Fiasco pt. 2: Alison Haislip, Bonnie Burton, and John Rogers join Wil on TableTop

Previously on TableTop, we began a fiasco. Marty Spano’s an up and coming film director on his way to Hollywood. He wants to take Lily Anastasia with him. And to get there, he’s stealing heroin from the Russian mob. Betty and Eddie are divorced, and neither one of them likes it.

Betty wants to get out of her terrible life to go anywhere that isn’t here. Lily Anastasia is the starlet who made Eddie’s club, the club Glamorous, into the hot place to be.

But now, she’s looking for Tinseltown. And when she’s gone, so are Eddie’s dreams of success. Or are they?

Eddie thinks an insurance fire will solve all of his problems. Until Marty shows up on Saturday night with his ex-wife Betty who he’s still in love with. The charges are set, the club is packed, and something terrible is about to happen in New York on Saturday Night 78. This is a fiasco. If you missed Part 1 of Fiasco and have no idea how this game works, well, you’re going to love what you’re about to see next.

Fiasco lets players tell stories that exist at the darkly comic intersection of lust, greed, and fear. Now, unlike traditional role playing games where dice are only rolled for combat, the dice in Fiasco are used to establish relationships, needs, and the objects and locations that are important to us. Fiasco is a story told in two acts. In Act 1, we will all make a bunch of very big plans. Then at the end of Act 1, we will roll on the Tilt Table.

The Tilt Table introduces two unexpected elements that are going to really mess with all of us. In Act 2, we will watch our plans slowly and surely unravel. Then, at the very end, we will roll on the Aftermath Table to find out exactly how badly things went for our characters.

Today, we are playing a Fiasco play set that I co-wrote with Will Hindmarch and Jason Morningstar. It’s called Saturday Night 78.

This is a time of rock and disco, of reckless hedonism and casual sex, a time before there were consequences. Oh yes, this is going to be one hell of a fiasco. JOHN ROGERS: My name is John Rogers. I am a screenwriter. I currently run the TV show Leverage on TNT.

BONNIE BURTON: My name is Bonnie Burton, and I’m a writer. Primarily I do nonfiction kids books, including the Star Wars Craft Book.

ALISON HAISLIP: I’m Alison Haislip. I’m an actor. I’m currently on Hulu’s first original series, Battleground.

WIL WHEATON: These dice let us know how many good things and bad things are going to happen to us in the second act. There will be two scenes where a good thing happens. There will be six scenes where a bad thing happens. So things are going to go very, very badly. ALISON HAISLIP: Dun, dun, dun.

Does Fiasco come with a theme song? It just did. WIL WHEATON: John, you are in the spotlight. JOHN ROGERS: You know where the fire has to start in order not to look rigged? It has to start at the bar.

WIL WHEATON: Yeah. JOHN ROGERS: Because that’s where the booze is and the lights are. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. JOHN ROGERS: So we’re going to start with him coming down. And what he has to do, though– his goal is to get Betty out of the club.

ALISON HAISLIP: Oh.

JOHN ROGERS: Because he’s going to be– ALISON HAISLIP: Because Eddie loves Betty. JOHN ROGERS: Because he’s come down. He’s planting the bomb, and he realizes that Lily trumps him. And he sees her dancing in the dress.

BONNIE BURTON: I’m learning from John quite a bit. I feel like he’s the Yoda of Fiasco. So I’m just trying to figure out what he’s going to say next and hope that I can counter it with something even better to impress him.

But he’s definitely teaching me a lot in this game. JOHN ROGERS: He’s rigged the timers in the rest of the place.

So he can’t stop it. It’s going to burn. This is just the initiator. WIL WHEATON: Yeah, OK. ALISON HAISLIP: So I’m dancing?

JOHN ROGERS: Yep. ALISON HAISLIP: Dead eyes? JOHN ROGERS: Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. BONNIE BURTON: Oh, they sparkle. JOHN ROGERS: Oh, the sparkle.

ALISON HAISLIP: Sparkle tonight. JOHN ROGERS: What’s the song? What’s the perfect– BONNIE BURTON: Oh. ALISON HAISLIP: What’s that one that Beyonce covered– “Love to Love You, Baby”? JOHN ROGERS: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So he comes down and then it would be the slow pan over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. So it’s like one of those very sultry, like Donna Summer songs. ALISON HAISLIP: Can you see the lights reflecting in the back of my hair?

JOHN ROGERS: What happens is he goes to the bar. He tells the bartender, move over. He’s got the little box with the detonator and stuff in it. The entire bar is lined up. And he hears “Love to Love You,” and he assumes it’s Lily dancing, because everyone’s clapping and going nuts.

And he looks up, and it’s Betty.

And he looks down, and he thinks about the whole room. He grabs her by the wrist and pulls her over. It’s like, what are you doing? ALISON HAISLIP: Dancing, Eddie.

What do you think I’m doing? JOHN ROGERS: You’re not supposed to be. That’s Lily’s job. ALISON HAISLIP: Yeah, well, gues what? Lily’s leaving.

