Game Writing Samples
Dialogue for Apex Legends (Battle Royale)
(Mirage, Bloodhound, Horizon, Crypto)
Cutscene Dialogue from “The Confidence Man” (RPG)
INT- A Cheesemongers Shop, Midnight.
RAKEFIELD finds the door unlocked and enters. The place is dark. Someone lights a cigarette with a match, momentarily illuminating the room. Two burly men and a sharp-eyed brunette with a moon shaped bruise on her face lean against a vast, dusty wheel of parmesan.
Zilpha recognizes his old crew immediately: CASTLE, PUNCH and VALENTINE and of course their leader, the beak nosed ROBUSTO, who holds the cigarette.
RAKEFIELD Castle! How is your mother doing? Punch, how's the snail shell collection? Miss V, you're somehow even more lovely than I-
A flung razor blade whizzes past Rakefield’s face.
RAKEFIELD My dear friends. It's been too long. How'd you all like to earn a thousand crowns?
ROBUSTO Zat is quite ze claim, Monsieur Rakefield, after ze rice cannery scheme.
ROBUSTO flicks the match aside and approaches Rakefield in the gloam. His eyes gleam red.
ROBUSTO What is it zat Robusto and ze ‘Zociety de la Rat’ can do for you?
RAKEFIELD’s hand snaps out to tak ROBUSTO’s giant nose.
RAKEFIELD I said: How would you like to earn a thousand crowns?
CASTLE and PUNCH reach for their blades.
RAKEFIELD I have big plans. This is the one. The last job... If we have the right people.
Silence.
ROBUSTO laughs through his nose.
ROBUSTO Rakey, Rakey, Rakey. Earning a thousand crowns, it is what we fucking do!
He extracts his nose from Rakefields grip.
RAKEFIELD There is, in Aquilon, a young dandy by the name of Garel Vok. He's here on vacation. He and his friends want to have a good time. So. Punch finds us a quiet place outside the city walls. Miss V, you lure the youngsters there, promise them... I don’t know, crack, or something. When they’re drugged and out of sorts, you get Garel in a leather sack and head for the Rhone.
ROBUSTO (Where are we going to get a leather sack? No, nevermind zat.) Rakey, zis is... ow do you say, not our style. And wis ze blood of ze gentry no less.
RAKEFIELD Oh I’m sorry, I thought the Society of the Rat hated the gentry.
PUNCH We do.
ROBUSTO (to PUNCH) Tshhh! (to RAKEFIELD) We want two zousand.
RAKEFIELD Oh my friend, when I said a thousand, I meant a thousand each.
ROBUSTO Five thousand each, mes ami!
The gang enthusiastically stomp the floor boards.
ROBUSTO It sounds az eef you have a deal, Monsieur Rakefield!
EXCERPT from “Firebrand” (Play)
1851.
Barbara Mackenzie (26) is the invalid daughter of newspaper editor William Lyon Mackenzie who dies near the end of the play from setting herself on fire.
The following scene is the first time we meet her.
Barbara is alone by the kitchen hearth. When she is certain everyone is asleep, she goes into the pantry and returns with a handsome young man, WICK (24), dressed like a stableboy. She leads him by the hand to the hearth.
They kiss. Eventually, she stops.
WICK: What’s wrong.
BARBARA: I need you to do something.
WICK: Okay.
BARBARA: Get the matches. Over in that drawer.
WICK: Okay.
BARBARA: Now come here and light one in my face.
WICK: Why?
BARBARA: Just do it.
Wick approaches. He strikes the match.
WICK: Like that?
BARBARA: Good, now hold it up to my face.
The match burns his hand.
WICK: Ow.
Barbara kisses him hungrily.
WICK: Wait, wait, I don’t understand. Why did I have to light a match?
BARBARA: I wanted to see your eyes.
WICK: I like looking at you too.
BARBARA: Do you want to do it some more?
Wick goes to kiss her.
BARBARA: Light some more matches.
WICK: Um, okay.
BARBARA: What. It doesn’t excite you?
