I’ve been wanting to play Fiasco for a while now–ever since I heard it existed, really. It’s basically roleplaying my favorite genre of movies, and I am totally down for that.

One of the great things about Fiasco is that you can change the setting and the genre simply by picking up a new “playset,” or creating your own. Since I couldn’t find one for one of my favorite subgenres, I figured I’d make one myself.

This is a playset for a low-fantasy urban fiasco. The city stretches out under you like a slumbering creature, cobblestones and bricks and tile forming its rough skin, the breath from its chimneys burning in your throat and lamps like a thousand glittering eyes blinding you in the night as you take that first step towards your plan, the one that will end with you rich and respected and avenged, the one that you know can’t possibly go wrong…

Cobblestones

A Fiasco Playset by Adam Watts

Relationships

1 Family

1. Parent / son- or daughter-in-law
2. Cousins
3. Siblings
4. Parent / child or stepchild
5. Uncle / aunt and nephew / niece
6. Not blood relatives, but close as family anyway

2 Work

1. Day laborers
2. Supervisor / laborer
3. Master / apprentice
4. Tradesman / customer
5. Salesman / customer
6. Professional / client

3 The Past

1. Reformed criminals
2. Revolutionary and Chancery agent
3. Former soldiers from the same regiment
4. Foreigners, visiting the city for reasons of their own
5. Bad family blood
6. Mutual keepers of an ominous secret

4 Romance

1. Former spouses
2. Current spouses
3. Secret lovers
4. One-time fling
5. Current lovers
6. Former lovers

5 Crime

1. Gang leader and minion
2. Debtor and loanshark
3. Thieves (second-story men, pickpockets, con artists)
4. Gamblers
5. Watchman and informant
6. Con man and mark

6 Community

1. Civil officials
2. Religious order
3. Society (cult, secret society, neighborhood watch)
4. Government / citizen (tax assessor, local watchman, etc)
5. Trade guild members
6. Social rivals

Needs

1 To Get Some Answers

1. …about what’s really buried under her tombstone
2. …about what happened the night of the fire
3. …about who sold you out
4. …about where the money went
5. …about the massacre in the old Telly house
6. …about what started the riot

2 To Get Even

1. …with a powerful wizard
2. …with the rich bastard who ruined your life
3. …with your old gang
4. …with the city watch
5. …with the guildmaster and his petty cronies
6. …with the magistrate who ruled against you

3 To Get Rich

1. …through conning the nobility
2. …through the ransom payment
3. …through the greatest theft this city has ever seen
4. …through the sweat and tears of others
5. …through a patent of nobility
6. …from the inheritance

4 To Get Respect

1. …from the guildmaster for your craft
2. …from the criminal underworld
3. …from your noble peers
4. …from your family, or a specific family member
5. …from the College of Natural Sciences, by proving your theories correct
6. …from the mob

5 To Get Away

1. …with murder
2. …from what you did
3. …from the watch, before they figure out it was you
4. …from the gang you used to run with
5. …from the people who never grew up and never moved on
6. …with a desperate heist

6 To Get Laid

1. …to prove something
2. …to rekindle that old spark
3. …for the dowry
4. …as part of the Plan
5. …to forget about the last one
6. …to feel something again

Locations

1 The Good Part of Town

1. The East Road Watch House
2. The Palace gardens
3. The Palace dungeons
4. The Mordante Bank vault
5. A gated manor house on Rowley Boulevard
6. The Palace ballroom

2 The Bad Part of Town

1. The pub in Chain Alley
2. The old slaughterhouse
3. A small, rickety tenement apartment
4. A hidden camp under the bridge
5. The bear-baiting arena
6. The witch hut

3 The Market

1. A mobile food vendor’s stall (“meat” pies, kebabs, fried fish, etc)
2. The guild hall
3. The enormous dry fountain in the center of Royal Square
4. Rusty Joe’s pawnshop
5. The back of Farmer Jenson’s cart
6. The stocks

4 Down By the Docks

1. A warehouse full of unopened crates and false labels
2. The Virtuous Rose, tied up on the far pier
3. The Hands of Gold tavern and brothel
4. The harbormaster’s shack
5. The city watch cutter Shark
6. The warship Dominant, almost completed in the shipyard

5 On the Outskirts

1. The abandoned graveyard
2. The only bridge across the river
3. Traitor’s Gate
4. The dueling grounds
5. The gallows
6. A grand estate overlooking the city

6 Hidden Places

1. The tunnels beneath the city
2. The secret passage in the Rorst Plaza book shop
3. The top of the old bell tower
4. The empty mausoleum of King Derus II
5. The guild hall roof
6. Cult sacrificial chamber

Objects

1 Untoward

1. An unnerving statue of a forgotten god
2. A chest of counterfeit coins
3. A forged writ of pardon
4. Half a dozen shrunken heads
5. A hundred feral cats
6. A decomposing body wrapped in a cheap rug

2 Weapon

1. Black powder grenade
2. A fish-scaling knife
3. Butcher’s cleaver
4. Dragon gun
5. Ceremonial dueling sword
6. A shiv made out of a broken bottle, a stick and some string

3 Valuables

1. A chest full of gold
2. The deed to the Bakersfield Estate
3. The crown jewels
4. A chest of spices from a far-off country
5. A letter of exchange issued by the Mordante Bank, for the contents of Vault Five
6. A ruby the size of your fist

4 Esoteric

1. Tarot cards
2. A malfunctioning automaton
3. A book of alchemical recipes
4. Zombie powder
5. Vial of untraceable poison
6. A demonic contract

5 Information

1. The name of the man who sold you out
2. A last will and testament
3. Letters from a nobleman to his mistress
4. The dying words of a falsely-accused man
5. A rumor of conspiracy
6. The bookie’s books from the bear-baiting arena

6 Sentimental

1. A newborn child
2. Your father’s sword
3. His last letter home
4. A child’s doll, with a secret hidden inside
5. A portrait that should not exist
6. A lock of her hair