And you know who’s taking over now? Me. JOHN ROGERS: Nobody’s taking over. You mean, with me? ALISON HAISLIP: Yeah.

I’m going to be your new star. What do you think about that, Eddie? Hm? JOHN ROGERS: I think first of all, you shouldn’t have told me that just for no reason. And dancing like that in that dress, I mean– ALISON HAISLIP: You never gave me a shot, Eddie.

You never gave me a shot. While we were married, the whole time you never gave me a single shot. And guess who did? Lily. Lily gave me a shot.

Why? Because she actually likes me. She actually cares. You know why she broke up our marriage? To get me out of a [BLEEP] relationship with you.

JOHN ROGERS: Oh, she did? ALISON HAISLIP: Yeah. JOHN ROGERS: Is that what Lily did? And that’s why you’re in that dress dancing tonight right now at this particular moment? ALISON HAISLIP: Exactly.

I am showing you what I’ve got, Eddie. I’m showing you what you missed out. JOHN ROGERS: I will tell you right now– ALISON HAISLIP: I’m your new star. JOHN ROGERS: All right, baby. Leave the club, and we’ll talk about this.

ALISON HAISLIP: Eddie, no. JOHN ROGERS: Just leave. Leave the club. ALISON HAISLIP: This is my night, Eddie. I’m not going anywhere.

If Lily tells you to leave the club, will you leave the club? ALISON HAISLIP: No, I am dancing tonight. There’s no way Lily’s telling me to leave the club. She’s the reason I’m here. JOHN ROGERS: All right.

Just don’t do anything bad. I got to– ALISON HAISLIP: I was born bad, baby. I was born bad.

JOHN ROGERS: I know, baby. And that’s why I love you.

But this is a very bad night for this. ALISON HAISLIP: You love me, Eddie? WIL WHEATON: Oh. And he doesn’t hear her say it. He runs away.

And the camera stays on her disco ball, like shooting shafts of light through the smoke. ALISON HAISLIP: And I start dancing. WIL WHEATON: And she says, you love me, Eddie? Oh, God, it’s so sad. It’s so awful.

JOHN ROGERS: You are, you’re feasting on the tragedy here. WIL WHEATON: Oh, man. It tastes so delicious! ALISON HAISLIP: Betty is [BLEEP]. JOHN ROGERS: Alison was the one who made that scene.

The little, you love me, as Eddie walked away was just perfect. WIL WHEATON: So now you keep your die, because it is the second half– JOHN ROGERS: Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that’s not how he wanted it to go. WIL WHEATON: You gave me the red die. Yeah, he didn’t want that.

ALISON HAISLIP: Not at all. WIL WHEATON: Then he wanted her to say, yeah, I’m leaving. OK, so I think that just happens.

Betty now is in a totally new mindset knowing that he loves her still. So Marty comes up to me to start enacting the plan, and Betty starts having second thoughts.

Does she really want to steal from this man that now loves her? JOHN ROGERS: So this really could go either way, whether he convinces you or not? ALISON HAISLIP: Yeah. JOHN ROGERS: All right, nice. ALISON HAISLIP: Yep.

WIL WHEATON: OK. ALISON HAISLIP: So I’m dancing and looking at Eddie running off. WIL WHEATON: Hey, why aren’t you out there dancing on the dance floor? ALISON HAISLIP: Marty, I don’t know if I can do this anymore.

WIL WHEATON: What?

ALISON HAISLIP: I don’t know. It just feels so wrong. It feels so wrong, Marty. WIL WHEATON: Come here. Grabs her and he pulls her over to the thing.

And he pulls– ALISON HAISLIP: Ah. WIL WHEATON: Then he brings her some coke out of his thing. ALISON HAISLIP: Marty, that’s not really my game. WIL WHEATON: Yeah, I know, honey. But you just a need little courage.

You just need to get going. ALISON HAISLIP: Really? WIL WHEATON: You need to get out there? ALISON HAISLIP: Really? WIL WHEATON: Yeah, come on.

ALISON HAISLIP: I haven’t done this in ages. WIL WHEATON: You just got to go. You just need a little– you got to just get your mind out of your way. ALISON HAISLIP: But Eddie loves me, Marty. Eddie love me.

I don’t think I can do this anymore. WIL WHEATON: Eddie doesn’t love you. Eddie loves this club. ALISON HAISLIP: He does? WIL WHEATON: That’s all that he loves.

It’s all that he ever loved. ALISON HAISLIP: It all makes so much more sense. OK, fine, Eddie. Fine. I mean, Marty.

Who are you? Marty. Fine. How do I do this? Ah!

All right, let’s do this, Marty! Was that badly for me? [INTERPOSING VOICES] WIL WHEATON: Very badly for you. Yeah. That ended very badly for you.

All right, so she goes out and she’s dancing. ALISON HAISLIP: I’m ready. BONNIE BURTON: Faster. Dance a little faster. WIL WHEATON: Yeah.

