Publications | Paul Kirsch

Games

The Outer Worlds 2

Senior Narrative Designer

Rewriting side quests and associated reactivity.
- Matriarch's Mercy, Euphoria Coast Automech Repair.
First pass dialogue and interjections for Aza, the murder companion.
- Collaborating with Leonard Boyarsky on her character arc and the player's influence on her personality.
Bug fixing and targeted revisions throughout.

Avowed

Senior Narrative Designer

Critical path dialogue in Paradis.
- Inquisitor Lödwyn, Ambassador Falscen Hylgard, Capt. Cynric, Brentis & Pod, Liviana, Grysca, Elowê, Ygwulf.
Critical path dialogue and concept for Emerald Stair / Fior mes Ivèrno.
- Giatta Castell, Pere Quilicci, Ignasi Vidarro, Monto Pastor, Elia Rosell, Remi Soler, Ivette Riggo, Captain Aelfyr.
Companion writing and concept for Giatta Castell.
- I designed Giatta's recruitment quest to include themes of inheriting a complicated legacy, which evolves over time and sets up an unexpected resolution in the game's final region.
- Working with Mara Junot (VO), Debra Wilson (VO), and Katelyn Gault (VO director) over the course of many sessions was the highlight of the project.
Villain writing and romance for Inquisitor Lödwyn.
- Since the player character and Inquisitor Lödwyn originated from the same region, I reasoned that they may have crossed paths before the events of Avowed. Her (optional) dark romance is a fan favorite among the eccentric and the adventurous.
- Rather than antagonize the player, Lödwyn spends much of the game drawing the player into her worldview, which led to some ethically complicated ruminations on power and colonization.
Companion camp conversations between regions and story crossroads.
- Group conversations reacting to major story choices and foreshadowing what comes next.
Companion camp banter.
- Ambient dialogue between Giatta and the other companions exploring lore about the setting, arguing among themselves, telling stories, stealing cheese, etc.
Treasure map clues, all non-magical weapon and armor descriptions, glossary entries.

Pentiment (2022) Alpha Tester

Prior to launch, I playtested and wrote up my feedback notes on clarity, pacing, themes, overall impact, and bugs.

Peril on Gorgon DLC (2020)

Narrative Designer

Writing and concept for Wilhelmina "Minnie" Ambrose and Lucien Bancroft.
- Minnie Ambrose spearheads this DLC and its resolution with a (mostly true) story about her crusade for justice after her family's downfall at the hands of Spacer's Choice.
- Players who unexpectedly kill Minnie get to deal with Lucien Bancroft as an alternate, secret route through the story.
Writing for the Sprat Shack.
- Gorgon's tavern is full of miscreants and oddballs.
Rendezvous at Llama side quest.
- A brief but highly unusual side quest.

The Outer Worlds (2019)

Narrative Designer

Nebula Award winner for Game Writing.
GLAAD Media Award winner for Outstanding Video Game.
D.I.C.E. Awards winner for Role-Playing Game of the Year.
Rewrites and revisions to Lilya Hagen, President of SubLight Salvage.
- This questline was a wild card that I inherited and rewrote for clarity.
- Reactivity to Lilya's questline carried into my later work for Peril on Gorgon.

The Forgotten Sanctum DLC (2018)

Narrative Designer

Critical path quest writing for Tayn.
- The eccentric Archmage Tayn (inspired by Paul Rudd in Parks & Rec) co-introduces the highly unusual setting of this DLC and motivates the player to explore a grotesque dungeon inside the body of Wael.
Side quest writing for Bekarna.
- I had previously written the side quest Bekarna's Folly for the base game, so this was a wonderful opportunity to bring her story full circle and introduce a heartfelt new NPC to the Circle of Archmagi.
The Enclosures, the Spore Colony, the imps, and more.
- The Enclosures was a fun, if disturbing, human zoo full of brainwashed test subjects.
- The imps Fetid Spray and Drowsy Puke act as merchants with some optional (hilarious) side tasks.
- The Spore Colony is growing in the library's forbidden section and must be circumvented, dealt with, befriended.
- The evil archmage Concelhaut makes a surprise appearance, including an unexpected end state with ripple effects in the base game.

Seeker, Slayer, Survivor DLC (2018)

Narrative Designer

Structural work on conversations for my colleagues, light writing passes throughout.

