This page contains links to documents relating to creative work I’ve done in the past, to show the kind of work I enjoy and have developed my skills in over the years.
Worldbuilding
I’ve written a lot of stories over the years, and a lot of that writing has taken place in a single world. In an effort to make that world feel more real, I’ve created a lot of backstory for it, including a cycle of myth and history spanning thousands of years (yes, I enjoy doing this kind of thing). The main document is too long, and too revealing, to attach here, but here’s one segment of it, to give a feel for the whole thing:
A Tale of Years: The Peace of Kings
In addition to creating my own world, I’ve also had occasion to flesh out pre-existing worlds, most often in the context of roleplaying games. When playing a character, I like them to have as fully-realised a background as possible, as in the example attached below, where I created both the character and the religious order to which he belonged.
I’ve been a games master as well as a player, and in this case I’ve taken just as much care to expand and develop the settings I used. When running The Great Campaign within Greg Stafford’s Arthurian Pendragon RPG, I took care to ensure that the players would have a diverse cast of friends and foes to interact with.
Pendragon Great Campaign Knights
Although The Great Campaign lays out the details for an eighty-year span of history across Britain and the rest of Europe, this leaves plenty of room for further detail. For example, as the campaign moved into the “Boy King” phase, I did my best to plan ahead for the issues that would crop up for the players and their children over the years.
Pendragon Great Campaign Planning
Once upon a time, I got the chance to write some promotion pieces for the Alone in the Dark 5 game. As part of the “Central Dark” promotion, I got the chance to research weird facts about New York’s Central Park and spin them into wild conspiracy theories. Plausibility wasn’t high on the agenda, which is quite liberating for a writer. Here’s a few of those pieces:
In-World Lorekeeping
In addition to creating my own settings, I’ve also been involved in RPGs as a player. In these games, I’ve usually played the part of lore keeper, maintaining notes on the events and characters of the game narrative. A couple of examples are included below. The first is an “episode” of a long-running game, written from the point of view of my character.
Roleplaying – Sample Session Record
The game in question ran for long enough (still runs intermittently, in fact) that it became necessary to compile an “encyclopaedia” of characters, places, items, and events. The full document is too long to include here, but I’ve included an excerpt you can view at the link below:
Roleplaying – Encyclopaedia Excerpt
Games Narrative Study
I’ve been interested in how stories are conveyed to readers for longer than I’ve been writing, and I’ve loved stories within games for at least as long. When I had the chance to write a dissertation on Interactive Narratives as part of my Masters in Interactive Digital Media, I jumped at the chance. For its focus, I chose several CRPGs created by Bioware and other developers: Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Dragon Age: Origins.
I’ve maintained this interest over the years, and where I’ve had a chance to explore it in other areas, I’ve done so. For example, through online courses on Coursera and other providers.
The Clarity of Now 