EdmondDantes
Posts: 11
9/30/2014
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This is my first post here; I apologise for any breach of decorum, but I hope that possible new content will mitigate my culpability.
http://imgur.com/RbE7qOz
I got this quality from a new card in my Lodgings, where the Wry Functionary discusses the Admiralty's duties, the non-performance thereof, and the possible relation to the Carnelian Coast.
Now I have these two storylets available.
http://imgur.com/PlAtTif
This is quite possibly my first time encountering new content as it's being unveiled. WAT DO
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Flyte
Administrator
Posts: 671
9/30/2014
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Welcome, Edmond! You're right: we just released a substantial chunk of new content by Emily Short. It's around seven thousand words, although it won't take long to complete, because the branches don't cost actions. In fact, it's almost entirely disconnected from the FL economy, like the conversation with Lilac at the Feast of the Rose.
You'll need to be a close acquaintance of the Wry Functionary to play it: look for new options in your Lodgings. (Be warned: it may migrate to an opportunity card later.)
In addition to occasionally writing for Sunless Sea and Fallen London, Emily's done some of the most interesting work on conversation in games. We're very pleased with how it's turned out, and look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please don't post it on the wiki, though, or discuss details here without using spoiler tags: there are no economic hurdles to navigate, and this type of story works best unspoiled.
edited by Flyte on 9/30/2014
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
10/4/2014
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Humblest wrote:
I have difficulty understanding a game-design mindset [...] these games typically have save-restore modes; if not, they're broken. .
I wouldn't ever describe any tool as 'broken' on principle. I would venture to say that most other designers wouldn't either. Or carpenters. Block planes, they're rubbish! Chisels are better!
As it happens, I do enjoy the menace and promise of permanence in choice, when properly managed. I built Fallen London in part because I was excited by the idea of a game with no reload function, and the tensions and effects that allows.
But of course some of our players like irrevocability much more than others. I often end up modulating my creative preferences (or Adam's, or Emily's). The Wry Functionary is experimental content in all sorts of ways, and it's very interesting to see how people have reacted to it. My strong inclination is to find ways to signal irrevocability more effectively in the future - but we'll keep on listening and planning. Thanks, all!
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
10/4/2014
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Skathes, Inky Petrel: no, we didn't introduce the Nex reset as a scheme to swindle our players.
(i) We're not total dicks
(ii) if we wanted to make money with this, we'd have Nex-locked the whole thing.
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KatarinaNavane
Posts: 462
10/4/2014
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I loved this new snippet and hope to get to know other npcs more as well. I'd love to have something like this for each of the acquaintances. I do think there should be warnings on choices that will lock you out of content, but otherwise I loved this.
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Storynexus sn Katarina Navane.
My art page (much of which is dark, Victorian, and/or full of tentacles): http://www.facebook.com/demonkittydesigns
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MidnightVoyager
Posts: 858
10/1/2014
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Mordaine Barimen wrote:
Sometimes, silence is golden. Othertimes, it can have the warm glow of brass. Either can be worthwhile.
If you mean picking one wrong step can lock someone out of all the content in both paths without any real warning or indication, that would be super-unpleasant, especially for something that people aren't allowed to share.
so I really hope that's not what you're hinting at here.
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Midnight Voyager - A blood-cousin to predators. Collector of beasts. Affably mad.
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thedeadlymoose
Posts: 214
10/2/2014
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Hahaha, Fallen London has been figuring me out rather quickly, at least, because I am wholly more willing to play these murky storylines when they pop up via opportunity cards, even though that's actually much more inconvenient.
I enjoyed the one I played (EDIT: About the reports received, not the conversation, which I haven't played yet), but ignored the follow up storylet in my lodgings; and now suddenly it's a card (and gone from my lodgings) and I fully admit I'm going to play it now.
That aside: while I really enjoyed the one I've played so far, I was really unhappy to see options locked out based on quirk levels. The quirks required make total sense, mind you, but: We just got done playing through a festival event that basically required us to absolutely ravage our quirks. Most of my surviving quirks went down to level 6 and have only recovered a little since, despite the fact that I make use of almost every waking action (though I don't grind quirks intentionally). Like, I had 10 subtlety, but then I went fishing.
So... by playing the Zee festival a lot, I am (seemingly) locked out of a significant number of story options... which seems a touch odd.
