Sunless Sea is not about London, but its players spend more time there than at any other port.[li]
Therefore it really makes sense to spend time trying to destroy the repetitive nature of starting over after death.
I can think of five ideas off the top of my head –
- Tie some connections in London, and stories involved with them, to your character’s past as an urchin, or a cleric, or what have you. These should be main London stories that pop up from time to time.
- Vary the portraits, personalities, and prose of the main necessary functionaries. More than one Venturer looks for interesting things, more than one academic is willing to pay, more than one bruiser can come to pummel you and your crew for your intransigence.
- Put little stories in that don’t put the focus on London but do help to flesh it out and make it interesting to visit for the millionth time for those of us who are hungry for lore but can’t deal with FL’s particular business model.
- Add stories in London that stoke the mysteries involved with the player’s chosen ambition. He might find that some in London know some things about his father that he wasn’t privy to, if he looks in the right places. If he wants to retire wealthy he might find extra opportunities to make illicit profit.
- I saw Alex’s thread on reddit. I think something like a den of thieves could add to SS when the player returns to London. The player could find himself advancing from smuggling to starting his own mob operations and getting involved with London organized crime. He could make people ‘disappear’ at sea since it is one of the only ways to do so in the 'neath.
Actually, I’d say Sunless sea is more about London than anything else, none of the other ports are anywhere near as fleshed out, and for me, it’s all about having a central point to run around, even if that central point isn’t central (as it would be dull if it was).
The other thing to consider in the matter of the Sea vs London is that it’s still the biggest port on the ocean, bar none, so it makes sense to have the game start and end there. I’m sure that when the game is finalised, there’ll be a number of other ways to finish it and maybe even to operate out of the other ports, but for now it’s more than enough.
As to the other ideas.
1: Random connections are a reasonable thing to have, but for my preference, I’d have random encounters happen out on the sea (which is where they do for the most part), London should be the point of stability within the game, not a place where you can get mugged while you’re wandering around town.
2: For me, the point of the characters that have portraits is that they are tied to particular events, in the case of the merchant venturer, he’s the one that wants to go to the avid horizon, and while there’s nothing to stop there being a separate venturer that just wants to get goods in and is willing to pay higher prices than usual for things that can’t be bought on the waves, that venturer is the one that wants the avid horizon and all the things upon it. So while I’m not averse to several venturers, if there’s one in particular that has a quest, their portrait should remain constant .
3: With respect, if you can’t deal with FL’s particular business model, maybe you shouldn’t be trying to buy it As for making little stories for people to read all the time, it may seem easy to write small snippets quickly and keep putting them out, but take it from a man who put a million words out there last year, it’s really not easy, and you’d only have people burning through them faster trying to get to the next story… The first person who can write (Good) things faster than the players can read them will be the richest person in the universe…
4: I thought there already were, there’s enough to manage all the present storylines offered, and as far as I can see, they’re adding new ones in all the time.
5: I do like the idea of building the captains reputation in various places, but given that Sunless sea isn’t interactive in the way that Fallen London us, I do have to wonder about the usefulness of anything that isn’t quest related. I mean, there’s bragging rights to be had when you take down mount nomad in the starter ship, but as it’s only ever going to be you that knows you did it. I’d personally like to see things linked to the supremacy storyline coming up, just to give you an incentive to make things interesting for the various factions.
Well I, for one, don’t spend more time in London than any other port. I frequently visit the other ports more than once per voyage (if you count London as the start and end of a voyage) and don’t really see any point in going there in a game unless it is a new one and I haven’t recruited all the officers; got a Scion; played the Merchant Venturer’s story and started the Tomb Colonists story. But my Captains are now part of a long line and have a mansion and enough wealth to immediately upgrade their ship and buy weapons, crew and supplies before heading out.
As for your other points
- Your past does influence other stories in different places but it might be interesting if there was something in London.
- I have no problem with the portraits
- ?
- I haven’t chosen the Father’s Bones Ambition yet so don’t know what is involved. But I don’t see why London should be the place to make more profit and actually I don’t smuggle souls or honey with my captain as there are enough ways to make echoes without resorting to illegal activity.
- Doesn’t appeal to me.