Beast of Winter DLC (2018)

Narrative Designer

The Bridge Ablaze.
- I wrote dialogue for Saint Waidwen, a significant character in the Pillars of Eternity lore and a surprise addition to this DLC. His story folded in some much-needed humanity to the venerated saint and introduced some nuance into his partnership with a god.
- Collaborating with Area Design, I helped design how the player navigates a time loop using tools that were thematically appropriate to the setting and characters.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (2018)

Narrative Designer

WGA nominee for Best Videogame Writing.
D.I.C.E. Awards nominee for Best Role-Playing Game.
GLAAD Media Award nominee for Outstanding Video Game.
Critical path dialogue in Neketaka.
- Queen Onekaza, Prince Aruihi, Tekēhu, Maia Rua.
Companion concepts, dialogue, and romance.
- Tekēhu
  - Handsome Tekēhu juggles feeling overconfidently full of himself and buckling under the weight of expectations as the would-be savior of his people.
- Maia Rua
  - Imperialist bird watcher Maia Rua feels driven to impose her authority over a conquered land, but she will discover that the old tools might not work on a new frontier.
Side quest dialogue.
- Nemnok the Devourer, The Courier's Calling, Coming to Terms, Salt in the Wound, Velvet Glove Brass Fist, Plucked Fruit, Trade Secrets, The Last Sanctuary, From the Wreckage, The Shadow Under Neketaka, Fruitful Alliance, The Lost Grimoires, Family Pride, A Bigger Fish, The Storms of Poko Kohara, The Archmage's Vault, Bekarna's Folly, Cruel Cargo, The City Lost to Time.

Bastard's Wound DLC (2017)

Additional Narrative Design

Supporting my colleagues with feedback and editorial revisions.

Tyranny (2017)

Associate Narrative Designer

Critical path writing and dialogue.
- "Conquest" sequence in character creation, writing choices that influenced the game to come.
Companion dialogue.
- Barik and Verse
  - Brother and sister on opposite sides of the battlefield, Barik and Verse are two sides of the same war crime - one driven by nationalistic law and order, the other by chaos and a twisted sense of community.
Villain dialogue and questlines.
- Graven Ashe, The Voices of Nerat, Tunon the Adjudicator
  - The player's Act I choice opens up a complicated spider web of consequences in Acts 2 and 3.
Trial Sequences.
- Tunon's trial of the Archons was a massive scripting and dialogue challenge that brought in lore scoured from every corner of the game in a high-stakes trial driven by the player.
- Tunon's trial of the Fatebinder weaponized the player's own choices against them, where the prosecutor is suddenly made the defendant and forced to explain their many, many crimes.

Pillars of Eternity (2015)

Guidebook and World Almanac

Using internal design docs as a stepping stone, I wrote an art book and in-world almanac which introduced players to the Pillars setting prior to launch.

Paul Kirsch

Games

​​​Rewriting side quests and associated reactivity.

Matriarch's Mercy, Euphoria Coast Automech Repair.

First pass dialogue and interjections for Aza, the murder companion.

Collaborating with Leonard Boyarsky on her character arc and the player's influence on her personality.​

Bug fixing and targeted revisions throughout.

Critical path dialogue in Paradis.

Inquisitor Lödwyn, Ambassador Falscen Hylgard, Capt. Cynric, Brentis & Pod, Liviana, Grysca, Elowê, Ygwulf.

Critical path dialogue and concept for Emerald Stair / Fior mes Ivèrno.

Giatta Castell, Pere Quilicci, Ignasi Vidarro, Monto Pastor, Elia Rosell, Remi Soler, Ivette Riggo, Captain Aelfyr. ​

Companion writing and concept for Giatta Castell.

I designed Giatta's recruitment quest to include themes of inheriting a complicated legacy, which evolves over time and sets up an unexpected resolution in the game's final region. ​

Working with Mara Junot (VO), Debra Wilson (VO), and Katelyn Gault (VO director) over the course of many sessions was the highlight of the project.

Villain writing and romance for Inquisitor Lödwyn.

Since the player character and Inquisitor Lödwyn originated from the same region, I reasoned that they may have crossed paths before the events of Avowed. Her (optional) dark romance is a fan favorite among the eccentric and the adventurous.

Rather than antagonize the player, Lödwyn spends much of the game drawing the player into her worldview, which led to some ethically complicated ruminations on power and colonization.

Companion camp conversations between regions and story crossroads.​

Group conversations reacting to major story choices and foreshadowing what comes next.​

Companion camp banter.

Ambient dialogue between Giatta and the other companions exploring lore about the setting, arguing among themselves, telling stories, stealing cheese, etc. ​

Treasure map clues, all non-magical weapon and armor descriptions, glossary entries.

Writing and concept for Wilhelmina "Minnie" Ambrose and Lucien Bancroft.

Minnie Ambrose spearheads this DLC and its resolution with a (mostly true) story about her crusade for justice after her family's downfall at the hands of Spacer's Choice.

Players who unexpectedly kill Minnie get to deal with Lucien Bancroft as an alternate, secret route through the story. ​

Writing for the Sprat Shack.

Gorgon's tavern is full of miscreants and oddballs. ​

Rendezvous at Llama side quest.

A brief but highly unusual side quest.

Nebula Award winner for Game Writing​.

GLAAD Media Award winner for Outstanding Video Game.

D.I.C.E. Awards winner for Role-Playing Game of the Year.

Rewrites and revisions to Lilya Hagen, President of SubLight Salvage.

This questline was a wild card that I inherited and rewrote for clarity.​

Reactivity to Lilya's questline carried into my later work for Peril on Gorgon.

Critical path quest writing for Tayn.

The eccentric Archmage Tayn (inspired by Paul Rudd in Parks & Rec) co-introduces the highly unusual setting of this DLC and motivates the player to explore a grotesque dungeon inside the body of Wael. ​

Side quest writing for Bekarna.

