RPGaDay 2023 # 17 FUNNIEST game you've played

Fiasco is a game that has a lot of comedy potential. Most of it is dark comedy, but one group I played it with went straight for the guffaws. My friend Jorden usually ran a variety of games using GURPS (which makes sense, since it was what I used a lot when I taught him how to game all those years ago). But after we lost touch and then reconnected, I was a slightly different person who liked to play games like Fiasco.

And one time, he let me break out Fiasco with his regular group. They had a blast, mostly because they treated it as an excuse to freeform roleplay. Which is fine. But Fiasco is something of a winnable game, with your performance over the course of play determining the final fate of your character in the Aftermath phase, which can be good or it can be absolutely horrible.

Then I invited my friend Alex to play and I finally met someone who plays Fiasco to win. On the one hand, this was pretty easy because everyone else was goofing off. On the other hand, it still requires the other players to buy into the BS that you're laying out. I think I only picked up on it because I've played Fiasco before in other contexts.

It did result in some gut-busting comedy such as a plan to put someone's "nethers to flame!" But there was also something of a secret joke between the two of us who understood the game.