2. Contents
This portfolio contains examples of my creative writing efforts.
It features efforts from three games I play.
• Planescape: Purgatorio
(Neverwinter Nights 2 Mod)
– Cutscene: Codex Dream
• Lord of the Rings Online
– Slemon Ghreem vs. The Barrel
Monster
– The Meeting of Tirvalda and
Gwindeth
– Himring
• The Stolen Child (Neverwinter
Nights 1 Mod)
– Conversation Tree: Macaver Mor,
the Mad King
3. Planescape: Purgatorio
The Codex Dream
The Codex Dream was the first project assigned to me by the Project Lead for
Rogue Dao Studio’s Neverwinter Nights 2 Mod. I was assigned to write a
cutscene as a dream the PC would experience which would introduce
the Codex of the Infinite Planes, the centerpiece of the story.
This dream will take place in a very, very dark stone room where the only piece of furniture is a
great tome sitting on a gnarly looking bone pedestal. It should be very dark and play with
lighting as much as possible, like a college kid's one-man play with just him and his 4
legged stool under the spotlight. The narrative will be voice over that we can hear during or
after we have already seen the subject matter on the screen.
<Fade In> INT. BLACK STONE ROOM – Evening: We can hear footsteps and see the stone floor
passing by as we walk forward towards the only spot of light.
V/O I had the dream again. I know it has come before, but last night was the first time that I
could remember what happened after I woke up.
<Cut To> INT. BLACK STONE ROOM – Evening: The camera moves across the stone floor and
settles on a great tome sitting on a brass pedestal.
V/O The dark place was empty but for a great age'd tome resting on a pedestal crafted of bone.
Inscribed on the cover was a symbol that I could not read, but I knew at the time what it
meant. What the meaning was I do not recall now that I have returned to the waking
world. I cannot explain this.
<Cut To> INT. BLACK STONE ROOM – Evening: We can see the book from a different angle.
V/O The book was very old and of foreign makings. I could not identify the black, scaley skin that
had been fashioned into its cover, nor the rough, black metal that had been used in the
forging of its bindings. Both were alien to me and at the same time familiar.
<Cut To> INT. BLACK STONE ROOM – Evening: We can see the book from a different angle.
V/O On reaching for the tome, I discovered that I could not open it. It was impossibly heavy. The
book was not overly large, about three hands tall, but I was unable to lift the cover.
<Cut To> INT. BLACK STONE ROOM - Evening :Two devils appear and open the book.
V/O At the moment that I realized the tome was beyond my strength, two devils appeared from
out of the nothing. They took no notice of me, and moved to the book. One unlocked the
cover with a key headed with what I can only describe as a metal thistle – its teeth were
innumerable and ever-shifting. The other grasped both corners of the cover and lifted, its
metal joints whining and creaking under the strain. Once the book was open, the two left
without a word, to where I do not know.
4. Planescape: Purgatorio
The Codex Dream (continued)
Screenshot of the cutscene
V/O At that moment a strange compulsion possessed me, and I turned the pages of the book to
a section that I knew, even though I had not seen the tome before. A long list of names
appeared there in different hands...The name at the bottom was mine, done in my own
writing. This did not surprise me, though I cannot explain why. I noticed that no matter
how many pages I turned, there were always more.
INT. BLACK STONE ROOM – Evening: The player is standing over the book looking down at it.
V/O I remember little from that night aside from writing in my own hand about many things
bizarre and extraordinary: insights I had never before thought with my own mind, and
some which I found to be products of my mind, but never consciously thought. Experiences
I had never had, and some that were my own. Things both sinister and sublime, acts I had
committed and some I had not, the results of acts I never witnessed or anticipated. It was
though I saw all things through this act of writing, even things that were beyond myself or
buried so deep within myself that I had long ago forgotten them.
INT. BLACK STONE ROOM – Evening: The player is standing over the book looking down at it.
V/O Finally I realized I wished to stop writing, but could not. My hand pained me, but it still
sought out the ink and paper under a volition not my own. The secrets my hand wrote,
secrets I have maintained these many long years, I revealed in the book. It caused me to
empty my mind into it, giving it everything – my conscious self, my unconscious self, the
self I wanted to be, the self I did not want to be , everything I was, could be or would be.
Drained at last, I fell into blackness…and awoke, thankfully in my own bed, my sheets wet
with sweat but no worse for wear. Except that my right hand was clenched and cramped,
and remained so through the next three days…
5. Lord of the Rings Online
Slemon Ghreem vs. The Barrel-Beast of Mordor
The following details the exploits, if they can be so described, of my character Slemon Ghreem. Slemon is a
member of the Redwolds, a gang of highwaymen. He has the build and dental hygiene of a meth
addict. He thinks himself to be a master rogue and taxman, but in reality is only a bully of hobbits and
domesticated chickens (wild fowl are entirely too formidable). In his first adventure, he battles an
inoffensive houseplant - and narrowly escapes with his life.