ALISON HAISLIP: I would by no means call myself a professionally trained dancer. But I got moves on the dance floor. Not those moves. JOHN ROGERS: So all eyes– WIL WHEATON: Everybody is set on her. BONNIE BURTON: Shimmer, shimmer, shimmer.

WIL WHEATON: Yeah, yeah. Someone is actually having one of those Pokemon seizures from the lights.

So help me out with this a little bit. He is upstairs. Here’s the way that I see the upstairs.

This is three floors. The bottom floor is the main part of the club. So this is actually because it’s above a thing. So the second floor is the club. The third floor, it’s slightly more low key.

But the fourth floor, that’s like the VIP lounge area thing.

JOHN ROGERS: You know what he did? He carved out one-way glass so it looks like mirrors. But it’s so you can watch the dance floor up on the fourth floor. And so everybody in those rooms– WIL WHEATON: Is watching her up in the thing.

Yeah. JOHN ROGERS: That’s disturbing. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. That’s great. It’s little details that matter.

John making one-way mirrors in the VIP room that look down into the dance floor– genius. JOHN ROGERS: All their back are to those doors. WIL WHEATON: That’s terrific. So this is Marty at the top of the stairs with Lily. What are you doing up here?

You got me up. You’re supposed to be gone. Why are you here? BONNIE BURTON: Marty, you can’t just walk into a room full of Russians. I need to talk– WIL WHEATON: Shh, they’re all looking at Betty.

Come on. You’re wasting my time. BONNIE BURTON: I need to make sure that they know you’re coming through the door.

Cute girl on the dance floor or not, they’re going to kill you. So I need to let them know you’re coming up just for some recreation.

WIL WHEATON: Look, I’m on the list. I’m on the list. I’m fine. He sort of tries to push past her. BONNIE BURTON: Really, Marty?

This is how you’re going to play it? You’re just going to walk into a room full of mobsters and just say, hey, I’m here? WIL WHEATON: Yeah.

I’m going to walk into a room full of mobsters that don’t know I’m there, because they’re very busy watching Betty put on the dance of the century down on the dance floor. And you’re wasting my time and getting in my way.

And I’m really getting tired of it. And I’ve had enough of you. And he pushes her against the wall and goes into the room. BONNIE BURTON: All right, Marty. Just keep in mind, not all mobsters care about females.

I let Marty think he’s pushing me around. But, I mean, it’s kind of like when you’re playing chess. It’s not that you’re trying to figure out what your player is going to do next.

It’s you do a play to make them think they’re in control, so then you can stomp them later. WIL WHEATON: So it’s like Marty’s in the foreground walking across to pick up like a briefcase and like a medical kind of satchel sort of thing.

JOHN ROGERS: Yes. ALISON HAISLIP: Because that’s where mobsters keep their coke. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. Well, in this version they do. JOHN ROGERS: In the 1970s, yeah.

ALISON HAISLIP: No more violin cases. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. And then everybody is just at those windows. And they’re watching her, and that’s the end of the scene. JOHN ROGERS: Great.

WIL WHEATON: If you choose to resolve, you can take the last white die. And that means that you’re only going to get one red die. Which means that then we all know that Lily kind of wins. BONNIE BURTON: Yeah. I don’t want to just make this about everything works out for Lily in the end, because that’s not how things work out in general.

JOHN ROGERS: She really is the horrible spider at the center of this. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. I mean, she really– BONNIE BURTON: Yeah, OK. So I want definitely resolve. WIL WHEATON: OK.

So now we’ve got to figure out what happens for her. JOHN ROGERS: I don’t know what she’s up to, but I know what Eddie’s agenda is. So if you play her agenda, I can play back to you. BONNIE BURTON: OK. JOHN ROGERS: So they meet on the stairs.

WIL WHEATON: All right. JOHN ROGERS: He’s running upstairs. He’s running around. You have no idea where he’s going. He’s putting stuff in a bag.

He’s like Lily, what did you do with Betty? BONNIE BURTON: What do you mean what did I do with Betty? Betty’s following her dreams.

Betty’s doing what she needs to do. She’s a star.

She needs to be treated like a star. JOHN ROGERS: You psychotic [BLEEP]. I need you to listen to me like you’ve never listened to me before. Go get Betty. Talk to her however the hell you want to talk to her, and get her out of this club right now.

I will do anything you want, but you need to get her out of this club in the next 3 and 1/2 minutes.

BONNIE BURTON: What [BLEEP] you, Eddie? What do you got going on? JOHN ROGERS: There’s just– where’s Marty? Did Marty come upstairs yet?

BONNIE BURTON: Marty’s having borscht with the Russians. JOHN ROGERS: That actually doesn’t work out so bad. OK. Just do me this, OK, Lily? Whatever you do, get Betty out of here in the next 2 and 1/2 minutes.

BONNIE BURTON: If I get Betty out of here– JOHN ROGERS: Oh, I keep it in the DJ booth. Go to the DJ booth, and get the key to the fire door.

