The official tumblr for Failbetter Games. Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, Mask of the Rose.
Showing posts tagged exceptional stories
June’s Exceptional Story in Fallen London is Codename: Sugarplum
Where would a dachshund go if a dachshund decided to disappear? The Fifth City has innumerable nooks and crannies. Every alley, every shadow, might conceal a clue – or a lost dog. Sometimes, as a sleuth, the only thing to do is put boots to cobbles.
A journalist from the Surface has lost her pet dachshund, and contracted you to retrieve him. How hard can it be to find a missing dog? Just follow the clues, infiltrate a few undercover networks, expose a vast conspiracy in the Great Game, uncover the dark secrets of the sugar substitute industry, and you’ll be back in time for tea.
Experience three stories that delve into debts, obligations, and contracts gone wrong.
Steeped in Honey
Investigate Veilgarden’s most elusive Honey Den, infiltrate a house of charity and venture among reprobates at Watchmaker’s Hill in Steeped in Honey by Mary Goodden.
Lamentation Lock
Pursue a smuggler to the in-between of the Neath and the Surface and trade with those who fled their sins in Lamentation Lock by Gavin Inglis.
Factory of Favours
Untangle the web that snarls the forces of industry and determine a factory’s fate in Factory of Favours by Graham Robertson.
The trade-in item for this season is also now available via The Season of Silver: An Urgent Cry.
The Frequently Deceased
A family of promising youngsters have killed their Governess. Again.
Exceptional Friends, you now have access to The Frequently Deceased, the Exceptional Story for March!
Hello, Delicious Friends! Your starry-eyed Failbetter writer @CashDeCuir here.
When working on large pieces of content, I like to build soundtracks: just a few pieces for me to listen to on repeat, to help me fall into a certain aesthetic mood. Today, I’d like to share a few pieces which helped me write my Exceptional Story, The Waltz that Moved the World.
Of course, there’s the key motif, which was referenced throughout the whole work: Tales from the Vienna Woods, a grand waltz by Strauss.
I find it weirdly serious once it really builds up, and almost cold. At the same time, though, there’s a nostalgia - a melancholic one perhaps, but a sweet one nevertheless.
The next two pieces are from one of my favourite operas, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann.) I wanted the story to have something of an elevated tone, and these pieces helped me find that.
One piece is Voici les Valseurs! (Here come the Waltzers!). It’s almost a silly waltz - it’s a dizzying, dreamy, colorful wonder. Somewhat dark, too; its sense of fun was something I tried to instill in the story.
There’s also Chère enfant! que j'appelle (Dear Child! I Call! - about 3 min 55 sec into the video). It’s a glorious piece: a trio, sung by the sickly Antonia, the sinister Dr Miracle, and the spirit of Antonia’s mother. It’s tense, tragic, commanding. (And dramatically, it’s an inspiration for one of the great mysteries of The Waltz that Moved the World!)
Finally, there’s a song that I found matched the theme of the work oddly well: The Windmills of your Mind. It felt particularly emblematic to me, particularly as I was finishing the writing. Circles in spirals, wheels within wheels; fragments of memory, and the wonder of where beautiful things went; fixation, obsession, regret - a sad, powerless questioning.
There were a couple other pieces that helped me along, but I’ve only time to share a few. I hope you liked this little peek into my process - and I also hope you liked the music!
Until next time, Delicious Friends!
FLINT Part II: Wine or Wound
The forest shakes. Blood drips from the branches. Salamanders slink hissing from the grass. Tiger-heads break the pool’s surface. “War,” a voice cries. “War!”
We’re opening the Elder Continent to visitors for the first time, in the single largest piece of content ever released in Fallen London.
See the story-haunted port of Apis Meet. Visit the hundred-tongued city of Caution. Mount an expedition into the Bleeding Forest, where bee-stings kill with melancholy; and discover whether the pretender-god called the Thief-of-Faces still lies bound in its Prison of Flint…
Flint is a special Christmas treat: a two-part Truly Exceptional Story. Part I was November’s story, and Part II is the story for December. Subscribe now for immediate access to both parts!
You can also buy FLINT straight away for 120 Fate, for people who really want to play the story but don’t want to subscribe.
If you subscribed for both months, thank you very much! We hope you’ve enjoyed it.
If you can’t play the story this month, remember to play through the storylet in the House of Chimes to retain both parts for a later date.
The Haunting at the Marsh-House is now available to all players, for Fate!
A PRESENCE HAUNTS THE MARSH-HOUSE. DO NOT DREAM.
A malevolent presence has driven the Prim Baronet from his ancestral home. His nights are riddled with nightmares.
Brave the mists. Travel to his crumbling, ivied marsh mansion. Gather clues, but guard your sanity. Fear sleep! Can you unravel the Haunting at the Marsh-House?
