First Steps in Detail

Create a character

• Choose your gender.
• Choose a silhouette for your cameo (avatar).
• Leave checked or uncheck the box to decide whether you will tweet the first tweet. Tweet this message (once only): "I've gone to Fallen London! http://www.failbettergames.com/echobazaar #echobazaar"
• You can now see the main screen of the game. There are many things on the screen, but first familiarize yourself with the tabbed display in the center.

Tab	Purpose
Home	This tab gives you important game messages, a space to check on how your friends are doing and the status and results of any Social Actions you have engaged in. You can also select your messaging settings here, which will control when the game sends you messages about actions that happen to you.
Me	This tab includes your cameo, your inventory and and and all of your minor Qualities and all of the other details of your character. You will need to use this tab to use or equip inventory items and you'll want to check on the status of your qualities, like [[menace|menaces]], frequently.
Story	This is where the action happens in the game. You will see and select Opportunity Cards here or select available storylets.
Bazaar	The Bazaar is where you can buy and sell inventory items. There are many different items you can purchase here and you may be able to sell things you come across during the game.
Fate	Certain options * Fate: this is where you purchase credits to transfer into in-game advantages as part of the freemium model.
Mysteries	The Mysteries page is where you can provide your theories to many of the… er, mysterious goings-on in the Neath.
Help	Failbetter Games has a long FAQ here and instructions on how to contact them if there is a problem with the game. The FAQ is well worth reading.

• Other areas of the screen include… need more text here

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Welcome to New Newgate Prison

When you begin the game, you find yourself a prisoner in a cell in New Newgate Prison: a miserable dripstone cell with a barred window and a straw mattress but with and a magnificent view of the lights of the Bazaar reflected in the dark waters of the Unterzee below.

This initial area is rather inauspicious but allows you to familiarize yourself with gameplay and you will eventually find a way to escape.

Familarize yourself with the Opportunity Cards

• Select the deck of cards to flip over a card. Hover over the card and you will see a summary of what it offers. Your first card will be Imprisoned! Trapped in a dripstone cell, you plot your escape.
• Select the card. More text will appear that describes the opportunity. And you will see a small red box marked GO.
• Select GO: Something will happen: Find your way out and seek your fortune in Fallen London.
• [You've played an Opportunity Card. Click the deck again to draw another, and play that one to begin your escape.]
• Notice: A twist in your tale! You are no longer a Stranger. Now, if you click on the Me tab and scroll down, you will see that you acquired this Quality.
• Follow the instructions from the last card. Go ahead: click the deck. Oh look, it's Formulate an Escape Plan! Perhaps there's a way out… Click the upturned card to activate it.
• Playing this Opportunity Card means that [You've unlocked Storylets! Use them to begin your escape. When your Preparing for a Daring Escape quality reaches 2, you'll be ready to escape.]

Familiarize yourself with Storylets

• After playing that last card, you will see 4 storylets, those orange bars. Choose which skill you would like to start off with as you try to get out of prison. In order to leave prison you have to get your "Preparing for a Daring Escape" quality up to 3. You can check on your progress in the Me page. You can also continue to play Opportunity Cards and see what you get from them.
• This is a storylet. Storylets aren't used up like Opportunities - they're always available as long as you have the right Qualities and are in the right location.
• When you play the storylets, often you will have a choice of method. Some methods are riskier than others. Failure sometimes has consequences, but taking bigger risks often reaps bigger rewards. This is true throughout the game.

Get out of Jail

• When your Preparing for a Daring Escape Quality reaches 3, the four Quality-based storylets will disappear and you will be presented with only one: Escape from New Newgate Prison!
• You can choose to leave prison or stay and play more Opportunity Cards.
• Choose the neighborhood you'd like to explore first. Each area presents narrative challenges in a particular Quality. Choose the area you think you'd like to live in most.

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Out on the Town

Once you've completed your daring escape, you're now in Fallen London proper. New Opportunity Cards and storylets appear now and you can now make your way.

• Regardless of where you choose to begin, you now have two new twists in your tale: a New Arrival and Homeless!
• A few more special Opportunity Cards appear giving you some additional first hints. Once you have played those, you are on your own. (And no longer a New Arrival.)
• One of your first goal should be to save enough commodities to find Lodgings. A couple of very simple choices will be available to you right awaybut you may not be able to afford them yetand more will come over time.
• Keep playing Opportunity Cards and storylets and use the Travel button on the Story tab to move around the city.
• Enjoy!

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