When I first started exploring Fallen London, I wrote:

I spent yesterday in a state of confusion after learning the dark secrets of a friend. My nights are still plagued with nightmares. But now I know that as long as I keep my cheerful goldfish close to hand, I will remain this side of sanity.

This is part of the learning curve for the residents of Fallen London. This is an everyday occurrence in Echo Bazaar.

However, your dreams can take you to other places and if you are not careful, you might find yourself inside the mirror.

There are three ways of entering the Mirror-Marches.

If your Nightmares reach 8 and you are holding a Memory of Light, you will be sent there automatically instead of to a State of Confusion.

You can also look through the Mahogany Mirror at Mrs. Plenty’s Carnival, at the cost of two Memories of Light.

If you enter a State of Confusion and receive the opportunity card A plan occurs, you can pay 7 Fate and take the option to set fire to your mirror, which will move you to the Mirror-Marches.

You will automatically leave the Mirror-Marches when your Nightmares reach zero. You will find yourself back in your lodgings with an increase to Wounds and a decrease to Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? and you’ll lose 1 Memory of Light.

There are a number of Opportunity Cards which reward a Memory of Light including a number of Having Recurring Dreams: Is Someone There? events and successful visits to the cellars of the Shuttered Palace.

The Mirror-Marches has its own exclusive storylets and cards, most of which increase or decrease your nightmares.

Storylets

The Mirror-Frames

Each of these mirrors has a minimum amount of Nightmares needed in order to see them. Looking at the frame will decrease your nightmares. All but the wooden frame have mild side-effects.

The seductive forest

The temple complex

A familiar scene?

Action: Step through the mirror
Result: Moves you to a State of Confusion

When you leave the State of Confusion you will lose your accumulated Nightmare properties unless you are in possession of Honeyed Laudanum.

Red-Bordered Cards

Red-bordered cards have a specific effect and use up an action simply by viewing them.

Red Cards Which Decrease Nightmares

Red Cards Which Increase Nightmares

General Cards

These cards will not use up an option until you commit to the action, although not all of them will offer a choice.

Cards with Prerequisites

All of these cards decrease Nightmares.

Cards based on Luck

These cards will decrease Nightmares if you are lucky and will have no effect if you are unfortunate.

Other Cards

All material here is (c) Failbetter Games 2010, used by permission.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

I realized that the easy way to follow the conversation would be to make a list which consisted only of the official Twitter accounts associated with Echo Bazaar. That way, I could simply click on a link and watch the conversation on a simple page. I looked around and although I found many lists of players and one or two of the Masters, I couldn’t find a list that included all of the official Twitter accounts associated with Echo Bazaar that didn’t also include the players (making the list difficult to follow).

So I made a Twitter list:

@Tay/residents-of-fallen-london

If you click on the link above (finish reading this sentence first!), you’ll see that it becomes much easier to follow the banter between the fine ladies and gentlemen of Fallen London. In fact, I found it surprising to realise how many conversations I had missed, even though I already follow all of the Echo Bazaar twitter accounts.

Here are the members, the long-term residents of Echo Bazaar, which I included in my illustrious list:

• _The_Duchess
• BenjaminVillein
• Doctor_Schlomo
• Huffam_esq
• Madame_Shoshana
• Mr_Apples
• Mr_Cups
• Mr_Eaten
• Mr_Fires
• Mr_Hearts
• Mr_Iron
• Mr_Mirrors
• Mr_Names
• Mr_Pages
• Mr_Sacks
• Mr_Spices
• Mr_Veils
• Mr_Wines
• Mrs_Plenty
• Overgoat
• Sinning_Jenny

I’m sure I don’t have everyone though. That’s where you all come in: tell me who I forgot! And if you find this list useful, please feel free to follow it or drop me a line and let me know.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Echo Bazaar has the answer. Take control of your fate.

Fate is an underground currency of the Echo Bazaar, purchased using real-world money or very occasionally rewarded for long-term storylets. Fate is never required for your sojourn in Fallen London but it can, let us say, make your experiences in the City more interesting.

If you choose to use your fate to control your future, you have a few options.

