Downfall vs. Fiasco: Rumble in the Role-play

Game Overview -Downfall:

Downfall is a three player only role-playing style game, where players collaboratively create a Haven; some kind of society that is centered around an inherent Flaw that will lead to the inevitable collapse of that society. Most inhabitants of the Haven believe the Flaw to be beneficial to their daily lives. Once players have agreed upon a Flaw (ex. greed, materialism, perfectionism, etc.), it is further fleshed out when each player chooses one Element of the Flaw (ex. steel, gravity, trees, etc.). These help to define the physical details of the Haven, solidifying the setting for the game, which players will use when role-playing scenes.

Players then develop the culture of their society, choosing two Traditions each, from a pre generated list provided by the game book. They further describe how the chosen Traditions are an embodiment of the Flaw, how the Flaw has shaped them. The Traditions represent how the Flaw manifests within the created Haven.

Each player starts as one of three roles: the Hero, the Fallen or the Pillar. These roles will rotate between the players, so everybody will have a chance to play at least two scenes in each role.

The Hero is, as the name suggests, the saviour of the Haven. They see the dangers that the Flaw presents and do everything in their power to prevent the Haven’s destruction. The Hero will always fail. A sad reality, but a true one. The Flaw is just too ingrained within the Haven’s society to be overcome. The game revolves around this role, every scene in the game will be about the Hero, no matter who is framing it.

The Fallen will be the main roadblock the Hero has to overcome, their goal is to challenge and oppose the Hero’s efforts. They are one of many within the society that support the Flaw and work to see it remain a pivotal role in the Haven.

The Pillar represents the average resident of the Haven. They accept the reality that they live in, ignoring or apologizing for the Flaw’s adverse effects. They resist change and uphold the status quo, but do not hinder the Hero’s efforts. They are there to be a sounding board for the Hero, somebody the Hero can talk to about the Haven.

These three roles are further defined, collaboratively again, and recorded on an index card or scrap of paper, and given an occupation(a position in one of the created Traditions) and an Identity (name, what they look like). The Hero is then given a rebellion (a Tradition that the Hero disagrees with and opposes, could be the same as their Occupation). The Fallen and the Pillar are both given a relationship to the Hero. These relationships and connections to the Hero are what will drive the narrative of the game.

Once this setup is finished and the roles and Haven have been defined, the gameplay is quite simple and moves quickly, each round broken into five steps.

1. Corruption: The Pillar chooses a Tradition to become corrupted by the Flaw, describing an event or situation where the Tradition has become harmful as a result of this corruption.
2. Hero frames a scene: The Hero chooses the where, who and what of a situation, which could be a reaction the corrupted Tradition, or about something else in the Hero’s life.
3. Fallen frames a scene: Same deal, where, what, who of a situation. This must still be about and feature the Hero. The Fallen’s job is to make sure there are repercussions for the Hero’s actions or inactions of past scenes and to challenge the Hero by putting them in difficult situations.
4. Reflection: This is where the current Hero player summarizes the mindset of the Hero and the state of the Haven after the resolution of the previous two scenes. Doing this helps the next player get a better idea of how they should continue the Hero’s story, and the actions the Hero may or may not take in future scenes. After two rounds of play, the players collectively determine if they are ready to end the game, at that point, they play one more round and skip this step, moving directly to the Collapse.
5. Rotate characters: Hand your current character information you have to the player on your right, gaining a new role for the upcoming round.

If the players have moved to the collapse, they each narrate a short scene about the destruction of the Haven and/or the death of the Hero. Up until this point, the Hero is the only character that can not be killed during the normal scenes played out in steps two and three of each round.

During the normal scenes of play, the players narrate what their characters do, and what the result of their actions are. These narrations can affect other characters, but they can never dictate what those other characters do or say, only your own.

As the Fallen, it is their job to decide if anything the Hero does has a consequence. This is the main form of conflict for the Hero in each scene. These consequences should be meaningful and impactful, but should never undo what the Hero accomplished or negate the Hero’s intentional outcome.

In the end, you should have experienced the slow demise of a once thriving society and the futile efforts of one Hero trying to save it.

 

Game Overview – Fiasco:

Fiasco is a three to five player role-playing style game, where players create and play out a series of disastrous scenes that will most likely end in tragedy, heartache and death for each character.