Plus, the way quirks worked for the zee festival (and the way they were necessarily destroyed) was pretty gamey & unreal, even though it was fun, but now we're back to assuming that high levels reflect traits about your character? It's confusing to switch between game logics quite so quickly. Though honestly, it would be fixed for me if the requirements were simply lower (6-7, rather than 10).
Also I'm not exactly a veteran so salt my feedback as much as is necessary 
EDIT: I also kinda hope we can replay these storylines, even though that's really gamey... so I dunno if that's reasonable to suggest.
edited by thedeadlymoose on 10/2/2014
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/Eris~Jay
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/Red~Rose
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penknife
Posts: 85
10/5/2014
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
But of course some of our players like irrevocability much more than others. I often end up modulating my creative preferences (or Adam's, or Emily's). The Wry Functionary is experimental content in all sorts of ways, and it's very interesting to see how people have reacted to it. My strong inclination is to find ways to signal irrevocability more effectively in the future - but we'll keep on listening and planning. Thanks, all!
Alexis, at least for me, it's not the fact that the content is irrevocable that bothers me. It's two things. First, that the irrevocability isn't signalled at all; since choices don't cost actions, it appears that you can continue the conversation as long as you're interested, until suddenly you can't progress any more. Second, it's the reasons for losing access to this part of the game. It seems to me that if you're going to lock people out of content to provide "a sense of consequence," it should be the consequence of either trying something obviously very risky and failing, doing something obviously very inadvisable, or making a deliberate choice that your character wouldn't do something required to pursue a certain story further.
I'm trying to discuss this without spoilers as per request, but ... if I'd been locked out after trying and failing a very hard quirk check, I still would have been annoyed at not knowing I wouldn't get another chance later, but at least I'd have known what I did wrong. But as far as I can tell, I was locked out after a branch that didn't have any quirk check associated with it; I made a suggestion that seemed like the appropriate thing to say given what he'd told me, he hated the suggestion, and that was it.
Apparently I guessed wrong, and I'm not sure why that's something the narrative should punish by making content irrevocably unavailable. It feels like a pretty stiff penalty for failing to read the game writers' minds, and that's my main frustration.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife
Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
10/4/2014
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Owen Wulf wrote:
Speaking of, has the Wry Functionary been removed? I cannot find him despite having above 5 acquaintance points with him.
At any rate, thanks for making an appearance Alexis. Is there any chance that this recent update is a sign of new things to come in the future?
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My pleasure! I'm frantically busy on SS, but I do keep an eye.
I believe he's on his primary opportunity card now - he'll be along.
New things to come - it's an experiment. If we find people really like interacting with NPCs in this way, we'll probably add more. We do have some other FL content on the way, too, which you probably saw us teasing the other day on Twitter - but a key team member's been horribly ill, so that's set us back a bit.
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
10/3/2014
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Sara Hysaro wrote:
Was that note about Subtle being reliably increased by The Great Game faction card there for a while? I just noticed it.
Edit: Nevermind, it was just talking about existing (capped) options.
edited by Sara Hysaro on 10/3/2014
Yes... I'm not sure "You need Subtle 10 (you have x). You can reliably increase this with the card The Great Game" is entirely a helpful mouseover when that card has a subtle increase cap of 5. It still does; I just tried it, with Subtle 8. Oh well.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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lady ciel
Posts: 2548
10/21/2014
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I got the card again before getting my quirks up to 10, decided that I would just play one of the non-quirk options and found out that the requirement had dropped to 8. Thanks Alexis that was really helpful
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ciel
Sorry RL means I am not a very active player at the moment. No social actions unless you are prepared to wait and definitely no sparring or other mult-action things.
No Calling Cards or boxed cats please. Will take dupes on the affluent photographers. Other social invitations welcome. Parabolan Kittens usually available, send me an in-game social action saying you want one and I will get one to you as soon as possible.
storynexus name - reveurciel
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Fhoenix
Posts: 602
10/5/2014
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Admiralty has a follow up card. Probably more than one. I hope.
I got A Visit finally. Success at the melancholy challenge looped me back to the opening, failure at Acquaintance just closed the card. I don't think it locked me out, since no properties were changed. It does not seem as bad a people are saying.
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My Character
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lady ciel
Posts: 2548
10/6/2014
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About those quirks, I believe that at one time (a couple of years ago maybe) they weren't capped so some people might still have high levels of them as they were not really used until the Noman and Fishing during the relevant festivals.
