game rules

hi nice to meet everyone. i have a bunch of questions. started playing a few days ago. all of my questions revolve around the games interface and basic rules. now while i’m not the sharpest tool in the shed the FAQ doesn’t explain the games interface nor does the wiki. or possibly i have yet to find the sections that do.

what’s the deal with the cards? are they a renewable resource? are they like gin rummy, after the hand is played they get shuffled back in. or like magic the gathering where you have to compile a deck by purchasing cards?

most RPGs use stats, (pathfinder, World of warcraft, fallout, D&D) these tend to be self explanatory such as strength, intelligence yadayadayada. here there are four, what do they apply to? why should i care about them? are they like skill checks in pathfinder/d&d 3.5? do they affect your chances of success, or are the simply a gate letting the game know when to trigger certain event?

the letters and packages you can send from your room. are they sent to other players or to NPCs? why would i want to send these? if they go to PCs is this some sort of odd facebook thing where you end up being spammed with cute cat pics or political rants?

inventory, quest rewards seem to be a variety of stuff, i get that some of it can be clicked on to trigger quests. others seem to be some sort of token that are up-gradable. why would i upgrade them? they seem to self categorize with no explanation of what they actually do. for instance clues. clicking on them don’t seem to do anything except upgrade. what do these clues apply to? do i save them and use them to purchase things or are they vendor trash?

thanks for the help.

Read the beginner’s guide here: http://community.failbettergames.com/topic436-advice-for-new-players.aspx

– Mal

A lot of your questions are answered on the ‘Help’ tab in game - I’d read that through first.

The letters and things in your lodgings are social actions - they are sent to other players and the benefits are stat boosts and menace reductions (among other things). Some players also use them for role-play purposes.

The game is a bit confusing at first, but really, the best thing is to just do things that look interesting and see what happens.

Hope that helps a bit. :)

  1. Cards are renewable over time. It works like a set of playing cards in that there’s only one of each card in the potential pool, so if you keep one in your hand you won’t draw a second one. Some cards can only be drawn in certain areas.

  2. Stats are used to determine how difficult a challenge of that type is. As you use the 4 main stats they’ll increase (quickly at first, but later requiring 70 CP for each level - see more about CP in the link malthaussen provided). If you hover/click the black box you can find exactly how likely you are to succeed.

  3. These go to other players, but you shouldn’t get spammed with cat pictures or political rants (I’m pretty sure pictures are not allowed). To send most social actions you need to be contacts with another player. To become contacts you can go to their profile link and click the green Add to Contacts button. Other social actions require you to take things one step further and become Acquaintances; to do that you simply send them a Calling Card through Society and Scandal and see if it gets accepted. To see outgoing and incoming social actions (as well as ingame notifications for things dependent on real time) you go to your Messages tab.

  4. For the most part you can ignore item upgrades until a story requires you to have an item higher up on a tier that you haven’t found directly through gameplay yet. The third tier items are especially useful as you can then convert them into equivalent items within a different category and even get 1 extra for each conversion as you do so. It’s a complete loop, so once you have 50 of one type you can easily get 51 of another just by spending some actions.

    edited by Sara Hysaro on 12/9/2015

Might be worth mentioning that although there’s only &quotone of each card&quot in the pool of cards (which can get very large), it’s effectively re-shuffled every time you draw a card. There’s no &quotdiscard pile&quot of cards that aren’t drawable and aren’t in your hand – so it’s possible to say, draw the same card three times in a row if you don’t keep it in your hand. This is part of why players keep cards they don’t want to keep encountering in their hand, and why it’s useful to acquire lodgings that allow larger hand sizes.

