An Unremarkable Individual

A Fallen London Challenge Run

[making-me-nameless]

I think the run is dead. I mean, duh, I haven't posted here in months and it's been even longer since the last substantive update. But there was always the thought in my mind to come back to it, take the next steps. Now I'm ready to give it an epitaph and bury it.

The thing I'm proudest of in this run is achieving Person of Some Importance without any Making Your Name and without Fate. That was a genuine accomplishment (as far as gaming challenges go, at least) and as far as I can tell a novel one in the community.

Having done that, I don't want to go on and add any Making Your Name to this account, and it's become clear that's what I would need to do to proceed. Better to leave the account as it is and let that accomplishment stand on its own.

[making-me-nameless]

Have you unlocked the Nadir yet?

Yes. I think I did a brief post about it, but I didn't write much because there's nothing really special about how it relates to the run. I unlocked it the same as any other character (after unlocking Forgotten Quarter expeditions, which I did write about), and as far as I know it doesn't provide any unique resources other than a generically good EPA.

[making-me-nameless]

Fighting a War of Assassins also has an option to move me to The Flit without spending a Favourable Circumstance! I was looking forward to using it to get the Forgotten Quarter, but I didn't know about The Flit. What a useful little carousel.

This lets me sell my Hearts' Game proceeds at the Rat Market, and still have a Favourable Circumstance to make sure I can become a Mystic before the next Time, the Healer.

[making-me-nameless]

@otherversian

Wait, this can get you to the Forgotten Quarter? That's huge, even with my more relaxed ruleset I don't have a way there yet.

One of the introductions to the War of Assassins storyline, the card 'By the Way, Someone Is Trying to Kill You.' gives you Discovered: the Forgotten Quarter, and once you have it discovered you can buy Route: The Forgotten Quarter in a storylet (just like you can for Wolfstack Docks, if you've done that).

The card should just be unlocked by being a POSI, but unfortunately it's possible to lock yourself out of that if you acquire Enjoying Lethal Prominence in some other way.

If you've done that, you can also access the Forgotten Quarter by using Favourable Circumstances to meet with Tomb Colonists. However, I believe expeditions are locked unless you actually have the Route.

[making-me-nameless]

I've been progressing the Kai Mehra run a bit, but I've hit a big hurdle that you might want to prepare for if you haven't already:

Initial entry to the lab requires a Justificande Coin.

Genuinely, I cannot find a way to obtain one of these. The closest I can find requires Parabola... which, in turn, requires either having the lab that you need the coin for in the first place, or having a T3 profession.

Good luck. I hope you find something, because all I've found is myself stuck.

I have successfully unlocked the lab!

I got Justificandes by letting rat-shillings expire (and I get to The Flit for the Rat Market via either Fighting a War of Assassins or Meeting Urchins with a Favourable Circumstance).

Still stuck within the lab on upgrading Equipment for Scientific Experimentation, though (as well as on access to Moloch Street).

[making-me-nameless]

So, fun fact, you can find the Misters (at least the redemption code based ones) even without unlocking the Candy Door.

[making-me-nameless]

Unfortunately this doesn't actually get me Moloch Street (I'm still technically in the same location I was before), but I can buy one of the Estival items (and presumably unlock another law to hunt).

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I can unlock the Missing Embassy part of the event the same way (the storylet for that just tells me to go to Moloch Street).

[making-me-nameless]

Alright, I've gotten my Band of Outlaws. With the rest of Estival locked to Moloch Street, I think it's time to actually embark on my Ambition to see if that unlocks it...

Well, D___. I can't believe I didn't notice this before, but apparently the starting storylets for the ambitions are locked to Making your Name.

[making-me-nameless]

Regrettably, pursuing a rogue law through Moloch Street does not discover it for me. Not that I particularly expected it to, but there was the hope.

(Especially regrettable because large parts of this Estival are locked to Moloch Street)

[making-me-nameless]

Well, if I'm stuck anyway, there is one thing I can do...

[making-me-nameless]

Turns out even Seeking is harder under this ruleset.

Normally, you can control your Unaccountably Peckish up and down relatively freely: increase it with Attend and Speak of Terrible things at the Shuttered Palace, and decrease it with Take some Refreshment at the Labyrinth of Tigers.

Neither of those is available to me. To raise it, I'm reliant on a rare success eating rubbery lumps at the carnival, and as far as I can tell I have no non-card-based way to lower it (other than giving up Seeking entirely).

[making-me-nameless]

The Starveling Cat! The Starveling Cat! Why ever would I grind for that!

[making-me-nameless]

Well, if I'm stuck anyway, there is one thing I can do...

[making-me-nameless]

Time, the Updater

Ahoy mateys! Stoke the boilers and

Piracy unlocked! This was mostly just a matter of putting in the time to get the Zee Legs. I got a bunch in the Ghost Ship event, and just finished it off picking up the Unexploded Mine. The only thing different from normal is the Strong-backed Labor; the most efficient sources are cut off, but it's still available in Wilmot's End fairly conveniently.