BONNIE BURTON: The fire door? JOHN ROGERS: Yes. Get Betty out the back of the building.

BONNIE BURTON: OK. When I take Betty out in the back of the building, I’m taking her out of your life, too. All the way out. All the way out, Eddie. JOHN ROGERS: Wait, wait, wait.

Why are you so wrapped up in Betty? BONNIE BURTON: Why do you care so much? I thought there was something going on in a couple minutes. Tick tock, tick tock, Eddie. Make a decision.

Either we stay at the club and she becomes a star in more ways than one, or she leaves with me and she becomes my star. JOHN ROGERS: Get her out of the club. BONNIE BURTON: You promise me, Eddie? JOHN ROGERS: I promise. Just get her out of the club.

He goes upstairs. BONNIE BURTON: You got it. JOHN ROGERS: She got it. She won. WIL WHEATON: Oh, man.

She totally won. JOHN ROGERS: Eddie’s just not as smart as he thinks he is. And if there’s a greater tragedy for any character in fiction, I don’t know what that is.

So that was a really great scene. That was Eddie signing not his doom, but Betty’s doom at that moment.

WIL WHEATON: Oh, wow. JOHN ROGERS: Man, you’re a monster. WIL WHEATON: You are terrible. You’re such a horrible person. BONNIE BURTON: We’re going to have take pictures of me petting puppies after this.

WIL WHEATON: Oh, boy. ALISON HAISLIP: Man. WIL WHEATON: Listen, if you want to click over and watch some kitten videos now, we totally understand. JOHN ROGERS: He’s going up to make sure Marty doesn’t get out of this club, because he needs a fall guy. So he’s looking for Marty.

WIL WHEATON: All right. ALISON HAISLIP: So are you sacrificing yourself? JOHN ROGERS: No. I plan on getting out of here. But I need to make sure that I get as much– I promised the mob money.

I need to go up and grab what Marty’s trying to grab, which is that briefcase full of heroin, because that’ll clear me.

BONNIE BURTON: Heavy briefcase full of heroin. JOHN ROGERS: Heavy. Very heavy. Well, he’s not dumb enough to think he’s going to take the whole thing.

He’s going to grab two cases, and he’s going to get the hell out of Dodge. That’s why the stuff he’s packing, he’s actually got the sawed-off shotgun that he keeps to keep robbers away from the club under the coat. So he’s basically going up to find the drugs and make sure Marty’s up there and Marty ain’t leaving. All right, coming up the stairs with two different agendas, which is exactly what you want in Fiasco. Except I know how this goes for me.

Marty, I thought we were going to have a chat? WIL WHEATON: I’m glad you’re here, Eddie. JOHN ROGERS: Marty, what are you doing? Those aren’t your bags, Marty.

WIL WHEATON: You know, listen.

There’s a couple of guys up here. They just asked me if I would take these down to the coat room. Let’s go to your office and have that talk. JOHN ROGERS: Yeah, Marty. Let’s go to the office and have that talk.

Why don’t you bring those bags to my office? WIL WHEATON: All right. JOHN ROGERS: Yeah, exactly. WIL WHEATON: OK. All right, down the stairs.

Cut to the office. JOHN ROGERS: It’s the office. Marty, this is what I need you to do. I need you to sit down in that chair. And I need you– WIL WHEATON: What the [BLEEP] Eddie?

JOHN ROGERS: I need you– what the [BLEEP]? What the [BLEEP]? I’m getting even with you for taking my star away.

Apparently, I didn’t even know you knew Betty, which is totally out of line. You should pay attention to one woman or the other.

And I’m pretty sure you’re stealing from my client. So I need you to sit down in that chair and take out some of that electrician’s tape and tape your left wrist to the chair. WIL WHEATON: Eddie, listen to me. Listen to me. I have enough heroin in these cases to take care of both of us.

It doesn’t got to go down like this, man. It doesn’t got to go down like this, Eddie. This is really easy. Listen. Take one.

I don’t care. Take one, and I’m gone. You want Betty? Keep Betty. I don’t care.

You want Anastasia? Pick one. You got the gun, you’re in charge. You’re the boss. JOHN ROGERS: You know what?

You know what, Marty? That is a really good offer.

And it shows that you’re a lot smarter than I thought you were. It would have worked if you hadn’t brought Betty to the club. That’s when he moves in with the gun, but he’s got a bad resolve.

So what happens? ALISON HAISLIP: Marty clocks him. JOHN ROGERS: With the heroin? Or [BOOM]? BONNIE BURTON: Does someone come into the room, or you want to keep it just between you two?

Or yeah, does the fire start? JOHN ROGERS: Just as he’s about to– WIL WHEATON: Just as he’s moving in– JOHN ROGERS: To shoot Marty in the face– WIL WHEATON: –the fire alarm goes off.

JOHN ROGERS: Everything starts to blow. BONNIE BURTON: There you go. JOHN ROGERS: Just [BOOM], [BOOM], [BOOM], [BOOM].