He is joined by two compatriots, one Ritan, an itinerant drunk who refers to Slemon as “Mr. Strange-Hat” in
honor of the codpiece Slemon wears on his head, and Lucillia, leader of the Redwolds and collector of
exotic plant life.
Slemon eyes the alien mushroom with considerable suspicion.
Ritan joined Mr. Strange-Hat in studying the strange mushroom. The bum wondered if it was one of those special
mushrooms the Gaurudan Shamans used in their 'spirit journeys'.
Slemon points at the mushroom, “Is that an elven mushroom, I wonder? It certainly is...peculiar.”
Slemon looks at the thing as though it may decide to wake and bite him at any moment.
Ritan says, ‘Is it posni'ous?'
Lucillia grins and nods once. "Aye...just be careful if ye get peckish. It's not the best thing fer eatin'...coming from
Mordor an’ all."
Lucillia chuckles and adds, "Though yer welcome ta try...just be careful...does a number on yer brains and eyes."
Ritan 's face falls into a large, disappointed frown. He'll have to settle with the intoxications from alcohol and forgo
any special 'spirit journeys'. For now.
Slemon points to himself proudly, “I’ll not be needing it then. I’ve got the syphilis, and am in the fairly enjoyable
stages now - the ones with the hallucinations.”
Lucillia frowns and waits for a moment before speaking.
Half drunk already, Slemon walks over to the decorative plant in the corner, and begins carving roguish epithets on
the barrel housing its roots with his favorite knife. The ‘plant’ in the barrel suddenly twitches, causing Slemon to
retreat rather suddenly.
Slemon slowly realizes it is not a plant at all...but a barrel-beast bred in the very pits of Mordor, sent to infiltrate
the Redwolds’ headquarters!
Upon seeing the man back away, Ritan shoots Slemon a confident nod and a thumbs up. For encouragement.
Slemon eyes the barrel. Eyes Ritan. Eyes the barrel suspiciously. Figures if one of his ‘wold brothers has his back,
he can defeat the Barrel-Beast of Mordor.
Slemon engages in a stare-down contest with the inert barrel.
Ritan decides to observe the impending battle between Mr. Strange-Hat and the vile tentacle beast that lurked in the
barrel.
Slemon points at the barrel menacingly, then charges after shouting an off-color comment aimed squarely at the
dubious nature of the barrel’s parentage. He tackles it and sending its contents sprawling across the floor. After
landing a few rabbit punches, he stands, dusting himself off.
Ritan gives a deep, bolsterious nod. That was the way! Though the bum really had no intention of helping Mr.
Strange-Hat in his struggle against the barrel-beast. There wouldn't be any honor in that. He instead cheers at every
attack.
Ritan says, 'Tha's 'ta way, 'cha!'
Slemon grinds one of the leafy tentacles into the stone floor with his foot, "Take that, Barrel of Doom!”
Ritan says, 'Ronkin' 't tha' gitty-ass, aye! Turn 'em inta one 'o 'em elfy platta's!'
Slemon puffs his chest out, satisfied with his accomplishments for the evening, "It’s still twitching, but I think I
showed it."
Ritan says, 'Ye's sure dids. I's proud 'o 'cha.‘
(The barrel and tentacle beast continued to lurk at the Redwolds’ Headquarters, but Lucillia chose to house
her more unusual specimens in the closet when Slemon visited.)
6. Lord of the Rings Online
The Meeting of Tirvalda and Gwindeth
This example features the concluding conversation in a player-run event I
planned and executed in LoTRO. It is an in-game conversation between
Gwindeth, a spirit equivalent to a lesser angel, and my character
Tirvalda, who searches for the Silmarils, powerful ancient artifacts of
Middle-Earth. In this conversation, I played both Tirvalda and Gwindeth,
while Annuiel is played by another player.
Gwindeth: The waters tell me the Pine Lord is felled, and the streams flow free once again. It is
a great good you have done me, and all my sisters. I will uphold my promise, and tell you
of what I know of Feanor’s jewels.
Tirvalda says nothing, looking on with great interest.
Sylrien moves to speak, but Whaylen stops her with a sharp glance.
Gwindeth: As you know, there are three. But there is much you do not know. When Earendil
stepped on the shores of Valinor and plead for their aid, the Valar met in secret counsel.
