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esigned to simulate the  caper-gone-wrong subgenre of film.[5]  It shares creative control

of the story among the players, even when determining who each player's character is.
[6]  Themes of the game include black comedy, and poor impulse control. [5]

Although there is no one standard setting, each game of  Fiasco  uses a
"playset" that indicates the setting of that specific game. The core rulebook
contains playsets for  Main Street  (small town America),  Boomtown  (The Wild
West),  Tales from  Suburbia, and  The Ice  (McMurdo Station,  Antarctica). Bully
Pulpit Games also released a free Playset of the Month on their website. [7]  These, and
many more, are available for free online on the Bully Pulpit Games website, [8]  with
many fan-made playsets available online, as well.[9][10][11]  The Fiasco Companion 
provides additional advice on creating playsets. [12]
Each playset consists of a basic description of the setting and:

• six groups of six relationships between two characters in the setting

• six groups of six needs to be shared by two of the characters
• six groups of six notable objects
• six groups of six notable locations

Each group and each element within that group is numbered from one to six.

Gameplay[edit]

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[12]  and three[2] 
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[edit]

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 die, 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, an object, or a
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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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.

History and reception[edit]

Fiasco  started as a game called  Hat Creek, about the life and death of a town
in the  American West, with the relationships created as a part of that game becoming
the eventual basis for Fiasco.[13]  The game itself took 14 months to playtest,[14]  and
used over 70 playtesters in 13 groups.[2]  In November 2008  Jason Morningstar  asked
for interested playtesters on the story-games forum,[15]  and Fiasco was published in
December 2009.[1]
Reception was initially very positive in the RPG community, with  Fiasco  winning
one  Indie RPG award  at  GenCon  2010 and being runner up in three other
categories.[16]  as well as being shortlisted for an  Origins Award.[16]  A year later, at
GenCon 2011,  Fiasco  became only the fourth RPG to win the  Diana Jones
award.[3]
Reviews in the mainstream press have generally been positive; its review, 
Eurogamer  called it "Criminally good fun" and "The funniest game I've ever played".
[17]  Wired  said, "Fiasco is hands down one of the best RPGs I have ever played. ... if you
despise collaborative gaming experiences and want very traditional RPG mechanics,
Fiasco is going to be a poor fit." and noted that "Fiasco can easily venture in to areas
that may make certain players uncomfortable and so it’s important for people,
especially those unfamiliar with each other, to discuss potential limits and taboo
subjects before the start of any game."[18]  The  Sydney Morning Herald  noted that
"Clearly, this is not a game for everyone. Players with some experience in improvisation,
storytelling, or theatre would get the most enjoyment from it, but many people who
have never tried acting or writing before could still have a lot of fun." [19]

Awards[edit]
• 2009 Indie RPG Awards - Best Support - Winner  [20]
• 2010 Golden Geek RPG of the Year Nominee[16]
• 2010 Origins Awards Best Roleplaying Game Nominee [16]
• 2011 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming - Winner [3]
 The Fiasco Companion[edit]

The Fiasco Companion  is the first supplement for  Fiasco.  It contains advice for
playing and  hacking  Fiasco  and contains four playsets and alternative tilt and
aftermath tables. It also contains notes and reflections from players of  Fiasco 
including  Wil Wheaton  and  John Rogers.

The Fiasco Companion  has won the following awards:

• 2011 Indie RPG Awards Supplement of the Year[21]

• 2011 Indie RPG Awards Best Support[22]
• 2012 Golden Geek Best Supplement[23]
Card-based edition[edit]

In August 2019, Bully Pulpit Games introduced a card-based version of the

game, which they launched on  Kickstarter.  [24]  Instead of dice and index cards, the
boxed version uses decks of playing cards for playsets and an engine deck.

References[edit]

1. ^  Jump up to:a  b  "Bully Pulpit Games  Fiasco  page".

2. ^  Jump up to:a  b  c  Fiasco  ISBN  978-1-934859-39-1
3. ^  Jump up to:a  b  c  Diana Jones Award announcement
4. ^  Fiasco Set Up,  Fiasco Part 1,  Fiasco Part 2  -  Tabletop
5. ^  Jump up to:a  b  The Set-Up the Tilt and the Aftermath Role-playing the Caper-Gone-Wrong Film in
Fiasco  by Felan Parker, Presented at the 2012 Film Studies Association of Canada annual
conference
6. ^  Enjoying a Fiasco,  Bitch Magazine
7. ^  2009 Indy RPG Awards best Support explanation
8. ^  The Fiasco Playests page  Archived  2013-12-06 at the  Wayback Machine  on the  Bully Pulpit
Games  website

9. ^  Fiascoplaysets.com
10. ^  RPG Geek listing of playsets

11. ^  Claw Claw Peck listing of Fiasco playsets

12. ^  Jump up to:a  b  The

Fiasco Companion,  ISBN  978-1-934859-40-7, p63-78
13. ^  "Molevitten interview with Jason Morningstar". March 2010.
14. ^  "Reddit AMA with Bully Pulpit Games".
15. ^  "Story Games playtest report".
16. ^  Jump up to:a  b  c  d  RPG Geek profile
17. ^  "Fiasco Review: Criminally good fun".  Eurogamer.
18. ^  "Fiasco - an in depth RPG review".