WICK: Matches?
BARBARA: No. Fire.
WICK: I guess? It’s fire.
BARBARA: I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone. I like fire. I really really like fire. Do you like fire?
WICK: Yeah.
BARBARA: Why do you like it?
WICK: It’s so great for keeping warm and cooking food.
BARBARA: Uh huh, would you cook me?
WICK: What?
BARBARA: Would you cook me in a fire?
WICK: Like a cannibal?
BARBARA: Yes, like a cannibal. Would you make my skin burn and my hair burn and my eyes burn.
WICK: I can’t believe this.
BARBARA: Shh. Light another match.
WICK: No.
BARBARA: What.
WICK: This is hilarious.
BARBARA: What’s hilarious?
WICK: You’re hot for fire. You’re so weird!
BARBARA: I know.
WICK: I like it.
BARBARA: You want to know why I brought you here?
WICK: Show me.
Barbara goes up to a gas lantern hanging from the ceiling.
BARBARA: Give me the matches.
She lights a beautiful blue gas flame.
WICK: Incredible.
BARBARA: Kiss me under the flame.
They kiss. More passionately than before.
WICK: How about...
BARBARA: Tell me.
WICK: What if... I took some of your fathers newspapers and set them on fire and lay them about us in these little fires... and then if you let me touch you, with the little fires all around us. Think of the heat. And the smoke. And the smell. And knowing it could get out of control at any time and maybe catch our clothes on fire.
Barbara presses herself against him, crazy with desire.
BARBARA: Let’s do it.
WICK: You light the matches. I’ll get some newspaper.
He goes. BARBARA’s younger sister, BELL (14) appears in the doorway of the kitchen and watches her sister as she embraces herself, her body pressed against the hearth.
BELL: What are you doing?
Lore from Tears of Radiance, Exalted (RPG)
The following is an excerpt on a faction background called The Telechine Hunt.
Origins
The Telechine Hunt was a religious order formed in RY 699 in Howling Heart Praefecture. It was founded by the seven most devoted pupils of the Grand Master, Telechine. Telechine, or as she was known by her students, Long Seasons Loved, was a sage and originator of a new martial art style called the “Lake of Iron, River of Fire” style. Telechine was revered for her specialized knowledge of the hand to hand fighting styles of the Anathema demons and developed a form of flowing body blows which delivered slow but punishing counters to her opponents.
Telechine’s Final Words
In her final years, Telechine lived in a cave complex on a mountain near Howling Heart, tended to by her acolytes who continued to teach the Telechine martial style. One night, Telechine, who by that time had been silent for months, opened her mouth and spoke loudly and clearly, prophesying a ‘demonic reclamation’ which would challenge the supremacy of the Scarlet Empire. When asked who would prevail, Telechine simply shook her head, eyes cast low. She never spoke again. Several months later, it is said she became one with the howling mountain winds.
The Founding of the Hunt
Telechine’s prophecy profoundly changed the lives of the seven students who witnessed it. These seven swore their lives to serve as Shikari Demon Hunters, and vowed to go to the most dangerous parts of the earth to root out demonic heresies before they could grow to strength. These seven foreswore alcohol, copulation and the power games of their families so as to be rendered incorruptible.
The names of the original seven members, as recorded on the Hunt’s charter:
Ledaal Sevarin Vanek, thereafter Halia, Commander of the Telechine Hunt
Cathak Gadarias, thereafter Lykos, Deputy Commander of the Telechine Hunt
Sesus Emelethreh, thereafter Argyron, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Nellens Gray Home thereafter Antaeus, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Mnemon Darius, thereafter Chalcon, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Tepet Yano, thereafter Atabyrius, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Sesus Derama, thereafter Dexithea, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Their charter was signed in blood on the last day of Calibration, RY699.
Game Writing Samples
Dialogue for Apex Legends (Mirage and Bloodhound)
Cutscene Dialogue from “The Confidence Man” (RPG)
INT- A Cheesemongers Shop, Midnight.
