Election (historical)
The Election Festival has been retired from the game |
Failbetter announced in May 2021 that they would be retiring the election event permanently starting that year, and stated it would be replaced with something new |
This is how the Election for the Mayor of London has developed over the years. If you have anything to fill in, please do =)
The Election of 1894 (2016)[edit]
This was the first year in which an Election for Mayor was held.
It was announced in mid-June with some nifty poster art, and was held in the two weeks from July 4th to the 18th.
The event hub was An Election! London Must Decide! (1894).
Players could choose one of three candidates:
...and one of three election careers:
The election event also included several new items/companions which could be purchased with Fate, though every player could select one such gift for free. Some gifts were available to all, and some only based on the player's choice of either candidate or election career:
- (Bishop of Southwark supporters only)
- (Sinning Jenny supporters only)
- (Jovial Contrarian supporters only)
- (Agitators only)
- (Fixers only)
- (Campaigners only)
- FATE
- FATE
- FATE
- FATE
Players could use various activities throughout London as well as Election specific opportunity cards to gain different election resources:
- (useful for Campaigners and Fixers)
- (useful for Campaigners and Agitators)
- (useful for Fixers and Agitators)
Based on your chosen election career, you could use different combinations of these resources to advance your career level (capped at 20). At the end of the Election, your election career level + your would be added to the tally towards your chosen candidate. In addition, election resourced could have been spent to indulge in Electoral Opportunism.
Election resources and information about the candidates could be gathered in several ways:
- Learn more about the Candidates
- Perform a Flash Lay - learn campaign secrets
- Investigate a Campaign
- Attend Polite Parties
- Publish Newspapers
- Trade for campaign resources
- Write short stories (which in the second week got split into separate options for compelling, thrilling and exceptional stories)
- Receive a gift from a friend
- Talking directly to the candidates by means of opportunity cards
All three campaign cards had the same structure:
- An option to get some common resources
- An option to trade common resources for election resources
- An option to declare support for the candidate
One week into the election, FBG have announced on Twitter that Jenny is in the lead. The resulting text of election investigations and Flash Lays also changed to reveal new hidden information on each of the candidates' campaigns.
At the end of the election, Sinning Jenny was announced as the winner and the new Mayor of London for one year.
The Election of 1895 (2017)[edit]
The election was held from June 26th until July 10th.
The new candidates were:
The Election started with An Invitation to a Ball held by the retiring Mayor, Jenny, in which you could interact with last year's candidates and be introduced to the new runners.
The event hub was The Mayoral Election 1895. As before, you could also Learn more about the Candidates and indulge in Electoral Opportunism. The election campaign cards were:
- Feducci's Campaign
- The Dauntless Temperance Campaigner's Campaign
- The Implacable Detective's Campaign
Players again could choose a free gift (and buy more with Fate). Old items tied to last year's candidates were no longer available. The rest were still available, in addition to new items:
- (Feducci supporters only)
- (Dauntless Temperance Campaigner supporters only)
- (Implacable Detective supporters only)
- FATE
This year has added a new social aspect to the election: The total "points" you contribute to your chosen candidate is composed of not just on your Notability and Election career level, but also from your level, which you could raise via Social Actions relevant to your profession:
- Campaigners could solicit donations from other supporters of their candidate.
- Agitators could raise mobs to attack Agitators of the other candidates.
- Fixers could help reduce Scandal/Suspicion of other supporters of their candidate.
These career-specific activities could raise up to level 10.
In the second week, Agitators could only raise mobs against players with . This quality could only be gained by Persons of Some Importance who completed a Flash Lay or an investigation in the second week. Everyone else was safe.
More significantly, the second week of the election introduced another major mechanic - Debates. You could engage in a debate with supporters of the other candidates, which involved several back-and-forth social actions. At the end, you'd both get some (how many depends on whether you've won, and on what arguments and tactics you've used), which you could use to increase your even further, up to level 15.
After the first week of the election, FBG have announced that Feducci is in the lead, the Detective trails behind him, and the Campaigner's chances "seem slim".
At the end of the election, Feducci was announced as the winner with almost half the votes.
The Election of 1896 (2018)[edit]
The election has started with an announcement on June 18th.
The event hub was The Mayoral Election 1896. As before, you could also Learn more about the Candidates and indulge in Electoral Opportunism.
The candidates were:
- Mr Slowcake ("To Every Soul Its Station")
- The Jovial Contrarian ("Pull Yourselves Together!")
