Last week I presented the idea I was working on of including some Fiasco character generation for the new D&D campaign I’ll be running starting this weekend. I included the Relationships Table in that post.
So today I present the second table – Desires & Needs. This was a lot harder than the relationships table but for the same reasons that the relationships required a re-write from classic Fiasco playsets – the goal is to create characters with goals and relationships that provide us with a bit of interpersonal background between the characters without also setting us up for the one thing that Fiasco does so well – a fiasco.
So, without further ado, here’s the Desires & Needs table (presented with the assistance of several people on google+ and rednightmare on Reddit)
Desires
1. To Get Rich
1. … by killing every monster you see
2. … so you never have to adventure again
3. … to establish a stronghold
4. … enough to be above the law
5. … -er than anyone else
6. … enough to pay for your habit / obsession / research
2. To Be A Hero
1. … to one special person
2. … in the eyes of a mentor
3. … and lord it over everybody else
4. … who nobody will fuck with
5. … if only in appearance
6. … that bards will pen epics about
3. To Crush Your Enemies
1. … and loot their corpses
2. … and hear the lamentations of their people
3. … to serve your country / kingdom / liege / etc
4. … and get your revenge
5. … to make an area safe for you to operate in as you please
6. … but leave a few alive to spread the tale
4. To Get Away
1. … from this town
2. … from all these damned elves
3. … from a life of poor decision making
4. … and put your bad luck behind you
5. … from a life of crime
6. … with reinventing yourself
5. To Get Respect
1. … on a throne of your foes’ skulls
2. … and impose your justice
3. … from your peers / brothers in arms
4. … from your family / clan / guild / church
5. … to earn the king’s favour
6. … and find a following
6. To Indulge
1. … in drink and luxuries
2. … in forbidden rituals and lore
3. … in bloodshed
4. … on a home of true grandeur
5. … a friend
6. … in quiet contemplation in the faith of your dark/bright lord
Dyson's Dodecahedron 
Want a pdf of both of these!
Once I’ve done the full set, I’ll be using them as part of the Chargen house rules for Sorcerer Kings of Unknown Lands…
That said, I might just release that chapter on it’s own while we wait for the rest to materialize.
Ooo, I like this. So many people make quick simple characters without thinking about these simplest of motivations, and this makes it so easy to roll up an important bit if character background. Very nice!
Shouldn’t those be d12 tables?
Harr harr… there’s no way I could double the quantity of material on most of the existing categories, let alone double the number of categories…
Love these! For Exalted, they had a mission/quest set up like this, but the new edition didn’t include it and I sold the first edition 😦 Maybe I’ll have have to take your example and make one.
Very awesome. Will likely be using it in the future.
This is coming along very nicely. Do you plan on using the Objects table to determine starting equipment?
No, actually I’m planning on skipping the objects completely because I fear that otherwise the players will fixate on them instead of the other elements. After all, free stuff is free stuff.
I like where these are going, but it seems like the Desires are a little disconnected from their original Fiasco counterpart. Are they meant to be shared between two characters or just as individual motivations?
They are to be shared. Like in Fiasco locations and desires have to be linked to a relationship instead of a person.
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