RAKEFIELD finds the door unlocked and enters. The place is dark. Someone lights a cigarette with a match, momentarily illuminating the room. Two burly men and a sharp-eyed brunette with a moon shaped bruise on her face lean against a vast, dusty wheel of parmesan.
Zilpha recognizes his old crew immediately: CASTLE, PUNCH and VALENTINE and of course their leader, the beak nosed ROBUSTO, who holds the cigarette.
RAKEFIELD Castle! How is your mother doing? Punch, how's the snail shell collection? Miss V, you're somehow even more lovely than I-
A flung razor blade whizzes past Rakefield’s face.
RAKEFIELD My dear friends. It's been too long. How'd you all like to earn a thousand crowns?
ROBUSTO Zat is quite ze claim, Monsieur Rakefield, after ze rice cannery scheme.
ROBUSTO flicks the match aside and approaches Rakefield in the gloam. His eyes gleam red.
ROBUSTO What is it zat Robusto and ze ‘Zociety de la Rat’ can do for you?
RAKEFIELD’s hand snaps out to tak ROBUSTO’s giant nose.
RAKEFIELD I said: How would you like to earn a thousand crowns?
CASTLE and PUNCH reach for their blades.
RAKEFIELD I have big plans. This is the one. The last job... If we have the right people.
Silence.
ROBUSTO laughs through his nose.
ROBUSTO Rakey, Rakey, Rakey. Earning a thousand crowns, it is what we fucking do!
He extracts his nose from Rakefields grip.
RAKEFIELD There is, in Aquilon, a young dandy by the name of Garel Vok. He's here on vacation. He and his friends want to have a good time. So. Punch finds us a quiet place outside the city walls. Miss V, you lure the youngsters there, promise them... I don’t know, crack, or something. When they’re drugged and out of sorts, you get Garel in a leather sack and head for the Rhone.
ROBUSTO (Where are we going to get a leather sack? No, nevermind zat.) Rakey, zis is... ow do you say, not our style. And wis ze blood of ze gentry no less.
RAKEFIELD Oh I’m sorry, I thought the Society of the Rat hated the gentry.
PUNCH We do.
ROBUSTO (to PUNCH) Tshhh! (to RAKEFIELD) We want two zousand.
RAKEFIELD Oh my friend, when I said a thousand, I meant a thousand each.
ROBUSTO Five thousand each, mes ami!
The gang enthusiastically stomp the floor boards.
ROBUSTO It sounds az eef you have a deal, Monsieur Rakefield!
EXCERPT from “Firebrand” (Play)
1851.
Barbara Mackenzie (26) is the invalid daughter of newspaper editor William Lyon Mackenzie who dies near the end of the play from setting herself on fire.
The following scene is the first time we meet her.
Barbara is alone by the kitchen hearth. When she is certain everyone is asleep, she goes into the pantry and returns with a handsome young man, WICK (24), dressed like a stableboy. She leads him by the hand to the hearth.
They kiss. Eventually, she stops.
WICK: What’s wrong.
BARBARA: I need you to do something.
WICK: Okay.
BARBARA: Get the matches. Over in that drawer.
WICK: Okay.
BARBARA: Now come here and light one in my face.
WICK: Why?
BARBARA: Just do it.
Wick approaches. He strikes the match.
WICK: Like that?
BARBARA: Good, now hold it up to my face.
The match burns his hand.
WICK: Ow.
Barbara kisses him hungrily.
WICK: Wait, wait, I don’t understand. Why did I have to light a match?
BARBARA: I wanted to see your eyes.
WICK: I like looking at you too.
BARBARA: Do you want to do it some more?
Wick goes to kiss her.
BARBARA: Light some more matches.
WICK: Um, okay.
BARBARA: What. It doesn’t excite you?
WICK: Matches?
BARBARA: No. Fire.
WICK: I guess? It’s fire.
BARBARA: I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone. I like fire. I really really like fire. Do you like fire?
WICK: Yeah.
BARBARA: Why do you like it?
WICK: It’s so great for keeping warm and cooking food.