- The Captivating Princess ("Make London Magnificent For Me")
Unlike past elections, this year all 3 candidates were revealed at the same time. Instead of three different election resources, this year there was a single resource - - that was used for progressing your electoral career. The first week of the Election was about increasing one's and learning more about the candidates. In the second week, players could choose which candidate they want to support, as well as continue to increase their .
The options to discover more about the candidate's platforms and gather were more limited this year. You could:
- Learn more about the Candidates
- Perform a Flash Lay to learn campaign secrets
- Further your Reputation
- Receive a gift from a friend
- Talk directly to the candidates by means of opportunity cards
Flash Lays no longer provided new information about the campaigns in the second week.
The role of Election professions was also more limited this year. Social activities were retired and the difference between the professions lay primarily in the factions whose Favours they could trade.
The candidate cards had a more complex structure that in the previous years. In the first week the cards had:
- Two options not costing any and paying 2.5 worth of resources.
- Two options costing giving 2 CP of
- An option costing giving 4 CP of
In the second week an option to declare for the candidate and the following options that required having declared for that candidate:
- An option costing giving 4 CP of
- An option costing giving 8 CP of
- An option costing and 12 FATE
In addition, Mr Slowcake had its own special story.
Once a candidate has been selected, players again could choose a free gift (and buy more with Fate). Old items tied to last year's candidates were available for Fate. The new items were:
- (Mr Slowcake supporters only)
- (Jovial Contrarian supporters only)
- (Captivating Princess supporters only)
- FATE
- FATE
Throughout the event a series of polls could be taken:
- A Pollster Approaches!
- A Pollster Arrives
- A Pollster Hurries Over
- A Pollster Emerges
- A Pollster Staggers Over
Polls affected what you could read in the dailies.
At the end of the election, The Jovial Contrarian was announced as the winner.
The Election of 1897 (2019)[edit]
The election began on 15 July, with a formal announcement which was posted on the official forum.
The event hub was The Mayoral Election 1897. As before, you could also Learn more about the Candidates and indulge in Electoral Opportunism.
The candidates were announced on Twitter the week before:
- Mrs Plenty ("A Moment's Peace!")
- Virginia ("Good for the Soul")
- Madama Shoshana ("A Vision for London")
The structure of the first week was very similar to the previous year. The candidates' cards were:
Minor changes relative to the previous years was that one of Virginia's options only gave a single (as opposed to 2.5 worth of resources like all other similar options this year and the previous year) and that in the first week there were two options costing for each candidate (as opposed to only one, the previous year).
As the year before, the first week of the Election was about increasing by investing certain goods, Favours, publishing short stories or doing Flash Lays. Information about each of the candidates was available from their opportunity card and via Flash Lays.
The new items were:
Also as the year before, a number of polls could be taken. However, there were only 4 polls this year:
- Mr Huffam's Poll!: the First Question
- Mr Huffam's Poll: the Second Question
- Mr Huffam's Poll: The Third Question
- Mr Huffam's Poll: The Fourth Question
A novelty this year was that, in addition to simply answering poll questions, you could influence the pollster to sway the coverage of the election. The specific options varied with your election career. As before, you could Read the dailies for updates following major developments.
FBG did not announce who was in the lead half-way through the election as had happened in the previous years. They did, however, provide updates on who was leading in each of the 4 polls.
At the end of the election, Virginia was announced as the winner.
The Election of 1898 (2020)[edit]
The election began on 13 July, with an announcement on the official forum, and on Failbetter's website.
The event hub was The Mayoral Election 1898. Learn more about the Candidates and Electoral Opportunism also made an return.
The first candidate was announced two weeks before the Election started. The other two were revealed over the following four days giving the community 10 days to murder each other before the elections even started.
- F.F. Gebrandt ("Science serving Society!")
- The Viscountess of the Viric Jungle ("Defending your Dreams!")
- The Tentacled Entrepreneur ("OTHATAROOTH!")
The structure of the first week was very similar to the previous year. The candidates' cards were:
As the year before, the first week of the Election was about increasing by investing certain goods, Favours, publishing short stories or doing Flash Lays. Information about each of the candidates was available from their opportunity card and via Flash Lays.
Additional new content allowed interacting with the Viscountess in the Viric Jungle, and with F. F. Gebrandt at the Bone Market.
Just as the previous year you could answer polls; these however became cards instead of storylets making it possible to miss them. There also were five instead of the more traditional four.
At the end of two weeks of murder, lies, and general dishonesty, the Viscountess was announced as London's newest Lord Mayor. All hail our new feline dream overlords with bellyrubs!
1899 (2021)[edit]
Failbetter Games announced this year that they would be retiring the election event, permanently.