Timeline

This section makes no attempt to shed light on anything. You are likely to be eaten by a Hunting Horror.

Strip #15

First appearance of Eugene
Foreshadows Strip #59, but it’s not clear how much of in between was planned. [Foreshadowing]

Strip #43

First appearance of the Linear Guild
Nale was planned as a recurring adversary at this time [Nale plans]

Strip #53

First appearance of Celia - Celia was designed as a one-shot gag [Celia plans]
Being turned to stone prepares her to be cured later, so she can remove Nale and Thog from the dungeon
Alleged: One-shot Celia never made it out of planning, her first appearance sets up her later appearances.
Otherwise: Rich got lucky at having a character ready and not having to introduce some other plot.

Strip #57

At this point, Rich has plans to make the Monster in the Dark something Xykon created. Start of Darkness proves he dismissed those plans, but it creates a significant boundary and hints at what kinds of monster Rich was considering at this point. [Rich 4/19/04]

Strip #59

Fulfills the foreshadowing of #15, but that foreshadowing does not imply all the intervening strips were fully planned. [Foreshadowing]

Strip #62

Sabine flees, but promises to return.
How does this relate to the plans for her that Rich mentions in [Nale plans]?

Strip #66

Thog surrenders
How does this relate chronologically to Rich’s decision to upgrade Thog from dead to recurring character? [Nale plans]

Strip #72

Durkon confirmed separated from party
Last possible strip to be on time for defeating Xykon at strip #100 [Xykon plans]
Nale and Thog set up to return after the end of the current dungeon [Celia plans]

Strip #92

First dialog of Goblin teenagers
Last possible strip to be on time for reaching Xykon’s throne room at strip #100 [Xykon plans]

Strip #93

First appearance of the Goblin teenagers (but see Strip #92)
Rich says he first considered moving beyond the dungeon. [Dungeon exit]

Bonus Strip

Rich states he was “never really happy” with how the villains “just start talking about” the gate [Gate Plans]
Bonus strips in Dungeon Crawlin Fools were meant to smooth this out.

Strip #96

First appearance of the gates
First appearance of the “What Gate?” joke

Strip #100

Around this strip, the Monster in the Dark’s base monster was confirmed. (But see Strip #96)
First target for defeating Xykon - delayed by Durkon’s subplot
Second target for entering Xykon’s throne room - delayed by Goblin teenagers

Strip #120

Sabine officially returns. [Nale plans]
This is after Strip #93, and therefore it’s possible the plans Rich refers to are her related to her connection to the IFCC. OTOH, see Strip #62

While Writing Authors’ Notes for Book 1

Rich indicates that the future of the party might include more dungeons [Other Dungeons]
Ironically, there wouldn’t be a new dungeon until the Pyramid in BRitF, and that one is empty.
Alleged: This comment got obsoleted by the outline mentioned in [V plans].

Strip #175

The start of V’s lizard subplot [V plans]
Rich indicates that he had no clue when the continuation of this plot would happen.

After writing Book 2

Per [V plans], this is when Rich wrote a full outline for the rest of the saga.

Sources

Xykon Plans

Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools, page 118

My original plans called for the Order to defeat Xykon in strip #100, but the addition of the Durkon story pushed that back. Then I intended for them to enter Xykon’s throne room in #100, but the inclusion of the goblin teenagers delayed it further.

In the end, I decided that all the expectations would be for a giant celebratory strip; after all, that’s what I had done for #50, right? And by now, you should realize that I hate fulfilling people’s expectations, so #100 was nothing special—so much so that even Haley was disappointed.

Dungeon exit

Forum Interview - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?411301-Interview-Questions-For-Rich/page5&p=19169858#post19169858

Q: When you began the strip, did you have any intention of the Order ever leaving the Dungeon of Dorukan to have adventures elsewhere and at what point did you make the decision that the comic would have a long complicated story rather than being just a gag-a-day strip for D&D fans?

A: No, even once I decided that the strip would follow the same characters every installment—my first plan called for the comic to be an anthology of gags using a different party each time—I still thought that they would simply wander the dungeon forever. It wasn’t until around #93 that I started thinking about wrapping up the dungeon and moving on. I wish I could say what, exactly, made me change my mind but I don’t remember. I know that I thought I was leaving a lot of good jokes on the table by never having them go to town or on a wilderness adventure, though.

Celia plans

Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools, page 70

Celia the Sylph began as a one-shot joke but turned into the perfect way to remove Nale and Thog from the dungeon. After all, if the Order left them there, I would need to show them coming back for revenge before the end of the current dungeon, and honestly, I didn’t want a repeat appearance so soon.

Nale plans

Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools, page 68

I had originally planned for all of the Guild to be permanently wiped out except for Nale (who I always intended as a recurring adversary). I soon realized that Thog was not only the perfect sidekick for Nale’s nefarious plotting, he was beloved by fans. I also devised new story plans for Sabine (plans which have yet to come to fruition, I might add), so the Linear Guild was merely dispersed rather than executed. Well, except for poor Yikyik.

[Rich is imprecise about when he devised the plans for Sabine. He makes it sound like it was at the same time as he decided Thog got to live, but he may have been hiding spoilers about when the story expanded]

Foreshadowing

Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools, page 20

Then strip #15 initiates the subplot concerning Roy’s father and the mysterious omen about goats. At that time, I already had conceived of the Linear Guild (as seen in Round 3) and knew that the prophecy referred to Elan’s as-yet-unnamed evil twin.

The details came later, naturally, but I had enough of an idea in my head to lead the story in that direction.

Gate Plans

Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools, page R5-B

The “mysterious gate” subplot gets introduced during these strips, starting with strip #96. I was never really happy with the way the villains just start talking about it, though, so I’ve now created two bonus strips that give a better introduction to the gate and the idea that it zaps anyone who tries to enter.

Other Dungeons

Dungeon Crawlin’ Fools, page 118

The ending allowed me to make a clean break with the dungeon, too, which had been the setting for all the OOTS strips so far. I wanted to send a clear message that OOTS was about wherever these characters adventured, not just about this specific dungeon.

With the castle destroyed, the characters were free to explore the wilderness and even other dungeons. (You’ll know they’re other dungeons because they will have different colored floors.)

V plans

No Cure for the Paladin Blues, page R3-B

In this scene, I was laying certain seeds for later Vaarsuvius-themed plot developments—coughDon’tSplitThePartycough—but I actually hadn’t properly blocked out when those future scenes would happen!

When I got to the end of this book, I realized that I had a bunch of ideas for future plotlines and no real way to string them together. My usual outline-first-and-write-later method required that I not just outline the scenes or the books but the entire series, at least on a rough level.

While I have certainly embellished on that original outline since then, I’m still using that roadmap to get to the end of the story.

Thog plans

https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=16772859&postcount=56

Rich 4/19/04

https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=486300&postcount=54