Fiasco games don’t usually have villains to all the characters. This isn’t D&D after all. But I felt it was worth bringing the Boss back for this scene to establish how Ash fits into the story. This came about mostly because of the relationship between Ash and Jay (Work: Both want that promotion); some sort of driving factor for this promotion just made sense here. The Boss also being Ash’s aunt will most likely cause further complications for the character and her ambitions. 

I knew this scene was meant to resolve well for Ash (white die), so I used the card “Misfortune Cookie” as a starting point for her story, and tried to build her up in a way that positions her well within the narrative. For now, anyways. The Boss gives her another chance—a real chance—by putting her in charge of this job. And while we, the readers, know that the Boss is suspecting someone to be rat, at least Ash feels like she’s finally stepping up to make something of herself. 

Another driving factor was her relationship with Bill, or rather their “Need to get away and start over.” Ash wanting a way out, a drastic change, a way to start over, almost had her quit her entire lifestyle, before the Boss swooped in and directed that Need in a more productive (for the Boss) direction.

I think there is something to be said about the Boss giving Ash this chance. After all, why would she trust such a train wreck of a person? Maybe the inspiration behind the Misfortune Cookie applies to the Boss just the same. She can’t keep bailing out her niece. And she really can’t have her niece just walk away, given all that she might know about the organization. Ash having a change of heart after causing so much damage puts the Boss in a less than ideal position. So she decides to try leveraging Ash’s ambition and lack of impulse control, steer it in a more manageable direction. 

Like I said before, if this was the real Fiasco game, Ash’s player wanted a white die to get a good ending for her first scene, but that meant the others were able to frame that scene. Starting her off at rock bottom is exactly the kind of thing that would have happened in a game of Fiasco. Even a good outcome is only good within the context of a terrible setup.

Ash has to give her well-earned white die to someone else in act 1, and it ain’t Bill. He just gave her a black die, so she has no choice but to give it to Jay for now. Who knows, maybe he’ll be a good partner after all. 

That brings the current dice count to:

• Bill: White 0, Black 0
• Ash: White 0, Black 1
• Jay: White 1, Black 0

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Next time, we will get introduced to Jay proper, and his scene will also end in a white die according to my highly sophisticated method of determining the resolution. (I roll a white and a black die, and whichever is higher is what I use, rerolling on a match.)

Let’s get a tease for the next card from the Writer Emergency Pack: 

#45: Hug The Crocodile

If you can’t beat them, love them.

A rather confused crocodile stands at a beach while being hugged by a colorful group of animals; fish, frog, birds, monkey, even a butterfly. 

Alright, well. Guess Jay will try to make friends in strange places or something. We’ll see what the exercises of this card will bring for his scene.