New Player

Hello

I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but I could use some help getting started in this game… I’m not really sure what I should be doing. Anyone willing to help?

You level up your skills (Dangerous, Shadowy, Watchful and Persuasive) by performing actions. The higher these skills the more profitable the actions and the more likely you are to successfully complete them.

You have just escaped from prison, or are in the process of doing so, after being entered for an unknown offense (ala Elder Scrolls). As a new citizen in Fallen London, you must work your way up from the dregs to a position of prominence.

First things first, you might want to consider what ambition you want. You will find them in the areas you start out in, such as Watchmaker Hill and Ladybones Road. They basically decide what your character’s ultimate goals are. The choice is also permanent, so choose wisely.

The user friendly (though perhaps not updated) wiki can give you a quick review on such maters: http://echobazaar.wikidot.com/

For a more complete and up to date (if badly sorted) search on Fallen London you would use the Wikia: http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/Echo_Bazaar_Wiki

Otherwise you should seek the help of this community on matters that puzzle you. Do you have any particular questions? Where are you now? What is your character’s name?


edited by Owen Wulf on 6/16/2015

Thank you. :)

At the moment I’m at my lodgings, and my character name is the same as my forum name. What exactly do you mean by ambition? I know my career is a minor poet… not much more than that I’m afraid.

I wouldn’t necessarily commit to an ambition just yet. Get a feel for London and who your character is before you decide on a major objective (also, Ambitions are frequently expensive to progress).

Really, what you “should” be doing is seeing as much of the four starting areas as possible and getting a feel for what kind of activities each main stat encompasses. That’ll help you decide where to focus your attentions.

Alright, thanks. Any other advice?

Don’t concentrate too much on just one or two stats. You’ll need to raise all four of them to 100 (with equipment) to become a Person of Some Importance later in the game, and it’ll be frustrating to discover this after you’ve let one or more of them fall 50-60 levels behind.

Should I try to make them all equal, or just focus on a few?

I would suggest keeping them all about equal. It’s fine if one gets ahead because you’re in the middle of a story and don’t want to interrupt it, though.

I would recommend exploring the stories and doing what seems most interesting to you at the time. Trying to power-level and get your stats as high as possible (especially at the start of the game) tends to be a bad idea.

As your four main qualities increase (Watchful, Shadowy, Dangerous, and Persuasive), you’ll find that new opportunities open up - but old stories will become obsolete and stop being available. So if you’ve rushed forwards, you may miss out on some of the experiences in the game.
(I found this out the hard way after getting access to the Labyrinth of Tigers fairly early, only to find that I’d missed out on the part about acquiring exhibits.)

I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t try to race towards an imaginary finish-line. Instead, just enjoy the ride. ^_^

Thanks you guys. All of this is really helpful.

How do you do stuff with other players?

You can find a lot of social actions in your Lodgings, and there are more on opportunity cards. A couple items have options too, like the Starveling Cat and First City Coins. You’ll need to add players as contacts from their profile to have eligible candidates for most social actions, while others require you to send them a calling card so you can officially become Acquaintances.

Okay, three last questions… probably :P

  1. What are ambitions and what are they for?

  2. What are professions for?

  3. Is there a lot of roleplaying on this game?

  1. What are ambitions and what are they for?

They are long-term stories. You don’t have to follow them directly, but as you do, you’ll explore a lot of London (and beyond). No need to pick one right away (I was probably about a month into the game before I chose one). Explore a bit. Decide what your character is like. Then you can pick an ambition that seems to best suit you. There are four basic ambitions – one in each of the four basic starting locations in the city: Veilgarden, Spite, Ladybones Road, and Watchmaker’s Hill.

  1. What are professions for?

Each week they’ll give you some payment. The exact payment depends on which profession you pick. The professions available to you at the beginning of the game also increase one of your stats each week (until that stat hits 70, at which point you’ll probably want to pick a different profession).

  1. Is there a lot of roleplaying on this game?

About as much as you’d like. Some players enjoy the roleplaying and some don’t. The game is easily playable without interacting with anyone else, but you may have more fun if you do (and it can also get you useful resources).

Sounds good. I’m a bit of a roleplayer myself… where would I go to do that?

It’s mainly done through social actions. There are players who RP to varying degrees, from making and replying to invitations in character right through to the construction of elaborate narratives using the FL universe as a background. Some of those players mention their RP-inclinations in their signatures, but you can find some in the ‘Mr Pages’ Fabularities’ forum as well (where you will also find characters’ backstories and other in-character stuff.)

There are a variety of different ways to initiate an social action, but at the start, most are available at your Lodgings. I assume you have found the &quotTRAVEL&quot button on the upper right that lets you move about the city?

If you look in this forum under the thread &quotEnlist Other Players: The Singing Mandrake > Find Friends for Sparing, Dinners, Chess, and Theft&quot you’ll find lots of postings from people wanting to interact. But to get you started, I’ve just sent you an invite for coffee. To see the invite, go to the &quotMessages&quot tap at the top of the game screen.

Thanks everyone. The invitation for coffee was accepted :)

What you’ll notice about social interactions is that you can write a note when you initiate them, but not when you accept. So if you really want to roleplay a conversation, you usually need to exchange a few social interactions in sequence. (Or, as Lady Eris noted, there are threads on this forum devoted to roleplay conversations as well).