October's Exceptional Story: The Stone Guest

Fallen London
61

[quote=dov]I’ve finally played this, and unfortunately I really didn’t like this one.

The story didn’t work for me. At all. The writing itself was fine, but the story had two fatal problems:

1. A complete disconnect from the FL setting and atmosphere

Suppose a new story is about how a hansom driver tells you about this new invention called a &quotcellphone&quot and sends you on a quest to find a great app for it. This might lead to a decent story, in a different world and setting. There is no place in FL for this. Likewise, in a world which is set in a gothic and mystic 1895 London which has been semi cut off from the world for 30 years, there’s no place for such technology as depicted here.

What’s shown in the story is decades ahead of the FL setting - not only in terms of technology, but socially. Sure, in the real world the first films came out at around this time period, but that is nowhere close to the level of cinematic sophistication shown here (camera movements, special effects, etc.). Also, the public does not react as if these &quotmoving pictures&quot are a new marvel. They just seem excited that a film crew is filming in their home town, which suggests an already thriving film industry people are familiar with.

Despite mirrored illusions and filming the hunt of devils, there was nothing &quotFallen London&quot in this story. It could have been told anywhere, and would have been better in a world set in the 1920s somewhere.

2. Boring

Throughout the entire story I found not one thing of interest. No character and no plot point seemed to matter at all. The one part where I thought the story might take an interesting turn (Parabola influence?) was just hinted and then dropped.

Why does the Filmmaker depend on me to decide if to film an illusion her way or the Magician’s way? She is the filmmaker. It’s her decision by definition! My character is just the new hired-help which no one knows (this should have been an argument between the Magician and the cameraman, with the Filmmaker leaving the decision to us).

Why would I care specifically about this story about Don Juan? Is there symbolic relevance to my character? To the FL setting? (to contrast, see how beautifully a previous ES wove references to a classic work in Hojotoho! - another story by the same writer, who is in my top 3 ES list)

I’ve watched the whole film (couldn’t care to do anything else, like hush others) just waiting for this thing to be finally over. The end result was just a repetition of previous scenes. What was the added value of being told the I now see the scene shot at the square and can briefly see myself in the background. I was there. I’ve played this scene already. What new perspective was added?

Conclusion: Worst ES by far for me (I’ve played them all since they were released). This should never have been included in this world.

edited by dov on 10/2/2017[/quote]

You’ve said what I was thinking about this ES better than I could have done. Thanks!

EDIT: Though upon reflection, there is one thing I disagree with. I do think that featuring film technology in an ES is a &quotdisconnect&quot from the FL setting and atmosphere, but not because it’s based upon out-of-period technology. The whole business about taking advantage of the special properties of mirrors in the Neath shows that Neath denizens are not impressed by new things, because their daily lives are so bizarre. No, I think it’s a disconnect because it’s so mundane. The story shows us what might be going on in a London that was still on the Surface in 1895. But that possibility has been gone, forever, for at least 30 years when this ES started. That’s our disconnect, in my opinion.
edited by cathyr19355 on 10/12/2017

62

[quote=dov]I’ve finally played this, and unfortunately I really didn’t like this one.

The story didn’t work for me. At all. The writing itself was fine, but the story had two fatal problems:

1. A complete disconnect from the FL setting and atmosphere

Suppose a new story is about how a hansom driver tells you about this new invention called a &quotcellphone&quot and sends you on a quest to find a great app for it. This might lead to a decent story, in a different world and setting. There is no place in FL for this. Likewise, in a world which is set in a gothic and mystic 1895 London which has been semi cut off from the world for 30 years, there’s no place for such technology as depicted here.

What’s shown in the story is decades ahead of the FL setting - not only in terms of technology, but socially. Sure, in the real world the first films came out at around this time period, but that is nowhere close to the level of cinematic sophistication shown here (camera movements, special effects, etc.). Also, the public does not react as if these &quotmoving pictures&quot are a new marvel. They just seem excited that a film crew is filming in their home town, which suggests an already thriving film industry people are familiar with.

Despite mirrored illusions and filming the hunt of devils, there was nothing &quotFallen London&quot in this story. It could have been told anywhere, and would have been better in a world set in the 1920s somewhere.

