Fiasco ditches dice for cards in the RPG’s second edition (but only if you want to)

The creator of crime caper RPG Fiasco has revealed how the game’s second edition plans to shake things up.

Writing in a blog post, Jason Morningstar said that the new version of Fiasco is currently codenamed ‘Fiasco in a Box’ as a result of the team’s efforts to further condense the tight roleplaying experience.

One of the most significant changes is the replacement of the first edition’s dice-driven gameplay with decks of cards. Instead of rolling on a table to determine a scenario’s ‘tilt’ – the major event that leads into the game’s second act – the revision uses a pack of cards with positive and negative outcomes earned during Act One, with tilt information on the reverse when they’re flipped.

The game’s playsets – the collection of locations and objects, as well as characters’ relationships and needs, that make up the basis of a scenario – have similarly been translated into a deck of cards, removing the need for players to write down as much during the course of play and speeding up the overall pace of the game.

Morningstar suggests that these decks will accompany a small booklet that replaces the first edition’s 128-page rulebook, with the whole set coming in a box rather than the traditional RPG paperback that’s designed to remove as many excess components as possible and make it easier for first-time players to jump into the game.

There’s also the suggestion that the new card-based format will allow players to customise their playthroughs by building playsets from various different decks.

It’s worth noting that Morningstar says that none of the changes are currently set in stone and will continue to be adjusted before the game is released, but do reflect the “broad outline” for Fiasco’s second edition.

Another important factor is the designer’s promise that the new game will be completely backward-compatible with the first edition, allowing players to continue to use dice and traditional playsets as before if they prefer. The game’s overarching structure remains untouched for the moment, sticking to a setup, two acts, the tilt and an aftermath – with individual epilogues from each player instead of character vignettes this time.

Fiasco: Second Edition remains a work-in-progress project with no set release date – it could be we’ll see a release in time for the RPG’s 10th anniversary next year.