Hello narrative friends. Happy Snowdown! 2018 is rapidly coming to a close, and I thought now might be a good time to take a breath and recap what stories we were able to share, what we learned, and maybe take a little peek at what we’re thinking about for 2019. Our goals in Narrative this year were pretty simple; we wanted to tell more stories that would help us get to know our champions better, explore our world, and answer some long-standing lore questions, all while trying to listen and communicate better inside and outside of Riot. MORE STORIES, MORE LORE Starting with the stories of Swain, Darius, Katarina, LeBlanc, and even Annie, we got an understanding of the strength and aspiration needed to survive in the ever-expanding empire of Noxus. However, as with most political intrigue that involves life and death consequences, even the most well-intended plotting can blow up in your face. We then traveled south, far across the Great Sai of Shurima, to uncover the Void, an unspeakable corruption that felled a city and its people. Through the stories of Kai’Sa, Kassadin, and Malzahar, we got a better look at what happens when mortals get a little too close to this unknowable abyss—and if you can ever truly come back from it.

And darkness is rising in the world. The stories of Nocturne, Vladimir, and Veigar show us that evil will always lurk just beyond our door, waiting to be reborn through attraction or fear… Though sometimes those ghastly beasts just need to be brought under the torchlight for us to make proper use of them. After exploring so much of the world, it’s tempting to think that there’s nothing new to discover. With the arrival of Neeko in the eastern jungles of Shurima, we’ve found that’s definitely not the case. The stories of Nidalee, Zyra, and Rengar paint this region as a dangerous gateway. We’ve only just begun to explore, but already we can see each tenuous outpost holds back secrets that are just as alluring as the land is dangerous. We didn’t limit our story travels to just Runeterra though. We’ve given our alt-universes some love as well. We followed the Man with the Grinning Shadow on a wild and deadly chase through the frontier of High Noon Gothic. We were lured into exploring distant planets in Odyssey. We even attended a Star Guardian sleepover! But that’s not all—since the beginning of the year, we’ve updated bios and alternate universe information on over 600 skins on the client.

Whew. It’s been quite a journey so far! What else did we learn this year? GOOD STORYTELLERS ARE GOOD LISTENERS Personally, I’ve always found that the stories that work best for me are the ones that tell me something I actually want to know more about. I hope this year we’ve shown we’re listening to what you want to learn about in Runeterra, while also sharing how we think and work as developers. We’ve covered questions like when, why, and how we update a champion’s story, what goes into making a champion bio, and even how we name new champions. We’ve tried to balance heads-down work time with popping in on the boards, Reddit, and Discord for conversation and feedback. We’ve even journeyed beyond our keyboards into the wilds of the real world to talk with players. Through all of this, I hope we’ve shown we’re most definitely human—and as humans, recognizing when we make mistakes (cough, cough, Karma) and fixing them. So what do we have planned for 2019? A WORLD OF STORY Our primary mission is to continue taking Runeterra to the next level as a story world—to create a deep and immersive place that every champion (and all of us as well) can find a connection to. To get us there, we’re going to keep releasing more stories and experimenting with new mediums to tell story in.

While we’ll keep clarifying what’s missing or confusing, next year we plan on showing different sides and deeper nuance to the characters and places we all know and love (hopefully filling in some more empty spots on the map). Most importantly for some of you out there, we’ll keep moving the stories of Runeterra forward. At this point, I know more than a few of you might be thinking, “All this information is great, but what about the two real questions that are on all our minds… ” WHAT ABOUT SORAKA? WHAT ABOUT YORDLES? No, we haven’t forgotten about them. In fact, we’ve been thinking a lot about them, and how magic works in Runeterra, as we prepare for 2019 (hint, hint). Still, some stories can’t wait. It wouldn’t be right to close 2018 without giving a little bit more about our beloved Starchild and our more pint-sized magic folk. If there any questions, places, or champions you think we should be showing more love and attention to next year, please be sure to let us know in the comments section below. We’ll be back very soon to talk about the different media where you can expect to see these stories unfold. With that, I’d like to offer my sincere gratitude. Time is the one thing we give each other that we can’t ever get back. Thank you for spending some of your story time with us, and here’s to even more magic and adventure in 2019!