The game book comes with four Playsets to choose from, where players will establish character Relationships and attach Details to them to form a plot for the game. You will need four six sided dice per player to get started. Half of them black and half of them white(or any other two colours that can easily be distinguished) to represent bad outcomes and good outcomes, respectively.

All of the dice are rolled at once and organized in the middle of the table by die result. These results now dictate the available options that players have to choose from. In each Playset, there are four lists of things that will be central to the game: Relationships, Locations, Needs and Objects. The last three are referred to as Details and will be attached to a Relationship during setup. These lists are broken down into six general Categories, which are then further broken down into six specific Elements, each numbered from one to six. This is where that big pile of dice come in.

One die at a time, in turn order, each player will choose one from the central pool and then select a general Category or specific Element that has a number corresponding to the die result that they have chosen. The first Category that players must choose from is Relationships (Work, Friendship, Romance, etc.). Each player will have an index card or scrap paper for the player to their left and for the player to their right. They will be forming a relationship with each of these players, which will help to drive the narrative of the game. Once a general Category has been selected, players can now choose a specific Element for that Category.

Ex. Player One grabs a die with a result of six from the central pool. In the Playset they have chosen, Community is the sixth Category in the Relationships list. They decide they want to have a Community based relationship with the player to their left. Play then passes clockwise and Player Two must grab a die. They now have the option to choose a Category for the player to their left, which would be Player Three, or they can choose a specific Element of their Community Relationship with Player One because it was previously established. They choose a die result of four and pick the Sports Element for their Community Relationship with Player One.

Once all players have a Relationships Category and Element chosen, they are now free to choose a Detail. It is recommended that each player at least choose a Need for their character. Again, picking the general Category, then a specific Element. This continues until all dice have been grabbed from the central pool. The player who takes the last die gets to use it as any number, as it is considered to be wild.

Once the setup is finished, players should have a general idea of their character’s motivations and of the main plot of the game. This will definitely change and evolve over the course of play, so don’t worry about hammering out all of the details ahead of time. Now the dice can be pushed back into the centre of the table, their die results ignored and not needed for now.

Gameplay is broken down into two Acts, a Tilt and an Aftermath. Each Act is comprised of scenes. On a player’s turn, they can choose to Establish a scene, or they can Resolve a scene. If they choose to Establish, they decide the who, what and where, and the rest of the players will Resolve. If you choose to Resolve, the rest of the players will Establish. Resolving a scene determines if it ended positively or negatively for your character. At some point during the scene, whoever is to Resolve that scene will choose either a black or white die from the central pool and give it the active player. So choosing to Resolve can give you some control over how well the scene plays out for your character.

This die will come into play during the Aftermath and will influence whether your character gets to ride off into that proverbial sunset, or end up sleeping with the fishes. During Act one, the player who receives the die chooses another player to give it to. They can give this die to any player for any reason they choose. In Act two, the player receiving the die keeps it in front of them to use in the Aftermath. This is the only difference between Act One and Act Two. Play continues until each player has chosen to either Establish or Resolve two different scenes in a single Act.

After Act One comes the Tilt. The Tilt is designed to throw a wrench into the plot and ensure the game is en route to the titular “Fiasco” for all players. Just in case things were going swimmingly for your characters. Each player takes the Resolve dice, if any, from in front of them, giving them a roll. They then add up the total for their black dice, and the total for their white dice, subtracting the lower number from the higher number. This will result in either a black or white number.

Ex. Player one rolled two black dice for a total of eight, and one white die for a total of five. Their number would then be black three.

The player with the highest black total and the highest white total each get to choose the Tilt Elements. The remaining dice in the central pool are rolled, arranged by die results again, and these players choose in the same manner as the setup, first picking a general Category, then a specific Element.

Act two proceeds like Act one, with the exception of the noted rule change above. Once all players have played another set of two scenes each, the game is over and the Aftermath begins. There should be no remaining dice in the central pool, as each die represents one scene.

In the Aftermath, players roll the dice they accumulated in front of them and get their final colour number, the same way they did during the Tilt. This new colour number dictates the severity of their character’s outcome. They consult the Aftermath table in the game book and read the brief description of their fate. The higher the number, the better the outcome for your character. Finally, in turn order, each player discards one die and gives a brief description of their character doing something. Each die a player has in front of them will be one brief scene, like a montage. These described scenes will ultimately lead to the outcome your character rolled on the Aftermath table.