[quote=maxington]
what’s the deal with the cards? are they a renewable resource? are they like gin rummy, after the hand is played they get shuffled back in. or like magic the gathering where you have to compile a deck by purchasing cards?

most RPGs use stats, (pathfinder, World of warcraft, fallout, D&D) these tend to be self explanatory such as strength, intelligence yadayadayada. here there are four, what do they apply to? why should i care about them? are they like skill checks in pathfinder/d&d 3.5? do they affect your chances of success, or are the simply a gate letting the game know when to trigger certain event?

the letters and packages you can send from your room. are they sent to other players or to NPCs? why would i want to send these? if they go to PCs is this some sort of odd facebook thing where you end up being spammed with cute cat pics or political rants?

inventory, quest rewards seem to be a variety of stuff, i get that some of it can be clicked on to trigger quests. others seem to be some sort of token that are up-gradable. why would i upgrade them? they seem to self categorize with no explanation of what they actually do. for instance clues. clicking on them don’t seem to do anything except upgrade. what do these clues apply to? do i save them and use them to purchase things or are they vendor trash?

thanks for the help.[/quote]
The cards are renewable. You have a finite deck, which can be expanded or shrunk by doing things. for instance, don’t buy too many of the 3-card lodgings, they add cards, which tend to not be worth it later and you can’t dispose of them. handsome townhouse, decommisioned steamer and rooftop shack are currently the best, i believe. however, none of them are must haves, and all of them are helpful in getting certain items only currently worthwhile to completionists.

The stats are watchful, dangerous, persuasive and shadowy, and most actions check some stat to determine success. Not always the main ones, but early on, your odds will be improved by boosting stats. Every check’s odds are improved by temporarily or permanantly boosting a stat.

The social actions can be a weird gmail where you get spammed with essays about the tyranny of the stars, or how no one should ever sell their souls, but generally, if you don’t roleplay, others keep theirs to a minimum. The same is even more true about real-world politics.

generally, the cheap items that can upgrade have two uses- one, they are good vendor trash if you build up a large stockpile, but also two, they are used to do certain storylets in-game. people might want to be paid in secrets, for instance. They can be sold, or paid to people in certain stories, or upcrafted to make something else.

the more expensive the item is, the harder it is to get and the less uses it has. Note: less uses != no uses. Still, some items are incredibly rarely useful.

If you’re still around, and message me a link to your profile, i can send you a little more funds to help you get started on. (well, items, but they’ll sell for 7.5 echoes and are only useful for ~1 person in four for their main other use, so you probably should sell it, unless you’re pursuing heart’s desire.)
edited by Grenem on 12/9/2015
edited by Grenem on 12/9/2015

&quotItems&quot in this context meaning the stuff you get like Romantic Notions or Foxfire Candle stubs. There are also items that are articles of apparel or living creatures, or weapons – like &quotequipment&quot in traditional RPGs. These are not, for the most part, upgradeable, although some exceptions apply. Mostly, they are bought through the Bazaar, some can be secured by other means. But it is unusual to receive equipment as a result of a story, mostly you’ll get items as defined above. These items may be upgraded as Sara says, or can in some instances be required to make something in combination with other items. When the time comes to do that, the requirements will be clearly given.

– Mal
edited by malthaussen on 12/9/2015

thanks for the responses. i have already been through the help tab. other then explaining the color coding almost everything else is about social media. i have yet to find anything on the interface. for instance the first tab is called &quotstory&quot. on top there are some cards and below that are a list of what i can only assume are quest. i don’t know what to call these as i have yet to find an explanation of the interface.

well there is this bit:
No, I mean, literally, what do I do first? Where do I click?
Click on buttons to make choices.
Click on the Opportunity deck to choose cards, and make more choices.
Click on the Myself tab to see what you’ve found and learned.
Click on the Bazaar tab to sell things and to buy better equipment.

on the myself tab at the very top there is a drop down menu which lists:
evening, hard wearing, incognito and morning. what is this menu, what is it called what function does it serve if any?

what are Mantelpiece Items?

i am reading the thread Advice for new players. while full of good advice it seems to be pretty vague. what i am looking for is how to play the game, how to use the interface to play the game. the different parts of the interface most likely have names. what are they? how do i use the components of the interface to interact with the game?

anyway thanks for the advice.
edited by maxington on 12/9/2015
edited by maxington on 12/9/2015

wow that was fast. while writing a response three more appear.

