This week we started playing Fiasco. I really enjoyed this game, even though it was a bit confusing at first. The most confusing part for me was setting up the game. I think this was because although the video and book tried to explain it well, the general categories being their own dice and each detail within those categories being another was hard to understand. Once we were set up however, I thought starting the scenes was the hardest part. This was difficult for me mainly because it required me to both think on the spot and instruct other people what to do without knowing if they were comfortable in the scene; we did tend to just place ourselves in the scene and either ask if people wanted to join us or clarify beforehand that this scene was something that needed to happen. I also think ending the scenes is a bit difficult, just because there may have been a certain way you wanted the scene to go but upon receiving the dice decision you would have to pivot and make something completely new up.

Although, I do think the setup of the scenes is how the game relates to leadership. Not only does it require you to make on the spot decisions, but you need to direct others on what to do at the beginning of the scene. I also think the entire game is a good indication of how leadership needs to be collaborative; if only one person was telling everyone else how to play the game it would continue to go in circles and the plot wouldn’t go anywhere. We also had a lot of input during the scenes by people both in and out of the scenes. For example, we were doing a flashback scene and realized the outcome wouldn’t have matched up with what we had previously acted out, so we each shared how we would direct the scene to account for the timeline. Likewise, the decision that needed to be made after the black or white dice was chosen also could relate to leadership. Many times when you’re in leadership positions something might not go exactly as you had planned and you need to change what you’re doing quickly and make up something completely different.

As previously mentioned, I really enjoyed this game, even though I was quite nervous at first. I’ve never played any roleplaying games before, so I was anxious about what would happen. I think the first thing that eased my nerves was the paper we filled out for what we did or didn’t want to happen. It made me feel much better that no one was going to do something I wouldn’t be comfortable within the game and that we were all on the same page. I think what I liked most about the game was that our group focused much more on having fun than anything else. Our game so far has taken place in a penguin colony in Antarctica which I think helped to set a moderately unserious tone in the game, as I know the gameplay could turn very serious quickly, and heard it doing so in other groups around us. For example, I think the most serious thing that happened during our entire game was that one of our favorite penguins started floating away into the sea. I also liked that the connections you have with people were predetermined and you didn’t have to try to make something up. One of my connections is that my character is a smuggler with another character, and being in a penguin colony kind of helped to determine what was going to happen with that. Another connection I have is the soul connection with someone who has a crashed helicopter, so it was pretty simple to figure out that my character was somehow going to rescue theirs from the helicopter. Overall I’ve really enjoyed where the game has gone so far and can’t wait to continue next week!