Fiasco was the first TTRPG game I played. It was a lot different than I had imagined; instead of a complicated rule set and a confusing narrative, I was pleasantly surprised when I read the fun prompts and character relationships. I especially enjoyed the setup of Fiasco because it effectively introduced the act of world-building and creating your own story. For instance, there are four categories/prompts when setting up the game: relationships, needs, locations, and objects. There were many amusing options to choose from, which enhanced the experience of assigning the relationships. Setting up helped everyone start thinking creatively and sparked conversations. Fiasco was strategically able to involve all players’ thoughts and decisions ultimately, improving the stages of character creation. I also appreciate the formatting of the rules, which made them easy to follow. They were simple; however, this loose structure also had a downfall, leading to many mistakes. In addition, the fact that we had to use 20 dice is confusing.
Despite enjoying all of this, I quickly realized the importance of gameplay. Perhaps, it was the fact that we did not have the time or 20 dice to play with, but it all felt a bit confusing and rushed when we began playing. I also felt like in every scenario we had to improvise every decision and ending. This was mostly because of the rule that we had to either “Establish” or “Resolve” Resolve’ a scene. If we choose to establish a scene, then other players have the opportunity to decide whether the scene will have a good or bad ending. If you choose to resolve, then you choose the outcome, but the other players will decide the setup of the scene. Either way, it limits a player’s ability to have full control over the scene. Therefore, if a player has a specific goal for a particular scene, there is a high probability that it will not be accomplished or followed in the intended direction. Thus, there could be scenes where something really interesting happens, but in the next scene, it goes nowhere and a new “problem/situation” is introduced. Suddenly, the story we were building was not coherent, and the only solution was to fix it ourselves.
3. An “Establish” scene means that YOU set up and go through a scene and other players (it could be an individual player or the group) decide if it will go well or poorly for your character. “Poor” isn’t a bad thing in FIASCO. It just is a plot complication. They will give you a BLACK die if it is supposed to end poorly. They will give you a WHITE die if it is supposed to go well. They may do this at any point in your scene. You, then, end the scene with that fate in mind.
After playing for an hour or so, I started to believe that this may be one of the goals of the game, which is to make mistakes and bad decisions. After all, the game is named Fiasco. This also makes sense, especially knowing that Fiasco leans toward being comedic. That said, I do not think Fiasco is for everyone. For those who, like me, prefer a more structured play, then this may be too chaotic as Fiasco heavily relies on creative thinking and collaborative play. I do not think this is a good option for someone who has never played a TTRPG before, but I can see how it would be fun for experienced players. There are endless possibilities with how a story can unfold in Fiasco making this a unique and compelling game.
