Vexpont
Posts: 137
7/22/2016
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It seems extremely appropriate to discuss this on a thread risen from the grave. It also seems that everyone has their own interesting take on it. Thanks to all.
absimiliard wrote:
I have always had the impression that the Player Character is in fact a very special snowflake. I'm pretty sure this is because FL is very much a single-player game -- the social actions are really bolted on and require some good RP to avoid being jarring. (just try discussing who founded the Department of Correspondance at the University -- or look at how we all get kicked out of Court....)
Anyhow, I do love the RP, but the game is obviously meant to be about one heck of a special snowflake)
Perhaps the problem is that I have honestly never been that person before. In my more callow days, I died so much in the name of casual entertainment that Sean Bean is probably my spirit guide. So if a game tells me that I clutch the lily, I immediately start trying to work out how and why, and what is happening behind the scenes.
And probably like everyone else, it has occurred to me that I should just quit my career and set up as a quick-change artist in Mahogany Hall. There can't be anyone faster than Yours Truly. But this isn't as tricky to deal with as the nature of Death, which is set up early as a plot pivot, and is clearly deadly serious.
Vexpont wrote:
Death in Fallen London: the most extreme type of littering offence. There's probably a hefty fine.
I meant, a stiff penalty. Bloody esprit d'escalier.
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Dangerous to my enemies; loyal to my friends. Not too handy at telling the difference.
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Vexpont
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Grenem
Posts: 2067
7/23/2016
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absimiliard wrote:
I have always had the impression that the Player Character is in fact a very special snowflake. I'm pretty sure this is because FL is very much a single-player game -- the social actions are really bolted on and require some good RP to avoid being jarring. (just try discussing who founded the Department of Correspondance at the University -- or look at how we all get kicked out of Court....)
Anyhow, I do love the RP, but the game is obviously meant to be about one heck of a special snowflake.
As for dying, my impression was that bodies just re-animate. Going to the Mirror Marches is fairly obviously a bodily assumption into another plane of existance, however ending up insane at the Royal Beth is obviously Not such a thing. (and, just to cover all the menaces New Newgate is obviously in our plane of existence)
Now, all that stuff above, just my $.02 -- so take it with a gallon or three of Salt. (after all, this Is Me we're talking about, everything is about Salt)
In order:
The player's status as a special snowflake really depends on the storyline. the court, i believe, actually has this cycle going on frequently- people climb to the top, do something too daring, and get exiled. the question of who it involves is variable, though. The truth of the matter is, the making your name tracker itself is usually only guilty of making you an excessive polymath- the primary exception being the university storyline. The side stories obviously have you being a special snowflake, but that's more from the nature of the story than the nature of you. [also, IIRC, no one actually establishes the department, they just try to set it up and fail. the real issue would be the constant turnover of provosts, i believe.]
The side stories must make you a special snowflake, because lots of the stories wouldn't make sense massively instantiated. it's hard to write about something where you actually make a difference while also leaving open future PCs.
[I've always been of the opinion most named people are actually nearly as multi-talented as you, or superior in one aspect, and often the fact that you win is because you have other advantages. white moves second, but gets extra peices to make up for it, so to speak. Febuary, for instance runs a hundred expeditions to your one- the loss is such a triviality the revolution doesn't even hold it against you a little, even when you capture her camp and equally hostile moves.]
In other words, you're special- but less so than you'd think. 90th percentile plus, not "the strongest human."
As for dying, my impression was it varied. Bodies do sometimes just reannimate, but that takes longer, and the wear-and-tear leads to an early tomb-colonist status.. A fast route is a charitable soul tending to your wounds, or, more cynically, picking your pockets and then doing the above, or someone who cares about you doing the same, and that happens sometimes too. alternatively, though it never happens to you, a particularly hated individual might be let to almost come back to life and then killed again, or maimed while they're dead. there's only so much the unusual vitality can do for you.
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Married!:http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/takuza
I will accept all social actions that do not consume free evenings- and i will provide patronage to anyone who requests it, though it will be split between all requesters.
On psudeo-hiatus. Will be inactive and active and fluctuate without warning.
Grinding Favors without cards: http://community.failbettergames.com/topic22266-storylet-favors-grinding.aspx
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