Railway Board (Guide)

Early Railroad Content and Onwards

This guide is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

What needs work: Missing information on July

Brawling with Dockers Summary
Locked Limited-Length Activity
Setup				Progress				End
1 A				4+ A				1 A
Progress Details			Convince each Board Member to your side. This is per issue.
Items Inputs/Outputs Boosting Queen Mate Epaulette Mate Board Member's Favour: The Bishop of Southwark Board Member's Favour: The Bishop of St Fiacre's Credit with the Headmistress Portable Fingerking Moot Outputs Moon-Pearl Magnificent Diamond Consignment of Scintillack Snuff Bottle of Broken Giant 1844 Fourth City Airag Advance!
Raw EPA			8.21			Raw SPA			-

The Board of Directors are a bunch of personalities that can assist you in various ways, but also make development of the Railway difficult for you. Before any major action in the Railway, you need to hold a board meeting and have approval from all current board members.

Gameplay-wise, you will be locked into the board meeting until you either win everyone over or give up. If you have accumulated high Menaces during that meeting, you take the consequences as soon as you step out of the Railway's office. Most importantly, opportunities for board meetings are limited to two a week when you're beginning the railway, and one a week after you've made sufficient progress. Getting stuck because of a stiff Persuasive challenge from a disagreeable board member can be unpleasant.

The following guide is meant to help keep your meetings, and the trains, running as smooth as possible.

Opposition from Board Members

Every decision by the board must be approved by every member. Every board member is looking out for certain interests, and earning their vote is harder when your proposal works against those interests. Board members may also be "persuaded" by different tactics. The table below summarizes the tactics and persuasion techniques for each board member.

Mechanically, earning the vote of most Board members requires a Persuasive check with a base difficulty of 100. This difficulty is increased by the Interest qualities of your proposal, with each board member responding to different Interests. In most cases, the difficulty may also be reduced by raising one of three persuasion qualities. It seems that this Persuasive check can be repeated without penalty.

Most board members have one interest they care deeply about (raising the difficulty by 40), two to five issues they care moderately about (raising difficulty by 20), and one persuasion technique they respond to. Some board members also have interests that will decrease the difficulty.

Board Members Issues

Alternate Table of Factors that Affect Board Members

Member	Base	Weak																		Notes
	100	50	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	40	0	20	0
	100	40	40	0	20	0	20	20	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	20	0	0
	400	50	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	100	∞	0	0	0	0	20	0	20	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	20	40
	100	50	20	0	0	20	40	20	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	20	0	0	0
	100	50	20	0	20	0	0	40	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	0
	100	50	0	20	0	0	20	0	0	0	20	0	0	20	0	0	20	40	0
	100	40	0	40	0	0	-20	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0	20
	100	40	20	20	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	40	0	20
	100	40	0	0	-20	0	20	0	40	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	20	20
	100	40	20	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	40	0	0	20	0	20	0	0	0
	100	40	-20	0	0	40	20	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20
	100		0	0	0	0	0	0	20	20	0	0	40	0	0	0	0	0	20
	100	40	0	0	0	0	0	40	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0	0
	100	40	0	0	10	0	20	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	10	10	10	0
	100	40	0	0	0	20	20	40	-20	0	0	0	40	0	0	0	20	0	0
	100	50	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	20	20	0	20	0	0	0	20	40	0
	100	40	0	0	0	20	20	20	20	0	0	40	0	0	0	0	0	20	0
	200	??	0	0	0	0	-10	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0
	100	40	-20	0	0	0	20	0	0	20	0	0	40	0	0	0	0	20	0
	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	50	0	0	0	0	0
	100	40	0	60	20	0	20	0	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	20	0	0
	100	40	0	20	20	0	-20	60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20
	100	40	20	0	20	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	-20	0	20	20	20	0	0
	100	40	20	20	20	0	0	-20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0	0	20
	100		0	0	40	-20	0	0	0	0	20	20	0	0	0	0	0	20	0

The pages for persuading each Board Member also have a table that shows the difficulty ratings for the challenges.