Once each player has discarded their final die, their character’s story has come to an end, for better or for worse, and the game is over.

I have a TON of fun playing both of these games. They do an amazing job of inspiring the players and giving them the tools to be outlandishly creative, like a good RPG should. But which one is better? Which one steps out of the ring victorious when put head to head? Personally, I give the nod to Fiasco. This isn’t due to any failings of Downfall whatsoever though, it goes the full twelve rounds baby, fighting to a split decision.

The easiest way to sum up my feelings about these two games is this, in RPG terms: Downfall is to Game Master as Fiasco is to Player Character. Downfall’s entire premise is to build this world(read: Haven) and to explore its inner workings and underlying problems. Sure, you need to populate your world with characters, but the way those characters are created are heavily influenced by the setting, The Hero of the Haven and their relationship with the Fallen and Pillar may drive the plot forward, but the setting is what drives the Hero. You end up with a cycle of influence that, once it gets going, starts spinning so quickly that you lose sight of where it started. After it peaks and starts to wind back down to the ultimate destruction of the Haven, the setting becomes the end, the Hero and character relationships, by default, move to the start.

Isn’t that what a good GM hopes for? Create an amazing, interactive world, introduce some PC’s, and watch as they get invested and start to care about it. To live in it.  To embody it. The setting having become a backdrop to their adventures, but still ever present in their actions and decisions.

Fiasco, on the other hand, is all about the PC’s. You may not even have a specific location chosen during setup. The relationships the players develop through die selection are the sole influence on the plot, it’s all interaction, all the time. You start the game with absolutely no idea where the story will go. It is seriously amazing how simply selecting a business relationship with the player to your right, later defined as being rival pager salesmen, can lead to a fight to the death in the local gay bar while your elderly widowed lover watches on in horror.

This leads me into the playstyle of both games. They tend to focus on different aspects of role-playing. Downfall leans towards a more narrative style, “the Hero sprints down an alley and successfully hides from the gang members” kind of thing. This works within the game because of the focus on every action having a consequence, as dictated by the Fallen. “Not finding the Hero, the gang gives up and finds somebody else to terrorize, robbing a corner store and shooting the store owner”.

In Fiasco, that same scene would have just been role-played by the players, whether or not the gang finds the guy hiding could be a result of the resolving player(s) handing out a black or white die. Each game is going for a different aesthetic and achieves the feel and flow of gameplay that they intended to.

Downfall looks more to the big picture, telling the overall story. It’s very interesting that you quickly realize the Flaw is like a fourth character in the game, it has it’s grubby hands in every pie. It’s this overarching, omniscient being that is entirely content in watching everything burn. Almost like the game is played through it’s eyes, as opposed to the Hero’s, hence the large scale feeling of gameplay.

Fiasco’s focus is zoomed right in, putting everything under the microscope. I’ve found that if you try to go too big picture in Fiasco, it just doesn’t land well. It plays best in that narrow field of vision. Again, this completely makes sense the way the game works. Each player only cares about achieving their character’s needs and trying to get the best outcome for themselves.

This is the reason I think Fiasco takes the belt. I just enjoy the straight up role-playing more than the narrative dictation. Don’t get me wrong, both games can played using either style, but I really don’t think you get the most out of each game unless playing the way they were intended. It’s funny though, many of the friends I’ve played Fiasco with agree, that the best part about playing it is re-telling the ridiculous plot to somebody who wasn’t there for the game. You’ll get funny looks and raised eyebrows, but you’ll just kill yourself laughing thinking about it. Every game is it’s own inside joke with the players who helped craft it. It’s so good.

Downfall is similar in that regard; the coolest part is telling somebody about the awesome, fleshed out, screwed up world that you’ve created. And if you’re somebody like me, I just have to expound upon it and take it somewhere. My mind races with the multitude of possible stories that could be told within it.

In the end, I am very happy to have both of these books/games in my collection. They each fill their own niche and form a sort of RPG staircase. Downfall’s narrative style makes it very accessible to non RPG players. So just find two groups of three to introduce to Downfall, then introduce them all to Fiasco, then badda bing badda boom, you’ve got a D&D adventuring party just waiting to be DM’d! Wait a second. . .why the hell aren’t I doing this RIGHT NOW?!! I gotta go!

 

L.

 

Patron Only Content – Write up of my latest Downfall play through coming soon!