Oh. Ooooooh…
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Awwww 
I always find Tally Ho and Jolly Good characters to be really interesting. It’s quite obvious how Gower puts so much attention to detail to everyone of them. And, I guess since we only knew tiny details about them sprinkled into the text, it makes the characters feel like puzzles for the player to figure out. Like, I legitimately believe that these characters are flexible no matter what setting they’re on. Plus, I have a soft spot for characters not being the way they look so that might add to my interest.
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Wow, you just… articulated the exact reason why I love Fitzie so much. Like I was never really able to put to words why I’m so drawn to them, especially because employer-employee relationships aren’t really compelling to me, and you just read my mind like a picture book.
I legitimately have this bookmarked, it’s so good.
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Ooh, tell me why my brain immediately went to whodunnit murder mystery in a remote winter cabin, even though I know this is not that type of series.
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One tricky thing is setting up choices that work like this:
A social situation in which you have the opportunity to spend time with a) Gilberto, b) Vyv, c) Lady Blanche, d) Chef Heinrich, e) a group of assorted villagers. You get to pick one, and one only, because you have the one socializing slot before time moves on and other stuff happens.
Part of the challenge is creating a situation in which it is appealing to hang out with characters who are not the love interests/friends, because of the fear that 1. You will lose points with your love interest or friend (especially for love interests) and 2. That you will miss a crucial opportunity to advance the love plot (or close friend plot).
So part of the task of the writer is to make sure the reader knows that there are multiple opportunities to spend time and deepen relationships, and to make the reader realize that all of those options can be appealing.–that if you spend time with Lady Blanche, you may like her a whole lot, or you may discover that she has a way to help you advance your agenda, or whatever.
Because without a lot of work, a reader will feel compelled to follow their love interest through every choice, when a really interesting relationship can be created by you two splitting up to divide and conquer problems. In short, I’m hoping to make sure the reader figures out that choosing to talk to the villagers does not make Gilberto or Vyv like you less–and in fact, can open up new and unexpected possibilities within the relationship.
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I don’t envy you this task you’ve set yourself, because trying to convince me to click on some other option than “spend time with [love interest]” would be… well, not impossible, but… good luck. 
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Yeah, I have a tendency to just hone in on one character and want to only spend time with them because of the aforementioned reasons. But, now that I know you’re doing this, I can say that when the game comes out I’ll make more of an effort to diversify my social interactions.
Maybe you can also put something that would indicate as such, a little bit like how Fitzie tells the Jolly Good Person/player to not stress out and to just enjoy the evening because everything will work out on its own prior to the opera/newspaper/boxing and dining competition segment
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Aw, yes, I loved that bit! Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and relax all the tension accumulated 
Good reminder that we read to have fun, not to be stressed.
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Yeah, I think one of the things I’m still working on as a player is to not get caught up on having the “perfect run,” and to have fun knowing that you won’t be able to do everything you want. I know for me, that comes from a place of not wanting to disappoint Pilcrow, for instance, on finding the spy or Tabby with the newspaper article.
So I know that bit from Fitzie was very helpful for me. You won’t always get what you want, but life moves on and things have a way of working out in the end
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Apart from maybe some of my few first runs/playthroughs, I don’t think I ever felt compelled to follow my character’s love interest through every choice. I very often chose those who immediately lead to romantic moments with that particular MC’s RO in the big chapter, like helping Vyv at the art exhibion and/or posing for them and helping Tabby work on the article. But apart from that, particularly when it came to the Noble Gases “miniquests”, I fcoused at least as much on where the abilities of my particular MC could be of the most help, whether for the Noble Gases as a whole, or the particular person I was trying to help.
For me, it was a combination of, whether because of the glory of achievment or caring enough about someone(even if only in a friendly way) or something to want to help, wanting to help and feeling my character had the right abilities to do so, that made me decide who my character was to spend time with at those points. Of course then you had kind of “themes” for those “quests” too, so that it for instance would be more tempting in some ways for someone with a high culture to help Gilberto with his love poem and for someone with a high bold to try to make the Rowdy Roustabouts quieten down.
