Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Good/Evil vs. Law/Chaos
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="phloog" data-source="post: 4630779" data-attributes="member: 59219"><p>And now, your Honor, I'd like to make a speech....</p><p> </p><p>For me, the biggest issue with alignment since somewhere around the Dawn of Time is the words used to describe the concepts. The second biggest problem was caused when writers for D&D decided to 'clarify' very specific ideas about alignments in some books.</p><p> </p><p> In terms of my understanding, it is as others have noted. Lawful = order/society over the individual and their freedoms, with Chaos being the opposite. The problem is that the words chosen are 'loaded'...people outside of RPGs are used to phrases like "She is a good, law-abiding citizen', which creates an incorrect mental link between Law and Good.</p><p> </p><p>Chaos is the worst choice of words for a similar reason - they chose two words - Law which has a fairly positive connotation, and Chaos which has a normally negative. Not sure what would be better, but using Individuality is probably not much better...ANY word will likely have positive/negative baggage.</p><p> </p><p>Good and Evil have traditionally been concerned with life and its preservation.</p><p> </p><p>So there's that issue...then some knuckleheads decided to interpret the alignments for us, and explain each one. Which leads to my biggest issue for many years: Chaotic Neutral as defined by a prior text. Basically the book said this (seriously paraphrasing but hopefully you'll get my point):</p><p> </p><p>Chaotic Good: Freedom and Individuality above the tyranny of governments or societies laws, but with an overall desire to preserve life.</p><p> </p><p>Chaotic Evil: Freedom and individuality with a desire to kill.</p><p> </p><p>Lawful Neutrai: Life and death are meaningless - the Law is all.</p><p> </p><p>Chaotic Neutral: The character is insane.</p><p> </p><p>That drives me nuts....WHY is Chaotic Neutral equivalent to madness? I've always seen it just like all the other alignments - - CN would mean that life and death are secondary to the individual freedom. The people who misinterpret CN are using the incorrect 'loaded' definition of Chaos....and saying that the only thing that CN characters desire is chaos.</p><p> </p><p>Sorry...soapbox removed...and the 3.5 book has a pretty good description.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="phloog, post: 4630779, member: 59219"] And now, your Honor, I'd like to make a speech.... For me, the biggest issue with alignment since somewhere around the Dawn of Time is the words used to describe the concepts. The second biggest problem was caused when writers for D&D decided to 'clarify' very specific ideas about alignments in some books. In terms of my understanding, it is as others have noted. Lawful = order/society over the individual and their freedoms, with Chaos being the opposite. The problem is that the words chosen are 'loaded'...people outside of RPGs are used to phrases like "She is a good, law-abiding citizen', which creates an incorrect mental link between Law and Good. Chaos is the worst choice of words for a similar reason - they chose two words - Law which has a fairly positive connotation, and Chaos which has a normally negative. Not sure what would be better, but using Individuality is probably not much better...ANY word will likely have positive/negative baggage. Good and Evil have traditionally been concerned with life and its preservation. So there's that issue...then some knuckleheads decided to interpret the alignments for us, and explain each one. Which leads to my biggest issue for many years: Chaotic Neutral as defined by a prior text. Basically the book said this (seriously paraphrasing but hopefully you'll get my point): Chaotic Good: Freedom and Individuality above the tyranny of governments or societies laws, but with an overall desire to preserve life. Chaotic Evil: Freedom and individuality with a desire to kill. Lawful Neutrai: Life and death are meaningless - the Law is all. Chaotic Neutral: The character is insane. That drives me nuts....WHY is Chaotic Neutral equivalent to madness? I've always seen it just like all the other alignments - - CN would mean that life and death are secondary to the individual freedom. The people who misinterpret CN are using the incorrect 'loaded' definition of Chaos....and saying that the only thing that CN characters desire is chaos. Sorry...soapbox removed...and the 3.5 book has a pretty good description. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Good/Evil vs. Law/Chaos
Top