Samsara: April/May 1757

Samsara has just updated with April and May 1757. That’s around 25,000 new words of treachery and dreamwalking.

http://samsara.storynexus.com

April and May: The Anglo-French war erupts, and there are rumours of conspiracy and madness in Bengal [i]

There are whispers of black magic and madness on the streets of Murshidabad, and dark betrayal in the courts. And even more disturbing challenges face you in the dreaming.[/i]…

I’d love to know what you think, and please, please tell me if I’ve broken anything. :)

PS - If you’d like, I’ll write you 100 or so words set in Samsara because you’re all lovely http://www.thisunrealcity.com/blog/samsara-update/

Meg
edited by Meg Jayanth on 6/28/2013
edited by Meg Jayanth on 6/28/2013

[quote=Meg Jayanth]Samsara has just updated with April and May 1757. That’s around 25,000 new words of treachery and dreamwalking.

http://samsara.storynexus.com

April and May: The Anglo-French war erupts, and there are rumours of conspiracy and madness in Bengal [i]

There are whispers of black magic and madness on the streets of Murshidabad, and dark betrayal in the courts. And even more disturbing challenges face you in the dreaming.[/i]…

I’d love to know what you think, and please, please tell me if I’ve broken anything. :)

PS - If you’d like, I’ll write you 100 or so words set in Samsara because you’re all lovely http://www.thisunrealcity.com/blog/samsara-update/

Meg
edited by Meg Jayanth on 6/28/2013
edited by Meg Jayanth on 6/28/2013[/quote]

Hmm. I went back to take a look, and my only option is restarting …

I’m having a lot of fun with the update in the Dream, but alas, in the Wake, &quotRumours of Conspiracy II: The Sikh Merchant&quot gives me no choices to advance. Is this intentional?
edited by Kaesa on 7/7/2013

Hello! I don’t know if you’re still checking these forums but could someone give me a hint for how to progress to April and May? I think I’ve done pretty much everything in March already, I’m not sure what I’ve missed.

As I’m getting nearer and nearer to the point where my FL character will have nothing left to do, I thought I’d try out some of those other games built on Storynexus.

I chose to start with Samsara - which turned out to be both a good and bad choice!

TL, DR: If you feel like delving into an extremely well-built historical setting, with lots of mystery and conflict - both personal and political - and don’t mind the fact that the game will most likely never be finished, you can have a pretty good time with Samsara! You can probably rush through the existing content in a single day - I took about 3 or 4 days, making sure I delved into every corner.

Good because the game is awesome: well written, engaging, historically detailed - really, really enjoyable. The multicultural aspects of the setting (Bengal in 1757) are explored in detail: you’re playing a Hindu sa-ilu (&quotdreamwalker&quot) in a predominantly Muslim country; meet envoys from all the surrounding nations at Court; get to know the British & French colonialists, an enterprising Irishwoman, an Angolan ex-slave… and lots of real historical people have cameos (including Emanuel Swedenborg and Madame Pompadour). Your character’s gender is never specified, and you can have dalliances (very hot ones! - the erotic content is especially well written) with anyone you like, including a hijra.

Bad because…
a) it’s unfinished (the last chapter has been &quotcoming soon&quot for 3 years), so you’re left with a massive cliffhanger.
b) the creator no longer offers support (the support email no longer works, the blog mentioned in the OP no longer exists), so if you run into a problem, you’re just stuck.

Having said that, the only issue I’ve run into is the following: when progressing from one chapter to the next (February to March, March to April…), make sure to do so with empty hands, both in the Waking and the Dreaming. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with a handful of unplayable cards - there is no discard button. (Failbetter were awesome enough to help me out with that, but they don’t normally offer support for other creators’ worlds.) That is the only issue you need to be careful with - I didn’t see any other way to break the game.
edited by phryne on 9/28/2016