Polygamy in the Neath

I’m uh, really keen on exploring multiple long-term relationships in Fallen London. Ever since my first threesome since I descended, this has been an all-consuming thought pervading my honey-addled dreams.

Anyone else got a hankering for polyamory? It’s definitely a feature I’m look forward to and pay Fate for.

This would certainly be an interesting idea, and I believe it was discussed more in depth in some derailed thread somewhere.

I like the idea, certainly, where you could switch out multiple Spouses like other items, maybe with a permanent +2 Scandal or a couple auto-fire undiscardable Opportunity Cards that increase scandal, like your Spouses have public spats with each other. I like the latter one, especially if there was a unique one for each spouse.

There was a brief discussion on this in the Fate-Locked Content thread, the gist of which was that many people would like polygamy and some people would like to marry their boat.[li]

. . . I would very much like a scandal-penalty mechanic for this. Oh yes, indeed.

It’s been rather difficult lately to carry on my affair with the Dashing Ex-Smuggler, you see.

I, for one, would like being unmarried to be an actual option, with stat or card bonuses. I’m weird like that.

The obsessive completist in me would like this option, though, especially if they do give unique cards. I’ve already burned my bridges with the artist’s model and jewel-thief, though, so I’m not sure how that would work out…

[quote=Little The]I, for one, would like being unmarried to be an actual option, with stat or card bonuses. I’m weird like that.

The obsessive completist in me would like this option, though, especially if they do give unique cards. I’ve already burned my bridges with the artist’s model and jewel-thief, though, so I’m not sure how that would work out…[/quote]

Well, &quotDivorced&quot itself could be a status in itself, maybe granting something in the way of secondary stats like -1 Respectable, +1 Dreaded, + Bizarre or a bonus to Persuasive and Shadowy but a permanent point of Scandal?

God knows I went to some trouble to make my break with the Master Jewel-Thief as acrimonious as possible, I’m a little disappointed that cheating cad hasn’t caused me any trouble since he left with a paltry theft of some of my rostygold.

[li]

[quote=OPG]This would certainly be an interesting idea, and I believe it was discussed more in depth in some derailed thread somewhere.

I like the idea, certainly, where you could switch out multiple Spouses like other items, maybe with a permanent +2 Scandal or a couple auto-fire undiscardable Opportunity Cards that increase scandal, like your Spouses have public spats with each other. I like the latter one, especially if there was a unique one for each spouse.[/quote]
Easy enough to do with cards that fire if you possess certain &quotSpouse&quot items, actually.[li]

Yeah, that’s my preferred idea. This would actually work best if the spouses were more diverse and gave stronger bonuses, and if you had multiple you could swap them out for more versatility. Then, every time you get &quotmarried&quot, you get an extra rank/CP of Committed. The auto-fire, undiscardable opportunities would be flagged by 2+ Committed and the appropriate spouse item for that card. The events themselves could actually be pretty fun to write, like someone’s Rubbery Consort going berserk at a society dinner upon the wrong thing being said for example.[li]
[/li][li]In general, how interested is Failbetter in community content submissions/proofs of concept?[/li][li]
[/li][li]Also, this could be a pretty cool StoryNexus game on its own.[/li][li]
edited by OPG on 9/10/2013

I have no strong opinion on this polygamy stuff, but spousal conflict cards won’t happen due to combinatorial explosion. With two possible spouses, there’s only one conflict. But Fallen London has five, if my count is right, which makes for ten possibilities. More spouses are clearly planned. They’d have to cover 27 combinations if they add only the Missionary, Firebrand and Quiet Deviless.

That’s a lot of content not many people will see.

No, I wasn’t thinking that there would be a card for each combination, but for each individual spouse. So there would be a minimum of two cards for each polygamous player (which is a steep price, considering) and maybe a third if there was a generic Committed 2+ card.[li]
EDIT: And it’s less content to write, too.
edited by OPG on 9/10/2013

I’m very much in favor of giving more options, but I’d like to see a deeper level of spousal interaction first. I feel like having my artist model function only to increase my watchful slightly and give me an occasional silent walking partner is a terrible waste of an opportunity. Having multiple spouses doesn’t mean much if the spouses individually are so functionally shallow.