Influencing the Board

You may wish to choose board members based on how easily you can influence them. To that end, the main methods are Corruption of the Board, Obfuscation of the Board, and Respectability Factor.

• Corruption affects: Virginia, the Bishop of Saint Fiacre's, the Gracious Widow, the Hell-Scarred Gondolier, the Drummer, the Wry Functionary.
• Obfuscation affects: the Efficient Commissioner, the Bishop of Southwark, Furnace Ancona, the Tentacled Entrepreneur, the Wandering Gondolier, July, September.
• Respectability affects: His Amused Lordship, Feducci, the Dean of Xenotheology, the Viscountess of the Viric Jungle, January, Cornelius, the Delightful Reverend, the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner.
• The Remaining potential board members are: Jovial Contrarian, Sinning Jenny, April, Rubbery Yes-Man, the Implacable Detective.

Action	Result	Constraints
Corruption of the Board
Hint at one or two things you know	+6	If you are a Midnighter and don't already have any Corruption.
Support Virginia's motion regarding a route to Moulin	+3	One-off benefit only on the route from Burrow-Infra-Mump to Moulin, and only if you support Virginia's proposal.
Treat your fellow board members to a sumptuous repast	+3	Repeatable. Costs 1 x Pot of Venison Marrow, 1 x Bottle of Broken Giant 1844, 1 x Solacefruit. Cannot be chosen if the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner is a member of the board.
Obfuscation of the Board
Begin the meeting with a few words	+6	If you are a Crooked-Cross and don't already have any Obfuscation.
Support July's motion regarding a route to Moulin	+3	One-off benefit only on the route from Burrow-Infra-Mump to Moulin, and only if you support July's proposal.
Confuse truth and fiction	+4	Repeatable. Mithridacy 2 test (100% at Mithridacy 7+). Test difficulty is increased by current Obfuscation/2. +3 CP Scandal on failure.
Respectability Factor
Support His Amused Lordship's motion regarding a route to Moulin	+3	One-off benefit only on the route from Burrow-Infra-Mump to Moulin, and only if you support His Amused Lordship's proposal.
Rely on your personal respectability and authority	+3	Repeatable. A Player of Chess 2 test. Test difficulty is increased by current Respectability x2, and reduced by Respectable/3. +3 CP Scandal on failure.

All influencing factors are reset once a vote has concluded.

Board Proposals

Expanding the Railroad

Collapsed by default to avoid spoilers.

Balmoral

Issue	Interests (difficulty modifier)	Effects	Notes
Plan the next route straight up the side of a mountain		Realize you need Hellworms.	No vote needed.
Plan to hire Hellworms and drill through rock that way	Board against Own Financial Interests (5) Board against the Church (7)	In Corporate Debt +15 CP Allows the construction of track to Balmoral
Suggest a detour through Parabola	Board against the Bazaar (10) Board for the Fingerkings (10) With Discovered: the Need for Hellworms Board Against Infernal Interests (5)	In Corporate Debt +10 CP Allows the construction of track to Balmoral Grants Train Access for Warfare	Requires Access to a Parabolan Base-Camp
Propose a plan for the next Station building and for the train engines to go there		Approved Station Plans	Requires Tracks laid to next station Track Laid