Evening, hard wearing, incognito and mornings are different outfits. They save whatever you last wore when you had them selected. If you use equipment while the &quotMorning&quot is showing, then select &quotHardworking&quot, it will switch your items, and selecting &quotMorning&quot will autoequip those items again. There are four, one for each stat. (This was just implemented, so it’s not as clear as it could be)

Mantelpiece items are just what you want to show on your profile. They don’t have an impact on your game.
edited by suinicide on 12/9/2015
edited by suinicide on 12/9/2015

[quote=maxington]thanks for the responses. i have already been through the help tab. other then explaining the color coding almost everything else is about social media. i have yet to find anything on the interface. the first tab is called story. on top there are some cards and below that are a list of what i can only assume are quest. i don’t know what to call these as there is no explanation on the interface.

well there is this bit:
No, I mean, literally, what do I do first? Where do I click?
Click on buttons to make choices.
Click on the Opportunity deck to choose cards, and make more choices.
Click on the Myself tab to see what you’ve found and learned.
Click on the Bazaar tab to sell things and to buy better equipment.
on the myself tab at the very top there is a drop down menu which lists:
evening, hard wearing, incognito and morning. what is this menu, what is it called what function does it do if any? is it a relic of a game mechanic that no longer applies or has yet to be fleshed out.

what are Mantelpiece Items?

i am reading the thread Advice for new players. it seems to be pretty vague. what i am looking for is how to play the game, how to use the interface to play the game. the different parts of the interface most likely have names. what are they? how do i use the components of the interface to interact with the game?

anyway thanks for the advice.[/quote]
Well, in order.

What you do first, now that you’ve escaped newgate is… well, one thing i could say is whatever you want, but that’s not useful: what you do is under the story tab, there are storylets- little snippets of text. some are important, and actual, as you call them, quests. others are just an interesting bit of flavor text, with rewards, but are repeatable. robbing a drunk in spite, for instance can be done repeatedly, and is less a quest and more a single action.

Generally, the ones in gold are the most important ones- if you want to look at early game content with a bit of hand-holding, that’s where you go and what you should do to progress. usually, these are good at communicating, though not aways.

silver are often interesting, but there’re 4 silver ones called ambitions. these are exceptionally long stories that have not been finished yet. in order, you can:

stake your soul- in a more meaningful way than selling it to devils- to win your heart’s desire, but first you have to arrange for a game.

Hunt this horrible abomination that is literally the worst. It’s called the vake, and it is not a good thing.

Pursue your nemesis, who apparently killed a sweetheart of yours on the surface? yeah, idk.

and, well, #4, light fingers: it claims you’ll steal a huge diamond. let’s just say that while the others are basically doing what they said they’d do, this one is a lot more complex than that, and the diamond is not, in fact, a diamond. or at least, this one isn’t.

Generally, you’ll always want to draw from the opp-deck, even if you don’t play every card you draw. Play most interesting cards at least once.

You should probably play most stories once, since they’re all kinda interesting.

The Myself tab is occasionally good to see what you’ve learned, but another, more common use is to just change equips and look at inventory.

you seem to understand what the buttons all do, except the item setup- the drop down menu lists four names, and clicking a tab will swap to whatever you had equipped last under that tab. most use this to set up one set of gear per stat for optimal efficiency in swapping gear and gaining useful benefits.

Mantlepeice items show off your prized possesion to others. if you clicked the link in my signature, you’d see tears of the bazaar on my mantlepeice, near the top of the page. the only other visible items are your equips, which anyone can see. In addition, certain qualities can be displayed the same way with scrapbook status.

Other than that, they’re useless.
edited by Grenem on 12/9/2015

wow, this an active and helpful forum. thanks for the assistance.

You play the game by progressing through stories. Some are more important than others and the things you see in each area change as you gain stats and progress through the Making Your Name Trackers. So just click on a storylet; see what the choices are and, if you play it, the results of your action. You can back out by clicking &quotperhaps not&quot so you can look and see what the chance of success is and maybe the text will give you some idea of what will happen.

As you are right at the start you can travel to 4 main areas - Watchmaker’s Hill where you find dangerous stories; Spite for Shadowy; Veilgarden for Persuasive and Ladybones Road for watchful. You can also do things in your lodgings or have fun at the Carnival.

