Fiasco is a table-top role-playing game about characters with grand ambition and poor impulse control. Players generate a network of character relationships and the associated details and act out a story in which the house of cards topples magnificently.
This session used the playset Heroes of Pinnacle City, in which players are superheroes, villains, and other folks of power.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Willy Boyle - a 13-year old boy who has the ability to change reality...and uses it to become President of the United States of America. With his reality manipulation Willy forms the Executive Order to help him run the country...preferably well, not into the ground.
The Cabinet - Willy's first creation, the Cabinet was created to be the perfect adviser. Unfortunately, Willy misspelled "Cabinet" and thus created an eldritch abomination. So long as the Cabinet fulfills his master's will, he's fine...
Florence "the Drainer" - an individual with the ability to drain vital essence from his victims, the Drainer serves as Boyle's Vice President and Fixer.
Jeep Wrangler - An alien from a distant planet, with the ability to control geometry and geometric shapes. He has come to Earth to seek help in saving his planet from a doomed fate.
Tsunami - A woman with the ability to control the weather on a grand scale. An up-and-coming superhero, she plans to use her powers to solve the energy crisis. Stu Nami's sister.
Stu Nami - A meteorologist, recent divorcee, alcoholic, with minor superpowers. Absolutely furious that Tsunami has arrived on the scene to not only steal his thunder, but steal his super-identity and powerset.
ACT I
Scene I - Young Willy Boyle has manipulated reality so he becomes the President of the United States at the ripe young age of 13. He's hired his local meteorologist, Stu Nami, as his chief scientist, and Stu recommends Willy use his powers to create himself an adviser. Willy does so, but misspells "I need a Cabinet" as "I need a Kabnet." A tentacled monstrosity appears, but assumes the shape of an imposing man wearing sunglasses.
Scene II - Willy is in the Oval Office when he sees the Drainer outside on the White House lawn - he's draining the life from some of the locals. Willy offers Drainer as much life as he can create in exchange for the Drainer's service, and the Drainer agrees.
Scene III - A flying saucer lands in Kansas and drops off an alien, with the sole purpose of utilizing the native life to reproduce. The alien's first Encounter is a Jeep Wrangler, so he takes it as a name. Stu Nami happens to be in the area inspecting a local river and attempts to capture the alien, but Jeep escapes.
Scene IV - Tsu encounters Jeep Wrangler and the two hit it off, after an important conversation about consent. The two connect on a deeper level, but their incompatible biologies mean it can never be a thing. They decide to get it on nonetheless.
Scene V - Stu and Tsunami talk about her entry into the public awareness, and she refuses to stop so he can keep trying to be a superhero. Distraught, Stu stumbles into the news station, drunk and coked out of his mind. He stammers through his segment, talking about how he feels inadequate due to the arrival of Tsunami on the scene. There's a hurricane taking place over Kansas, which Stu knows is because of his sister's broken heart over her incompatibility with Jeep Wrangler. He gets suspended for going to work on cocaine.
Scene VI - We see Willy's first term pass from the Cabinet's viewpoint: it's alright, but nothing special. There are a lot of problems but each and every issue is fixed pretty easily, thanks to the Cabinet's advice, the Drainer's lack of scruples, and Willy's ability to change reality. We get the feeling that the Cabinet is unfulfilled, but all he wants is to help the President, so it's okay.
Scene VII - Willy is talking to Stu about the Drainer's appetite - it's starting to get difficult to fulfill his needs, as he started off with vermin, then larger animals, and now swaths of land. Willy is using his abilities to draw forth abandoned planets for the Drainer to devour. Tsu overhears the conversation and worries about the Drainer.
Scene VIII - The Drainer has taken to space and returns, having eaten the moon, an act blamed on an alien threat. Willy says they have to hide it from everyone. He convinces the president to use his power to take over the world...with the resources of the entire planet behind them, Willy will have no trouble feeding the Drainer. They decide to start with the UN.
Scene IX - Jeep Wrangler - now known as The Reproducer after Tsu got him to download Tinder - is in search of a secret graveyard near the White House. He finds evidence of the Drainer's feeding, and that the Drainer is the one responsible for draining the moon. He tells Stu.
Scene X - Tsunami has been working in Washington DC to fix the energy crisis, and she hates it. She goes to a meeting of the Executive Order at a Denny's and has a falling out with her brother.
Scene XI - Stu leaves the Denny's, drunk and ripped on cocaine. He goes to the television studio and uses his government clearance to get on the set, where he reveals to the nation that it was the Drainer who ate the moon.
Scene XII - The Drainer is eating a homeless man when the Cabinet finds him. They argue about the moon and whether the Drainer really did eat it. The Cabinet reveals its true form and mind-sucks the Drainer to learn he really did drain the moon. He threatens the Drainer to keep his snacks light before he flies off.
THE TILT
Mayhem - Misdirected Passion
Failure - A Stupid Plan Executed to Perfection
ACT II
Scene I - Willy, the Cabinet, and the Drainer are delivering a speech to the UN. Willy manages to throw suspicion off the Drainer by blaming the disappearance of the moon on an alien threat. He says he's going to unite the world against this enemy under the US flag.
Scene II - The Drainer meets with Jeep Wrangler to discuss his appetite. Jeep Wrangler has the ability to shrink planets into tiny spheres and keep them on a necklace or chain - and his homeworld is there because his race needed to find a new sun. So Jeep Wrangler unshrinks Zilliax 45 and sets it in orbit.
Scene III - The Drainer drains Zilliax 45, which Jeep doesn't like. But they get over it when Jeep shrinks Zilliax 45 down as a peace offering.
Scene IV - In the absence of the moon, Tsunami has been manually controlling the tides. The pressure of maintaining the tides while her brother gets all the recognition eventually gets to her, and she lashes out with her powers against the coasts.
Scene V - Stu gives a broadcast about the sudden flooding all along the oceans. Unfortunately, his withdrawal causes him to stumble and knock himself out on live TV.
Scene VI - The Cabinet confronts the president about how his staff are acting out and causing trouble. Willy doesn't know what to do and tells the Cabinet it's his problem - but the Cabinet's only want is to help the president. They're interrupted by Stu, who calls a meeting about his sister.
Scene VII - The Executive Order meets at Denny's, where Willy confronts the Drainer about his crimes. The Drainer confesses, unrepentant, and fights the Cabinet. The Cabinet opens and consumes the Drainer, imprisoning him within himself.
Scene VIII - The Drainer is imprisoned inside the Cabinet - it's fractal and recursive. The Drainer attempts to drain the Cabinet from the inside, but it's too large in there. He's unable to affect the Cabinet on such a scale.
Scene IX - Jeep Wrangler meets with the Cabinet and asks for advice with his frustration. The Cabinet recommends Jeep to a sex therapy group.
Scene X - A week later, Tsu meets with Jeep, who has taken a vow of celibacy. Tsu has calmed down and is keeping the weird weather at bay. The two discuss their old romance, and in a moment of weakness, Tsu loses concentration and lets a wave sweep Jeep out to sea.
Scene XI - Stu is on a cliff nearby and sees the whole thing. He's drunk and high, and pitches forward off the cliff.
Scene XII - The Willy unites the planet at the UN as the United Nations Under God, or UNUG. The Cabinet, now with an upset stomach, flees into the night, now fully an eldritch abomination.
THE AFTERMATH
This is President Willy Boyle, standing before the Galactic Senate. He delivers a rousing speech and unites the galaxy under the Earth banner: a United Galaxy Under God, or UGUG.
This is Jeep Wrangler, adrift on the open ocean. He washes up on an island and notices the beautiful spheres growing on the trees - he spends the rest of his life romantically entangled with coconuts.
This is Tsunami, identified as a planet-level criminal by the United Galaxy Under God. She's picked up by a police cruiser and spends the rest of her life in galactic prison.
This is Stu Nami, covered in piss and sleeping in a gutter. He's lost his position and dies, poor and high.
This is the Drainer, partially melded with the Kabnet. He wanders the inside of his prison, eternally hungry and broken.
This is the Kabnet, wandering the planet. Freed of his need to advise the president and forever infected with the Drainer's hunger, he feeds on the less fortunate, and knows what it's like to want something for himself.
Facilitator Thoughts
This was a gold-star session. Everyone was very in-character, for better and worse, and the stories weaved together well. It was an example of how Fiasco can serve as a screen-writing aid.