BONNIE BURTON: There you go. JOHN ROGERS: Flames everywhere. He’s forgotten there’s a detonation charge in the room next. Wood, shrapnel all around him. And there’s smoke and fire everywhere.

So his bad resolve is he doesn’t get to kill Marty. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. ALISON HAISLIP: They’re also stuck in the fire. WIL WHEATON: And also he’s trapped in a club that’s now on fire. ALISON HAISLIP: Yes.

JOHN ROGERS: With Marty.

So who knows? WIL WHEATON: Yeah. JOHN ROGERS: Oh, that’s starting to line up not great for me. WIL WHEATON: Yeah.

It’s also looking really bad for me. At this point, we only have red dice left. So things are going to go bad for absolutely everybody. I’ve got the briefcases in my hand. And I don’t know, is getting out that door really good for me?

Or is getting out that door with maybe the Russian mob on my tail really not good for me? ALISON HAISLIP: So then I think where that leaves us, you’ve come up to me on the dance floor and– JOHN ROGERS: You’re also the only one who, in theory, knows where the key is. BONNIE BURTON: Yes, which is DJ– WIL WHEATON: It’s in the DJ booth. BONNIE BURTON: It’s in the DJ booth. So I know where.

So I just have to convince you.

But whether or not you want to come with me– ALISON HAISLIP: Right. BONNIE BURTON: –that’s up to you. ALISON HAISLIP: Right. WIL WHEATON: And now it’s absolute chaos– ALISON HAISLIP: And I’m also on coke.

WIL WHEATON: –on the dance floor. BONNIE BURTON: I think Lily wants to save Betty. But only if it means she gets Betty completely. The last thing you want to do is save someone who’s still hung up on another person. JOHN ROGERS: Roll the timeline back.

BONNIE BURTON: Oh, right. OK. JOHN ROGERS: Roll the timeline back 45 seconds ALISON HAISLIP: Yes, before the explosion.

JOHN ROGERS: To right before the explosion. WIL WHEATON: Yes.

JOHN ROGERS: So the resolution of the scene is the blow. So all the scenes resolve on the blow. WIL WHEATON: Yeah. Great. BONNIE BURTON: Good idea.

Awesome. WIL WHEATON: Great, great, great. BONNIE BURTON: Thinking like a writer. WIL WHEATON: Yeah, that’s terrific. That’s a great idea.

ALISON HAISLIP: And this has to end poorly for me. WIL WHEATON: See you guys down on the dance floor. Go. ALISON HAISLIP: Lily, I feel so good. I feel so good, Lily.

You’re so right, I was meant to be a star. BONNIE BURTON: Betty, you’re going to be a star, but we need to get you out of this club, because I think you might be– ALISON HAISLIP: I can’t leave.

This is my night. This is my night, Lily. BONNIE BURTON: You will blow up, but I don’t want you to blow up here.

ALISON HAISLIP: What? BONNIE BURTON: You need to come with me, I think. ALISON HAISLIP: Where are we going to go? Do you have another dress for me, because this dress is amazing. BONNIE BURTON: As a matter of fact, yeah.

I think we need to go to the DJ booth real quick. We’re going to have a little breather outside. I got some plans for you. You got to hear me out on this. ALISON HAISLIP: Got it.

Yep, DJ booth. Play some better music. BONNIE BURTON: Let’s go. ALISON HAISLIP: Let’s go. BONNIE BURTON: All right, dragging her to the DJ booth.

Leaving a trail of sequins, because she’s dancing frantically no matter what. Fling, fling, fling. People are going, oh, don’t leave the dance floor. We love you. Reach underneath.

Can’t– still trying to find– WIL WHEATON: The DJ’s like this. Hey, what the [BLEEP]? JOHN ROGERS: Yeah. The eight tracks are mixing around in there.

ALISON HAISLIP: Lily, did I tell you that Eddie said he loves me?

WIL WHEATON: Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom. BONNIE BURTON: There we go. And you believed him? ALISON HAISLIP: They got great special effects at this place. BONNIE BURTON: So I’m dragging you with the key, and we’re headed towards the door.

JOHN ROGERS: And the explosions hit. ALISON HAISLIP: Oh, that wasn’t the explosion? JOHN ROGERS: And that’s a bad resolve. ALISON HAISLIP: Oh, yeah. JOHN ROGERS: That’s a bad resolve.

WIL WHEATON: Yeah, that’s a bad resolve. BONNIE BURTON: That’s a bad resolve. ALISON HAISLIP: Explosion happens, and I get blown away from you, so we don’t know what happens. BONNIE BURTON: Everything falling– timber, drag queens, whatever– on fire. JOHN ROGERS: Performing with other people who are also kind of spinning it out and constrained by the vote of the die, that’s what’s really interesting.

I think Alison and Bonnie in particular just so found great, honest performance moments in the game. WIL WHEATON: I’m going to let you guys establish. JOHN ROGERS: Where do we find Marty? ALISON HAISLIP: Well, I think maybe he is up and running through the chaos.

