Bully Pulpit Games Fiasco

Very fun improv game that has a lot of replay-ability. Product came in great condition

I bought the original Fiasco almost a decade ago, and when I heard this updated edition was coming out, I got very excited. Streamlined for ease of play? Check. Easier therefore to trick unsuspecting friends into becoming gaming nerds with? Absolutely.For those of you unaware of what Fiasco or RPGs are entirely, let me break it down for you: It's like if Charades and a Coen Brothers movie had a baby, and that baby had a twitchy eye and a pistol that might be a watergun he painted black to trick the attending nurse into thinking he was armed and therefore should be placated with as much formula as he wants. It's a party game where you and a group of friends tell a story about a bunch of characters you make up (the game makes that part super easy, don't be intimidated!) and how their twisted desires and inherent flaws lead to a colossal mess of epic proportions. I've played a gritty WW2 crime drama, a madcap folly on board a sinking Titanic, a satirical send-up of D&D, and an absolutely gonzo take on Bravo's Real Housewives franchise. There's so much to do here, and the possibilities for tone and genre are endless.The physical quality of this game is superb. The cardstock is perfect, the tuck boxes excellent, the printing quality top notch on all accounts. This is a premium product, worth every penny. Most importantly, though, is how these new elements (printed decks of cards instead of dice and blank index cards, primarily) make it so easy to set up, quickly and with minimal fuss, and to onboard new players to the game. There's an 8 minute video on how to play the game on Bully Pulpit's website, but the rules are clearly laid out in the book itself with tons of examples of play to show you how to do it. The best part is, it's a really hard game to screw up! We played it last night, and my friends were like, "Oh, can my character do this thing in this scene?" and the answer was pretty much always, yes, or yes, but also, what if?It's a really great game and worth your time, whether or not you're already an avid boardgame or RPG player. Casuals welcome!

