This page includes a mishmash of my own personal writing. Down at the bottom, you'll find a brief outline of my previous life as a theater director and teacher.

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Writing

I wrote this short lore article for fun. It imagines a new champion for Riot Games' League of Legends.

© Edbert Wahjudi
I used this image as inspiration for the character.

Lady Emma
The Sleepwalker

For every noble house that rises to prominence in the city-state of Noxus, another falls into obscurity. Lady Emma Thambec is the last daughter of one such house. An unskilled warrior with little magical ability, Lady Emma vowed nonetheless to reclaim her birthright and take revenge on those who brought her family down. She remembered tales from her childhood of the Wayward Sisters, witches who wandered the desolate wastes of the Voodoo Lands offering power and wealth to travelers brave enough to pay their secret price. Determined to buy revenge at any cost, she went in search of the Sisters and disappeared beyond the Great Barrier. Months passed and Lady Emma did not return. Most assumed she had perished on her quest. Then, without warning, a series of grisly murders ravaged the Noxian political elite. Victims were brutally stabbed in their beds, and servants whispered of a ethereal sleepwalker guided by the flickering flame of a ghostly candle. Despite doubled patrols and guards at every door, one by one, all who had benefited from house Thambec’s fall were mercilessly snuffed out. And then, as suddenly as it began, the rampage ceased.

[more...]

Weeks later, on a starless night at the Institute of War, High Summoner Relivash startled awake to discover a stooped and tattered shape hunched over the dying embers of his brazier. From beneath a mane of matted hair, three twisted faces stared coldly into his bleary eyes. “The enemies of Thambec are gone, and now the Lady must pay our price,” it rasped, ”Inform your colleagues that we await their summons.” Without another word, the creature melted away. In its place stood Emma Thambec, motionless and unseeing. A ghostly candle floated above her bloodstained hands, its eerie light illuminating her sleeping face.

Since her arrival at the Institute, many summoners have tried to break the curse of her eternal slumber. All have failed. Even on the Fields of Justice she never wakes, guided through the fray by her candle’s sickly light. A few summoners continue to seek a cure, but most are convinced that Emma Thambec no longer exists. They believe that the price of her revenge was not merely her body, but her soul. The sleeping woman who remains, they say, is nothing but a thrall to the Sisters, an instrument of their malevolent will.

I wrote this article for a job interview. It mimics a series of previews on massively.com teasing playable classes for the upcoming release of ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2. When I wrote this piece, there was no information about whether the Mesmer class actually appeared in the game. As it turned out, it does and I was only mostly wrong about how it plays. But hey, I got the job.

© ArenaNet

Guild Wars 2 Class Reveal
The Mesmer

And that makes eight. After six months of taunts, teases, and suspense, Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet unveiled the game’s final profession early this morning. Fans of the original game rejoice! The Mesmer has officially crashed the Guild Wars 2 party.

Mesmers are the hackers of the Guild Wars universe and denial of service is the name of their game. Using hexes, interrupts, and draining spells, these masters of illusion and control invade their enemies’ minds, shut down their skills, and turn their attacks back on themselves. Read beyond the break for all the latest on the Mesmer class.

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Since ArenaNet has already announced that Guild Wars 2 will feature less emphasis on super quick reaction times and place a reduced importance on interrupts in general, the first question most Guild Wars veterans may be asking is “how will interrupts work this time around?” The Domination line of spells makes its return, but with a heavier focus on proactive interrupts like Mistrust, which causes the target’s next spell to fail, damaging nearby foes. These proactive skills will supersede twitch-based reactive interrupts like Guild Wars’ Power Leak, which required the player to activate the skill before a target could finish casting a complex incantation. According to ArenaNet, the change puts greater emphasis on the psychological effects of the Mesmer’s abilities. “Are you sure you want to cast that fireball? That’s right, I didn’t think so.”

Of course, interrupts aren’t the only weapon in the Mesmer’s arsenal. If disrupting enemy abilities directly isn’t your cup of tea, the class also excels in dealing damage over time. Skills like Conjure Phantasm, which has been expanded to affect entire areas of the battlefield, provide the Mesmer with powerful crowd control abilities. Conditional DoTs like Backfire and Empathy also return, allowing players to punish casters every time they use a spell or reflect damage back against aggressive melee classes.

As we’ve already heard, professions in Guild Wars 2 can team up for cross-class combos, and the Mesmer is no exception. A newly released video features a friendly Ranger using the Poison Arrow skill, allowing a Mesmer to follow up with Epidemic, causing the lethal condition to spread across the entire battlefield.

Beta for Guild Wars 2 is fast approaching, and our first glimpse at the Mesmer has us chomping at the bit to put this class through its paces. If you’ve been keeping up with all things Guild Wars 2, you’ll know the drill by now. Head over to www.guildwars2.com for more on the Mesmer, including class videos, wallpaper, and a plethora of screenshots.

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Theater

 

Directing Teacher
(2004 - 2010)

• Taught principles of dramatic storytelling, collaboration, and objective analysis to incoming freshmen.
• Devised curriculum, led constructive feedback, and graded all assignments for classes of 15-18 students.

Theater Writer & Director
Freelance (2001 - 2011)

• Wrote plays, press releases, and advertising materials.
• Directed 25 theatrical productions in New York City. Assessed narrative clarity, technical execution, and overall artistic cohesion of writing, performance, and design throughout the rehearsal process and performance.
• 2009-2010 Resident Director at Ensemble Studio Theatre.