About Me
Hello and welcome!
My name is Emrys Vimal du Monteil, a narrative designer, writer and worldbuilder currently based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
Born in France but having also lived in Germany, Australia, the USA and the UK, I was trained as an academic and specialised in Weird Fiction, poetry and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien before making the transition to the games industry.
Although I came to games as a second career rather than my original path, I have been playing, designing and writing games for over two decades, especially in the TTRPG and board game spaces.
As a designer and writer, I find myself drawn to the potential games have for weaving moments that cover the whole gamut of the human experience, from the most intimate and unique to the most universal.
My expertise as a worldbuilder lies in crafting worlds that have a story to tell, that will inhabit a player as much as the player inhabits them, and that are committed to delivering strong messages. I believe there is an intrinsic wonder to the world and to being human, and that there is nothing more satisfying than using my neverending curiosity in people and cultures to make a player’s world just a bit broader and richer.
As an experienced designer having worked in AA and AAA space as well as on independant and solo projects, I look forward to bringing my expertise, multicultural background, curiosity and passion for educating and for empathising to your project!
Languages
French
100%
Spanish
65%
Romanian
30%
English
100%
Italian
46%
German
10%
Languages
French
100%
English
100%
Spanish
65%
Italian
46%
Romanian
30%
German
10%
Testimonials
"Built on a real academic grounding, Emrys has an expert command of lorekeeping and world creation. He’s a great narrative designer and a calm, supportive presence in any team."
"I have had the absolute pleasure of working alongside Emrys at Ubisoft, and I can confidently say they are one of the most knowledgeable and talented individuals I have ever collaborated with.
What truly sets Emrys apart is their remarkable blend of expertise and approachability. Their ability to weave intricate, immersive stories is unmatched, and their deep understanding of historical contexts adds a unique depth to every project they touch.
Beyond their professional skills, Emrys is a strong advocate for health and positivity in the workplace. Their friendly and supportive nature fosters an inclusive, motivating environment, and I’ve personally benefited from their encouragement and insight."
"Emrys is a master of world building and lore design, able to wrangle detailed fictional histories and cultures into a surfaced player experience. They channels their academic background into a disciplined approach to research, which they were always willing to share with the team, to the benefit of all of their colleagues. Furthermore, they are a talented storyteller, writing dialogue and mission designs that fit the fantasy of the project, while injecting their personal flare and humour.
It was a genuine pleasure to work with Emrys. Their bright outlook and unique wit were a hugely positive influence on the culture of our team, and I hope to work with them again."
Games Portfolio
Professional Experience
Narrative Designer - World Lore
Jan 2021 - Ongoing, Ubisoft Reflections (Newcastle, UK)
As part of a large multi-studio team building a brand new IP for an open world game, I was the principal owner of all things world lore and authenticity related.
I was privileged enough to work with teams across the entire project, from game, narrative, level and technical design to audio, art, monetisation, production, quality control and direction. l also acted as a liaison with several external stakeholders, including the research units at Ubisoft HQ in Paris and several co-dev strike teams, as well as providing media watch services to the direction team to keep them informed of any instances of relevance of our chosen setting and fantasy in current political and cultural affairs.
While I was initially hired as a worldbuilder, my work on the project and within the company soon turned into something far more wide-reaching and tentacular, allowing me to use my skills as a writer, designer, worldbuilder, educator and mediator in equal measures.
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Game Writer
Jan 2020 - Jan 2021, Ubisoft BlueByte (Mainz, DE)
As the sole game writer on the Anno 1800 narrative team at the time, I was hired to write all player-facing content for seasons 2 and 3 of Anno 1800's post-launch, including the unprecedently ambitious narrative-focused DLC Land of Lions.
My work on Anno 1800 primarily included writing all in-game character audio, UI text, quest text, flavour text and narrative text (Expeditions and world puzzles).
While I was mostly tasked with taking the design documents written by our three narrative designers and converting those into writing that was tonally and thematically coherent within the stringent constraints of Anno gameplay and player experience, I was also part of the writers' rooms wherein we designed the overarching narrative, characters and worldbuilding for seasons 2 and 3.
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Non Professional Experience
Lead Designer
2019 - 2025
Collectif Taliesin is a small non-profit organisation dedicated to providing narrative and game design expertise to other non-profit initiatives for free.
We originally formed as a small design team of 5 to create our own TTRPG setting and campaign, Project Odyssey.
The project was terminated in 2024, but gave us valuable experience in project management, writing, design and working within the constraints of volunteer time commitments and resources.Outside of Project Odyssey, our members have worked with scouting movements across France to design and animate open-air, engaging games for 40+ players, as well as providing feedback and support to student projects (Onironauts, Brave New World, etc).
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Board Games
I have over the years designed a number of board games, from small two-player games and variations on existing games (notably chess, ossicles and tafl) to live, open air games for up to 40 players. I am currently attempting to salvage documentation from the score or so games I have designed in the past decade and a half and will be uploading and translating them as and when I retrieve access, most of these being in French and stored in the archives of non-profits I am no longer a part of. They have however taught me invaluable design lessons that I am more than happy to discuss in greater length with any interested individuals. Read more
Tabletop Role-Playing games
I have been writing, playing and DM-ing tabletop for two decades. My experience covers a vast range of systems, settings, tones and genres, although my expertise tends to focus on horror, Tolkien's Middle Earth and intimate two-player games.
I have written and DMed for groups of friends, as part of large-scope conventions and festivals and have used my tabletop skills within a professional environment to explore tone, character dynamics, simulated gameplay, story flow and much more.
TTRPGs are my favourite narrative medium, and while I have not yet had the pleasure of working in that space professionally I have written and designed extensively for all manner of systems, settings and player configurations, from soaring epics to the minutiae of intimacy or the trappings of grief.
I have chosen not to put the actual pdfs of my work onto this website as I am planning on gathering them in a dedicated space in the near future, but samples (or, in the case of shorter pieces, the whole thing) are available on demand.
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Narrative & Writing Portfolio
Narrative Design
In this section you'll find a selection of design documents spanning a variety of IPs and genres.
These are all original work but rely on design and frameworks I have used for games I worked on professionally.
Faction Design Document
Character Brief
Quest Design Document
System Design Document (coming soon)
Writing
This section is where you will find samples of my creative writing and writing for games.
All of the game writing pieces are original work but are inspired to various degrees by the writing I have done in my professional capacities as a writer and narrative designer.
All of the creative writing pieces are either published, up for publication or have been performed in a public, non-profit setting.
Object descriptions
Branching Dialogue sample
Cinematic Script Sample
Poetry
Prose (coming soon)
Stage Writing (coming soon)