2. Boring

Throughout the entire story I found not one thing of interest. No character and no plot point seemed to matter at all. The one part where I thought the story might take an interesting turn (Parabola influence?) was just hinted and then dropped.

Why does the Filmmaker depend on me to decide if to film an illusion her way or the Magician’s way? She is the filmmaker. It’s her decision by definition! My character is just the new hired-help which no one knows (this should have been an argument between the Magician and the cameraman, with the Filmmaker leaving the decision to us).

Why would I care specifically about this story about Don Juan? Is there symbolic relevance to my character? To the FL setting? (to contrast, see how beautifully a previous ES wove references to a classic work in Hojotoho! - another story by the same writer, who is in my top 3 ES list)

I’ve watched the whole film (couldn’t care to do anything else, like hush others) just waiting for this thing to be finally over. The end result was just a repetition of previous scenes. What was the added value of being told the I now see the scene shot at the square and can briefly see myself in the background. I was there. I’ve played this scene already. What new perspective was added?

Conclusion: Worst ES by far for me (I’ve played them all since they were released). This should never have been included in this world.

edited by dov on 10/2/2017[/quote]

You’ve never seen a single Melies film, have you? The special effects and advances are only about 5 to 10 years ahead of real world sophistication at the time.

63

I have not, and it doesn’t change any part of my argument.

In fact, it supports it: FL is not the right setting to introduce cutting edge 20th century technology, no matter if it was barely feasible in our real world at the time. (and much more so when, as you say, it’s years ahead of even our real world, and London is semi-isolated and people shouldn’t react to the film industry’s existence in this nonchalant way.

If you want to mention the invention of cinema in FL it should be as a throwaway line in some story referencing some crazy inventions up on the Surface that no respectable Londoner would believe (&quotmoving pictures? surely you exaggerate… Let’s go see the latest exhibition at the Brass Embassy…&quot).

64

I rather enjoyed the story. Not my favorite, but in my top ten. Technology was close enough to period I could forgive being off a decade or so, especially given how time works in the neath.

The hook is odd, I suppose, depending on the character. Caroline is an infamous bohemian known for her tastes, among other things, so bringing her in felt natural; she was singly qualified, especially given the subject matter. So it bothered me not a whit.

I enjoyed determining how the scenes would be done. I confess I was unclear a bit on the role of the Rubbery Men in the debauch, so was a little surprised by the result, but I can’t necessarily say I would have chosen differently, had I known.

A significant improvement on the last story, and a nice surprise.
edited by Lady Karnstein on 10/3/2017

65

So I finally played through this, while waiting for TtH to continue my notability grind. And I must say, I’m a bit disappointed.

Someone already mentioned that the hook really depends on your character - if you’re playing a famous bohemian, getting hired like that makes sense. Unfortunately, my character is a scholar with barely any interest in art. I have some token Bohemian renown (5 or 6), no hedonist, 15 austere, and specialize in watchful. As such, this entire story wasn’t really relevant to my character. Good hooks are certainly possible; in the last ES, even a character with absolutely no interest or knowledge of the law would still feel a compelling reason to play through, lest they end up in jail! This month, however, the hook was instead &quotyou show up, and are hired because you showed up&quot, which did absolutely nothing to make the story in any way relevant to my character.

Several other parts also felt off. I hate devils, and ironically the Hunt was the best part of the story - I was too greedy to provide them with a soul, and in return got to shoot them in the face a bunch! Plus, I actually participated in filming.
The other parts failed to engage me. I honestly didn’t see the problem with the Magician’s mirror boxes - he was able to demonstrate the trick at a moment’s notice. I ended up picking the rubbery option simply because my character likes the things.
Then for the Magician’s final trick, I’m not actually sure what happened there - he ended up finding out Pleat’s secret, came home devastated, and…? Maybe I was too tired when I played the story, since I haven’t seen anyone complain about it, but I still have no idea what came out of that segment.
Finally, the actual premiere also annoyed me, due to the choices I was forced to skip - and shushing someone does not take an entire segment of the film (unless said film is some 30 seconds long), so I really don’t see any narrative reason for the restriction.

