Rackenhammer
Posts: 354
11/21/2014
|
One of the most powerful ways that games can deliver narrative is less through the use of text, as much as through mechanics. Now, Fallen London is of course technically interactive fiction, and the writing is of great quality, but what I want to discuss here are the ways in which the character of the world, or bits of narrative are conveyed without it being explicitly stated in the actual text itself.
An example of what I mean: the characteristics of the various Connected: factions are conveyed in the ways available to get them.
At the beginning, Connected: Society comes only in drips and drabs, 1 cp per action, until you finally pull together an invitation to the Ambassador's Ball, which gets you in the door. Once there, however, Society will lap up any old nonsense you spout at the Palace, and once you become a POSI, you'll have more opportunities for increasing that faction than any other, I think. That conveys what sort of people and group psychology reign in the upper classes
For the Great Game, on the other hand, it's the opposite. It's easy to dabble at the early levels, but building any sort of strong connections involves watching for opportunity cards, and trading in favors, or even outright betraying members of other factions. Also very indicative of its nature.
What about you all? Is there any worldbuilding you've picked up solely from how the Storynexus engine presents the game, aside from the text itself?
--
"DO NOT TRUST HAPPY ENDINGS. DO NOT FEAR SAD ENDINGS... NEITHER ARE ENDINGS."
~
Mathieu Psmith: The Bard of Lost Children, loving husband, and a fixture of the artistic set. Can never resist making a show of things...
Irene Psmith: Adopted Daughter of Mathieu. Specializes in Information, Acquisitions, and the Acquisition of Information.
Vaughan Montblanc: Once a frontiersman of Western Canada, he now practices medicine in London. His discretion may be absolutely trusted.
|
|
|
+1
link
|
Gremlin
Posts: 30
11/23/2014
|
I'd say there's a lot of storytelling by mechanics going on that you might not necessarily notice. The menaces, for example. Once you reach the level where you start to collect them, they say something about what you are going through. Come across the wrong information, and Nightmares goes a little higher, edging closer to that dreaded 8 you were warned about. You're new at the game, you've never filled a menace before. As it gets higher, you start making more of an effort to avoid it. Then, finally, it ticks over, probably by accident.
You end up in an entirely new place. You were probably pursuing something fairly urgent to risk going over, but you're forced to drop it now, and learn the rules of this new and probably unsettling place. And the nature of the place: it's not quite what you expected: a boat? a hotel? At least you've heard about the Tomb Colonies before. You learn the rules of this place, with new cards and new tradeoffs. Eventually, you return to London, changed a bit but not too much.
Next time, you know the drill. You might explore a bit more, or rush to get out as soon as possible. But it's later on. You're a citizen of the Neath, now. You start picking up the casual attitude to death the locals exhibit. You've been there and back, and while you might try to avoid visiting there again, it's a speedbump on your road to success. And sure, the writing was part of it, but the mechanics were what really taught you to internalize that.
--
Profile: Inevitable Gremlin
|
|
|
+4
link
|
Snowskeeper
Posts: 575
11/23/2014
|
It becomes easier and easier to gain Revolutionary connections as you become more and more important. That might seem counter-intuitive, but note that a lot of your artistic work is misinterpreted by the Revolutionaries as supporting them, and stuff.
--
S.F., a midnight midnighter and invisible eminence. Impossible to locate them, personally, but there are dead drops and agents.
|
|
|
+1
link
|
Cotton Dee
Posts: 76
11/24/2014
|
The Intimate With Devils storyline. At the start you get an Affectionate Devil every few draws, and as you progress the storyline, you start drawing them more and more frequently. Up until the point where they convince you to sell your soul, whereupon you never hear anything from them again.
Also, the action to not be persuaded to sell your soul reads "A matter of luck: How can you fail?" 
--
Henry Lamperouge may be found here...
http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Henry~Lamperouge
Current Grind: 1/42 Presumptious Little Opportunites
|
|
|
+1
link
|