A three-person game of Fiasco has commenced, working with a variant called Freeasco that threw out the pre-made scenarios in favor of the players deciding the mechanics among themselves. The result was a scifi setting with Space Marines(tm) in Spaaaaaaace. The players in question were The Commander, with a background as a geneticist and a vision to destory the ship/planet/human race/whatever, The Lieutenant, who is privy to the Commander's visions of destruction, and The Medic, who is receiving experimental genetic enhancements from the commander in order to become a superior solder.

The Hook: A military vessel is traveling through space when it receives a strange and incomplete distress call from an unknown source. The crew investigates.

As we approach the source of the distress signal, we learn the motives of the characters. The Medic wants to be a superior soldier, the Lieutenant is suspicious of the Medic's motives, and the Commander wields all the power, but for what goal? As the ship approaches the planet with the downed vessel, a small landing crew is formed with the Lieutenant, the Medic, and a couple of generic space marines while the Commander stays on board with the rest of the crew. The landing party discovers a wasteland with an atmosphere that is habitable for humans, but no sign of civilization. On the trek to the downed ship, the landing party encounters and kill hostile aliens of some sort. Some kind of human-hybrid type of creature and lots of spookiness.

Upon reaching the downed vessel, it seems abandoned at first glance. Lots of dark hallways and creepiness. The party splits into two groups: the Lieutenant and some marines head to the Bridge while the Medic and the remaining marines head to the armory. The Medic and others encounter additional hostile hybrids and hastily solve the problem. The Lieutenant finds old ship logs detailing how the crewmembers upon the downed ship were the subjects of genetic engineering. What does the Commander know about this and what does this mean for our Medic receiving genetic modifications as well?

The endgame action leads to all characters in the story in the final room. The Commander reveals his hand in genetic experimentation to create a super soldier prone to explosive and uncontrolled violence, the Medic is flipping out over the situation and his inevitable mutation into a hybrid monster, and the Lieutenant is keeping a cool head. As the action fades, we learn the Commander had his former lover onboard the fallen spacecraft to apply the genetic modification to the crewmembers, the Medic seeks retaliation on the Commander, the Lieutenant shoots the Medic in an act of self-defense, and the Commander reveals that many of the current crewmembers, including himself, have received genetic modification as well but have not yet mutated.

The epilogue sees the Medic attempting, and failing, to destroy all ships and traces of the experiment before it leads to catastophe around the galaxy, the Commander fleeing the planet in an escape pod, and the Lieutenant leading a human crew to wipe out the mutated and soon-to-be mutated humans before a killing spree occurs. As the curtain closes, the Commander takes his life before he allows his own experimentation to continue, the Lieutenant and the human space marines remain stranded on the planet, and the Medic has fled into the wilderness, completely mutating into an alien form and remaining the last result of dangerous genetic modification.

Thanks for the great write-up Davis!

I thought it was an awesomely moody game--a nice serious tone throughout. We talked about how having a fourth player might have altered the energy of the game--allowing for lighter scenes and the such. I also realized that we didn't have any really personal relationships between characters. A love or friendship relationship would have seriously changed the dynamic, maybe for the better, maybe for worse.

In any case, I had a wonderful time! Thanks for the sweet game!

I'm curious about the Fiasco hack y'all used; is it available anywhere?

The rules are vaguely outlined in this post: http://www.storygamesseattle.com/boards/thread/13501841/10/­

Basically all you do is discuss what kind of game you want (setting and tone) then you have everyone write 2 relationships, 2 needs, 1 object, and 1 location. All those things should be at the 'specific' level in Fiasco. Put the relationships in a hat and draw those first. You can veto.

Then draw needs, making sure each player has at least 1 need between them. If you have 3-4 players that would be 2 needs, 5 players would be 3 needs. Then do objects and locations mixed together.

And voila! You can have any playset--instantly customized for your freeasco fun :)