I had previously written the side quest Bekarna's Folly for the base game, so this was a wonderful opportunity to bring her story full circle and introduce a heartfelt new NPC to the Circle of Archmagi. ​

The Enclosures, the Spore Colony, the imps, and more.

The Enclosures was a fun, if disturbing, human zoo full of brainwashed test subjects.

The imps Fetid Spray and Drowsy Puke act as merchants with some optional (hilarious) side tasks.

The Spore Colony is growing in the library's forbidden section and must be circumvented, dealt with, befriended.

The evil archmage Concelhaut makes a surprise appearance, including an unexpected end state with ripple effects in the base game.

The Bridge Ablaze.

I wrote dialogue for Saint Waidwen, a significant character in the Pillars of Eternity lore and a surprise addition to this DLC. His story folded in some much-needed humanity to the venerated saint and introduced some nuance into his partnership with a god.​

Collaborating with Area Design, I helped design how the player navigates a time loop using tools that were thematically appropriate to the setting and characters.

WGA nominee for Best Videogame Writing​.

D.I.C.E. Awards nominee for Best Role-Playing Game.

GLAAD Media Award nominee for Outstanding Video Game.

Critical path dialogue in Neketaka.

Queen Onekaza, Prince Aruihi, Tekēhu, Maia Rua.

Companion concepts, dialogue, and romance.

Tekēhu​

​Handsome Tekēhu juggles feeling overconfidently full of himself and buckling under the weight of expectations as the would-be savior of his people.

Maia Rua

Imperialist bird watcher ​Maia Rua feels driven to impose her authority over a conquered land, but she will discover that the old tools might not work on a new frontier.

Side quest dialogue.

Critical path writing and dialogue.

"Conquest" sequence in character creation, writing choices that influenced the game to come.​

Companion dialogue.

Barik and Verse​

Brother and sister on opposite sides of the battlefield, Barik and Verse are two sides of the same war crime - one driven by nationalistic law and order, the other by chaos and a twisted sense of community. ​

Villain dialogue and questlines.

Graven Ashe, The Voices of Nerat, Tunon the Adjudicator​

The player's Act I choice opens up a complicated spider web of consequences in Acts 2 and 3. ​

Trial Sequences.

Tunon's trial of the Archons was a massive scripting and dialogue challenge that brought in lore scoured from every corner of the game in a high-stakes trial driven by the player. ​

Tunon's trial of the Fatebinder weaponized the player's own choices against them, where the prosecutor is suddenly made the defendant and forced to explain their many, many crimes.

Rewriting side quests and associated reactivity.

Collaborating with Leonard Boyarsky on her character arc and the player's influence on her personality.

Giatta Castell, Pere Quilicci, Ignasi Vidarro, Monto Pastor, Elia Rosell, Remi Soler, Ivette Riggo, Captain Aelfyr.

I designed Giatta's recruitment quest to include themes of inheriting a complicated legacy, which evolves over time and sets up an unexpected resolution in the game's final region.

Companion camp conversations between regions and story crossroads.

Group conversations reacting to major story choices and foreshadowing what comes next.

Ambient dialogue between Giatta and the other companions exploring lore about the setting, arguing among themselves, telling stories, stealing cheese, etc.

Players who unexpectedly kill Minnie get to deal with Lucien Bancroft as an alternate, secret route through the story.

Gorgon's tavern is full of miscreants and oddballs.

Nebula Award winner for Game Writing.

This questline was a wild card that I inherited and rewrote for clarity.

The eccentric Archmage Tayn (inspired by Paul Rudd in Parks & Rec) co-introduces the highly unusual setting of this DLC and motivates the player to explore a grotesque dungeon inside the body of Wael.

I had previously written the side quest Bekarna's Folly for the base game, so this was a wonderful opportunity to bring her story full circle and introduce a heartfelt new NPC to the Circle of Archmagi.

I wrote dialogue for Saint Waidwen, a significant character in the Pillars of Eternity lore and a surprise addition to this DLC. His story folded in some much-needed humanity to the venerated saint and introduced some nuance into his partnership with a god.

WGA nominee for Best Videogame Writing.

Tekēhu

Handsome Tekēhu juggles feeling overconfidently full of himself and buckling under the weight of expectations as the would-be savior of his people.

Imperialist bird watcher Maia Rua feels driven to impose her authority over a conquered land, but she will discover that the old tools might not work on a new frontier.

"Conquest" sequence in character creation, writing choices that influenced the game to come.

Barik and Verse

Brother and sister on opposite sides of the battlefield, Barik and Verse are two sides of the same war crime - one driven by nationalistic law and order, the other by chaos and a twisted sense of community.

Graven Ashe, The Voices of Nerat, Tunon the Adjudicator

The player's Act I choice opens up a complicated spider web of consequences in Acts 2 and 3.

Tunon's trial of the Archons was a massive scripting and dialogue challenge that brought in lore scoured from every corner of the game in a high-stakes trial driven by the player.