Oh, Lady in Lilac why must you hide from me so!! :puppy:
I saw some posts already along this vein being talked about, and I sympathies greatly; so I thought I’d start a separate thread to discus everyone’s favourite irrigo irritant.
Not to worry; I understand that the Feast cards are intended to work the way they do. Making Lilac hard to find fits well with her story; and frustration is exciting (sort of) in it’s own masochistic way. (That and I now suspect the mighty RNG [All praise it’s glorious name!!] has escaped from its bonds in FBG’s basement and now seeks to create a real Unterzee filled with FL players’ sweet delicious tears… ;) )
I know she’ll turn up eventually… I hope… 
So, this is not really intended as feedback per se, but I thought it might be helpful to have somewhere to vent collective frustration, no matter how impotent. Perhaps turn that energy into suggesting ideas for possible improvements/tweaks to the FotER system while we all wait for the tardy Mrs Clathermont to finally make her appearance? (Or the An Encounters at the Feast card, if that one is getting to you as well).
Perhaps gather some ideas for card deck trimming to improve the draw rate of Feast of the Rose cards as well? Or questions about the current mechanics/story? Whatever would be most helpful :)
Here then are my own ideas on the lovely Millicent for what they may be worth :)
- Perhaps Lilac might work well a little like the Mr. Sacks cards at Christmas?
FBG release a card at the beginning of the Feast of the Rose that starts the story off (either a card with a really high frequency rating or maybe a universal storylet). Then have cards in the deck that have the player catching sight of/ actively searching for Lilac. A glimpse of purple in a crowded room, spotting her loitering at a dance etc. etc. Again the frequency of these would then increase exponentially as the Feast went ever on. It would also be a good way to expand on her character and so not have newer players ask, ‘Who is this woman?’ (As it’s not really obvious if you are still new enough to not be yet started on the Clathermont story).
Edit: I see Lilac character’s and motive is already well covered by the questions you can ask at the Panopticon- but I still think it would be fun to see examples of her Irrigo-magic in action while trying to chase her down.
With each card that they played, the player could gain points toward a ‘Finding Lilac’ value unlocked by the initial story/card. (Maybe let the player gain a little masqueing on each of these card as well?) Then when the player has played enough cards to track down Lilac at the Panopticon/catch her in a net, have her Parlour open up permanently to them until the end of the feast, just like it does with tattoos. (There could even be a small value fate option on the tracking cards to find her lair more quickly? Not an uncontroversial suggestion I know; but if someone has payed a lot of money to get a great horde of fate-locked feast gifts I imagine they might be willing to pay 2 or 3 more to meet Lilac all the quicker?? Especially if that option also had fun text/extra lore/masqueing with it.)
Then once they’d finally found Lilac and her Parlour the player could exchange gifts/get tattoos/new companions with a little more leisure. Using much the same system from then on as Penstock’s Wicket. (I suppose you could even work it into the Irrigo system in some way if there was a need to limit the frequency of visits further? Although I imagine that would probably be very tricky to make work)
This all likely has lots of flaws to it (which of course is why I offer it up to criticism :-) ), but I think something like this would keep some of the random element, fits fairly well with Lilac’s story (and could even add to it as the player would have a greater in game role in looking for her); and also maybe be a little less anxiety inducing? This all would of course be an awful lot of work for FBG, but that’s not going to stop me from suggesting it :greenp: -
Edit: On a little further thought -A much simpler idea. Why not let players exchange feast gifts for masqueing in the current tattoo parlour? Then players would only need to find Lilac once each feast, rather than repeatedly track her down.
And finally to try to summon the Lilac Lady through song… Who knows it might work? :) (Really, really hope there’s an access code this year)
[i]Edit: Song does work!- I just saw a lovely play about dragons :-)
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edited by Charlotte_de_Witte on 2/22/2016