This game is amazing and well made. It has made me laugh until i cried, however there are some problems. I can't say its all the game's fault, but the vaguely written instructions fail to establish clear boundaries which tend to lead to some confusion. However i do see why they were written vaguely, it's to motivate players to not feel too constricted with rules. But here are some things i learned in several less-than-stellar play throughs that need to be addressed.Players:This game is designed for 3-5 players, but here's what isn't explained.The game is at it's very best at 3 players. The general board game player is not classically trained in improv, so its easy for someone to keep up with the relationships and needs of two other players and more successfully add to the narrative.4 players is ok, it tends to get a little clumsy and slow when you have more relationships to keep up with, but its still doable.5 players is chaos. The narrative grinds to a halt, no one knows how to contribute to the bigger picture, its difficult for the relationships to more naturally overlap, no one knows their motives. The creative limit of the average board game player has been reached.There are only 2 types of people who play Fiasco, the one who is really enthusiastic and is thrilled to play, and one who is in a general state of confusion and apathy.It only takes 2 apathetic players in a 4-5 player game to kill the mood, and 1 in a 3 player game.Rules to clarify:In each scene there is a scene Establisher and a scene Resolver. These roles need to be understood and respected to have a game that flows well.As the scene Establisher, your role is to set the scene. Who is in it, establish your motives and drive the narrative in a specific direction. And the result will be either a positive or negative card. New players always take offense when they are given a negative card. This IS NOT a bad thing, its just the percieved result of your action.As the scene Resolver this IS NOT your time to shine. You ARE NOT the star of the show here, you are wrapping up the scene established by the previous player. Your chance to establish a scene will come at the second scene of each act. (For a 3 and 5 player game, the player who Established a scene in the first go around will be the scene Resolver in the second go around. In the case of a 4 player game, I recommend the 1st player in the game who Established in the 1st scene gets skipped in scene 2. Therefore player 2, the one who Resolved the 1st scene, has a chance to begin scene 2 by Establishing and becoming the star for his role.)When the Resolving player tries to be the movie star in his scene, it loses the tension that is built up from the previous player's scene.Which brings me to my next point.Things to avoid:1) Deus Ex Machina - God from the Machine:In a game of Fiasco, there will come a time where i will attemt to kill you, steal from you, or frame you for a crime that i commited. This puts the next player in an uncomfortable position. Instead of playing it out like they are watching a movie, they are desperate to disolve the tension. They come up with a plot device that hasn't been mentioned that gets them out of the sticky situation, they have made themself the all wise and foreknowing protagonist when they are not the protagonist of the scene.Here's one exampleI hire Scott, a professional gator trapper, to trap aligators that are coming into my back yard from the retention pond. I find out that he broke the heart of my friend, Lyn. So i sabotage one trap so when he checks it he gets attacked by a trapped gator. My scene is over.It's Scott's turn to resolve the scene. Knowing that if he follows through with the scene it will get him terribly injured, he instead says, "I do, uhh, a background check and find out you are a felon. So i call the police to arrest you. I dont get hurt."I was not a felon, it was not an element that was previously established. His character couldn't have known my plan. He invented something that didn't exist to get out of a sticky situation.(While this is a perfect instance to use the "Let's Not" card, it can take the wind out of the sails of someone who isn't clever enough to talk themselves out of a bad situation. Therefore i always mention "No Deus Ex Machina" at the beginning of a game to avoid bad writing.)2) The nice guy:A nice guy in real life will be a nice guy in Fiasco. They dont want to hurt anyone in a pretend game, so they become an uninteresting, unoffensive, Milquetoast player that won't add any substance to the game. This game is about shortsighted, violent, ambition. If you aren't dying, in prison, or irreparably harmed by the end of the game, you didn't go far enough.3) you do too much in 1 turnA player unfamiliar with the game will try to write the entire story in his 1st scene. Its too much! Not only have you constrained the imagination of the players for the next several turns, you included too many details we all need to keep up with. I manage this by keeping a turn at 30 seconds. It gives a player enough time to articulate a scene and wrap it up before he makes the mistake of saying too much.4) Getting in the weedsYou can tell a player is lost when they get the deer in headlights look. They will begin grasping for boring and overused cliches. This isn't always their fault. He could be playing off an apathetic player who isnt trying, or the nice guy before him not writing anything interesting to play off of. When this happens, work with the other players for narrative advice and wrap it up. You'll have another chance to add something later.5) Killing off a playerThis rule is polarizing, because if written well it can create a lot of exciting drama. But if you try to kill off a nice guy or an apathetic player they will usually let you. Now this dead player has nothing to contribute to the story. Consider leaving your murderous ambition for Act 2 Scene 2.To conclude, this is a great game for small groups. If you are on the fence with buying this game begin by playing with 2 other friends who enjoy telling silly stories.

After playing original Fiasco several times I decided picking this guy up would be worth it. It definitely is. This version cuts set-up time drastically (considering it's all in the box and card based so just dealing cards as opposed to rolling dice and scrolling through pages). Also the name generator is pretty fun, as well as a creative way to help some players that might not be as creative in name generation. They general feel of the game is the same with a few rules and way the game is played throughout and at the end. It's still a blast to play.

One of the best ways to get a group of people playing pretend and roleplaying for the first time. A session feels like sitting around a writers room tabl, acting out the critical scenes and going from nothing to a fleshed out story full of detailed relationships, conflict and of course fiascos a plenty. If you've wanted to try roleplaying games, but the depth of rules in many volumes of books intimidates you, give Fiasco a try. Start playing pretend with your friends, weaving storys and making jokes.

Brought this one to the table last night and the group loved it! You need people who are quick witted enough to be able to role play and improv. This is not a game for people who don't enjoy coming up with goofy capers and strange interpersonal relationships, but if you have the right group you get to laugh as the best laid plans of the party goes so very sideways.

It's kinda fun.

Fun game for a small group.