Funny that you'd pick Cobain as an example, since I was just about to say that I played my CN rogue in our hack-and-slash FR game like a rock star. Not of the self-loathing Kurt Cobain variety, more like the classically arrogant and self-indulgent kind. He was a showoff and naturally assumed that his opinion was the final word on any question, unless he didn't have an opinion, in which case the question was just a minor detail for someone else to worry about.
His adventuring party was important to him, because they were friends (as well as talented people who helped make him look good). His reputation was important to him, because really, if you're not famous, who
are you? The net result was that he would go to great lengths to defend and help other party members, and would generally be up for any good-aligned job that came along, because those are the ones that earn you the most glory. But at the same time, he'd gleefully loot tombs, use any unfair advantage he could get over our enemies, wallow in his own pride, and feel slighted and resentful if anyone ever suggested that he might be wrong about something.
...definitely a rock star. It's not the only way you can play CN, obviously, but oh man, it's fun.
I think it helps to put a character's alignment in context by imagining how they actually behave when they're around other people. In that case, you might consider that while a CN character doesn't feel any particular responsibility to anyone else, he'd have to be extraordinarily dull-witted to not realize that other people can (and will) hold him responsible for his actions, and that behaving in certain ways will have negative consequences. Likewise, doing other things will avoid those serious repercussions, and even make his life easier, so why not do those things instead? Just out of pure self-interest, of course.
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i never understood the guys who think cn is a mandate to be an insane spoiler character
ryan