BARBARA: Uh huh, would you cook me?
WICK: What?
BARBARA: Would you cook me in a fire?
WICK: Like a cannibal?
BARBARA: Yes, like a cannibal. Would you make my skin burn and my hair burn and my eyes burn.
WICK: I can’t believe this.
BARBARA: Shh. Light another match.
WICK: No.
BARBARA: What.
WICK: This is hilarious.
BARBARA: What’s hilarious?
WICK: You’re hot for fire. You’re so weird!
BARBARA: I know.
WICK: I like it.
BARBARA: You want to know why I brought you here?
WICK: Show me.
Barbara goes up to a gas lantern hanging from the ceiling.
BARBARA: Give me the matches.
She lights a beautiful blue gas flame.
WICK: Incredible.
BARBARA: Kiss me under the flame.
They kiss. More passionately than before.
WICK: How about...
BARBARA: Tell me.
WICK: What if... I took some of your fathers newspapers and set them on fire and lay them about us in these little fires... and then if you let me touch you, with the little fires all around us. Think of the heat. And the smoke. And the smell. And knowing it could get out of control at any time and maybe catch our clothes on fire.
Barbara presses herself against him, crazy with desire.
BARBARA: Let’s do it.
WICK: You light the matches. I’ll get some newspaper.
He goes. BARBARA’s younger sister, BELL (14) appears in the doorway of the kitchen and watches her sister as she embraces herself, her body pressed against the hearth.
BELL: What are you doing?
Lore from Tears of Radiance, Exalted (RPG)
The following is an excerpt from a faction background called The Telechine Hunt which I wrote for Tears of Radiance.
Origins
The Telechine Hunt was a religious order formed in RY 699 in Howling Heart Praefecture. It was founded by pupils of the now-deceased Grand Master Telechine. Telechine, or as she was known by her students, Long Seasons Loved, was a sage and originator of a new martial art style called Lake of Iron and River of Fire.
Lake of Iron, River of Fire
Telechine developed this form of quick blocks and flowing palm strikes to endure the withering attacks of an opponent before delivering a punishing counter. Legend claimed that the style was inspired by an event which had happened to Telechine as a little girl, when she was crossing over a sandy isthmus between the tailings pond of a nearby mine and the inland sea. The young Telechine had been set upon by a pack of Ifrit Hounds, hyena-like canines consumed in an anima of green fire. Telechine used the unusual environment to her advantage, neutralizing the flame of the Ifriti in the swift waters before trapping them in the mire of the pond.
Telechine’s Final Words
In her final years, Telechine lived in a cave complex on a mountain near Howling Heart, tended to by her acolytes who continued to teach Lake of Iron and River of Fire to students who made the dangerous pilgrimage up the icy mountain steps. One night, Telechine, who by that time had been silent for months, opened her mouth and spoke loudly and clearly, prophesying a ‘demonic reclamation’ which would challenge the supremacy of the Scarlet Empire. When asked who would prevail, Telechine simply shook her head, eyes cast low. She never spoke again. Several months later, it is said she became one with the howling mountain winds.
The Founding of the Hunt
Telechine’s prophecy profoundly changed the lives of the seven students who witnessed it. These seven became the originators of the Telechine Hunt, and vowed to go to the most dangerous parts of the earth to root out demonic heresies before they could grow to strength. These seven foreswore alcohol, copulation and the power games of their families so as to resist “the corrosion of earthly ways.”
The names of the original seven members, as recorded on the Hunt’s charter were:
Ledaal Sevarin Vanek, thereafter Halia, Commander of the Telechine Hunt
Cathak Gadarias, thereafter Lykos, Deputy Commander of the Telechine Hunt
Sesus Emelethreh, thereafter Argyron, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Nellens Gray Home thereafter Antaeus, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Mnemon Darius, thereafter Chalcon, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Tepet Yano, thereafter Atabyrius, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Sesus Derama, thereafter Dexithea, Captain of the Telechine Hunt
Their charter was signed in blood on the last day of Calibration, RY699.