Hi, firstly, I’m not sure if there are any strict rules of what to post on the forum so if I mention/post about something inappropriate please point it out. (Although I don’t think I will!) But anyway, I’ve been playing EB for about a year now and have decided t make my own, Empire themed, world. I’ve just about got my grips on how to use everything I think but am still a bit unsure about how to customisze the design. I’ll include a briefing of what I’ve planned/done so far for my world and would love any advice/criticism. :)
‘Britannia’ -plunge into an empire steeped in tradition.
Okay, so the begining of the stoyline is always the same in ‘A grimy alleyway’ in the heart of Londinium, after various choices you will end up at an Inn and the locations vary from that point. The primary skills I’ve thought of so far are: Perceptive, Sense of Direction, Strength, Shady and Personality. They all obviously have their own storylets but Sense of Direction is useful for a lot of them.
I’m probably going to create a lot more connections as I think they’re a great way to introdouce new storylet-series. The ones I’ve got so far are: Thugs, thieves, military, navy, government, aristocracy, government, intellectuals, bohemians, journalists (probably slight plagiarism there haha!) and police- but I might change to ‘the etablishment’ as I’m going to branch it out to postmen and things. I have plans for a lot of different locations in the world, as London is just the starting point. So far I’ve considered parts of scotland, after befrending a government minister that invites you to a country retreat or something, Burma and other areas of the Raj, possibly by naval contacts, Egypt (part of a ‘an exploit with an eccentic arcaeologist’ storyline), china (gained access to by rising up in the East India Company), and possibly africa. I’m definitely thinking about South america also.
Although I think EB is an amazing game- I want to make sure I don’t create a replica of it, so if you think anything sounds similar to plots in EB please do inform me! If you have any ideas or would like to help contribute I’d be honoured! I think I have quite a few ideas of what to do and have done about 10 trial storylets, it’s just a case of getting a clearer idea of what I want to do. :)
Fallen London forum rules are on http://community.failbettergames.com/topic5-forum-rules-please-read.aspx - Think most are the same for storynexus as well? Feel free to read them so you’re sure to not break them, but common sense works out most of the time.
What do the different skills do? How can your personality increase - or are the levels named? Do the skills increase when attempting challenges or will they only increase with certain choices like in Cabinet Noir? Alternatively, will the skills change according to your personality, so that detective-ish players will gain more perceptive than others, and will be severely penalized when the big blue bear shows up and wants to fight?
I take it ‘Government’ connection is a bit like Connected: The Masters in FL? (btw, you listed it twice)
How is time calculated? Will the main characters have a steam-punk time machine that occasionally self-destructs to aid them?
Consider adding some other characters that sort of follow the trip so as to glue the story together - something the player can relate to throughout the story.
Just popping this into advice and discussion :)
Sounds like you’re having fun with building the setting, but what about it do you think would make it fun for a player? A setting is just a stage. What’s the enticement? So it’s Britannia. Fine. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is how you plan to make anyone want to spend any time there. How will you make them want to explore the setting or find out what happens next? What is your purpose in making this setting (i.e., to tell a story, to teach history, to tell a secret history, etc.)?
Fallen London is brimming with mysteries to uncover, clue by clue, and tells a wider story in tantalizing glimpses of smaller ones. It shows us imaginative new twists on reality. It’s not just a bunch of qualities and locations. That’s why people love it.
A setting is important. The qualities players will use to navigate it are good things to keep in mind. But these things are nothing in and of themselves. They need to be tied in to the game’s hook and purpose.
What’s your hook? What’s in it for the players to want to go there? What will make it fun?