They decided to strip possession of the jewels forever from the Children of Illuvatar, and
hold them under guardianship. You think that but one remains, that one is drowned, and
one burned, but this is not so.
Annuiel looks to Tirvalda, grasping his arm.
Whaylen gasps at this revelation.
Gwindeth continued: There is much that has been hidden from the Children of Illuvatar: Maglor
and Maedhros did only what was fated them, and this is why Eonwe did not stop them –
they were only unknowingly delivering the jewels to the place they would rest until the
Dagor Dagorath. In the secret council of the Valar it was decided: one would be placed
among Varda’s stars, one in the foundries of Aule, and one in the deeps of Ulmo.
Tirvalda listens on in rapt attention.
Gwindeth laughs softly: Did you think Maedhros’ Silmaril destroyed? It is not – nothing can
unmake a Silmaril, not even the strength of the Valar.
Tirvalda asks hurriedly, “The jewel of Ulmo – certainly being a Handmaid of Uinen, you can take
me to see it only, so that I might give word to my father –“
Gwindeth interrupts him with a gesture of her hand: There is but one jewel you may see, and
that is Earendil’s Star. But know that the other shines on in the deeps – I have seen it.
Tirvalda turns about, looking to the falls, hand on his chin, lost in thought.
Annuiel asks, “But what of the other? All can see Earendil’s jewel, and you have seen
Maglor’s…what of Maedhros’?”
Gwindeth smiles a wry smile: I know only that it abides in the care of Aule, and it shines on yet.
7. Lord of the Rings Online
Himring
This example is taken from my main character’s blog, which I use to tell
the story of his adventures in Middle-Earth. This is the opening
entry, establishing the current state of his ruined homeland.
Himring. Once a proud, indomitable hilltop fortress, the bastion of Maedhros, eldest of the Sons of
Feanor, in days of old it stood guard over the green plains of Ard-Galen, when the world was young.
Within plain view of the peaks of Thangorodrim it stood straight and tall, forming the strongest part
of the leaguer which kept the issue of the breeding pits of Angmar from spilling into the sunlit
plains of Beleriand. Alone among the fortresses of the east it held during the Dagor Bragollach,
and the princes of the east rallied to it when their lands were lost. From Himring the Union of
Maedhros was born, and much of the lands lost in the Dagor Bragollach regained.
But finally Himring was overwhelmed, lost in the betrayal of the Elves by the Swarthy Men in the
Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Its great hall was afterward held by orcs and
things more terrible, and the Sons of Feanor retreated to Andram and Mount Dolmed. When the
Host of the Valar unseated Morgoth, Beleriand was unmade, and fell into the sea. But Himring
remained above the waves, no longer a hill but a cold island, a reminder to those who would think
to thwart the Valar. The unrepentant of the House of Feanor returned then to Himring, forever
exiled from the Undying Lands by the Valar and banned from the shores of Middle-Earth by
Ereinion Gil-Galad, High King of the Elves.
Himring was no longer the gentle-sloping hill it once was. Cold, wet winds now visited its broken shores
and clouds hid it from the sun, making its animals stunted and hardy and its fruiting plants small
and bitter. It was a moorland of brown grasses and heather, its rocky soil choking trees so they
grew only to the height of brush. The island was a ruined land, crowned with a ruined hall, a
reward fit for those unrepentant Noldor who brought about the drowning of the continent of
Beleriand. It taught a valuable lesson – in the desolation and misery visited upon its residents, it
stated more loudly and clearly than any well-phrased edict or trumpeted declaration ever might:
the words of the Valar should not go unheeded.
And so they remained, under the lordship of Maglor the Half-Mad, who circled the shores of the island,
looking for what he had cast into the sea so long ago. Word came to the island of a great battle
with Sauron, Morgoth’s lieutenant, in which Gil-Galad was slain. With the last High King of the
Elves slain, and elven dominion being replaced by mannish Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor , the
ban warding the folk of Himring from Middle-Earth was forgotten, and one night Maglor left
without word. Menelatar, his eldest son, then took lordship of the folk of Himring, charging his
younger brother, Tirvalda, to find and look after his father, and to find a way to allow their father
and their folk to return to the Undying Lands.
8. The Stolen Child
Conversation Tree: Macaver Mor, the Mad King
The following is a conversation I wrote for a Neverwinter Nights module called The Stolen Child. In it,
the PC is attempting to convince Macaver to release the Songbird, a Fae songstress he has caged and
keeps as a pet. Macaver is quite mad, and currently is hosting a small party for his courtiers – a room
filled with seated corpses.