Main Storylets

On the Fate tab, you will see unique storylines that you can take part in … for a price.

A Change in Souls: 25 Fate
Those with Shadowy 20 or more can delve into the wicket toils of the soul trade. This is a detailed storylet that plays out over multiple locations and opportunities. You have the choice to act as a spirifer, collecting the souls of the unwitting, or to fight the soul trade.

Once complete, you can spend another 25 fate and take a further look into the Trade in Souls by resetting your situation and viewing the spirit trade from the opposite side.

The Rubbery Murders: 25 Fate

Who has been poisoning deep amber traders? Is there really such a thing as a rubbery murderer?

You’ll want Watchful 20 or more to take advantage of this series in which you play detective and attempt to determine the truth. The clues come to you through storylets but when the crunch comes, do you think you can be sure who did it?

A Long-Lost Daughter: 25 Fate

It is an ordinary day. Not even particularly dank, for once. It is a day that generally lacks portents. You are walking to your lodgings. A grubby urchin sidles up to you and speaks theatrically from the side of her mouth. ‘Psst! Gottalettaforyer.’

Your qualities should be 30 or higher to take part in this storylet. You will receive a letter when you next visit your lodgings, starting you on the path of “in contact with a Long-Lost Daughter”. This is an interesting storylet which pushes the player into making some interesting decisions.

Mini Storylets

Opportunity Cards may give you the option to use Fate and take advantage of special experiences.

A visit to the Gracious Widow
Someone is planning to intercept her next shipment of brandy

You must first have played the opportunity card which gives you the status of in search of a Stiff Drink 1. At some point thereafter, you should receive an Opportunity Card to visit the Gracious Widow.

Someone is planning to intercept her next shipment of brandy. Does she suspect your involvement? Or does she want your help?

You can tell her directly that you’ve been investigating the brandy or you can push things further with a small payment of Fate. 3 Fate will allow you to either work for the Widow, investigating the Duchess’ interest in the brandy, or investigate the Widow herself. Both of these opportunities require a good Shadowy skill to progress.

A day at the races
The biggest event in Fallen London: Shroom-hopping races at Bugsby’s Marshes. Will you attend?

You overhear two race-goers discussing the location. Today, is it? Get in while you have the chance. The speed! The thrills! The occasional amusing death! And the hats! The improbable hats!

This Opportunity Card offers you the chance to take part in the races for a cost of 3 fate. You’ll be moved to a special instance of Watchmaker’s Hill so be sure to clear your opportunity cards first, as there is a special set of cards for the races. Once you accept, you’ll find a you have repeated chances to run the races – and even to win! Bring your best hats. You should have stats at 40 or higher in order to do well here.

If you choose not to spend your fate, you can read about the results in the paper or even write a stern letter complaining about the disgraceful spectacle.

Opportunities

Many of the Opportunity Cards now include an additional option that you can choose for a tiny smidgen of Fate, if you would like special service. This is just a selection.

Mr Wines is holding a sale!

This new Opportunity Card gives you the chance to acquire Honeyed laudanum for the cost of 9 Fate.

Honeyed laudanum
A radical creation, offered only to the most select of customers. It is unlabelled. Jervaise whispers that it ensures that dreams are never forgotten, even when nightmares become too much to bear…

If you are fascinated by recurring dreams, you may be interested in this very special treat. Honeyed Laudanum will stop your individual nightmares from resetting when you next enter a State of Confusion. These vials can be stacked. One vial is used automatically as you depart from A State of Confusion or the Mirror-Marches.

A commotion in the Square of Lofty Words

This Opportunity Card offers six choices for an interesting transaction – including a use for the gems which have been appearing recently. One of them allows the transfer of Fate.

High on their poles in the square, the philosophers are arguing again. The point in contention: what is the truest gift for a true friend? You duck flung fruit as you pass, but their arguments set you thinking. What gift might you give?

If you have been social in the game, the gift of admiration will be available to you. You need two each of the following: Hastily Scrawled Warning Note, Sudden Insight, Hard-Earned Lesson and Confident Smile. These will be given to the player of your choice.

