The Game
I was Lead Writer and Narrative Designer for The King’s Dilemma, a legacy-format board game centered on tragic political choices. Players take the role of noble houses on the king’s council, forced to weigh their ideals against personal interests and the fragile stability of the realm. Through debate, negotiation, and betrayal, they shape the kingdom’s fate—only to be reminded, again and again, of the compromises they made or failed to make.
Trailer: Can you carry the burden of responsibility?
Built six major narrative arcs and over 200 dilemmas, each centered on ethically charged decisions without clear resolutions
Created a grounded fantasy world structured around political institutions, a complex religion rooted in lost history, and magic based on speculative science
Engineered compact branching systems that balanced meaningful player agency with tight physical and production constraints
Managed the narrative pipeline: coordinated with designers, editors, and artists to ensure tonal consistency and systemic integration
Supervised junior editors and maintained version-tracking across 800+ modular narrative components
My Role
Below are selected dilemma cards from the storylines I developed and wrote
Hard moral dilemma
My background in moral and political philosophy—focused on figures like Machiavelli and Hobbes, the English Civil War, and game theory—directly informs how I design narratives. I see games as structured simulations of moral and strategic choice, echoing real human dilemmas around power, trust, and uncertainty. This foundation shapes how I think about narrative structure, character motivation, and systemic tension.
Impactful Branching
Meta Dilemma
Late in the game, if certain conditions align, the King gains an uncanny awareness that he is part of a game. This card hints that breaking the fourth wall brings mechanical consequences for rebelling against “the world”—yet also suggests the player might choose to ignore them.
This card was a fan favorite
Paradoxical Dilemma
On the other hand, if conditions don’t align, the King may descend into madness, confronting the players with a series of irresolvable riddles.
Nominated to leading awards in the field
“The narrative strength of the game is astounding: with just a few short paragraphs of text, the game succeeds in creating an immersive and mysterious world.”
2021 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Expert Nominee
Praised by the most popular reviewers
“The real reason this game grips like a vice is its story”
“these dilemmas you're voting on in addition to being a kind of a moral melee with players elbowing one another to get points are also players kind of rafting down this narrative river with your paddling wildly as you approach forks"
“you're always going to want to hear what's on the card because it relates to the choice that you pushed through or that you were against or most heartbreakingly of all that you passed on voting on”
— Video with 626,000+ views & 15,000+ likes
“King’s Dilemma is a shockingly good game…”
“And i don't use the word shocking lightly because i was genuinely surprised by how good the mechanisms, the storytelling the tension, the flow, the… everything was!”
“the king's dilemma is a transformative experience and the power of its transformation is that it takes you to the bad place and puts you in charge. That alone should cement it as our game of the year”
— Video with 114,000+ views & 2700+ likes
“The game I like, but I love the story“
“we're really intrigued to see what happens next as we go farther into this. I'm really jazzed about this, this from me gets a very high rating. I really like it I really can't wait to see where the story goes”
“It's really interesting to see how the decisions we make bring something to talk about. I said it's a adult game, but I think you could play this with teenagers and say “because we did this, this happened, and now this is something we have to deal with in the future”
— Video with 97,000+ views and 12,000+ likes
“King's Dilemma is epic, vicious and unpredictable.
In many ways, The King’s Dilemma comes somewhat close to what it means to play the Game of Thrones: to sweet-talk yourself into the highest echelons of power and watch your decisions shape the unfortunate nation waiting uneasily beneath your feet..”
“On a story level, The King’s Dilemma is arguably an allegory for modern politics. Petty personal grudges and special interest drive the kingdom towards ruin for all but the most powerful. [...] The King’s Dilemma shows us what happens when the ruling class abdicates their responsibility by making us complicit in doing the same to Ankist.
On a player level, The King’s Dilemma delves into ideas of what it means to make an ethically charged decision without knowing the outcome. [...] It asks us if we would do the right thing, even if there is no thanks or reward for it. Even if it might mean we lose everything? Would we stick to what is right, even when it doesn’t seem to matter?
On a ludological level, The King’s Dilemma asks us to question why we care about the things we care about in a game. Why does winning matter so much to us? What is it about winning a game that puts everything else we can experience in a game into second place?”
Loved by Players
On BGG
6600+ ratings, 1300+ comments, 7.7 average score, 74th thematic game of all time