Also I haven't finished digging through all the quirk raising options yet. But this is what I have found so far
As far as I can tell magnanimous is uncapped, you can heal people or send them gifts and it keeps going up.
If you have a ship you can get melancholy, daring and hedonist up to 10 or 11 (the wiki isn't very clear) on Hunter's Keep.
I'm still looking at the other quirks but, apart from magnanimous and hedonist, I haven't found anything in London that raises quirks above 9 and most options are capped at 6.
Edit to add - looks like it might be possible to get subtle 10 from a dream card, but they are really rare in my experience
Unless I find something else soon I do wonder about having unlocks for options on the Wry Functionary and the Admiralty that seem to be beyond most players.
edited by reveurciel on 10/6/2014
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ciel
Sorry RL means I am not a very active player at the moment. No social actions unless you are prepared to wait and definitely no sparring or other mult-action things.
No Calling Cards or boxed cats please. Will take dupes on the affluent photographers. Other social invitations welcome. Parabolan Kittens usually available, send me an in-game social action saying you want one and I will get one to you as soon as possible.
storynexus name - reveurciel
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MidnightVoyager
Posts: 858
10/7/2014
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Sara Hysaro wrote:
Oh, if you don't back down you get your own gold bordered card to deal with it. I'm planning on doing that again on Gloria (first time was done with Madison Lavery if you wanted to read her echoes). Pretty neat, though I'm not sure if there are other cards for the other options.
Ohh. Well, that's confusing! Because what appeared to be the end/followup to mine was in A Visit. I guess it varies.
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Midnight Voyager - A blood-cousin to predators. Collector of beasts. Affably mad.
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Alexis Kennedy
Posts: 1374
10/16/2014
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The confusion about the Wry Functionary to date, and our no-spoilers-please line, is one of the things that led to this clarification.
There'll be a change in the near future which means you won't need to worry about obscure ways to increase quirks, here.
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Fairweather
Posts: 86
1/24/2016
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I haven't played FL much the past 9 months or so, but after returning I've just discovered I'm still mid Wry Functionary story. Unfortunately I can't recall much of what happened before. My current options include "Make it sound like you met his mother by chance" and "Avoid telling him about your conversation with his mother". But I don't remember meeting his mother! Can anyone clue me in on what happened before?
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P. Fairweather - One time wild child, turned Correspondence obsessive. Just don't ask her what the 'P' stands for.
Aurora Chasseresse - A little rough round the edges, but there's no one you'd want more in a hunting party... or zee shanty sing-a-long
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penknife
Posts: 85
10/3/2014
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I hope other people are having a better experience with this story than I did; it locked at 3 for me, I have no idea why, and given that, I'm not likely to spend 7 Nex to reset it when I have no idea what choices might have led to finding out the rest of the story. I'll just move on and do other things, but I do have to say that this is frustrating -- it's so rare for Fallen London content to permanently lock based on your choices that I think most players feel they can experiment with different story branches, and that branches that will end the story completely are usually pretty strongly signposted. If there were any signposts here, I didn't see them, which made it a pretty frustrating "guess what questions you're supposed to ask and not ask, or you don't get to play" experience.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Penknife
Most social actions welcome, no SMEN or Boxed Cats please.
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Rupho Schartenhauer
Posts: 787
10/5/2014
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I have a question: is it actually possible for a character to play all three branches (Mother, Admiralty, Duchess) or are you locked out of the others once you started on one of them?
Because I've completed the Functionary's Past storyline couple days ago, but never saw so much as a hint to the other two... I wouldn't even know they existed were it not for people mentioning them here!
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Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it.
Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely.
Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated.
Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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KatarinaNavane
Posts: 462
10/5/2014
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I've only played love so far, I just went in circles on the admiralty and never saw the duchess option. I don't think I'm locked out of anything though, just haven't gotten the right airs yet. I loved what I did play, but it would be nice if it told you "that's all for now, try this again later" instead of letting you go around in circles though.
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Storynexus sn Katarina Navane.
My art page (much of which is dark, Victorian, and/or full of tentacles): http://www.facebook.com/demonkittydesigns
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babelfishwars
Administrator
Posts: 1152
10/4/2014
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Oh, we've had the discussion about fate locked resets and permanence a few times before - might be worth looking at the disgraced rat threads, and think it's elsewhere too. It's designed to deter, and is almost always put in after enough people say they'd pay to change their choice, rather than from the start. From what I can see, it's not a money spinner but a 'oh, if you must'. Were it a money thing it would have been there from the beginning. Still, any mechanism put in place is going to be disliked by some - if people were given 3 resets, they'd want 4.