You can spoil yourself if you have Hedonist at 5 or greater. This will allow you to collect the above cards for your own use.

The gift of jewels is available if you have three each of the following: Sapphire, Venom-ruby, Diamond. More information on how to collect these gems will be available soon.

The gift of a big bag of dead rodents is available for the bargain price of 100 Rat on a String.

Or you can choose to share your Fate. If you choose to spend your Fate (either 11 Fate for a Box of Ten Delights or 101 Fate for a Box of a Hundred Wonders), you can offer Fate to another player (11 or 101 respectively, despite the names). But do you care about anyone in Fallen London that deeply?

A Plan occurs

When in a state of some confusion, you may receive this opportunity card which will move you to the Mirror-Marches for a cost of 7 Fate.

An Imperial pronouncement?

This opportunity is only available in the Tomb Colonies.

“..how this is possible. My relationship with Court can best be described as troubled. There was an early matter of an ode, you remember, and later…but the important thing is this: my reputation is restored! I leave for London as soon tomorrow!

If your scandalous behaviour has become a problem and you find yourself ostracized to the Tomb Colonies, you will find a new option under The price of forgiveness storyline. For 9 Fate, you can clear your scandal and return to Fallen London.

An afternoon of good deeds?

A new option has appeared on this Opportunity Card allowing you to enhance your reputation.

A plaster saint!
One extraordinary good deed can outweigh any amount of petty scandal.

For the cost of 4 Fate, you can clear all of your scandal and “a considerable amount” of Suspicion. If you are lucky, you might also gain a small sparkling reward for your actions.

More Time in Fallen London

You can also spend your Fate on more mundane options: an extra candle, lasting a month, will allow you to experience more of the dark city for only 35 Fate. If you are short on time, you can restore 10 actions for 10 Fate or 3 actions for 3 Fate rather than waiting for your refresh. If you are looking for a very specific Opportunity Card, you can help things along by refilling your deck for 3 Fate.

Want to know more about Fallen London in general? Take a look at our Echo Bazaar Guides.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

“Death is not always permanent in Fallen London. This has caused the quiet and unacknowledged revision of certain passages in the bibles of the City’s churches.”

It is true, it is not particularly easy to die in Fallen London. Generally speaking, fatal occurrences up above are merely inconveniences here in the Fifth city. That’s not to say you can’t get hurt. If you find yourself alone with Jack-of-Smiles you will find the experience quite painful. The bite of a Sorrow-Spider can fester and foul. Laudanum may calm the mind but the wear and tear on the body is great. Such encounters will leave wounds deeper than the blackened chasms of the ‘Neath.

You can revitalize yourself, slowly. A quiet day in bed in your lodgings will aid your recovery but it is a dull and dreary process. F.F. Gebrandt’s Tincture of Vigour has been known to help but in high amounts it can cause nightmares which are tedious. And who has time for that, when you have a fortune to seek?

And so you may find that death creeps up on you when you least expect it. You collapse under the weight of your wounds and when your heavy eyes finally open, you are on a slow boat passing a dark beach on a silent river.

You are dead.

Where does the river go?

The Stolen River that flows into the Unterzee – the one they used to call the Thames – passes through Hell. That’s one reason why you see so many of the dead at the Bazaar. Which in turn is one reason why being dead round here is an inconvenience, not a disaster.

Negotiate with the Boatman

True to tradition, it is always an option to negotiate with the Boatman. This is, of course, not without its risks. The safest option is to give him something that he wants.

Offer the Boatman a sacrifice

Your wounds will decrease, at least a small amount, if you sacrifice your trusting companions. But note that you must have at least one of the companions he is interested in … and he will take all of them if you have more than one.

Your choice:

• Surrender any Lucky Weasels you’re carrying
• Surrender any Sulky Bats you’re carrying
• Surrender any Dazed Raven Advisors you’re carrying

Play chess with the Boatman

The Boatman plays excellent chess but he can be beaten if you are watchful. This is an almost impossible challenge at Watchful 30 and a straightforward challenge at Watchful 86.

If you succeed, you will find your wounds decreasing. But if you lose the game, the boat drifts closer to the far shore and you will find your wounds have worsened.

