Writing samples by Nell Raban

In addition to the below samples, I have a number of analog and digital games available at
https://nell-raban.itch.io/​.

1. Interactive storytelling: ​Sea of Legends

Sea of Legends​ is a pirate-themed board game that generates adventures dynamically through
a companion app. Included are video examples of two possible paths through an adventure I
wrote. Published by Guildhall Studios.

2. Ambient dialogue: "Eating's good"

I wrote this dialogue as an exercise, so it remains unpublished and apart from any game project.
Still, it’s a good indicator of my skill in creating unique characters, setting and action through
dialogue. This sample is set in a generic medieval fantasy world.

3. Worldbuilding: ​Home Again

Home Again​ is a roleplaying game based on the ​Apocalypse World​ system. The player
characters are members of a magical diaspora that occurred mysteriously and without notice,
and now they must work to make space for themselves in an uncaring and often hostile new
world. The “Applewood” setting conveys a seemingly mundane and familiar setting that is
nonetheless rife with intrigue and magic. Self-published.

4. Character biography: ​Mythic D6 Adventure Anthology

I was commissioned to do rewrites on a character biography for a nonplayer character in the
Mythic D6 Adventure Anthology,​ a sourcebook for a superheroic tabletop roleplaying game. The
character is named Mahogany Johnson, a Black transgender woman working for a covert
paranormal investigation unit. Published by Khepera Publishing.

5. Zone: "The Idol of Oasis"

The Idol of Oasis​ is the basis for an attempted submission to the One-Page Dungeon contest.
While technical issues prevent me and my project partner from completing it, the dungeon
provides a compelling space to both question the traditional hack-and-slack mentality and
achieve a redemptive outcome. Unpublished.

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1. Interactive storytelling: ​Sea of Legends

Path A

Path B

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2. Ambient dialogue: “Eating’s good”
INT. TAVERN - DAY 
 
The player character passes by a pair of war refugees. 
 
REFUGEE 1 
Is there nothing better than this 
slop? How can I be inspired if this is 
what I'm forced to eat? 
 
REFUGEE 2 
Rather eat this than starve... 
Inspired? 
 
REFUGEE 1 
Rejuvenated, aroused, stirred to 
passion! Oh, at least there is a 
certain nobility in starving. But I do 
long for the pies back in Sylvaine. 
 
REFUGEE 2 
You mean the Sylvaine that burned to 
the ground? 
 
LATER: 
 
The player character again passes by the refugees. 
 
REFUGEE 2 
If you don't eat that, then I will. 
 
REFUGEE 1 
I can hardly force it down... I used 
to play the drum. Do you remember? I 
bought one in Benton after the 
harvest. The merchant said it was a 
drum fit for a court bard. 
 
REFUGEE 2 
Are you joking? I never once heard you 
play that drum. 

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 REFUGEE 1 
I was going to take lessons! 
 
REFUGEE 2 
So you don't have your precious drum 
no more. Geraldine over there - lost 
her boy. Thomas his eye. We all lost 
something. We're the losers. ​Eat​, by 
god! 
 
LATER: 
 
The player character passes by the refugees one last time. 
 
REFUGEE 2 
At least you're eating today. 
 
REFUGEE 1 
Yes, I suppose I ought to. After all, 
there's little worse than Cousin 
Barney's turnip stew back home. 
 
REFUGEE 2 
Yeh, you could never keep it down for 
long. 
 
REFUGEE 1 
Look here - a new baker arrived 
yesterday. I acquired for you a spice 
cake. 
 
REFUGEE 2 
Did you? It smells nice. Will you have 
some with me now? 
 
REFUGEE 1 
It would inspire me. 
 
END. 

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3. Worldbuilding: ​Home Again

Applewood
There’s a city called Noble. It’s a large Midwestern city, in the style of the great ones like
Chicago or Minneapolis. Noble is slightly wider than it is tall—if you were looking at its map, that
is—and it’s bisected at about two-thirds its width by the great Torrence River. You’ll often hear
locals refer to Noble’s East Side, where its downtown and more affluent neighborhoods are, and
its West Side, where the industrial sites, airport and lower-to-middle class sprawl are. But that’s
neither here nor there.

Oh—and then there’s Applewood, a sleepy little neighborhood in Noble’s northwest. Applewood
was one of the first neighborhoods that was settled when increasing rents started driving
lower-income folks away from the city center. It’s got its own main drag, a minor little strip of
industry; one NMTS (Noble Municipal Transit Service) subway stop and two bus lines; even a
community college (James Carson CC). Applewood’s long-serving alderman (a sort of
neighborhood mayor), Roy Baer, grew up here and says he loves it, but it could be so much
more. He says it has the potential to be great, and he has big plans.

Applewood is also where the strangest thing happened about forty years ago. Yeah, it’s where
the Tao arrived. The locals scrambled and fought, but eventually they accommodated them.
(Noble is a sanctuary city.) The Taos’ homes and belongings had been lost, and they had
nothing but the clothes on their backs. Neither had they their memories, those intangible
ephemeral things that had stood for all their life’s collected knowledge.