For me, I think, finding similar ways to make those encounters with non-Ros and non-friends tempting would be key. It could be things like them giving my characters “quests” that suits their particular blend of abilities, while also enabling them to help someone or something that they care about or just helping them achieve glory. In a similar way, if you signalled that those encounters could be of great help in making my MCs achieve something that is important to them or avoid small or huge disasters, like the three big events of the big chapter in Jolly Good-Cakes and ale, this would certtainly catch my attention and make it more likely that I will choose particular options for my characters. And for me, anyway, as a reader and player, curiosity is always a big motivation. If you signal that meeting with a particular person could lead to my character knowing a big secret or an important piece of information, you would certainly have my interest. It could even be a secret or other particular pieces of new information about a particular RO, that way I think you could draw in both me and other people who are or want to be in a romance with that particular RO.
But for me, anyway, it will be easier to choose a particular encounters for the reasons I’ve stated above when you’ve already hinted or in other ways signalled that the encounter can lead to those things. If I know only the barest minimum of the new persons in question, my characters will also have less of a reason to choose intereacting with them over ROs or maybe even just regular friends from Jolly Good-Cakes and ale.
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True, that’s one way to tempt someone like me - imply that giving up RO interaction now will result in some new interaction in the future. This does happen with at least one RO over in Lux, though since the game doesn’t telegraph the trade-off, I had no clue about the second interaction for a long time. Now it’s a favorite of mine and I actually created a second character just to go down that different path (alt-itis is seriously a problem in that series…).
I hate letting down my imaginary friends. Fortunately I think there was always time during that event to do everything I really wanted my characters to do.
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A way you can solve this is I think to make compelling/well-written NPCs/quests. I think most people are willing to leave the comforts of RO choices if there’s other things to entice them 
Another way is to have the ROs and NPCs be in one branch but there would be some sub branches within that branch. Like, A choice has Fitzie, MC and A going to the florist. In that occasion maybe A had lost something important and is rushing to get it back while Fitzie tells the MC to hurry up because the florist is closing soon and they need a bouquet of marquess M’s favorite flowers because the bohemian’s idea of a gift is a badly painted portrait of their dog. Here, you can give MC a choice to help A or go with Fitzie. This can help lure players into a new quest while simultaneously staying in a “ RO branch”
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I do wonder what a Jolly Good/Wayhaven crossover would look like…
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F would love it and bff Fitzie in five seconds flat, N would be amused, A would lock themselves in a room and never come out, and M would murder someone hour one.
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I’m not sure I want to know what M’s favorite flowers would be (venus fly traps? stinkweed?). And I’m not sure a florist shop would survive a visit from Mr/s. “I smash things because I care”. Better to keep the Wayhaven folks away, our Jolly Good MCs cause enough chaos on their own!
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Definitely not stinkweed, not with their enhanced senses. M’s favourite flower’s probably has as little scent as possible or, alternatively, “the one that’s farther away from me”.
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Hmm…. I’m wondering that too. Why would the wayhaven crew even be in England at that time? Is there a threat? A detected anomaly? Is the agency going to confiscate the lovecraftian creature living underneath the London bridge? Why is M pretending to be a marquess? What did A lost? Why did A join the MC and Fitzie? Why did A tolerate MC? Is there a threat? Are they discussing new agency laws to Juniper? Did Pilcrow broke the agency laws? Are they here because Ernie broke his contract? Did the Cadbury club have an issue they can’t solve and asked them for help?
Would F even be there at that point? Because I’m not sure how long they’ve been on earth but I know they are 50+ Rebecca’s age. But I’m certain A, N and M are there. I wonder if A’s social skills are still intact at that point……
Sooo grass?
But why would they NEED to go to the florist? Is Marquess M’s presumed lover isn’t actually in love with them but is instead trying to kill them to further their agenda/stop their meddling in London?
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The really important thing here is to establish the title of such a crossover. Jolly Good: Vermouth and Vampires?
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Jolly Wayhaven: Biscuits for Bravo
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I think the perfect title here should be Jolly Good Wayhaven : Viscounts and The Occult, teatime with Vampires.
Although it is a mouthful to say.
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