Dice with the Boatman

The benefit of of a game of chance against the Boatman is that there is no skill involved, only luck. This is, of course, also the downside.

You can roll the dice, your odds are even. If you are fortunate, your wounds will decrease. If the Boatman wins, he will take his pound of your flesh in payment and your wounds will increase.

Other Opportunities

The boat is filled with pale and shivering passengers, which of course means for opportunities. Opportunities to get away and opportunities to stay…

Recall the places you have been

These red-rimmed cards all offer a straight-forward decrease to your wounds with no risk. However, you must have a strong enough recollection of the location in order to have this effect.

Be sure you are recalling specific locations in Fallen London if you choose this route to escape. Other recollections may not have quite the same effect.

Additional Red-rimmed Cards

There are a number of other cards by the boat with no further information: you either accept the action or discard. The majority of these will decrease your wounds … but not all of them.

Final Choices

The remaining cards offer you a little something extra, although it might not always be something that you want.

How Much Can You See of the Far Bank requires your Watchful to be 20. If you choose to peer into the distance, you will gain an increase to wounds, an increase to nightmares and 3 appalling secrets.

Pilfer a few breaths from another passenger is a challenge to your Shadowy ability. If you succeed, you will decrease your wounds. If you fail, you will be caught … but your intended victim will not seek retribution so it is simply an opportunity missed. Either way, your skill at Shadowy will increase.

Take a message to the living world will decrease your wounds and you will be given a task to carry out once you return to civilized society: A Courier to the Dead.

…or you could just give up is always tempting. This will increase your wounds but your nightmares will decrease.

Trail your fingers in water offers a straight-forward decrease to your wounds.

Back in Fallen London

These articles may be of interest now that you have recovered from your untimely demise:

• Knife and Candle
• Mrs Plenty’s Carnival: Beyond the Tents
• Mrs Plenty’s Carnival: The Entrance
• Mrs Plenty’s Carnival: The Tents
• Scandal and the Tomb Colonies

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

In that spirit, I created this quick reference guide to Scandal. My mother would not be surprised.

You have fled Fallen London for Tomb-Colonies in an attempt to avoid the gossip. Soon, the scandal will die away and you can show your face in society again. But it is somewhat dreary. There must be ways to speed things up, mustn’t there?

Opportunity Cards

Storylets

A letter to an old flame

The price of forgiveness

A letter to a trusted friend

Straight-forward Persuasive challenge. Successful result is an increase to Scandal and an increase to Persuasive.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Beneath the Neath

Descend PRECIPITOUSLY to ABYSSAL DEPTHS! EXPLORE the unknown CHASM!

The carnival’s big wheel lowers brave customers into the earth. It almost always brings them back, too.

It takes two tickets for a gondola to take you down to the depths below Fallen London. Your experience on the big wheel will depend on luck but the odds are in your favor.

Go for a Ride

If you are fortunate, you will have thrills and chills beneath the neath and gain 10 Cryptic Secrets.

Rarely, you may spot an outcrop of Amber and take the chances to collect 90 pieces.

If you are unfortunate, you will run into Jack-of-Smiles. Don’t panic, it isn’t fatal! But you will find your wounds have increased as a result of the encounter.

What’s That?

Scholars of the Correspondence have a further opportunity, the chance to inspect strange writing on the ridges.

Madame Shoshana

Madame Shoshana’s shabby, perfumed little tent is tucked away behind the House of Mirrors. Cross her palm with silver, er, tickets, and choose your method of divination.

Her standard services cost a single ticket. She may also be able to help you with your quests although she charges two tickets if you wish to ask for information.

If luck is against you, you lose nothing but the ticket.

House of Mirrors

The House of Mirrors squats like an ape in a quiet corner of the carnival. Strange mirrors are labelled in a neat, scholarly hand. It is not a popular attraction. Warning: bad things happen here. Looking into the mirrors is the prerogative of the foolish.

The mirrors are for those denizens of Fallen London with very specific desires. Gazing into the named mirrors will cost you five carnival tickets. The framed mirrors cost only one ticket but only one will show you anything of interest.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

“Smoke and mirrors! Light and shade! Bright paint and squealing children and the roar of lions! And the music, as a great man once said, is like electric sugar.”