And he runs into one of us, like we’ve obviously been separated somehow.

Whether we’re injured, or hurt, or what. But which one of us would be– JOHN ROGERS: Lily. BONNIE BURTON: You mean Marty running into me or you running into me? JOHN ROGERS: No, Marty. Marty is this close to getting away, and Lily is what’s between him and the outside of this building as the thing is on fire.

BONNIE BURTON: Yeah.

All right. JOHN ROGERS: The main three rules of all storytelling– who wants what, why can’t they have it, and why do I give a [BLEEP]? And what Fiasco teaches you is to ask those questions in every scene. And if you do that, as a writer, you’ll do better.

Oh, but he shot you. WIL WHEATON: Of course. JOHN ROGERS: He shot. He managed to get a shot off before the office collapsed. WIL WHEATON: Yeah.

And with a sawed-off shotgun at close range. But it’s got to hit him in a place that hurts like [BLEEP], but doesn’t kill him. JOHN ROGERS: Like right in the thigh. His leg’s all torn up, so he’s limping. [BLEEP] on fire.

Russians are screaming. WIL WHEATON: So Marty’s limping. And he still has one thing of heroin. And he’s limping down. Lily, we got to go.

Lily, we got to go. BONNIE BURTON: What’s in the case there, Marty? WIL WHEATON: Our future, baby. Let’s go. We’ve got to keep moving.

Just stay with me. Let’s keep moving. There’s people just running, all screaming. and fighting, Russians shouting upstairs. Guns going off.

Glass breaking. BONNIE BURTON: I thought I was your future, Marty. What’s in the suitcase, Marty? WIL WHEATON: Come on, honey. We can have this fight in the airport on our way to Hollywood.

But we got to go. We got to go right now. BONNIE BURTON: Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re not both going to the same place, if you’re not going to be honest with what’s in the case. Tell it. Spill it.

What’s going on? What’s in the case? WIL WHEATON: It’s everything we need. It’s a ’78 appropriate amount of heroin that’s worth a lot of money that fits in a briefcase of exactly this size. I’m not quite sure what that is.

I’ve been shot. JOHN ROGERS: I am a newly minted gangster. WIL WHEATON: And I’m a newly minted gangster. I’m shot. I’m confused.

And he drops it. He just drops it. Because he looks, right? And he sees the crowd parts just a little bit.

So he just drops it.

And like a coward, just limp/runs crashing into the thing. He’s knocking people down. One of the things I love about Fiasco is that there really isn’t a winner. Everybody loses together. There’s just various degrees of losing.

He sort of falls down out of frame, and you see Lily framed by the flames of the building behind her, reaching down to pick up the suitcase.

And she has the fire escape key in the other hand. BONNIE BURTON: Dasvidaniya, Marty. Dasvidaniya. JOHN ROGERS: It’s your scene, and you have a bad resolve.

BONNIE BURTON: So what’s your scene? BONNIE BURTON: I think it’s a choice I have to make to either save you, save the heroin, get the hell out. And I think what’s happening is– WIL WHEATON: Well, you’ve got two precious things, and one of them is going to be on fire.

Go. ALISON HAISLIP: Oh.

BONNIE BURTON: OK. So did something already fall on you, or are you just still dancing? ALISON HAISLIP: No, I think I’m– JOHN ROGERS: She’s in the crowd. ALISON HAISLIP: I’m hurt and down. BONNIE BURTON: She’s hurt, down, surrounded by flames.

Everyone’s on fire. And I look to the exit, look to you, look to the exit, look to you. Dammit. Betty, come on, let’s go. I’m grabbing your arm.

Let’s go. ALISON HAISLIP: Lily, whats going on? It’s so hot in here. BONNIE BURTON: You need to come with me. We’re going to go to Hollywood and start a new life.

ALISON HAISLIP: Hollywood? I’m going to Hollywood? It’s happening? BONNIE BURTON: But I need to know something. I need to know something bad if we’re going to be like this.

ALISON HAISLIP: What is it, Lily? BONNIE BURTON: Do you still love Eddie? ALISON HAISLIP: With all my heart. BONNIE BURTON: Bye, Betty. WIL WHEATON: Oh, no.

ALISON HAISLIP: That was so sad.

WIL WHEATON: Oh, no. BONNIE BURTON: And I turn around. You could have been the star. You could have been the star in a movie.

But you could have been the star in my movie , in my life. But you’re fired. ALISON HAISLIP: It’s so bright. It’s just so bright in here. WIL WHEATON: And then, so the last scene of this thing is outside.

It’s stock footage of the building on fire. JOHN ROGERS: No, it’s stock footage of the wide establishing. But then what you got is people screaming, people on fire, people running out.

And the only person walking calmly through them is Lily with the suitcase. BONNIE BURTON: There’s that great quote that the only way to predict the future is to create it.

