He did not survive to complete it. The entries marked with his field notes are drawn from his personal journals, recovered after his disappearance in the Thornwood. The rest, you will have to fill in yourselves.