I can't really understand a mindset that invests emotionally enough with a game that this bothers them, but not such that they're willing to pay small amounts to support it. I get around awkward locks by using an alt or paying nex, depending how important it is to my main character. Were I really clever I'd play new content on the alt first, but I never think of doing that till after the event.
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Mars, God of Fish; Leaning Tower of Fish
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Gillsing
Posts: 1203
10/4/2014
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Alexis Kennedy wrote:
I believe he's on his primary opportunity card now - he'll be along. He's got an extra option on A Visit, where he receives his visitor at his home, and then there's the Functionary at Work card where he's showing off his desk crowded with papers concerning the Admiralty.
I haven't dared click on anything. Primarily because I've been too busy catching up on other internet-stuff to feel comfortable devoting however much time I'll need to finish the dialogue tree. But apparently it pays off to let others hit the spiked pit traps before I do. Even if I only hear the screams of anguish, and don't get to see the maps of those who have gone before, I still know there will be things to watch out for. Horrible, adventure-ending things. No frivolous exploration recommended. Stay in character.
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Lady Red
Posts: 517
10/2/2014
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I got an opportunity card, and now I can explore more of the admiralty, hurrah! I'm enjoying this new content a lot
I'm with deadlymoose re the quirks though - it seems unfortunate timing that now we need high quirks, when we just had a fest that decimated our quirks... I hope the content sticks around long enough so I have time to raise my quirks up again so I can pick the option I want.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Lady~Red
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Mordaine Barimen
Posts: 670
10/1/2014
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It isn't. I'm suggesting that sometimes you need to give a friend some time to sit quietly and contemplate if you want them to open up further. The other meaning will become apparent if/when you enter the maternal story.
I can't give too many spoilers even if I wanted to, since I have my Acquaintance zeroed out from 8+ earlier today.
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I'm sorry, but due to policy clarifications, I will no longer be giving detailed mechanics advice on the forums.
If you still need help, try the IRC channel.
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Sara Hysaro
Moderator
Posts: 4514
10/1/2014
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Oooh, love these kinds of things. Though I haven't drawn any cards related to it yet, so hopefully I do that soon.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Sara%20Hysaro
Please do not send SMEN, cat boxes, or Affluent Reporter requests. All other social actions are welcome.
Are you a Scarlet Saint? Send a message my way to be added to the list.
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EdmondDantes
Posts: 11
9/30/2014
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Flyte wrote:
Welcome, Edmond! You're right: we just released a substantial chunk of new content by Emily Short. It's around seven thousand words, although it won't take long to complete, because the branches don't cost actions. In fact, it's almost entirely disconnected from the FL economy, like the conversation with Lilac at the Feast of the Rose.
You'll need to be a close acquaintance of the Wry Functionary to play it: look for new options in your Lodgings. (Be warned: it may migrate to an opportunity card later.)
In addition to occasionally writing for Sunless Sea and Fallen London, Emily's done some of the most interesting work on conversation in games. We're very pleased with how it's turned out, and look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please don't post it on the wiki, though, or discuss details here without using spoiler tags: there are no economic hurdles to navigate, and this type of story works best unspoiled.
edited by Flyte on 9/30/2014
Alright! Thank you, and sorry for not spoilering the details. The content is very interesting, and I certainly hope to hear more!
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MidnightVoyager
Posts: 858
9/30/2014
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I can't progress on either branch because I can't find more options. I'm stuck at 3, too.
I do notice that talking about the Admiralty does nothing at all. Talking about the Duchess at least removes the quality afterward, but you just get stuck in a loop with the Admiralty until you walk away.
edited by MidnightVoyager on 9/30/2014
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Midnight Voyager - A blood-cousin to predators. Collector of beasts. Affably mad.
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MidnightVoyager
Posts: 858
9/30/2014
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Mordaine Barimen wrote:
And yes, if you are honest about your encounter with his mother and are unlucky, he ceases to speak to you. Ware.
I never got even a mention of his mother. I really feel like I somehow got locked out before any of the content really started.
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Midnight Voyager - A blood-cousin to predators. Collector of beasts. Affably mad.
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