Burrow-Infra-Mump

Issue	Interests (difficulty modifier)	Effects	Notes
Plan the next route through Wasteland		In Corporate Debt +5 CP Allows the construction of track to Burrow-Infra-Mump
Vote a new set of concessions to the Union	Board against Own Financial Interests (8) Board against the Bazaar (8) Board against the Status Quo (8)	In Corporate Debt +5 CP Removes Burrow-Infra-Mump work stoppage.	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Furnace Ancona or Furnace Ancona, Unopposed
Vote on Cornelius' plan to build a Tracklaying Beast	Board against Own Financial Interests (8) Board against the Status Quo (8) Cornelius will vote with you.	In Corporate Debt +5 CP -1 x Mammoth Ribcage Removes Burrow-Infra-Mump work stoppage.	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Cornelius Costs 1 x Mammoth Ribcage
Vote on new illumination for the stations	Board against the Liberation of Night (12) Board against Own Financial Interests (6)	In Corporate Debt +5 CP Ealing Gardens: Darkness -4 CP Jericho Locks: Darkness -4 CP Magistracy of the Evenlode: Darkness -4 CP Balmoral: Darkness -4 CP Station VIII: Darkness -4 CP Advancing the Liberation of Night: -20 CP Removes Burrow-Infra-Mump work stoppage.	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers A Lackey of Mr Fires
Vote a package of measures intended to get work to resume	Board against Labour (10) Board against Own Financial Interests (4)	In Corporate Debt + CP Tracklayers' Displeasure + 5CP Removes Burrow-Infra-Mump work stoppage.	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers A Lackey of Yours, Formerly Aligned with Mr Fires or January
Propose a plan for the next Station building and for the train engines to go there		Approved Station Plans	Requires Tracks laid to next station Track Laid

The Hurlers

Issue	Interests (difficulty modifier)	Effects	Notes
Plan for an icy route to the Hurlers		Allows the construction of track to The Hurlers	Requires The Efficient Commissioner's Tale 1000

Marigold Station

Issue	Interests (difficulty modifier)	Effects	Notes
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city near Ealing Gardens	Board Against Rubbery Interests (10)	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Earling Gardens	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Leader of the Tracklayers A Lackey of Mr Fires A Lackey of Yours, Formerly Aligned with Mr Fires
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city near the Magistracy of the Evenlode	Board against Criminals (7) Cornelius will vote with you.	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Magistracy of the Evenlode	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Leader of the Tracklayers Cornelius
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city near Balmoral	Board against the Shuttered Palace (10) Board against the Constables (7) Furnace Ancona will vote with you.	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Balmoral	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Leader of the Tracklayers Furnace Ancona Furnace Ancona, Unopposed
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city near Station VIII	Board against Labour (10) Board against Revolutionary Interests (10) Board against the Liberation of Night (10)	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Station VIII	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Leader of the Tracklayers A Lackey of Mr Fires A Lackey of Yours, Formerly Aligned with Mr Fires
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city near Burrow-infra-Mump	Board Against Infernal Interests (7) The Drummer will vote with you. The Delightful Reverend will vote with you.	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Burrow	Requires Board Member: The Drummer or Board Member: The Delightful Reverend
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city between Moulin and Hurlers	Board against the Status Quo (10) January will vote with you. April will vote with you.	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Cold of Hurlers	Requires Leader of the Tracklayers Leader of the Tracklayers January
Plan your last route, and set aside land for a tracklayers' city at the outskirts of Hell	Board against the Church (10) Board Member: Virginia will vote with you.	Allows the construction of track to Marigold Station Hinterland City - Marigold	Requires Board Member: Virginia
Propose a plan for the next Station building and for the train engines to go there		Approved Station Plans	Requires Tracks laid to next station Track Laid

Statues of Specific Board Members

A player-created Guide is available for this content: Statues at the GHR Stations (Guide)

Statues can be erected at the Upper River locations to honour specific board members. The statues attract followers/admirers of those board members, and these people happen to be associated with the various factions of London. You can make deals with them. Mechanics-wise, this lets you trade Favours for resources.

A statue at Ealing Gardens may honour any of the former mayors or the resident big-name, the Tentacled Entrepreneur. This unlocks a card which has one option that is specific to the faction that the board member is associated with.

A statue at Jericho Locks honours board members of a theological leaning. (Whether the people of Jericho Locks would appreciate this is another matter). This also unlocks a card, with each option trading in Church favours for various rewards.