Once you’ve explored the Entrance to the Carnival, it’s time to brave your way into the tents to see the main attractions. Buy a stack of tickets and come explore the Big Top, the Sideshows and the Games Tent. Be sure to keep a tight hold on your valuables and under no circumstances should you ever make eye contact with a clown.

The Big Top

You need three points in Connected: for the relevant group before you will be welcome to spend time with these people in the Big Top.

The Sideshows

The ragged little tents around the edges of the carnival attract some of the less savory factions of Fallen London. There is no skill involved in making friends here. Once you have three points in the faction, you can spend a ticket and improve your rankings by meeting with the following people:

The Games Tent

The air thrums with the furtive energy of money changing hands. Games of skill. Games of chance. The occasional thrown lizard snatching a bat from the air. What could be better?

Each game costs a Carnival Ticket in addition to any wagers placed.

The next Echo Bazaar post will be filled with thrills and chills as we travel Beneath the Neath and back again to visit Madame Shoshana, followed by a trip to the House of Mirrors.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

“Smoke and mirrors! Light and shade! Bright paint and squealing children and the roar of lions! And the music, as a great man once said, is like electric sugar.”

This is the introduction to Mrs Plenty’s Carnival, fun for all the family in Fallen London. The first time around the many stalls and attractions, it can be quite diverting to bounce from place to place, without any real goal. But if you wish to meet with very specific people, it can be useful to know what you will find in the tents before you enter.

When you arrive at the Carnival, you will need to get tickets to use at the stalls. A direct purchase with Moon-pearls guarantees that you will receive ten tickets. With the other options, you have to take your chances.

Note: There is no known way to gain the Amber Carnival Token in game.

Near the entrance you will find the Most Educational Anatomy Exhibition.

“The NOTED PEDAGOGUE Mrs Plenty presents an INFORMATIVE and EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITION of ANATOMY and DANCES of ANTIQUITY for DISCERNING GENTLEFOLK…”

Once inside, you will find a number of healthy specimens that you may wish to take a closer look at. This uses your Watchful skill and will cost you one ticket per viewing.

Next door is the Refreshment Pavilion where you can receive one-of-a-kind taste sensations, if you dare.

“The pavilion is less civilised than it sounds. Some of its wares are surprisingly tasty, if you’re brave enough to try them. Warning: some foods may damage your abilities.”

Hot Wine and Spore Toffee cost one ticket each, Rubbery Lumps cost two. The result is not affected by any skill but simply a matter of luck.

The next Echo Bazaar post will take us through the Big Top and the Sideshows to see wondrous scenes. Be prepared to find out who your real friends are.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

“Pssst, over here.”

There was a gloomy silhouette leaning against a pillar, only just visible in the half-light of the arches. I looked behind me. A rat scurried across the pavement. I could hear the hiss and groan from the Underground station. A tendril of mist curled around my feet. There was no one on the street but me and my unseen assailant.

“Yeah, you,” the shadow whispered. “Is that a mandrake in your pocket?”

I looked down in embarrassment and then realised it was a serious question. I pulled the dirty root out of my pocket. “Yeah, I, uh, it was abandoned, honest.” The mandrake giggled. I tightened my grip but that just made it giggle louder. I needed to find a way to get rid of the damn thing. I shoved the mandrake back into my pocket, trying to mute it with my handkerchief.

“Giggling mandrake, huh? How much you want for it?”

“What I want … ?” I pulled my hand out of my pocket. “It’s not for sale, mate.” I leaned against the opposing pillar. I’d seen a deshrieked mandrake in the bazaar for 16 Echoes. This one was quite a bit louder but it had to be worth a few bob. I could use some readies right about now.

“You play Knife-and-Candle then?”

I straightened up again. Polite murder, that’s what they called Knife and Candle, a game for the most dangerous denizens of Fallen London. I was out of my league. “I don’t, I’m not…” If the shadowy figure had stayed silent, I probably would have dropped the mandrake and run off but luckily the hoarse whisper interrupted my stuttering.