The technology level was quite jarring, like others have mentioned. However, having no clue as to the actual history of early film-making, it was easy to just assume everything was fine and historically accurate. The real problem is that there are many mentions of theatre (you even help with a play in The Final Curtain), magic shows, other kinds of performances at Mahogany Hall and elsewhere, but never once is film mentioned outside this ES as far as I’m aware. The result is quite jarring, and especially so since it’s clearly meant to be a completely ordinary occurrence. In other words, many of us have been playing for years, and have characters that have done so many things that they must also have been living in London for many years, and none of us ever heard of a film production - yet it’s a normal thing that nobody is surprised about?

And finally, a minor thing - but one that irked me nevertheless, especially after everything I mentioned above already soured my opinion - was that the reward is just echoes. Most tier 6 items are significantly harder to obtain than 62.5 raw echoes, so even getting a Searing Enigma (arguably one of the most common tier 6 items) - of which I have 13 of - feels a lot more special than about a third (or quarter!) of a day’s grind in Echoes, which I have earned and spent many, many times over.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 10/6/2017

66

quote=Dudebro Pyro
And finally, a minor thing - but one that irked me nevertheless, especially after everything I mentioned above already soured my opinion - was that the reward is just echoes. Most tier 6 items are significantly harder to obtain than 62.5 raw echoes, so even getting a Searing Enigma (arguably one of the most common tier 6 items) - of which I have 13 of - feels a lot more special than about a third (or quarter!) of a day’s grind in Echoes, which I have earned and spent many, many times over.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 10/6/2017[/quote]
For the record, you can also forego the Echoes for some change points of Renown: Society and Bohemians. It’s probably not more efficient to do this ES than to just use the Typewriter or Entry however.

67

[quote=Reused NPC]quote=Dudebro Pyro
And finally, a minor thing - but one that irked me nevertheless, especially after everything I mentioned above already soured my opinion - was that the reward is just echoes. Most tier 6 items are significantly harder to obtain than 62.5 raw echoes, so even getting a Searing Enigma (arguably one of the most common tier 6 items) - of which I have 13 of - feels a lot more special than about a third (or quarter!) of a day’s grind in Echoes, which I have earned and spent many, many times over.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 10/6/2017[/quote]
For the record, you can also forego the Echoes for some change points of Renown: Society and Bohemians. It’s probably not more efficient to do this ES than to just use the Typewriter or Entry however.[/quote]

I like it because at present I can’t raise them any higher on my own. Admittedly, I have the highest reward, but that is 2/3 of the sort of &quotvanity factions&quot I like Caroline being a major contender in.

68

[quote=Lady Karnstein][quote=Reused NPC]quote=Dudebro Pyro
And finally, a minor thing - but one that irked me nevertheless, especially after everything I mentioned above already soured my opinion - was that the reward is just echoes. Most tier 6 items are significantly harder to obtain than 62.5 raw echoes, so even getting a Searing Enigma (arguably one of the most common tier 6 items) - of which I have 13 of - feels a lot more special than about a third (or quarter!) of a day’s grind in Echoes, which I have earned and spent many, many times over.
edited by Dudebro Pyro on 10/6/2017[/quote]
For the record, you can also forego the Echoes for some change points of Renown: Society and Bohemians. It’s probably not more efficient to do this ES than to just use the Typewriter or Entry however.[/quote]

I like it because at present I can’t raise them any higher on my own. Admittedly, I have the highest reward, but that is 2/3 of the sort of &quotvanity factions&quot I like Caroline being a major contender in.[/quote]
Which is precisely the opposite of me - I couldn’t care less about Bohemian renown, and Society is both a non-priority and also still not at cap for me. I’d basically be buying maybe 4-5 society favours for 62.5 echoes. And I think you also get Magnanimous, which I can raise extremely easily being a Shepherd.

69

This was my first ES, and I didn’t really like it. I learned nothing as there was no lore. No nice rewards to make up for it. I much preferred Trial and Error, as it least there I got to learn about London and Hell’s legal systems. Plus, I got the satisfaction of wiping the smile off of that stupid barrister’s face. This story left me feeling… Meh.

