bruno

"mr storylets"

writer (derogatory). lead designer on Fallen London.

http://twitter.com/notbrunoagain


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Bluesky
brunodias.bsky.social

bruno
@bruno

It's fairly frequently that we don't use or mention something that is historically in-period for Fallen London because players would think it's anachronistic. Examples of such things include semi-automatic pistols (definitely a thing you could buy in Europe in 1899). There's one bit in FL where you run into a saxophonist and the only reason that flies is because he's a Devil, and Devils in the FL setting are culturally unstuck in time (even though saxophones had existed for a long time in the period). This phenomenon is a byproduct of the simplified and often incorrect way people conceptualize history.

But one thing that falls under this rule that I am often sad I can't use is the word 'dude' (first attested in English in 1877).


bruno
@bruno

And you might say "well if you know you're right and it is period appropriate why not just do it" and the reality is that it doesn't matter that it's ackshually correct if it's still going to knock the median player out of the story.

Also when something like this happens (sometimes we misjudge what people think is Victorian) we get emails and nothing hurts the soul more than getting an email where someone confidently and wrongly tells you that you've made a mistake (the most common cause of such emails is actually obscure or unusual word usage or grammar).


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in reply to @bruno's post:

Funny enough, the English (and Europe in general) treated cowboys and their revolvers in the 1890s like we treat samurai and their katanas in modern America. Bram Stoker putting a cowboy in Dracula is like a modern author putting a samurai in modern western fiction.

in reply to @bruno's post:

I do wonder why the year is set in 1899 instead of some year more squarely in the middle of the Victorian era. I suppose it's the idea of being stuck right before the turn of the century that's fun? I'm not deep enough in the game to make an informed guess.

It does mirror how, in the medieval fantasy LARP I'm in right now, being "genre" is way more important than being "historical". Players who play pirate characters take inspiration from 18th century pirates and sailors for their clothes, which are "genre", but none of them are allowed to have 18th Century guns, which are decidedly not genre.

the year is what it is for a handful of Lore Reasons, here's a minimal-spoiler answer:

london Fell just before prince albert died, so, 1862. Fallen London the game begins after everybody has gotten used to being underground and the city's more or less settled, and then time advanced in-game at the rate of one year per real world year. until queen victoria decided that the 20th century Would Not Be Happening, Thank You Very Much, so for the past few years we've just been repeating 1899 over and over :D

FL's been running for over a decade-- I can't remember off the top of my head what the first year was, but it was something in the 1880s.