FALLEN LONDON
Fallen London is an immersive, text-based adventure RPG that is free to play (with the ability to spend money on optional content) and runs in a web browser. It has been live for over fifteen years, with at least one new piece of content being released every month. It currently comprises over 4.5 million handcrafted words of deep, dark and marvellous stories.
Set in an alternate and eternal 1899, the game takes place in The Neath: a vast subterranean cavern where death is merely an inconvenience and into which London was mysteriously transported by a huge swarm of bats decades ago.
Players experience a dark and hilarious Victorian-Gothic underworld, where every choice has a consequence, from the style of their hat to the price of their soul.
Players creep, coerce, brawl and swindle their way through the gaslit streets of Fallen London. Some go mudlarking off Ladybones Road, eavesdrop in the ragged old market of Spite or arm-wrestle in Watchmaker’s Hill. Others collect whispered secrets and trade magnificent jewels to further their cause, whilst picking their way through the rats and filth of the fallen city (or embracing the putrid glory of it all).
Senior Writer
As a member of Failbetter’s in-house writing team, my job was far more varied than the title of ‘Senior Writer’ implies. During my time at Failbetter, my duties included the following:
- Pitching story arcs to other writers, and taking part in high-level planning for the next several months of work.
- Writing stories of varying length, complexity, and tone, with a wider range of subject matter than video games usually explore.
- Designing quality-based narrative structures that support story and theme while also giving rise to enjoyable gameplay.
- Updating and extending existing content.
- Offering feedback on work by other writers (both internal and external).
- Acting as editor/QA for other writers’ work.
- Providing short pieces of marketing copy to explain released or upcoming stories to players.
- Drafting briefs for artists to help them illustrate upcoming content.
- Providing support for players who encountered issues during play. In addition to fixing mechanical bugs with the game, this could involve querying the game’s databases, editing typographical errors in content, resolving payment problems, and more.
Failbetter don’t credit in-house writers for most stories (see “Story Author Credits” below for more details), and although I am listed in the game’s credits, the credit page itself doesn’t give any role or job title details about the people listed there. Nevertheless, here’s a screenshot of my name in the credits, in case it’s useful.
Story Author Credits
The following is a list of stories I wrote during my time at Failbetter Games. Please note that this is not a list of everything I wrote for Fallen London. I’m unable to provide a comprehensive list of that sort, for two reasons.
First, due to lead times and Fallen London’s content release schedule, not all of my stories have been released at the current time and I don’t have permission to talk about anything that is still waiting to be released.
Secondly, while new content is released every month, the game contains several different types of content. Standalone stories are one type (and they’re what I’ve listed below), but there are also regular Festivals and other seasonal activities which add to existing content; as well as a multi-part story arc which is released over a longer period – often years – and which require player characters to meet certain progression prerequisites before playing. This ‘connected’ content doesn’t receive individual credits in the way standalone stories do as all in-house writers will likely contribute to it to some degree over its creation, and also because it is so closely reliant on existing content, which might be fifteen years old and was almost certainly originally written by other people entirely.
The Case of the Missing Moll
Release Date: June 10 2025
The Candlefinder Society – the five greatest detectives in London – regularly meet to talk shop. Sometimes, you join forces to unravel the city’s most unusual mysteries.
Join the Banded Sleuth on a search for the Spall-Skinned Romantic’s lost love: Molly, a performer at an old music-hall. The trail is cold; the evidence scant; the witnesses decidedly unhelpful. What intrigues move beneath the surface? Could this really be as simple as a single missing woman?
The Case of the Wayward Will
Release Date: August 27 2025
The Candlefinder Society – the five greatest detectives in London – regularly meet to talk shop. Sometimes, you join forces to unravel the city’s most unusual mysteries.
In the Case of the Wayward Will, join the Honey-Addled Detective in untangling an enigma of inheritance. The Sentimental Niece was promised an invaluable necklace in her Uncle Gussie’s will – but both will and necklace are missing, and the family of Earl Grassepen boils over with scandals and secrets.
The Case of the Stolen Sceptre
Release Date: August 18 2026
The Candlefinder Society – the five greatest detectives in London – regularly meet to talk shop. Sometimes, you join forces to unravel the city’s most unusual mysteries.
The Urchin Detective has – at long last – found herself a willing pet. The Unkempt Collie is small, hyperactive, and riddled with fleas; the perfect companion for the diminutive sleuth. Provided, of course, that you can prove his innocence and clear his name of the charges levelled against him by one of the city’s haughtiest cats.
Other Story Credits
The following is a list of standalone stories which I worked on in a major capacity, but which I did not personally write. Most standalone stories for Fallen London are written by freelance writers, with Failbetter’s in-house team handling editing and QA (which, when it comes to a text-based game entirely devoted to telling stories, is more akin to narrative design and implementation than bug-finding) duties.
A Life Of Clay
The Clay Coalman needs someone to house-sit his apartment in the Clay Quarters. But life on Chalcedony Square is regulated by its tyrannical clock; its inhabitants imprisoned in lonely routine. An unexpected visitor might be just what’s needed to turn strangers into a community.
Release Date
July 31 2025
Role on story
Editor and QA
Father’s Oils
The Wretched Limner promised he would paint a most singular portrait of you, using the unique set of paints he inherited from his father, and if anything, he over delivers. When he’s finished, your likeness is so lifelike that it refuses to accept imprisonment inside a single frame! You’ll get the blame for any chaos the horrid thing causes to London’s art scene, so you’d better catch it before your reputation becomes as wretched as the Limner himself.
Release Date
November 27 2025
Role on story
QA
Eins’, Fleins’, & Kleins’ Wondrous Circus of Whimsy and Worth!
The circus has come to London’s shores! And none of Mrs Plenty’s common-and-garden sideshows, either; the mere music is enough to buoy you upon a tide of joy. The Downtrodden Dreamer, too, is caught up in the crowd – a little rat searching for a big break. Will the circus offer the fame and recognition she seeks? Is the circus all it’s cracked up to be? And why does the ringmaster look like that?
Release Date
January 29 2026
Role on story
QA
Every Good Boy Deserves Fun
The Shuttered Palace is alive for the first time since the Confusion. In a scant handful of days, Mother will return from Balmoral to listen to you play! Your Performance must be perfect, as must your Manners and Deportment. As Her Majesty’s youngest son, it is incumbent upon you to do your duty – and to ignore that pesky voice in the back of your head that remembers being someone else.
Release Date
February 26 2026
Role on story
Editor and QA
The Stalking House
You are being followed. That by itself is bad enough, but your unwelcome tail is nothing other than a townhouse. A townhouse! It pursues you across the city, and resists your efforts to find its front door. Thankfully, the Punitive Architect, representative of the Institute of Tractable Buildings, is on hand to help. Are her methods sound? Is this a good idea? And frankly, why you?
Release Date
April 30 2026
Role on story
QA
The Goblin Poet
A red obsession. A fevered dream. A spate of artists, missing. The Goblin Poet’s brother – one Rugged Paintslinger – is the latest of these bohemians to disappear, each concerned with the same scarlet subject. Follow the art. Enter their dreams. Explore a chequered court, and confront the source of this bloodied inspiration.
Release Date
June 25 2026
Role on story
QA
Tired of London
A missing person, an absconded tomb-colonist, a high-speed beach cruise and a daring attempt to escape the confines of the everyday. How far would you go to flee a suffocating life? What would you leave behind? And what is the price of a complete transformation? Begin a voyage of discovery in the pleasure beaches of the tomb-colonies. Once begun, there may be no turning back.
Release Date
July 30 2026
Role on story
QA