At the Magistracy of the Evenlode, a statue can be erected in honour of the Gracious Widow. She is the only board member that can have a statue here.

You can, of course, eschew honouring any board members and put up statues of your player character instead. Why should they get the glory when you are putting in the most work into the Railway?

Unique Benefits from Board Members

There are some incentives to having certain members aboard, which may have some impact outside of board meetings too.

His Amused Lordship

In Meetings

• His Amused Lordship must be a member of the Board if you want to change the Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway to a wealth-based one.

Jovial Contrarian

In Meetings

• The Jovial Contrarian has no particular opposition to any issue. Just get his vote first and everything is hunky-dory. (He is not so fickle as to dishonour the cast of his vote.) The Contrarian can, however, end up slightly problematic for votes where one or more board members vote for it automatically. This is usually fine, though.

Sinning Jenny

In Meetings

• Jenny agrees immediately to improving the train's defences. This is useful, but can complicate getting the fickle Contrarian's vote, especially if you already have a board size at the minimum.
• Jenny allows you to Propose paying a dividend to the poor of the Hinterlands, which can be a decent way to reduce Banditry.

Virginia

In Meetings

• Virginia must be a member of the Board if you want to change the Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway to one aligned with Infernal interests.

Furnace Ancona

In Meetings

• If you have convinced Furnace on a vote, you can supply her with a Queen Mate and she will assist in getting the other board members to agree to your proposal. This is helpful if you have a huge board for whatever reason. Queen Mates can be acquired in 5 actions with 4 Great Game favours or via a long carousel (requiring high A Player of Chess).

The Dean of Xenotheology

In Meetings

• The Dean must be a member of the Board if you want to change the Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway to a scientific one.

Outside Meetings

• When founding the church at Burrow-Infra-Mump, you can request the patronage of the Dean of Xenotheology if she is a member of the Board, after which you must convene a Board meeting to make her Patron.
• If you have a spur line to the The City of the Tracklayers, the Dean of Xenotheology unlocks an option on the Genii Locorum card.

The Bishop of Saint Fiacre's

Outside Meetings

• When founding the church at Burrow-Infra-Mump, you can request the patronage of the Bishop of St Fiacre's if he is a member of the Board, after which you must convene a Board meeting to make him Patron.

The Bishop of Southwark

In Meetings

• The Bishop of Southwark must be a member of the Board if you want to change the Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway to a Church-oriented one.

Tentacled Entrepreneur

In Meetings

• When the Tentacled Entrepreneur joins the Board, he provides a considerable reduction in Debt, enough to bring down two dividends votes' worth of Debt to 0. You can vote the Entrepreneur off the board and then reappoint him to get the reduction again.

Outside Meetings

• The Tentacled Entrepreneur unlocks an option on the Rubbery Observances card at Ealing Gardens which checks Persuasive rather than Shadowy.
• The Tentacled Entrepreneur unlocks an option on A Word From Your Creditors wherein you can spend 6 Favours: Rubbery Men to decrease Corporate Debt by 3 CP.

the Gracious Widow

In Meetings

• The Gracious Widow joining the Board provides a considerable reduction in Debt, enough to bring down two dividends votes' worth of Debt to 0. You can vote her off and reappoint her to get the reduction again. She also raises Seeing Banditry, which makes certain checks easier or harder and unlocks some options.
• The Widow must be on the Board to Propose special consideration to certain charitable groups. This is a source of Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise.

Outside Meetings

• With Involved in a Railway Venture 60 (a station at Jericho Locks), the Widow enables an option under the Engage in Some Minor Smuggling card. That option is certainly not minor smuggling.
• The Gracious Widow unlocks an option on A Word From Your Creditors wherein you can spend 6 Favours: Criminals to decrease Corporate Debt by 3 CP.

September

In Meetings

• September must be a member of the Board if you want to invite January.

Cornelius

In Meetings

• Cornelius has an option to help persuade all other board members. This uses an Epaulette Mate, which is slightly harder to obtain than Furnace's Queen Mate.