Cards are a sort of bonus area - you might get resources; gain or lose connections; reduce menaces or many other things. The only real way to fond out is by playing them.

When you get gear you can create outfits Evening, hard wearing, incognito and morning are a short cut so that you don’t have to switch each item every time you want to change.

General advice is just explore the map, see what you can do and have fun. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you need help. We are pretty helpful and friendly.

slow in comparison to the ones i used to frequent, but then, that was a MMO and a social one at that, and most people used the forums like a chatroom. Still, if you post, you can generally rely on a reply in 24 hours.

To clarify equipment: hats, clothes, weapons, etc, all give a bonus to one or more stats (Well, most do, anyway). If you are wearing these when you attempt a challenge, the bonus will be added to your raw score, so most players set up four different outfits to maximize each trait, and switch among them as necessary to succeed at challenges.
However, as a new player you are 1) Poor, and 2) Your stats are low (they can go up over 200). But the challenges you can do are also mostly without a penalty for failure (this will change as they get higher, be advised, but it’s not something to worry about right now). So, paradoxically, what you want to do at this point in your career is to attempt the most difficult chances, because the harder they are, the more positive change they will give to your stats. As you attempt stories, you will succeed or fail, and your stats will shoot up. And you’ll pick up stuff along the way.
The cards in the deck contain challenges which may give stuff or connections to various factions within the city (there are many). Each location (Spite, Ladybones, etc) also has challenges which can be repeated as often as you like by clicking on them (trying to rob the drunk rat in Spite is a favorite. You probably won’t succeed, but you’ll make a good profit anyway). There will be more stories added as you climb in ability. Your job at the start is to begin Making Your Name in the four areas, the challenges to do so are clearly labelled.
Don’t forget to access the Advent Calendar that is being featured during the holiday season. It has nice presents for you that can help you get equipment and improve your character.

– Mal

http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/advent
A link to the advent calendar. todays window can be opened, the other colored window’s rewards can be claimed, the greyed-out windows rewards cannot. too late they’re gone they won’t be back. (not until next year, that is)
also, i sent you a surprise package. these often have valuable rewards within, and almost always have more than 2 echoes worth of stuff in there. on the other hand, they only rarely have the ten echoes they cost to send.
of especial note is the rat of glory. turn it in for a skuttering squad, an end game equip, with “turn your rat in to the skuttering company.”
these cost 500 echoes at any other time, so recieving them for an item isn’t a bad deal at all.

thank you for the package :)

This is the closest thing I know to a manual/interface guide.

http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/vajo/fallenlondon/Chapters.html

It’s slightly out of date as the game is currently undergoing several major revamps but it hits all the main points

now that is what i am talking about. thanks

[quote=genesis]This is the closest thing I know to a manual/interface guide.

http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/vajo/fallenlondon/Chapters.html

It’s slightly out of date as the game is currently undergoing several major revamps but it hits all the main points[/quote]
I would mention multiple things. 1. you no longer need to pay to unlock most areas. merely progressing through making your name: x will often unlock the next area for the three initial areas per stat. i.e.

Persuasive: Veilgarden -> the palace -> mohogany hall

or

Watchful: Ladybones road -> the forgotten quarter -> the university

  1. Purple cards still have not shown up yet, and i believe black cards have been temporarily discontinued, (but don’t mourn your loss, those always were nothing but trouble.)

  2. hold onto professional perks. generally, but especially now, it’s best to hold onto them- 4 trade for a 60 echo item that can be turnen into 125 echoes of items with 10 actions. at your point in the game, that’s the best use.

  3. i’m sure the guide is good about mentioning this, but it’s worth reiterating: if you have trouble with menaces, it’d be best to request aid, which you can do with every aid action except, sadly, wounds, where the help must be sent unsolicited, or at the very least requested in another social action/ in the forums. also note, wounds can have poison sent instead, though no one does that unless you’ve really annoyed them. stuff like sending a request and then rejecting theirs after they accept yours.