Serious Fiasco - a Random Roleplay designed to push our storytelling abilities.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Decibelle

Legend
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
1,317
Maybe some dude from youth group talked you into boosting a case of motor oil, but now your cousin is dead in a swamp and you killed him.

Maybe you and your girlfriend figured you could scare your wife into a divorce, but things went pear-shaped and now a gang of cranked-up Mexicans with a pit bull are looking for you.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

r799477_7022195.jpg





Here are just a few of the key ingredients: Dynamite, pole vault- ing, laughing gas, choppers − can you see how incredible this is going to be? Hang gliding, come on!
Dignan, Bottle Rocket
Introduction

This is a RR game that, instead of focusing on playing a new setting, focuses on trying a new method of roleplaying inspired by a hybrid tabletop/LARP system. This isn't a game about, 'HEY LET'S GO TRY THIS SETTING' - it's a game designed to push us as players and see if we can learn some ways to improve our roleplaying in the process.

For those who haven't had the pleasure of playing Fiasco, it's a famous GM-free tabletop system inspired by the movies of the Coen Brothers, that focuses heavily on improvisation and collaborative storytelling, while also having some randomization (dice) elements to keep all players on edge. It's a really, really fun way to run a tabletop game.

And then, when smartphones became a thing, a group of friends and I realized it was possible to run it as a 'mini-LARP' between a group of friends. And, once we realized that... we realized it could easily scale up to a much larger group, as long as someone was willing to 'facillitate' the game. It created a very, very interesting and unexpected setting that was FUN and constantly challenged our expectations.

To start with, I'll be aiming to run a small 5-person game over a few hours, to playtest the LARP version of the rules and make sure that it's feasible in Garry's Mod - though it should be even easier. Those 5 people will likely be those who are interested in giving up their time to administrate/facillitate the game part time.​




Look honey, I’m going to be working some strange hours over the next week or two, so don’t ask me what I’m doing because I don’t want to lie to you.
Terry Leather, The Bank Job
How It Works

First of all, if you're curious, a preview of the rules is visible here. A quick guide to how things'll run in Garry's Mod will be posted, and shouldn't run more than a page. In addition, if you haven't seen any of these films, you should watch all of them.

This game should be substantially easy to run in Garry's Mod, as well, with only one (small) variation that may not be nexessary. However, unlike other games, there's going to be a brief period of pre-game setup in the forums, to establish the setting.

In essence, a plot is 'randomized' for a setting, and character relationships, desires, and goals are assigned by group discussion. Every character has deep links to multiple people, and a lot of (conflicting) needs.

During play, players can effect the success or failure of other people's actions, if they think it'll make things interesting. If they do, it's noted in a list. Slowly, scenes are played out and players begin to create a random, frenzied story that looks like it came from a Coen Brothers film - a fiasco!

An important note is that players will occcasionally need to 'switch' characters. Obviously, not everyone is involved in every scene, and it's completely acceptable to switch to a random bystander if it'll make things interesting. That bystander can eventually become a regular NPC everyone plays when they feel like it'd be appropriate - for example, a Town Sheriff that randomly pulls some people over during a hookup happens to be seen at a gay bar a few nights later!​



A burglar broke in intending to loot the place, uh, repented, became despondent over his lifestyle and shot himself.
Freddy Bender, Intolerable Cruelty
Plot Summary

The start of the game - Act 1 - consists of players giving each other a limited number of positive, or negative, effects, as they roll from scene to scene - scenes that they can collaboratively come up with.

At the end of Act 1 - which is after a few hours, or every session, all those successes - and failures - are rolled together, and a major tilt is created that the players get to decide for themselves. That makes up Act 2.

Suddenly they have to defend their one-night stand from a bunch of drug dealers, trying to recover a bag of heroin that her teacup pig ate when they were getting busy.
Or they accidentally ran over the town sheriff in a stolen ice cream truck, so they shoved him in the van's freezer - until they could bury him - which is breaking down, in the middle of LA traffic.

Act 2 is always the inverse of Act 1. There's a limited number of positive and negative effects, and all of them have to be used - so if Act 1 was full of 'good' things happening, Act 2 is where EVERYTHING goes to hell in a handbag.

Finally, there's the Aftermath - where players get to play a brief epilogue to their characters' stories. Maybe everyone rocks up to the funeral of one character, who blew themselves up trying to break into a bank, or it's just a brief shot of someone laughing as they drive away in their brand new Ferrari (except they're missing a leg!), or the guy and girl who hated each other being forced to get married, so they can't testify at their inevitable trial.​



Well, here we are in a room with two manky hookers and a racist dwarf.
Ken, In Bruges
Setting

The Setting will likely be determined by the players (it's actually part of the game's charm and setup.) People will pick and name common locations they hang out - the local laundromat, a BDSM club run out of someone's basement, a Pizza Hut, and a kid's skatepark. Players are then responsible for 'creating' these various locations and fleshing them out.

Then, it's easy to flit between locations and play out various interactions between characters - interactions that other players can suggest, and other players can help resolve.


This may hurt.
Arthur Burns, The Proposition
Duration

The game itself will take place over two days - a weekend. Act 1 will be on the Saturday, Act 2 on the Sunday. Saturday night and Sunday night will be used for creating the 'Tilt' and the 'Aftermath'.


There’s no money, there’s no weed. It’s all been replaced by a pile of corpses.
Tom, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Resources

I'd rather keep the resources to a minimum, but the current TnB models suck ass for any modern setting. If we can get a pack of models to make characters look decently modern in their attire (and there's heaps), that's all we'll need.

A modern map (the only time Dark RP maps will ever be on TnB!) is a really good idea, as well. Again, that's something that​
 
idk why but this makes me think of Harold and Kumar..

and i love it
 
Bump! A few admins (though no RDAs, yet!) like the idea.

I'd like to run two tests before doing the full thing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread