Fiasco — GM-less Coen Brothers d6 — burn it all down

"Plan the heist. Get the fiasco. Tell the story."

Diced6 pool

Players3–5

Prep~0 min (Playset defines the theme)

Foundry VTTNone

Complexity

What is this system

Fiasco is a tabletop RPG from Bully Pulpit Games (2nd Edition, 2021), inspired by the films of the Coen Brothers. GM-less, zero prep, d6 pool (Classic) or playing cards (2E). Players create characters through a Playset (theme/location), linked by relationships, and play through 3 acts: Setup, Tilt, Aftermath. Each roll is either something good (evens) or something bad (odds). The result is always a tragicomedy.

Setting

Setting-less. Each session is a new Playset: 1930s mobsters, a space station, a teenage camp, a medieval village. 500+ playsets at fiascoplaysets.com.

What it looks like at the table

Setup: Two brothers, owners of an abandoned farm. Relationship: 'One of us is a thief.' Tilt: A strange man with an axe pounds on the door. Aftermath: The farm burns. One brother is dead. The other is in prison. The third owns the farm — but the farm is gone. Fiasco.

Playstyle

Narrative Combat Exploration Modern

Key mechanics

d6 Pool (Classic)

4d6 per player in two colors. Even = something good, odd = something bad. Doubles = disaster.

Three Acts

Setup (needs and relationships), Tilt (turns and complications), Aftermath (fallout). Each act is 2-3 rounds of rolls.

Playsets

Session themes: mob, space, teens, medieval. Each playset has tables for Needs, Locations, Objects.

No GM

Everyone plays. Everyone decides. Everyone suffers. Fiasco is about all of you.

What people say

Hands down one of the best RPGs I have ever played. It delivers exactly what it promises: a self-contained, no-prep session in which a comedy of errors and bad decisions results in a complete fiasco.— MJ Harnish, WIRED

Fiasco is unique among RPGs because it encourages us to actively reach for that moment we all dread in most games, that moment when something truly awful is going to happen, with possibly dire results for our characters.— Wil Wheaton, Actor and Writer

Art & materials