Let’s play the cooperative storytelling game Fiasco with Patrick Rothfuss!

Leading an RPG as a game master or storyteller can be a lot of work. Creating scenes, characters and stories for the rest of the players is exhausting work, but there is a way to play without anyone taking on the burden: collaborative role-playing games. This no-master dungeon board genre is all about creating a story together, and you can’t start with a better example of this style of play than Fiasco. We played the game in our latest episode of Overboard with the famous storyteller Patrick Rothfuss.

Fiasco’s frame gives you the perfect setting to create your mischief without the need for a storyteller. You will start by choosing a thematic platform, which are like the canvases on which you will paint your story. The base game comes with a classic D&D-style fantasy deck, a Coen Brother-style Suburbia deck, and an “American Mall Hiding a Dark Secret” deck, which is what we play with. The thing is, even the topic is still just a guide. We decided we wanted our mall on the moon, and it was!

To build your story, you start by creating your characters. Unlike a typical tabletop RPG, don’t believe your own character. Instead, he establishes relationships between the players, using cards that say things like “brothers” or “stabbed in the back” or “hero and fool.” As a group, you decide what these little prompts mean. Who is the older brother? Who stabbed whom? And what is the fool?

You’ll add more detail to these relationships, with location, object, and “need” cards that will add more color to your characters and, more importantly, motivations. It is fertile ground for the drama that you will create in the rest of the game. Playing scenes with these characters is the heart of Fiasco. On your turn, you can decide a scene with your character. You can set the scene or solve it, but whatever you choose, the rest of the players can do the other.

The role play in Fiasco is accessible, more like describing a scene from a movie. What is the camera looking at and what is the audience seeing? What characters are present? What is the location? The relationship details you’ve discussed should give you a lot to work with, but the fun of Fiasco is jamming with the goofy characters you’ve created and seeing where it goes!

After everyone had a chance to star in a couple of scenes, Fiasco further intensifies the drama with Tilt. Players use cards they got from having positive or negative results in their scenes in Act I to set the stage for Act II. These cards contain short, ominous prompts such as “One little mistake leads to ruin“or”Death, after a nasty fight”, And two of these cards will become the subjects of Act II. Even if your story has strayed too far in Act I, the Tilt will make it a breeze to turn the table and let the chaos rule.

Once your story has reached its conclusion, you will have a chance to explain the consequences of your character choices. Think of this as the scenes we get during the credits of a movie that show us what all the characters are doing after the main events of the movie. It’s a fun and easy way to end things … or set the stage for a sequel.

We had so much fun creating our story, and it was certainly a pleasure to have professional world builder Patrick Rothfuss alongside us. You can see more of him in his Twitch channeland be sure to check your charity! If you enjoyed watching this episode of Overboard, be sure to check out our previous episodes in our Youtube Channel!