70

I think Lost in Reflections and the Century Exhibition gave us a sense that time in Fallen London is not static and that things do in fact move forward. I often feel very conscious of the fact that (hopefully!) the game will still be around in six years, and our journals will someday bear the dates of the Edwardian times. Therefore the introduction of film didn’t really cause me any cognitive dissonance. I do think that characters unfamiliar with film could have had more emphatic reactions, but I think a lot of other things balanced out that discrepancy.

[spoiler]The fly driver’s lack of awe for the situation indicated to me that it’s so new people don’t even know what it is or why they should take it seriously yet. He’s also a nice demonstration of local color. What does this newfangled film stuff mean to him when he’s got money to make? So I didn’t mind that. I think your own character’s passion for the film also balances it out… it’s not just Art, it’s also creating a product of what many late 19th century Victorians thought of as the Golden Age of scientific progress. What you’re doing is so meaningful that it’s worth taking actual, physical risks for it. I really got swept up in the excitement of playing the role of a Victorian character who’s seeing their very first film.

I feel like the idealistic magician was also a nice reminder that most Fallen Londoners are not mixed up with Fingerkings. Parabola is still very much a Searing Enigma-level secret to the majority of Fallen London, and not all magicians are Conjurers or Glassmen.

I also think some of the writing in the Grand Hunt portion was exceptionally well done. The devils showing up in the archways like they’re emerging from portals to eternity was an incredibly evocative description.

I have two criticisms only: This story was more linear than most. I think the last one was a good balance between being straightforward and not sucking up my actions, without making me feel like I was being led by the hand towards the story’s conclusion. However, some parts did allow me to make fun choices! Choosing whether to do a Real Hunt or a Fake Hunt was a point where I had to seriously consider my character’s POV on the matter before choosing. But the rest of the story just seemed to take you from Point A to Point B.

Finally, the composer seemed sort of like a footnote. His role in the story did an excellent job of driving the point home- that wielding power over people’s lives carelessly can mean destruction. And the announcement just before the show was just minimalist enough that it had a heavy, dreadful weight to it… a weight that was a little bit diminished by the fact you basically forget about the composer while you’re helping with the rest of the film. I feel like a few more cameo appearances from this character and some more tension-building hints sprinkled throughout the story would have made the ending hit harder. It essentially feels like I was playing through two stories that were cut and pasted together in some parts. Basically, I feel as though I understood what the writer was going for, and I recognized all the elements of a very good story, but something about how they were put together was a little disjointed.[/spoiler]

All in all, while this story did have some flaws, I enjoyed it, and I will treasure some of the more memorable lines from it.
edited by Lamia Lawless on 10/8/2017

71

Oo, yes, I liked the Idealistic Magician. It’s nice to have someone share the disappointment that the masters of the Glass aren’t actually terribly good at illusions, and I admired his commitment to his art.

72

The Idealistic Magician is a good, hard-working, down to earth guy who loafs around his house in his shirtsleeves like the rest of us ordinary folks.

Oh, by the way. Did anyone actually get caught by the devils in the Hunt? My character shot a devil once (I like to think it was a co-worker she didn’t really care for, like maybe he’s the guy who always steals her lunch no matter how many times she writes her name on it?). Anyway, it was sufficient to keep the devils from catching the crew, but I kind of want to see what the failure text looks like.

73

[quote=Lamia Lawless]The Idealistic Magician is a good, hard-working, down to earth guy who loafs around his house in his shirtsleeves like the rest of us ordinary folks.

Oh, by the way. Did anyone actually get caught by the devils in the Hunt? My character shot a devil once (I like to think it was a co-worker she didn’t really care for, like maybe he’s the guy who always steals her lunch no matter how many times she writes her name on it?). Anyway, it was sufficient to keep the devils from catching the crew, but I kind of want to see what the failure text looks like.[/quote]
I got caught. Same rewards as not getting caught, except your Nightmares are immediately set to 8.

