Fiasco Page 5
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