“Tell you what. You give me the mandrake and I’ll tell you how to ambush your way to the top. Deal?”

I swallowed hard. “Deal.”

A perilous and wily lady wearing a stained, red velvet gown stepped out from the shadows. “Hand over the mandrake.”

I handed it over and she smiled. “Lovely.” She lifted her iron top hat and carefully tucked it in. “All right, now listen.”

“Knife and Candle isn’t for wimps. You need to be able to handle yourself in a dark alley. So start off by hanging around Watchmaker Hill and learning from the hunters there. They won’t hurt you and they’ll be happy for the help with the wildlife. No point in playing before you know the practicalities of bringing down someone or something bigger than you.” She gave me a long look up and down. “Everyone will be, I think.”

The ground rumbled below our feet as a train pulled away.

“Then you need to just jump in. You’ll lose. You will lose a lot. But it’s the only way to learn and you’ll just have to accept that. You’ve got one chance to make it work and that’s to guess your opponent’s strategy. But all you’ve got is your fists to start so you’ve got no advantage at all. Just pick on the lowest level person you can find and maybe you’ll get lucky. After a while, you’ll start to recognise strategies and be able to second-guess your victims. You’ll start going up in rank and once you get rank 4, you’ll start to see results.”

She smiled at me like an adder smiles at a field mouse. I think it was meant to be encouraging.

“Rank 4,” I repeated, to show that I’d been paying attention.

“You’ll learn to hunt. That’s important. Choose your victims carefully – in fact, if you can, spy on them and try to see if you can catch them when they are not paying attention.” She waved a steam-driven iPhone at me. “Twitter’s good for that, just watch for them to go quiet. Hunt increases your attack and Stealth increases your defence, those skills will make all the difference in the world to you.”

My head began to pound. I was only understanding half of what she said and she didn’t look like the patient type.

“Look, you start out with nothing, so you don’t care about losing. It’s not like you stay dead. So go out there and attack. If you win, your score goes up. If you lose, well, you can’t get much lower. And if you get lucky, you’ll guess strategies and get a bonus. That’s all it is to start, luck and your dangerous skill. Once you learn to hunt, well, you can gain quite a large bonus just by being patient and choosing your victims carefully. Being watchful will help you there. And if you are shadowy and can learn how to use stealth, well! Then it’s simply a minor gamble that they won’t notice you for an hour or so. Hunt and Stealth will net you some very high bonuses in attack and defence, making it almost impossible for your victim to defend against you.” She laughed happily at the thought.

My nervous smile was beginning to hurt. “Be watchful for hunting and shadowy for stealth, got it.”

She pulled on a pair of gloves and stepped up close to me. “And always remember that style and distinction counts,” she whispered into my ear and I saw the blur of her hand moving towards my chest. I closed my eyes, ready for the knife to the heart. By the time I dared open them again, I was alone.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Echo Bazaar is basically a choose-your-own-adventure narrative story that you can play on your web browser. You start in Newgate Prison, with a single focus: get out. There is a deck of six cards but you can only look at one. Deal a card and decide what to do: play or discard?

Most cards offer you a choice: it will outline an action or two with your likelihood of success based on your skills. You can choose one which will use up an action or dismiss the card and then discard it and pull another one. Your cards refresh every seven minutes so once you’ve gone through the initial six, you may find that you have to wait a few minutes for more.

Red-bordered cards have a specific effect and use up an action simply by viewing them. Generally, however, you do not use an action by viewing a card. Either way, you’ll need to use up cards and actions to find a way to get out of Newgate Prison.

As you make choices, you’ll see storylets appear. These are specific to your qualities and connections, so they will change as you progress. In this particular case, you’ll begin to see options for escape based on the choices you’ve made with your Opportunity cards. You’ll need a combination of cards and storylets to make it into Fallen London.

The game is constantly changing with tweaks and new content being added every day. As a result, it’s hard to provide a walk-through of the initial experience … and impossible to detail later gameplay as it is completely dependent on the choices you make. However, you can keep track of the primary updates by keeping an eye on the Change Notes.

