Who was the writer for this project? Or was it a collaboration? More like this please.
I’ll also second the comment on the quality of the poster. I’d love the option to put some favorite posters on my profile whenever they rework that…
Ian Hart, it was Cash DeCuir.
Might I also take a moment to plug this topic?
Fallen London and the responsible miscreants
edited by Mordaine Barimen on 2/2/2016
Hey! She’s holding on pretty well for a sixty-five-year-old Austrian… pauper? Probably not, but it is true that we know next to nothing about this woman. We’ve come to know the Waltzing Duke fairly well, but the Resolute Aesthete is a cipher; even the fact that we refer to her as an aesthete has no obvious justification other than her appreciation of a particular piece of music—and popular music, at that. I suppose that bothers me a little. Still, not knowing more than the barest of outlines about her life does make some sense in the context of the story, and it might even be besides the point. It is the Duke and his actions that form the heart of the story, and death in the hands of his daughter is merely one of the choices we have in responding to what we have learned about him. For some it would be poetic justice; for others, a family tragedy we have no business preventing, having already played our assigned part in this affair. Either way, her part is secondary. The focus is not on whether we want to see the Aesthete kill her father, but on whether we want to see him die by her blade.
[quote=The Duke of Waltham]
Hey! She’s holding on pretty well for a sixty-five-year-old Austrian… pauper? Probably not, but it is true that we know next to nothing about this woman. We’ve come to know the Waltzing Duke fairly well, but the Resolute Aesthete is a cipher; even the fact that we refer to her as an aesthete has no obvious justification other than her appreciation of a particular piece of music—and popular music, at that. I suppose that bothers me a little. Still, not knowing more than the barest of outlines about her life does make some sense in the context of the story, and it might even be besides the point. It is the Duke and his actions that form the heart of the story, and death in the hands of his daughter is merely one of the choices we have in responding to what we have learned about him. For some it would be poetic justice; for others, a family tragedy we have no business preventing, having already played our assigned part in this affair. Either way, her part is secondary. The focus is not on whether we want to see the Aesthete kill her father, but on whether we want to see him die by her blade.[/quote]
True, but things could be more interesting if Resolute Aesthete is an old friend of ours, that’s what I meant by connection.
edited by Lomias on 2/3/2016
Yes, it would be more interesting. But you can’t achieve that connection just by telling the player she’s an old friend; it’s too artificial. You have to build that connection naturally, and that’s just not feasible for every story.
Well, I am just a fussy eater, how to cook well is not my job. And that’s why I paid.
edited by Lomias on 2/19/2016
[quote=Lomias][quote=The Duke of Waltham]
Hey! She’s holding on pretty well for a sixty-five-year-old Austrian… pauper? Probably not, but it is true that we know next to nothing about this woman. We’ve come to know the Waltzing Duke fairly well, but the Resolute Aesthete is a cipher; even the fact that we refer to her as an aesthete has no obvious justification other than her appreciation of a particular piece of music—and popular music, at that. I suppose that bothers me a little. Still, not knowing more than the barest of outlines about her life does make some sense in the context of the story, and it might even be besides the point. It is the Duke and his actions that form the heart of the story, and death in the hands of his daughter is merely one of the choices we have in responding to what we have learned about him. For some it would be poetic justice; for others, a family tragedy we have no business preventing, having already played our assigned part in this affair. Either way, her part is secondary. The focus is not on whether we want to see the Aesthete kill her father, but on whether we want to see him die by her blade.[/quote]
True, but things could be more interesting if Resolute Aesthete is an old friend of ours, that’s what I meant by connection.
edited by Lomias on 2/3/2016[/quote]
Seeing as how my character is presumed dead on the Surface, I’d really rather the game not assume I have Surface friends still.
Well, I never. You’ve just solved the mystery of Lord Lucan’s disappearance. (We’ll just assume that the London he fled in 1974 was a replacement built sometime after the Fall.) All we have to do now is wait for the gimmick account to appear.
So, do we know already what you get for doing all three stories? There was supposed to be some kind of extra.