74

Both techniques developed in the 1890s and 1900s, actually. At this point in our own timeline, such early film pioneers as Georges Méliès were mere months away from beginning to devise some of these same techniques. Many were, like Méliès, French - the Filmmaker’s nationality is not a coincidence.[/quote]
For me, it’s too cutting edge, and the story presents this as standard. It’s immersion breaking to rationalize this as &quotthere’s some possible way in which this could exist in this time period&quot. This is supposed to be 1895 in a setting semi-isolated from the rest of the world for 30 years. Compare this story’s film with &quotA Train Arriving to a Station&quot. Compare this story’s public reaction - no astonishment to the actual existence of moving pictures, just excitement to take part in the production and see a show.

But even if all was indeed possible at that time period, I still think this is the wrong thing to show in this game/setting. It clashes with the rest of the FL aesthetics, bluntly adding modern things (heavily associated with the 20th century) to this mystical place. Advanced science in the Neath so far was things like the Correspondence, Red Science, etc. This is diminishing the fantastical elements of the settings.

She’s just the director. A mere supervisor. The producer is the one in charge, and you are his agent. You decide where his money gets spent.[/quote]

Indeed, she’s the director. You’re the unknown person who the producer hired to &quothelp&quot (somehow) just because you &quotshowed up&quot. How does this trump the director’s decision how to direct the scene? The producer hired you to &quothelp&quot, but he hired her to direct.[/quote]

The year 1895 featured the release of The Dickson Experimental Sound Film and The Execution of Mary Stuart, the first instances of a film with accompanying audio recording and the first usage of stop motion special effects, respectively. Moving pictures had become increasingly common since the release of celuloid film wound in cannisters by Eastman Kodak in 1889. <br>
<br>
While cinema was still in its infancy, it was well established by 1895 and while still novel wouldn&apos;t have been unfamiliar in a major city like London. And Fallen London isn&apos;t isolated per se, and gets a steady stream of traders and visitors… there&apos;s just fewer people leaving than arriving thanks to the dangers (and metaphysical caprices of death) in the neath.<br>
<br>
The only thing that would have been unusual at the time would be screening a film on multiple reels, as most films of the period ran for a minute or less.<br>
<br>
Historically this story was accurate to the mid 1890s. If we want to begin stitch-counting the historical accuracy of Fallen London (I’d rather not) there are quite a few other places to start besides the existance of film.

75

So I like this story. I’ll start with that. A lot of the vignettes were cool, especially the Hunt and using a Clay Man as the Stone Guest.

That aside I agree with problems of how our characters interact with it all, and the seeming lacking of reason for their authority.

It doesn’t necessarily Feel like Fallen London but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I like the experiment in it. Lost in Reflections didn’t Feel like Fallen London all the way through and was the better for it, for instance.

It just seems…like a draft? Like both on mechanics and story it doesn’t feel complete or something. The mechanics especially feel bare. Hmm, I should sit on this and fully flesh it out

76

[quote=Cthonius]So I like this story. I’ll start with that. A lot of the vignettes were cool, especially the Hunt and using a Clay Man as the Stone Guest.

That aside I agree with problems of how our characters interact with it all, and the seeming lacking of reason for their authority.

It doesn’t necessarily Feel like Fallen London but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I like the experiment in it. Lost in Reflections didn’t Feel like Fallen London all the way through and was the better for it, for instance.

It just seems…like a draft? Like both on mechanics and story it doesn’t feel complete or something. The mechanics especially feel bare. Hmm, I should sit on this and fully flesh it out[/quote]

Now that you mention it, though it was cool to cast a Clay Man as the Stone Giant, it was also odd. Why did it take so long to make clear to the Filmmaker that mirrors are different in Fallen London, when she already knew that Clay Men can move and talk on their own?

In addition, Cthonius, I think you’re right that the &quotStone Giant&quot ES feels like a draft. Maybe our writer friends at FBG have bitten off more than they can chew, and don’t have enough time to turn out the kind of product that has been published in FL in the past? I hope not.

77

Why WAS the story named after the clay man character? It didn’t seem to have much to do with him.

Or was the name referencing something else that I didn’t catch?

78

The original Don Juan play is titled “The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest.” The Stone Guest is important for the damnation/death of Don Juan…but not our story.

But tbh that’s another of the minor things that make it feel like a draft, the relatively disconnected title.

79

Oh, that makes much more sense! Thank you! :D

80

I only just now noticed that the Nonchalant Secretary is a recurring character from Five Minutes to Midday. Neat!