Fiasco is a role-playing game with no
GM, the game being set up before the action starts. The game is for three to five players, and takes between one and three hours, including two acts and an aftermath. The things required to play are: • four ordinary (six sided)
dice per player of two different colors • a
Fiasco Playset • a copy of the
Fiasco Tilt Table and the
Fiasco Aftermath Table • pen and paper
Set-up The players first select the playset and roll dice (four per player—two light, two dark). The players then go around the table, taking turns to choose a die. Using the value of the dice, the player selects a group, or an element of a previously selected group, from a list provided by the playset to establish relationships (one for each adjacent player), needs, objects, and locations. Each pair of adjacent players has a defined relationship and one other element (a need, object, or location) that is central to the relationship. After all dice have been used, they are all returned to a central pool to be used as the game progresses. After all dice values have been used, each player will share with each neighbor: • One relationship • One need, object, or location The players then discuss who their characters are, what they are called, and how they relate to each other, and the objects, needs, and locations their characters share. Once this is decided Act One is ready to begin.
Act One In Act One, for each player's turn, she or he may choose either to Establish or to Resolve. Should the player choose to Establish, the content of the scene—people, place, conflict—is determined by the player. Doing this allows the player to set up the scene as they wish. However, the resolution of the scene or conflict is determined by the other players, who will choose a light die (a good resolution) or a dark die (a bad resolution) to give to the player in the middle of the scene. The player must accept the resolution, acting out or narrating events accordingly. Alternatively, should the player choose to Resolve, the other players dictate the circumstances of the scene: the characters with whom the player's character will interact, where it happens, and what the conflict within the scene is. Choosing this option gives the player control of the resolution, unlike the Establish option. In Act One, at the conclusion of a player's scene, she or he selects another player and gives that person the Resolution die. After each player has had two scenes, half the dice are exhausted and Act One ends.
The Tilt and Act Two Between Act One and Act Two is the "Tilt"—the incident that is the heart of the story. To determine who selects the Tilt elements, all players roll their dice (if they have any). Same-colored die values are added together and the lower total is subtracted from the greater. The player with the highest total for dark dice and the player with highest total for light dice then roll all unassigned dice. As when setting up the game, these two players each select one group (such as "Tragedy" or "Failure") on the Tilt Table using the values from the rolled, unassigned dice. Using the remaining die values, the two players choose an element from the other's chosen group ("Death, out of the blue" or "A tiny mistake leads to ruin"), thus establishing the "tilt" element of the story. After the Tilt has been established, Act Two progresses in the same way as Act One, with each player deciding whether to Establish or Resolve scenes in the same order as Act One. Typically, the selected Tilt elements will come into play immediately, but this is not always the case. In some games, the Tilt elements will not show up until the climax of the story, where they will alter the fates of the characters. Also, along with the new Tilt elements introduced, the biggest difference in Act Two is that instead of giving away the Resolution die, the player keeps it. If there were mostly positive resolutions in Act One, there will, by necessity, be mostly negative resolutions in Act Two.
The Aftermath After all the dice are exhausted—each player having had four scenes—everyone rolls the dice they have collected, just like when determining who chooses the Tilt element, and consults the Aftermath table to determine whether their characters has a positive or negative outcome, is dead, or is "worse than dead". Finally, after a player figures out her or his character's fate, the Aftermath is played out. Going around the table, each player takes a turn to narrate a short scene, formed into a montage, for their character until all players run out of dice. At that point, the game is finished. ==Publication history==