And I think she created a lot of circumstances for those characters to fall into. JOHN ROGERS: So how do we resolve? WIL WHEATON: But, that’s OK. JOHN ROGERS: So we left everybody. You disappeared in the crowd and during the fires.

You were left behind by Lily in the flames. ALISON HAISLIP: Yep, I’m probably on fire. JOHN ROGERS: I’m probably buried in my office or something like that. We don’t know. WIL WHEATON: Now we do the Aftermath.

Now, this is the way we do the Aftermath. Each die in front of us is one little scene in a montage. We narrate what happens using these dice. Some people play Fiasco where the white dice are sort of a good thing that’s happening in their aftermath, and then the red dice are a bad thing that’s happening in their aftermath. So we can decide if we want to do it that way.

I think it kind of makes it more fun. It forces us to be a little bit– JOHN ROGERS: It’s more of a challenge. WIL WHEATON: –more creative. But remember, we have to stick with– JOHN ROGERS: The worst thing in the universe. WIL WHEATON: –what we got.

So John’s is the worst thing in the universe. Alison’s is dreadful. Mine is brutal. And Bonnie’s is fan-[BLEEP]-tastic. BONNIE BURTON: Awesome.

WIL WHEATON: OK. I think we should start with Lily, because we saw her walking out of the club. So go ahead. And the way you do it is this is Lily something. And you put it in– JOHN ROGERS: Lily doing this.

Going there, something like that. BONNIE BURTON: OK. So Is it directly right after the scene, yeah? WIL WHEATON: It can be. It’s a montage.

JOHN ROGERS: Montage. So it can be much later, or just the next day, or whatever you want to start.

BONNIE BURTON: OK. So Lily’s looking nice. She’s dressed out in the most fashionable clothes money can buy.

And she’s headed back to the strip club that you started at with a very nice briefcase that we’ve all seen before. And she goes up to the head office and gives the heroin briefcase to the head of that club and gets her money back. Nice doing business with you. This all worked out according to plan. WIL WHEATON: OK, so that’s one scene in Lily’s aftermath.

BONNIE BURTON: Yeah. WIL WHEATON: OK. JOHN ROGERS: So what’s his again? The worst. WIL WHEATON: The worst thing in the universe.

JOHN ROGERS: But one good scene. Eddie, horribly burned, broken arm, struggles free from the wreckage and manages to stumble downstairs, even as the Russians scream his name. Because he knows he can find his girl who’s somewhere down on that dance floor. And he’s going to go get her.

ALISON HAISLIP: This is going to be awful.

WIL WHEATON: All right. Go ahead, Betty. Go ahead, Betty. ALISON HAISLIP: All right, Betty, still lying on the ground with people and chaos all around her. Her dress catches fire, and we realize that this dress that Lily made for her is completely made out of polyester and highly flammable.

WIL WHEATON: Oh, no. OK. The last time we saw Marty, he fell out of frame.

This is a continuation of that shot. We cut to– we’re on high sticks.

Marty falls into frame on top of a person. And he’s still bleeding. And he pushes that person down and steps on them as he pushes out through the doors of the club. BONNIE BURTON: I’m on the phone with Bob Evans talking about a great heist movie idea I’ve got going on. And I describe all of the characters of Eddie and Betty and Marty, and who I want them to play.

And I was like, I just want to make sure that I get co-producer role on this, not just starlet.

I want the money to come in. And Bob’s like, that’s a great idea. I wish I’d thought of it. I said, baby, I lived it.

WIL WHEATON: Ah. OK. JOHN ROGERS: I’m going to do one thing, and then this will be the after-aftermath. WIL WHEATON: OK. JOHN ROGERS: This is Eddie stumbling down the dance floor, his beloved club in ruins.

Everything around him burning. He sees the love of his life. She is on fire. There’s still time to put her out. He runs across the dance floor and it collapses from the flames.

And just a few feet from reaching her, he plunges through the flaming floor into the warehouse below. WIL WHEATON: And he’s still alive because this is worse than death. JOHN ROGERS: This is worse than death. The worse than death is he got six inches away from Betty. ALISON HAISLIP: Right.

JOHN ROGERS: I just picked the most heartbreaking thing which I could imagine, which is he got so close to saving his precious thing that was on fire. And then his own plan destroys everything. It’s a great ending. ALISON HAISLIP: So Betty sees Eddie running towards her and then sees the floor collapse and realizes she has no hope. And as that is happening, one of the huge disco balls falls from the ceiling and crushes her.

WIL WHEATON: OK. This is Marty getting his leg patched up at the hospital. On the television in the emergency room is live New York news of the club on fire. BONNIE BURTON: So I set up a meeting, and you think it’s with all these moguls and whatever. And it’s with the Russian mob.

And I’m basically giving them their orders, because now I’m also in charge of the Russian mob. And I may have already been in charge of the Russia mob from the get-go. And we are planning– WIL WHEATON: Wow. ALISON HAISLIP: A twist. A twist.