The Viscountess of the Viric Jungle

In Meetings

• The Viscountess agrees immediately to many options regarding Parabolan warfare. As previously, this can complicate getting the Contrarian's vote.

Leverage on Specific Board Members

Some board members have leverage options that can be played to affect only them, and to secure their agreement outright. These options use up the resources they cost.

The Bishop of Saint Fiacre's

You can earn a favour with the Bishop by resolving A Jurisdictional Dispute in the Upper River to his benefit. This can be spent to gain support on any one vote. You can only carry one favour at a time, so this isn't extremely powerful. But it can be used to bypass the Bishop's normally staunch opposition to removing Board members. Without this, you might have to spend a lot on bribes more than once for each member-dropping agenda.

The Bishop of Southwark

Like the Bishop of Saint Fiacre's, if you resolve A Jurisdictional Dispute to his benefit you will gain his support on one vote of your choosing. There are currently no repeatable votes that oppose Church interests - other than voting Church-affiliated members off the board - making this less immediately appealing than a favour of Saint Fiacre's. (The Bishop of Southwark still has a significant opposition to changing the board's makeup, but that can be handled with obfuscation.)

Jovial Contrarian

While the Contrarian's vote is not difficult to obtain anyway, he can also be convinced (guaranteed, despite the small Mithridacy challenge) by deploying a Portable Fingerking Moot. The Moot is a HALLOWMAS companion which was available for free with festival participation in 2020, but required FATE in subsequent years.

Sinning Jenny

Players who have purchased The Empress' Shadow (FATE) may earn Credit with the Headmistress in Jenny's Finishing School. Excess Credit may be spent to earn Jenny's vote, bypassing the regular Persuasion action.

Trimming the Board

There must be at least four members on the Board, not including your player character. To make meetings go more smoothly (and quickly), at least without resorting to Furnace or Cornelius' special benefit, keeping the board small is recommended. Below are some notes on the benefits and drawbacks of removing each listed member, should you wish to.

At this time of writing, there does not appear to be any consequences for voting out specific Board Members.

The Efficient Commissioner

Since she opposes most agendas rather often, the Commissioner is likely to be at the top of any player's list of names to cross off. Removing her requires 5 (or higher) Board Status.

Bringing her back on board and subsequently voting her out again can be a good way to grind Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar. Note that this has to be done before the railway reaches The Hurlers.

His Amused Lordship

He is handy to have around at the beginning of the Railway, but when the train upgrades become available ( Involved in a Railway Venture 50 and above), he can begin to become difficult to convince. With a high enough Respectable, however, he's easily swayed.

The Bishop of Saint Fiacre's

Having the Bishop on the board makes removing any other member more difficult, at least before you have leverage on him. However, voting to remove him can be a problem by itself since it adds Board against the Interests of Society which raises opposition from many board members. (Spending Favours: Society smoothes this over.)

Sinning Jenny

If you lack the FATE story that is associated with her (The Empress' Shadow), there are no means of influencing her. Her special benefit, as mentioned above, also causes problems. However, she has an easy Persuasive 100 check on most issues (notably the payout of dividends if you have a Worker charter), and is a good choice for weekly routine votes.

Virginia

At this time of writing, she is required to be on the Board to get the railway running. After that, however, she can be removed if desired. She'll be particular difficult to convince when trying to upgrade Train Defences. (That can be smoothed over by spending Favours: Hell or bribing her though.)

Tentacled Entrepreneur

This board member will be a problem when upgrading the trains. Consider not bringing him in until after the trains have been fully upgraded.

The Gracious Widow

The Widow has stiff opposition to upgrading either the train defences or luxuries from the get-go, and it only gets worse. Again, consider not bringing her in until after the trains have been fully upgraded.

April

April has similar voting factors to Furnace, with one major difference: none of the means of persuasion thus far work on her.