Fallen London Game 1 - Meeting the Boatman
We just had our very first game of the new Fallen London RPG. This wasn't my first time to tackle the setting, but I felt more prepared this time. However, I was not prepared for the bad luck that plagued the heroes today.
We had people fall off of banisters, get clobbered by sandbags, and sometimes they were just oblivious. This was not the fault of the players, people were making good decisions. Rather it was the dice, they were not friendly. I saw a few rolls that came up all negative, and it became exhausting to think of another misfortune to give out. The whole game was pretty tiring from all the misfortune. And, I decided to all it over early.
But, despite the setbacks the players were feeling good with their characters. Everybody thought there was much more to look into and to explore. I even ended on a cliffhanger and prompted them to think about what they should do next.
As for the successes of the heroes. The intrepid adventures dug through mountains of trash to find an old man who had refused to come out of his house due to his blindness. I based this encounter on the real life Collyer Brothers, which you can learn about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers.
The heroes entered his home, believing they were to carry away garbage. They did find many oddities, like stacks of newspapers from the future, a horseless carriage, and $10,000 in bank notes. Exploring the house ended with a dramatic meeting, Mr. Collyer refusing to cooperate and chasing them all off with a fire poker.
Our heroes were not able to find any cure for the blindness, nor were they able to encourage him to seek aid from elsewhere. Mr Collyer of Fallen London will remain a recluse, afraid an alone. His secrets were not and will not be revealed. But I think we succeeded in establishing the setting of Fallen London. It is a place where the bizarre meets you on every corner, but most people don't pay it any mind.
Adventure 1 — Adventure 2 — Adventure 3 — Adventure 4 — Adventure 5 — Adventure 6 — Adventure 7 —Adventure 8 — Adventure 9 — Epilogue