Today I attended a mini-con at the great game store in Oakland, Endgame. I had once or twice signed up to participate in similar mini conventions there, but it hadn’t worked out. They have a great space upstairs with ten-twelve tables for gaming, and they hold events like this througout the year.
I had bought Fiasco from Indie Press Revolution (in PDF) some time ago, and at some point last year I convinced my game group to play it. I was hoping it might be a gateway to finally playing some Prime Time Adventures. Unfortunately, it just didn’t go that well, partially because I didn’t have a good handle on how the game is meant to be played, partly because the dynamics of the Playset we used were probably not great for our group, but largely because they just weren’t into it that night. We’ve had a lot of fun with Inspectres, which has a similar free-form, scene-framing nature, and the one time we played Zombie Cinema we had a good time. But Fiasco did not go well.
In the meantime, Fiasco kept building more and more buzz and acclaim. It was becoming an instant Indie classic. It was frustrating to me that my group didn’t want to play. I proposed it more than once, but the group wouldn’t go for it.
So, when I saw (via Twitter) that Endgame was going to have a Fiasco Con, I thought this would both allow me to finally participate in an event at Endgame and play Fiasco. Presumably with people enthusiastic about playing it, and probably with some who knew it well.
It’s about a 90 minute drive to Endgame from my house. Not a big deal, but enough that you wouldn’t just slip away on a Saturday afternoon. Not if you have kids, anyway. I had signed up for the morning session (11-2:30) which meant I probably needed to leave by 9:00 to ensure I was there on time, allowing for traffic problems. This afternoon was the Giants-Packers game, which I wanted to watch, so I thought about trying to find someplace near Endgame to hole up after Fiasco where I could watch at least the second half by the time we were done.
I arrived at Endgame a bit earlier than I had intended, just shortly after 10:00. I bought a hardcopy of Fiasco and, what the hell, Dread then lingered about upstairs. At first it seemed that it was just going to be completely free-form with people (as I was told) coagulating into groups and playing Fiasco. But, as more folks showed up (including Fred Hicks, distinctive in his flowing mane of blue hair) some structure was imposed. I found myself joining first a table with Fred, but when the tables were re-balanced, at a table facilitated by Steve Segedy, the editor of Fiasco. There were two other noobs at the table, and a fifth veteran, who I gather was Jeremy Tidwell, to round things out.
Steve helped layout how the game was played, and did an excellent job leading us through it without letting us get caught up in the weeds, too much. Fiasco is a very straight-forward game, and it’s easy to maybe read a bit too much into things, to over-think it. That’s not to say that there are no rewards for thoughtful play. Jeremy not only did an absolutely first-class job role-playing his black widow character (my character’s predatory hot granny), but also subtly kept the story moving in a deft arc. I threw some things out there, in crafting my scenes, leaving key elements open-ended, but they didn’t really end up going anywhere.
I made sure that I had a scene with every character, and two with the guy who seemed to be having the hardest time with the improv aspects of the game, to make sure he was included. In one of my final scenes, I had to go toe-to-toe with Jeremy, and while he was great, I felt I held up my end OK.
The game was really a blast. Both Steve and Jeremy really brought their characters to life, creating edgy PCs who would have fit in in any Coehn brothers movie. They also kept the story moving for everyone else. Steve was very generous and patient with us noobs, and was smart enough to give Jeremy some NPCs to play so he could stretch out a bit. Jeremy’s Minister Bob character was a scene stealing, scenery-chewing beast.
Playing Fiasco at Endgame was exactly the experience that I had hoped it would be. I feel that I have a good handle on the mechanics of play, but I also began to figure out some things to look for at the table, for making my part of the story better cohere with the group narrative, and also to be more interesting on its own. In particular, it doesn’t pay to be too subtle. Don’t expect other people to spend their precious allotment of scenes working on resolving your character’s conflicts — they have their own conflicts to resolve. Move your story along, but leave attachment points for others to hook to, but don’t make your story too dependent on others. Be thinking about the Aftermath, especially in your last scene.
I’m not sure how I’m going to get more Fiasco-fix, but I’m hoping to get my players to give it one more shot.
It’s great, so soon in the New Year to get two RPG itches (an Endgame Minicon and some Fiasco play) scratched. I’m now more enthusiastic than ever to get back to Endgame for more play. Maybe the January Mini-con?
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