[quote=]And this is what I call… railroading (dun-dun-dun!).
Basically, first you’re denied any reasonable options, and then thrown a bunch of extreme ones.
Several weeks ago I complained that there’s no direct way to reduce the debt: you’re either luring in some suckers or trading contraband junk food.
Some of our characters are wealthy. Some are notoriiously wealthy. Some are in effect heirs of a certain Master or new ones, hold a lease on the whole London or stand in for the Empress. Why should I bother with a filthy stand in a middle of nowhere, if I should be able to simply pay the whole debt immediately? In reasonable world it’s called investment, since I do get profit from the railway afterwards.
The same goes for the Union. I can understand Emancipationists perfectly, whole their position is rather simple. And little talk with Furnace only cemented my views.
It would be perfectly reasonable for me to fund something nice for them or simply pay for their project, because the best worker is the worker satisfied with their employer. I would impose conditions, it’s a deal, not a charity, but so far they’ve shown that they’re able and willing to do what I need from them. In reasonable worlds it’s called cooperation.
But the only options I have are funding Liberation, which is exactly what you should not do in this situation, and feeding them rats and shit (actually rubbery lumps are made only at Mutton Island, after all).
Argument that "at that time such an option would be considered preposterous" is not valid: I’ve staged several utterly scandalous ballets, killed a Master, deposed a Provost of the prestigious college and whatever else, whole my career as Fallen Londoner is about telling others to stuff it deep enough that something clever actually comes from the other side.
For the people not familiar with table-top role-playing games: "railroading" is a scenario writing style where only specific sequence of events is possible, and all deviations are ignored and/or punished. While every story must have some backbone, this term is usually used when it’s done in a stupid and unjustified way, because writer wants to make a point or simply just too stupid to think of any other option not conforming to their narrow vision.
Imagine Comtessa story from Ladybones road, where in the final scene the only option existing would be to kill her.
So, Failbetter, I have a rather short question: WHAT THE ****?!
I wanted to say something about outfits, but **** it. Especially since the latest news are the feature is apparently to stay and be doubly enforced, to indeed make a point.[/quote]
Do you want to know something funny, as someone wholly familiar with railroading? When I started reading this I had been forming an opinion about how I suspected there’s more going on behind the scenes than we know (there are different factions of workers, and there’s…whatever is up with Furnace’s 3 voices). That there were established to be longstanding grievances between Devils and railway workers due to an unfortunate earlier attempt to build the rail, that the Bazaar has at least one creditor of supernatural provenance snoring away in the hinterlands, that as some people pointed out from the workers’ point s of view it’s hard for a well fed man to understand a starving one and that this protest was meant to be an indicator of further intrigues to come as much as actual protest by the workers but then I realised something. My own thoughts would hold more water with me if they were leveled at a company that didn’t already have a sterling reputation for balancing clarity and nuance in storytelling.
This is Failbetter Games. The company that furnished me with an opportunity to help the Commissioner’s nightmare with an Ambition-specific solution, and once came up with a new storylet out of the blue for a player who accidentally bought too many weasels. The company that thoughtfully included the option to give an immortality-seeking character from an ES Hesperidean Cider if you went through all the trouble to buy some. For better or worse we’ve all come to expect a certain standard of narrative flexibility from FB which brings me neatly to your next point: The fact that we apparently cannot feed these poor buggers anything, literally anything at all, but Mrs. Plenty’s worst pies. For heavens’ sake, could we at least take pains to serve them the good pies?! Many of us even know where to get the authentic Rubbery Lumps-on Mutton Island! They have a famous restaurant and everything! And there’s a whole subsystem for treating other players to DINNER that provides different options for Londoners to supply food! There was another ES that revolved around an elite restaurant! Sure, the "let them eat cake" solution might provoke further issues down the road but well-that’s a story opportunity in itself, isn’t it?!
…amusingly after all that, the part where I actually disagree with you on is the appropriate response to the workers. Because I really wanted to get aboard my Vake and terrorise them into submission just like the good ol’ days of Mr. Veils’ reign.