[quote=The Duke of Waltham]
Well, I never. You’ve just solved the mystery of Lord Lucan’s disappearance. (We’ll just assume that the London he fled in 1974 was a replacement built sometime after the Fall.) All we have to do now is wait for the gimmick account to appear.[/quote]
Someone already did that, but apparently they didn’t stay very long.
edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 2/7/2016
Just finished this. Took an evening with two full candles, put the "Tales from the Vienna Woods" on repeat (Ian Hart, excellent thinking!) and played it through.
This story is my new top exceptional story, passing the famous Lost in Reflections.
Perhaps the music gave it an unfair advantage, but I really got in the mood.
Made me want to suggest my wife we return to ballroom dance lessons (we won’t though. We won’t persist. Again. Maybe a single awkward dance at our living room, then).
I really liked the investigation part, interacting with familiar faces, especially those we less interact with on a daily basis.
Next was the long conversation at the carnival. Excellent piece, intriguing, shocking, melancholic. The writer succeeded in making me care for the duke, switching emotions from shock to excitement to sadness to curiosity.
Bravo for arts, as well! Beautiful poster, beautiful icons. Hurrah for scandalous new stockings - on full display!
Oh, if Jenn here is a new companion at the Feast, profits will be sky rocketing this winter. Mark - my - words.
A very well done. I am now doing a standing ovation.
Yeah I’d like to know about that too. Does anyone has any info ?
From a couple weeks ago when it introduced the series:
[quote=Hannah Flynn]
If you’ve already completed Flint, you will have received the first item. You’ll automatically get these items in the course of completing the story; you won’t need to choose a particular ending.
At the end of the season, we’ll release a new option in Fallen London. If you’ve collected all three items, you can trade them in for a substantial reward and a snippet of new story and lore.
If you want to keep the individual items as curios, you’re welcome to do so! The option will remain available so you can cash them in later, if you choose to.[/quote]
edited by Parelle on 2/9/2016
I know, but the season is over. Impatience and curiosity are burning me.
The season is definitely not over. We are in the middle of the third story of the season. The season is over at the end of February and the special option is going to be released min-February so it’s all as promised.
I hope I won’t have imploded by then.
I’m behind on my lore, but the name that jumped to mind for the Old Man was
Feducci?
"Old Man" is not a bad rough translation of "Presbyter."
Interestingly I found my previous comment got 2 thumbs down. Of course people can disagree with me, but I think they could have replied me if they think I am really wrong to say that. Let me make myself clear, I am not saying the text of Waltz is not well-written, but it is a story that player’s final decision has no further influence, and it does not reveal much mystery (if it has any), nor does it involve much risk. And these elements, my delicious friends, are the essence of Fallen London (and dark humor, of course). Am I asking for too much? Seriously, I don’t think so.
To be fair, your relationship does lose some magic after you mistake your wife for a monster and gouge out her eyes. Not that I speak from experience.
I prefer to look at the Duke as someone with an Ambition, or maybe being like a seeker. No one unwilling to put out their wife’s/husband’s eyes in order to stay alive and accomplish their goal has progressed too far down the Ambitions; certainly such things might be expected of a seeker. And after all: he was, potentially at risk of real death.
The Waltzing Duke was not supposed to be in his right mind. He was obsessed, driven, possessed. Of course he was crap as a human being. So, by all accounts, was Bob Fosse.
So is my main. When arriving in the Neath, he was kind, generous and law abiding. He just ripped open someone’s skull for blackmail material.
One of the most under-discussed (which is not to say under-appreciated) features of fallen London is the relation of information to wealth. How bits of oblique references can coalesce in the context of each-other and how once information is given in payment the character has no more use for it. It was already leveraged to it’s greatest extent. Much of the joy of playing comes from the player echoing the actions of the character in teasing out the nature of the world around them. It’s like all the best parts of a Gene Wolfe novel.
To find out that the Duke had a secret that the Thief would bother hunting him for. That the Bazaar wanted back. Oh no. That kind of knowledge, that kind of leverage… It had to be mine.
It’s why I wasn’t concerned with the Echo value of the "reward." I got exactly what I wanted out of it.