But now you’re rediscovering them, scattered as they are across this place, one by one.

You weren’t around when it happened, or you were much younger, then. Growing up, you had
asked your questions same as anyone would, but the answers would never come. So you came
into your own and lived your lives. But some nights you find yourselves at Home, a large
bamboo house raised on stilts and roofed with thatched palms, which is the only other thing that
crossed over. It is the most peculiar thing in Applewood. It looks like it doesn’t belong.

Of course, you only know this about Home because it was told to you by the locals. Forty years
ago, it popped into existence in an empty lot near Applewood’s main drag. Now, gentrification
spreads inevitably in its direction, but still it stands proud.

The players might be able to guess from context that Home is a traditional structure, even
dwelling, of the Tao. That’s easy. What’s crucial and buried is the fact that this dwelling
belonged to the leader—datu—of the island, and that it resided at the island’s highest point.
When the cataclysm struck, it forced the Tao to flee uphill, but not everyone was able to make it.
Those who did survived; those who didn’t were lost to the torrents of seawater and spacetime.

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Can these descendants save Home from being razed before it and its memory are lost for
good?

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4. Character biography: ​Mythic D6 Adventure
Anthology

Mahogany Johnson
First in her class at the naval academy, Mahogany Johnson was a much sought-after prospect
before the FBI finally recruited her. She quickly proved to be a gifted field agent and won the
respect of her peers and superiors. When it got out that she was transgender, Mahogany stuck
to her truth and kept on living. She knew she was more than just her parts or the sum of them.
While some at the bureau embraced her without question, the rest just stayed out of her way.
(Those that didn't got to talk to HR.)

She may have lost a little of that respect, and her relationships with some coworkers may have
gotten needlessly complicated. But Mahogany took it all in stride and got further stuck into her
work. Most of it was fairly mundane, but her bosses occasionally assigned her the oddest
back-of-the-drawer files like cattle mutilations and peculiar disappearances. Mahogany still
treated each one with the same professionalism she would a high-profile kidnapping. She
closed every case she worked. But something else was happening, too. With each bizarre case,
Agent Johnson started to sense more and more that something was not quite right in the world.

Eventually Mahogany’s work ethic and intuition caught the attention of a small man named Leon
Smalls. He represented an obscure think tank in upstate New York called the Institute and
wanted to recruit Mahogany into something he called "the Good Work." Smalls pulled back the
curtain on the world for Mahogany, and she could now see with her own eyes what she’d
suspected but could never confirm or understand. She left the bureau behind and became one
of the lead handlers in the Institute’s "Special Unit," investigating mysteries of the weird and
macabre.

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5. Zone: “The Idol of Oasis”
Somewhere within a newly rediscovered temple lies the sacred Idol of Oasis, Goddess of
Renewal. The king demands its reclamation, dearly needed as it is in these blighted times. But
when you clear away the volcanic ash and rubble, what else will you find, and learn?

Foyer
A large pool designated for ablutions dominates the foyer, though it is bone-dry. A burrower nest
covers and clogs the drain at the bottom.

Shed
Wandering monsters: d8

A rusted irrigation pump lies dormant in the corner, connected to an underground spring. If
repaired, the system will water the garden and fill the ablutions pool. Sealed jars and spray
canisters of spring water on the shelves may give you an advantage while fighting some of the
wandering monsters.

Garden
Wandering monsters: d8+2

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What was once pure arboreal splendor had been choked to death by pools of lava that formed
and crusted over the plant life. If you manage to get the irrigation pump in the shed working, you
may find on your way out that the garden has sprung to life with magical energy.

Statuary
In the middle of the garden, statues of the Three Saints watch over the corpse of the doomed
monk Arwel, which holds a key to the locked door in the library. Their ghosts will appear at the
first sign of trespass, but they will stand down if you can name each of them correctly.

Chapel
Wandering monsters: d8-1

Workers couldn’t excavate the temple’s main entrance, so you’re forced to enter through the
chapel.

Library
Wandering monsters: d8

Among what’s intact is a hagiography of the Three Saints: Ara the Custodian, with long flowing
hair and shears; Hetu the Sage, with beard and staff; and Onyx the Healer, with cap and basin.
Through the library is also the only available way to the basement, past a locked door.

Cell
Wandering monsters: d8-2

A journal by the monk Arwel tells a tale of heroic, though perhaps naive, sacrifice to keep vigil
during the temple’s doom. Earlier entries hint at the oil trench in the crypt and the locked
reliquary beyond. The key’s around here somewhere, too.

Crypt
The undead won’t rest, even if “killed,” for want of their magic flame. A trough of oil that lines the
crypt may be lit, allowing the undead to slumber in peace.

Reliquary
Behind the locked door, the mummified remains of Yeva grace a throne, cradling in her folded
hands the Idol of Oasis. She will wake, and parlay if named, though she cautions that it isn’t the

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idol itself, but rather the spring underground, that holds great power. Take the idol if you like, but
you may have to fight for it.

Wandering monsters
1. Burrowers
2. Dust cloud
3. Clumpers
4. Poisoners
5. Ash mob
6. Entanglers
7. Earth golem
8. Stone golem

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