Natural 7

Want-Have-Sacrifice

This is a simple framework for roleplay that I've been able to use successfully at the core of my characters. I think it's especially useful when you are playing old school style roleplaying games where characters can die and replace each other faster than you can say "My name is Carbuncle the Seventieth."

So, what is the framework? I call it Want-Have-Sacrifice. The words came to me in a dream, but they were probably inspired by all the blog posts I read about characterizing NPCs and developing your character's backstories through play rather than before the first session.

What Does Your Character Want?

Okay, this is (maybe) the hardest of the three frames. You need to quickly generate a goal or desire for your character. There are situations where this can develop over time, but in general I find it easier to have one as soon as you roll up the character.

How might you decide what your character wants though?

  1. Your GM might tell you that you and your fellow adventurers seek the lost memory shards of Xaldynios Ossndar - OK, you want those memory shards!
  2. Your friends might tell you that they want to find and slay a dragon to equip themselves in draconic armor - OK, you also should seek something tangential to dragon slaying. You might also want the armor or maybe you want a dragon slaying vorpal sword.
  3. You might roll on a table of suggested goals (roll d6):
    1. Restore your family name (see Family Ties).
    2. Unearth a lost magic item (see Magic Items and 12 More Magic Items).
    3. Found a stronghold or safe-haven on the borderlands (see Levels High and Low).
    4. Retire with more money than you can count (see Wasting Money in the UVG).
    5. Join a powerful faction and follow their goals (see Two Rival Factions or Three Twisted Gods).
    6. Defeat your rival.
  4. You might not want to know your goal right away - this is OK too! It means you have to do some guesswork for what motivates you, but an easy solution I've found is using the traditional alignment system (as seen in D&D)!
    • Do you want to obey the law?
    • Do you want to help other people, even if it puts you in harms way or in a bad position?
    • Do you think you could spare an enemy's life?
    • Would you agree to unleash an elder entity if it meant you would become its champion?

What Does Your Character Have?

These are the assets available to your character (and maybe your party). You can figure this out as you make the character, usually, and by asking questions of your GM. Think of them as points of leverage in conversations and useful tools during exploration. These are things you can use to overcome obstacles. They might also become things you are willing to sacrifice.

Here's my checklist for deciding what I have:

  1. I look at my character sheet. Is there anything on there that I added to my inventory that might be useful?
    • Take note of any magic items or spell books, those are always useful - especially if you can trade them for information, safety, or a favor later (we're ignoring their combat uses in this post).
    • Look for weird objects that seemingly have no use. If you've played Knave or Durf or Cairn or Mausritter you'll know what I mean. What can you do with a bag of bees? Who knows, but it might come up!
    • Money in your pockets is money that can be spent. You can buy lots of things: safety, security, and sustenance. Consider how valuable your treasure is in case you can trade it for something else, like passage through a deadly gulch, or the true name of a devil. If you never spend your money then it is just wasting space.
  2. I look through my notes. Have I recorded any information that would be relevant to the situation or generally useful? This is stuff like the true name of a devil, or the location of a secret pass through the mountains, or the concept of a powerful spell. These are all pieces of information that someone else might want that you have to offer.
    • This option is easy if you take good notes. Patchwork Paladin has some tips on how to do so, at least as a paranormal investigator.
    • You might have access to information you as a player don't know!
      • This can come from factions you are a member of, backgrounds you have, or skills you're trained in. When in doubt, just ask your GM if you know anything about the Secret Society of Wonderful Wizards!

What Would You Sacrifice?

What in the wide world would you get rid of, lose, abandon, destroy, or forsake in order to achieve, gain, or acquire what you want. This is often something that you can decide in the moment, and it will mostly only come up during those hard questions.

Sometimes it will be easier to decide what you're willing to sacrifice; questions like "do you want to rest for the night" are the easy ones. Hard questions include things like "Only one of you can escape the volcano. Which of you helps the other out of the cave mouth before the lava surges over you?"

Another way to think about what you're willing to sacrifice is what do you care about?

Thinking about what risks you are willing to take, what the consequences of those risks might be, and what you are OK with losing as a result of those consequences is important when roleplaying your characters. Having a couple examples in the back of your mind will make those hard questions easier to answer, and the easy questions a breeze.

If this is really tricky, you might consider writing some example on the back of your character sheet:

Final Thoughts

What do you want?

What do you have?

What are you willing to sacrifice (to get what you want)?

There you have it: the Want-Have-Sacrifice framework for roleplaying games. Use it as you wish!

Things on my radar: