Fiasco Read online

  White Three: Grim. The stress and trauma from your little adventure are going to haunt you forever - bits of your soul are destroyed and you are missing a piece or two. In a few years children are going to cry when you get too close. All your plans have ended in complete ruin.

  White Four: Bitter. You know what it’s like to be utterly crushed, casually brought low, forced to eat your own words and stand mute and powerless before your enemies. They gloat, and you are helpless.

  White Five: Miserable. You are humiliated in a big, public way, and whatever reputation you once had is now in dirty pieces all around you. You’ll never think of these days without a shudder of horror at your own aggressive stupidity.

  White 6-7: Weak. Hey, you’re busted, beat, and broke down, but at least you’ve learned a lesson about human greed and frailty, right? It’ll serve you well in prison, which is where you are probably headed.

  White 8-9: Nothing to crow about. Not better, but not way worse, either. Maybe the car is wrecked, or your wife is leaving you, or there’s a court date. But compared to some of the other people you know…

  White 10-12: Not too shabby. You’ve made it out with dignity intact, through some fluke. There might even be a little profit, or self respect, or something. Time to throw a little party for all your friends.

  White 13+: Fan-fucking-tastic. It’s fat times ahead, safe and secure. That thing that would make your life better? Oh, you got it, absolutely, and then some. And then some more. Enjoy it!

  Playsets

  We released ourselves on our own recognizance.

  Gale Snopes, Raising Arizona

  About Playsets

  A Playset provides a framework you’ll build on to create characters and situation. A complete Playset consists of four 36-item lists (six sub-lists of six items each), and some might have a custom Tilt list as well. The Playset you choose will inform your game in a huge way, so pick one you like or make your own. The ones included in Fiasco have been heavily playtested and are really solid, and more are available at the Bully Pulpit Games Website. If you are in a hurry, “Insta-Setups” have been provided that will allow you to blaze through the Setup.

  Making Playsets

  Use the playsets provided if you like them, but by all means create – and share – your own. The feel of your game is tied to the content of the lists, so by changing them, you change the game. Localize. Change the time period. Alter the relationships implicit in the Relationships. Go crazy. The Relationships and Needs are likely to need very little tweaking, but Location and Object lists really define your setting, so they should get more attention. Each item should cry out for inclusion, either because it is totally crazy or deliciously prosaic.

  You’ll need to come up with a ton of new Elements (don’t forget to mess with The Tilt if necessary). One great way to handle this is to write each six-item list’s title on an individual index card, and then rotate the cards around. Everyone adds one new item to each list and rotates again. Once a card has six items, number them and set that card aside. Don’t be shy about re-using big chunks of existing Playsets as well – Relationships don’t change much, so consider grabbing and tweaking an existing set.

  If you are feeling adventurous, think about replacing entire Details – what happens when you take away locations and replace them with burdens?

  Budget a little extra time if you are building your own Playset, maybe an hour, and please share it with the world!

  Relationships...

  Family Parent-In-law / son or daughter-in-law

  Cousins, or aunt/uncle and niece/nephew

  Siblings

  Parent / child or stepchild

  Grandparent / grandchild

  Distant / unusual / unofficial relatives

  Work Former co-workers

  Current co-workers

  Supervisor / employee

  Tradesman (mechanic, plumber, decorator, landscaper) & client

  Salesman / customer

  Professional (pastor, doctor, lawyer, dentist, drug dealer) & client

  Friendship Manipulator / victim

  Old buddies

  Drug friends

  Friendly rivals

  Friends with benefits

  Bitter social adversaries (church friends)

  Romance Former spouses

  Current spouses

  Life-long crush / object of crush

  One-time fling

  Lovers

  Former lovers

  Crime Corrupt official / local big shot

  Gambler / bookie

  Thieves (shoplifters, burglars, car thieves)

  Con man / mark

  Hoodlums (racketeers, knuckleheads, delinquents)

  Drug people (dealers, manufacturers, distributors)

  Community Elected officials (Aldermen, mayor, commissioner)

  Civic volunteers (election officials, chamber, clubs)

  Church volunteers (deacons, Sunday school teacher)

  Rec league, minor league, pick-up team sports

  Case worker, parole officer, guardian ad litem / client

  AA/Narcanon sponsor / participant

  ...In A Nice Southern Town

  Locations...

  Main Street Peace Haven Church

  El Perro Alto Mexican Restaurant

  Royall’s Drug Store: Pharmacy in the back, soda fountain up front

  Shafter and Hazelbrook, LLC, the only lawyers in town

  Commercial Bank, the only bank in town

  Vantage Services, medical claims processor

  Commerce Street Suds and Duds, coin operated laundromat

  Municipal building, police station, courts and City Hall

  Family Medical Clinic, the only doctor in town

  New Outlook, tanning salon and weight loss center

  The Patio, a movie picture house

  Bill Rivers’ Pool Room, for pool and illegal gambling

  Out by the Interstate Chicken Hut, fast food restaurant

  Davenport’s Tire and Tractor, tire shop and tractor repair

  Rose’s Village Motel, convenient to the highway

  The Quik-Pik, gas station and convenience store

  Durable Paper Goods, paper bag manufacturing plant

  Accurate Automotive, used cars

  Up Center Road J&K Gravel: Gravel, stone, and quarried materials

  The old fish house, an abandoned roadhouse

  Center Road Animal Care, large animal veterinarian

  Lyman C. Mills Consolidated High School

  Spiller’s, funeral services since 1911

  Charles Green Landscaping, lawn care and excavation

  Out and About Town parking lot beside the freight tracks

  Red Run State Park

  A farmer’s field out past Surry Avenue

  The ball field

  Woods up around Hickory Terrace

  Construction site next to Accurate Automotive

  Residences Van parked behind Royall’s

  Trailer out back of the high school

  Apartment above Suds and Duds

  Farmhouse up Center Road

  Split-level ranch on Surry Avenue

  Mansion out by Hickory Terrace

  ...In A Nice Southern Town

  Needs...

  To get out …of this town, before they realize you took it

  …of this town, to escape family

  …of the gang

  …of a relationship with a lover

  …of the obligation to a frail relative in your care

  …of a crushing debt coming due

  To get even …with the bad people, who think they are so tough

  …with this town, for what it has turned you into

  …with a police officer

  …with a family member

  …with a co-worker

  …with a rival

  To get rich …through stealing a drug stash

  …through robbing a business

  …through tricking a handicapped guy
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  …through the death of an elderly person

  …through political back-scratching

  …through a misplaced suitcase full of cash

  To get respect …from this town, by bringing down the machine

  …from this town, by proving your convictions

  …from your lover, by taking the fall

  …from the police, by turning in your own kin

  …from a family member, by rescuing them from ruin

  …from yourself, by finally doing it once and for all

  To get the truth …about why they are all so shut-mouthed

  …about the Sheriff’s political corruption

  …about why he really came here

  …about what she did behind The Patio

  …about your real parents

  …about the mistake that haunts you

  To get laid …to get it over with

  …by that sweet thing you’ve been thinking on

  …because you need the raise that badly

  …by an old lover, to start over

  …by an old lover, to further your scheme

  …by your sweetheart, who is acting squirrelly

  ...In A Nice Southern Town

  Objects...

  Untoward Porn stash / sex gear

  Welfare check / food stamps

  Garage full of Amway products

  Mink farm

  Klan outfit / hate paraphernalia

  Eviction notice

  Transportation Golf cart

  New pickup truck

  Panel truck

  Small plane

  Pontoon party boat

  Dirt bike

  Weapon Shotgun

  Machete

  Poisonous snake

  Handgun

  Pipe bomb

  Firefighter’s Halligan tool

  Information Secret recipe

  An overheard conversation

  Legal records

  Love letter

  List written in a Christmas card

  Photographs

  Valuables Drug stash

  Mason jar full of gold coins

  Comic book collection

  Vintage car

  Purebred animal

  Suitcase full of cash

  Sentimental Newborn baby

  War memorabilia

  Roadside accident shrine

  Mathematics trophy

  Wedding ring

  Heirloom silver tea set

  ...In A Nice Southern Town

  A Nice Southern Insta-setup

  Relationships on Main Street

  For three players…

  Family: Siblings

  Romance: Former spouses

  Crime: Corrupt official / local big shot

  For four players, add…

  Friendship: Drug friends

  For five players, add…

  Work: Professional and client

  Needs on Main Street

  For three players…

  To get even: With a rival

  For four or five players, add…

  To get out: Of a crushing debt coming due

  Locations on Main Street

  For three, four or five players…

  Main Street: El Perro Alto Mexican Restaurant

  Objects on Main Street

  For three or four players…

  Valuables: Suitcase full of cash

  For five players, add…

  Weapon: Poisonous snake

  Relationships...

  Family Parent / son- or daughter-in-law

  Cousins

  Siblings

  Parent / child or stepchild

  Uncle/nephew or aunt/niece

  Unrelated, but close as blood

  Work Ranch hands

  Miners

  Supervisor / employee

  Tradesman / customer (wheelwright, barber)

  Salesman / customer (snake oil, mine gear, bibles)

  Professional / client (pastor, doctor, lawyer, banker)

  The Past Criminal and detective

  Grew up together back East

  Reformed criminals

  War adversaries

  Both married to same spouse (sequential or tandem?)

  Bad family blood

  Romance Former spouses

  Current spouses

  Unvarnished lust

  One-time fling

  Mail-order bride and her groom

  Former lovers

  Crime Crime boss and toady

  Gamblers

  Thieves (yeggs, burglars, horse thieves)

  Faith healer and patient

  Outlaws (bad men, pistoleros, roughnecks)

  Chinese opium seller / addict

  Community Elected officials (mayor, judge, register of deeds, assayer)

  Society (temperance league, brass band, vigilantes)

  Church volunteers (lay readers, sexton and gravedigger)

  Company / citizen (railroad or mine and shareholder)

  Government / citizen (Indian agent, tax assessor)

  Sheriff and deputy

  ...in the Wild West

  Locations...

  Residences A filthy buckboard wagon with a ragged awning and barrels for walls

  A tidy Sears-bought house, crisply painted

  A permanent room in the Belle-Union Boarding House

  A gaudy mansion next to the dirt platted as a park

  The opium den behind the White Star Laundry

  A squalid apartment above the newspaper office

  The Bradford Hotel The storm cellar

  The clerk’s room, safe, and freight office

  The brothel billiard parlor

  The saloon

  A bar girl’s crib

  The Governor’s Suite

  The decent part of town The Commercial Bank

  Sinclair’s Dry Goods and Mercantile

  The Territorial Sentinel newspaper office and print shop

  First Church of Christ, Redeemer

  The railroad depot and telegraph office

  E.A. Lodge, Dentist

  Across the tracks The Fraternal Order of the Frontier Lodge Hall

  White Star Chinese laundry

  The Belle-Union Boarding House

  Town jail

  Eyck’s Tack, Harness, and Stable

  Boot Hill

  Up in the hills The Chinese camp

  The hanging tree

  The wagon road

  Gold Creek shanty town

  The Circle S Ranch

  The secret cave

  Indian Country The burnt-out log cabin

  The bandit hideout

  The Hunkpatila Sioux camp

  The prospector’s hut

  Pilot Rock

  The Presbyterian mission at Broken Arrow

  ...in the Wild West

  Needs...

  To get free …of this town, before everyone finds out about you

  …of a family obligation

  …of a business commitment

  …of a relationship with a lover

  …of your lot in life

  …of a crushing debt coming due

  To get even …with this town, and its small-minded inhabitants

  …with the local crime boss

  …with the Sheriff

  …with a family member

  …with the Chinese

  …with a rival

  To get rich …through robbing a stagecoach

  …through robbing a business

  …through fraud and trickery

  …through buying various officials

  …through violence

  …through a misplaced trunk full of bullion

  To get respect …from this town, by bringing down the machine

  …from this town, by showing everybody who’s boss

  …from your lover, by proving yourself

  …from the sheriff, by ratting out your friends

  …from a family member, by rescuing them from ruin

&n
bsp; …from yourself, by finally doing it once and for all

  To get away …from the baying hounds of the law

  …with murder

  …from hard-riding vengeance

  …from an honest woman, ruined

  …with your reinvention of yourself

  …with a magnificent swindle

  To get laid …by anyone, anywhere, to dull the pain

  …by your ticket out of this burg

  …by an ambitious and beautiful saloon girl

  …to prove them all wrong

  …by your friend’s spouse, to further your agenda

  …so you don’t die a virgin

  ...in the Wild West

  Objects...

  Untoward A three dollar “all night” brothel token

  A mortician’s black bag and a jug of phenolic acid

  A vulcanized rubber “womb veil”

  The skeleton of a Mescalero Apache

  A Spiritualist’s bag of magician’s tricks