As implied by the Unexploded Mine, I'm closing in on all the 40 renown items I can get. It convenient to get Piracy now, as I need to spend some time on Mutton Island to get Stormy-Eyed for What Might Be A Thunderbolt, so I can at least get some payout for the associated Zailing.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater

Agents!

Picked up the Luckless Captain as an Agent. That's probably as far as I can get with Agents for now. Without the Side-Streets, I can't unlock The Wily Bathyphile or the second Active Plot. I could unlock the Clay Breaker, but without the second Plot, I don't think there's any reason too.

Whitsun!

Whitsun had some interesting challenges. The Labyrinth of Tigers, The Department of Menace Eradication, and Mahogany Hall were unavailable, so that limited my options for Terror Birds and Aurochs (and you can see the duplicate Young Terror Bird from failing to initialize recognize that).

The Flit and the Shuttered Palace are accessible, but harder. I got a chance to refresh my options for navigation: getting the Palace via A Visit with the Wry Functionary, and the Flit via the War of Assassins. Despite those challenges, as you can see I did manage to get the Carnivorous Aurochs and all non-Illegal three Squirrels (as well as all three non-Illegal Spindlewolves).

Also, my first Transports!

Hearts' Game!

I've "finished" Hearts' Game, as much as that's possible. It's been my default activity for just spending actions when I have nothing else I'm working on (and probably will continue to be, for EPA if nothing else).

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Not Dead just Busy

While the NOS Deniable and then the Fluke were available, I was pretty much focused on them. Good EPA for this stage of the game, plus at least the explosive disposal part built up my Zee Legs.

Starting now, there's a new season of Hearts' Game, and it is the last season distinction I need, so I'm working on that.

Also, Agents! A new feature, and I should be able to use it as it's gated by POSI rank 2. I've still got to figure out how to get all the things I need to buy in, but it looks promising.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Sixth Coil Edition

As the title suggests, I mostly worked on the Sixth Coil's reappearance in the Waswood. That required not only the event itself, but quite a lot of preparation, including a milestone in and of itself: creating a Parabolan Company and completing my first Parabolan War (with the Gentleman, because I've picked the Viscountess in the past).

Unfortunately, it did not unlock the Discovered: The Labyrinth of Tigers. That was pretty much my last hope, there, so I'm probably locked out indefinitely.

Still, I picked up quite a bit of new gear, including some BiS, so it wasn't wasted time.

Having finished that, I'm now working on dumping decommissioned explosives into the ocean. I've only blown up once so far, and that gave me a chance to pick up The Place Where they Bury the Bodies, so it's going great.

[slightly-sigilant]

it's advent calendar season which means lots of free goodies which means it's a great time to start playing fallen london. so I dusted off an old thing I wrote about the game

behold: phosphor's slapdash writeup for people wondering wtf is fallen london even, in which I also shill quite shamelessly for the game

I tried to keep it fairly basic, more about answering "what is this" and less "how do you do this." maybe I will write a separate newbie guidething someday but this isn't it. hope you puzzled onlookers enjoy, regardless

[shazzbaa]

heartily endorse Phos's write-up. Fallen London is dark and doomed, but it's also VERY funny, and often surprisingly hopeful and kind. I'm a big fan.

A COUPLE POINTS OF GUIDANCE I NEEDED AS A NEWBIE:

when you first sign up, "Username" is the intended place for "vampiregirl_96" or whatever you use to log in, "Character Name" is the intended place for "Wilhelmina Harker" or whatever your character's name is. Obviously you don't have to follow this, and nobody in the game calls your character by name so it's not a big deal; your Character Name is just what shows on your profile page and in messages to friends.

The "Opportunity Deck" at the top (or in the "sometimes" tab on mobile) is basically random encounters you can have in London. Usually, if a card you draw is confusing or too difficult, you can discard it and it'll get shuffled back into your deck to come around later. Sometimes opportunity cards will start stories that continue the next time you draw a relevant card. It's an important mechanic, but you can just do it in the background.

You get pointed towards blue-bordered icons as the Starting Content, and after that you can do whatever you want -- Fallen London is somewhat non-linear! But if you desire more direction, the main direction of Progress early on is the four "making your name" stories, that take you through various steps of building your reputation in fighting, investigation, criminal, and society activities. You'll eventually need to do all four (u cannot be a londoner without doing a little crime).

If you forget what the heck you were meant to do next on a particular storyline, you can search for the relevant quality on the "Myself" page -- sometimes the next thing you have to do will get listed in the description there, like "Associating with a Dangerous Gentleman 13 - meet with the Dangerous Gentleman at Watchmaker Hill!" or whatever

[violant-ink]

"... that take you through various steps of building your reputation in fighting, investigation, criminal, and society activities. You'll eventually need to do all four ..."

@making-me-nameless begs to differ ;D

[making-me-nameless]

I appreciate the shout-out, but, seriously, this is a challenge run for a reason. You definitely should do all the Making Your Name stories on first character.

[making-me-nameless]

Time the Updater: Forgetting Edition

What did I do this week? If I only could remember...