Fallen London is 10: Birthday Gifts

Fallen London
69

My first echo is dated 28 September, 1889, when it was still called Echo Bazaar and the only login was through Twitter.

I’m still astonished that I’m counted amongst the older members; although I took a long 6-year hiatus from FL because I reached content boundary. I came back only 2 years ago with a new character, and finally sent that original, old character NORTH.

Some things I remember from ‘back in the day’…

  • Social actions intimidated me greatly, so I played FL strictly &quotsingleplayer&quot. I only got into social actions when I returned from hiatus.

  • There was a time when inventory was much, much more limited. Many common inventory items hadn’t been implemented; no categories like ‘Nostalgia’ or ‘Elder’; no side-conversions or up-conversions. So the game economy was completely different and more simplistic back then. I had a note somewhere that in &quotMr Wines is holding a sale!&quot opportunity card, you bought a mystery box for 200 Jade Fragments instead of one Touching Love Story. It was very exciting to see all those new items and categories appear.

  • Getting a ‘River in a Box’ in my inventory. I never learnt about what it signified, until I came back from hiatus and found the blog post. These quirky fourth-wall-breaking puzzles between Failbetter and the fanbase were a feature of Alexis Kennedy’s time here.

  • Originally having only one candle of 10 actions to work with; Exceptional Friendship added the second candle for 20 actions. It’s great that candle heights have been doubled now!

  • I have the story quality, &quotA Veteran of Mr Sacks’ Visits 3 - A Veteran of the Visit of 1890&quot. So I was around for Sacksmas 1890 and Feast of the Exceptional Rose 1891. I believe 1891 was the first Feast?

  • I went on hiatus shortly before Exceptional Stories were introduced to EFship.

I even unearthed an alt I’d forgotten about, who like Vegalivia was a participant in Knife-and-Candle – although I never really played it as social actions intimidated me then.

Thanks for the fantastic stories over the years, and for being such an enduringly fun game!