JOHN ROGERS: What about Hollywood? What about your dreams of Hollywood? BONNIE BURTON: You got to finance movies, buddy. WIL WHEATON: She really is the black widow at the center of this web. BONNIE BURTON: So if you’re going to burn down a club and get the insurance, or burn a club for other people, I’m just saying there’s a whole business behind this.

Sorry, am I making it even worse? I’m sorry. JOHN ROGERS: No, that’s good. It’s a fiasco. WIL WHEATON: Things are going great for you.

BONNIE BURTON: But I’m just thinking she can’t just be bad Hollywood. She’s got to have a criminal– anyway. I’m just making her eviler and eviler. JOHN ROGERS: Because it’s the worst in the universe, I am going to fast-forward to here’s Eddie. The mob found him, because he didn’t pay.

They broke his legs. They never healed right. He’s been burned over 70% of his body. He’s living on Skid Row, just drinking himself to death, clutching a picture of Betty. And that’s the last we see of him.

WIL WHEATON: Oh, Eddie. ALISON HAISLIP: So Betty is crushed under this giant disco ball. And as she’s taking her last breath, she looks around her and she realizes that she is finally surrounded by lights. And she goes out knowing that she made it.

WIL WHEATON: Oh, Betty.

ALISON HAISLIP: White die. JOHN ROGERS: Nice spin. WIL WHEATON: It is the following morning, and he’s lying in the hospital bed. He’s got the bandages all over him. And he looks out the window as a Pan Am flight to Los Angeles goes past outside the window.

JOHN ROGERS: Nice. BONNIE BURTON: Wow, that’s harsh. ALISON HAISLIP: And it says on the side of the plane, Pan Am flight to Los Angeles, so you know exactly what it is.

To Hollywood. BONNIE BURTON: Right.

So– WIL WHEATON: As it goes by, the engines go [HUMMING “HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD”] BONNIE BURTON: And you’re not dead yet, yeah? WIL WHEATON: I am not dead yet. All right, so right after– WIL WHEATON: What do you mean yet? What the hell are you plotting? JOHN ROGERS: He manages to get out of this.

WIL WHEATON: I live. I survive. BONNIE BURTON: Oh, right. WIL WHEATON: Oh, it says I may die, I may not die. BONNIE BURTON: Well, it’s up in the air.

So this is so mean. I feel kind of guilty saying this now. So it’s right after you see the plane, but I’m not on the plane. And I come in with my mafia friends, and we’re going to decide to put a little finale in your finale. WIL WHEATON: Oh, no.

BONNIE BURTON: And I’m like, Marty, you had your chance.

You double crossed me when I still didn’t know that you were going to take Betty. No one double crosses me. Say goodbye to your legs. WIL WHEATON: Oh, God.

Bonnie and I are very close friends in real life. And she’s a very sweet, kind person. I was not at all expecting her to be as unbelievably dark as she is. This is Marty a short time later. He’s in a wheelchair.

His legs are just destroyed. They’re all battered and destroyed and everything. And a shadow falls across him. And he looks up, and it’s a detective lieutenant from the NYPD Arson Investigator Squad. And he says, Mr.

Spano, I’d like to ask you some questions. BONNIE BURTON: Awesome. OK, so this Oscar season, I’ve got my outfit on.

I get the Oscar. I’m walking up to the stage.

And I dedicate the speech to Miss Betty. WIL WHEATON: Oh, extra tragedy for Betty. All right. OK. BONNIE BURTON: Still a little mmm mmm.

ALISON HAISLIP: Yeah. WIL WHEATON: All right. Remember when I said that there’s usually not a winner in Fiasco? It is looking like maybe I was wrong. ALISON HAISLIP: Everything that she came up with was for the betterment of her character, which I think is why she ended up coming out on top.

BONNIE BURTON: I wanted to win, because I always want to win every game I play, and I’m kind of competitive. But at the same token, I didn’t know everyone would have such horrible outcomes. And so I kind of thought there would be other people that good things happened to in the end. But, man, it was just slaughter. WIL WHEATON: This is Marty– BONNIE BURTON: Poor Marty.

WIL WHEATON: –being led through a crowd of people outside of the main courthouse in Manhattan.

The press is everywhere. And we come down to a reporter who was reporting the story that the horrible disco nightclub tragedy, at the last night at Glamorous, it was arson. It has been solved. It was Marty.

Somehow this has been completely pinned on him. And he hasn’t even been given a death sentence at Rikers. He is in Rikers for the rest of his miserable life. [SOUND OF JAIL BARS CLOSING] BONNIE BURTON: Nice. JOHN ROGERS: Nice.

WIL WHEATON: And that was one hell of a fiasco. Wow, what a fiasco. If you would like to play Saturday Night 78, the play set you just saw that I wrote with Will Hindmarch and Jason Morningstar you can download a copy of it for yourself for the low, low price of free right here. Have fun and we will see you next time on TableTop. [MUSIC PLAYING] WIL WHEATON: Why are you still here?

There’s no Part 3. It’s over. Go on, log off. Go outside. It’s over.

[MUSIC PLAYING].