I've heard more and more chatter about Fiasco these days, and as someone who's clocked in about six games of this lovely little thing, allow me to offer some of the things I've learned. Fiasco is a product of Bully Pulpit Games, and created by Jason Morningstar. He/they are awesome and deserve your respect and more acknowledgement than I can hope to give.

 

1. Choosing a group

This is the first step for playing Fiasco. You should get together with at least four people. Five is the max limit for the game, but even the creator of it admits things move slower and a little clunkier with five. Three is a good number, but four would probably get a good mix of ideas going without sacrificing the speed. Sadly I have only played with three people, so this is mostly extrapolation on my part, but four seems like a good number.

 

2. Choosing a playset

And this is the most important. A playset kind of defines how the group reacts to one another and how things fit together. A good playset will set up enough odd dynamics while letting you have enough freedom to make things get really nuts. Some good ideas for playsets are:

 

-Manna Hotel

-Gangster London

-Anything that came with the core book

These play into the movies that everyone already associates the game with, and so it puts everyone on a fair grounding. Also, the loose structure allows for some good wiggle room. You will be amazed at what the players come up with.

 

If you feel like doing something more focused, with a definite setting and plotline, I'd suggest these:

 

-The Penthouse

-Objective Zebra

-Transatlantic

 

Which have a little more specificity to them and offer tighter scenarios than the average group comes up with. Now, many of you noticed that I have not included more "past" or "historical" settings in my list of good ones to start with. The reason for this is that I think the system works best when you don't have to worry as much about the historical details and can just point guns at each other. It's how these movies always end up anyway. 

 

3. Go nuts.

This is the most important thing. Don't be a dick to the other players too much, but also don't hold back. Holding back may get you a more serious, tighter game, but it will also deprive you of the wide range of fun to be had with this. All the best movies go for insane. Involve logic if you must, but that thing you were afraid to do? It will make things so much more interesting if you do it. So please, don't hold back, don't hesitate to go insane. No one is going to carry over from game to game unless you absolutely have to involve the characters again (and the one time I did that, my favorite character was mauled by a tiger while falling off a skyscraper), and thus any consequences that happen at the end of the game will be final. And, connected to that...

 

4. Don't try to win.

Because it will only end in tears. The best outcome you can hope for is that you'll wind up a little better than you started, and trying to win will only frustrate everyone. Relax. Play the game. Let the dice-- and indeed the consequences fall where they may. The important things are that the story makes sense, and that it's fun.