However, there are some constants. Part of the fun of the game is to increase your skills and open up new storylets. Each area of Fallen London focuses on a different quality: Ladybones Road for Watchful, Veilgarden for Persuasive, Spite for Shadowy and Watchmaker’s Hill for Dangerous. Each area has multiple storylets so it’s worth moving around frequently to see all the trouble you can get into.

You’ll want to save up for lodgings – staying in a spare bedroom allows you to hold and view two opportunity cards at a time. Rent a room or find other lodgings to increase your hand and your Knife and Candle bonus (more on this next week).

More importantly, you have special Storylets when you are in your lodgings, which allow you to invite your friends to events. These cost an action and will send a message to friends who are already playing Echo Bazaar (via a Twitter direct message).

If they accept the invitation, both you and your friend will receive … something. An item or an effect or the lessening of an effect. It depends.
Many of these events award a retry card which you can use in future gameplay. These cards are played automatically if you fail at a challenge using the appropriate quality, you are allowed to try once more without using up a second action. These are available for each of the qualities once you receive once you’ve received 5 skill and are quite useful for chancy opportunities.

Other interactive events are less predictable. Some social affairs reduce Menaces such as Scandal; however you may find that listening to the Nightmares of a friend increase your own. A candle-light dinner will gain you Admired points based on your companion: the more Admired he is, the greater your increase will be. Offering a quick alibi for that night will decrease your friend’s Suspicion level, without causing any detriment to yourself.

An invitation to a friend costs an action, whether your guest accepts for not. He or she will need use an action in order to accept the invitation, a rejection, however, costs nothing.

It is also in your lodgings that you will hear of routes to other locations in Fallen London. Most of these will be quite expensive to discover, however, and are not recommended for beginners.

The official currency of Fallen London is Echoes and Pennies (100 Pennies in an Echo) but there are also many opportunities for bartering, so it is worth saving up those Whispered Secrets and Rats-on-a-String just in case.

Some items can be used: you can drink Laudanum in order to reduce your Nightmares, for example, if you aren’t bothered by the physical effects. When looking at your inventory in the “Me” tab, you’ll find usable items have a yellow border. Click on the item in order to see how it is used (you won’t use up the item nor the action until you confirm).

But which of the myriad of objects are worth saving? Another question that has no simple answer. The value of the items that you gain on your mission are listed in the Bazaar but it will always cost you more to purchase the items than you gain from selling them. As inventory space is high, it can be sensible to keep everything until you find something particularly that you need. I kept all items that I found until I found lodgings for 400 Whispered Secrets at which point I sold off the rest of my items to purchase the remaining secrets I needed. But then, a friend sold her things immediately in order to purchase a dress and scarlet stockings with the resulting Echoes and who’s to say she’s wrong?

Above all, Echo Bazaar is a game for exploration. There’s no need to know every detail and no rulebook you have to flick through. If you make the wrong decision, then at worst, you’ve wasted actions and you’ll always get more of those.

You have a maximum of 10 actions at any given moment, and a used action replenishes every 7 minutes. You have a total of 70 actions per day, which reset in 24-hour cycles based on your initial turns each day.

So once you start to use your 10 actions, you’ll have to wait at least 70 minutes to get another 10. If you use your actions as soon as they become available, you will run out in just over 8 hours.

BUT there are options for more. Once every 24 hours, you can get 10 free actions simply by twittering an official snippet from the game. This resets your current actions to 10 so make sure you are at 0 before you use this. It also increases your actions for the day by 10, so these are on top of your daily allotment.

You can also buy actions with Fate. This works similarly: spending 10 fate will refill your actions available to 10 and you will receive those options on top of your daily allotment. However, you can replenish your actions with Fate as often as you wish – well as often as you can afford.

You are awarded Fate for completing many of the longer storylets (with bronze shading), the occasional rare Opportunity card or you can purchase Fate online using a variety of methods including credit cards and PayPal. At the time of writing, Fate is available at a rate of 40 Fate for $10.00. You need 10 Fate to refill your actions or you can top up your Opportunities deck of 6 cards for 3 Fate.

Fate is also used to reset your ambition, however that’s a post for another day…

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.