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Heroes In Shades Of Grey
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<blockquote data-quote="felicia" data-source="post: 7735303" data-attributes="member: 55798"><p>As a player, GM, and reader of fantasy and SF, my problem with clearly defined "good" and "evil" is that often the label of good or evil replaces a character's motivation. Why is this guy attacking us? He is evil. Period. In some games this is going to be fine. When I ran "The Temple of Elemental Evil", my players weren't really looking for a lot of deep motivations on the part of the hobgoblins. On the other hand, in an all-female-player Ars Magica game that I was in, we managed to avoid every single combat the GM threw at us by finding out the reasons for the conflict and resolving them. Our little settlement wasn't being attacked because the attackers were evil. They were attacking us because we had trespassed on their land.</p><p></p><p>I haven't been part of games where the players were looking to be thugs, except perhaps in Shadowrun. Mainly, they were looking to get loot and xp. Of course, if they behaved like thugs to do that, I would have had there be consequences, even if they weren't alignment-related. If you start killing people in Hommlet, someone from Verbobonc might eventually notice....</p><p></p><p>This isn't to say that there is no place for alignment in games. It can be a good basis for creating an interesting character. I ran a game where the paladin was moody and tormented by his relationship with his deity. There was another where the cleric had a "book of sin" and, when not setting furniture on fire, would loudly threaten to write you in for minor infractions, which was incredibly funny.</p><p></p><p>Having black and white morality can be fine, but it can also be an excuse for skipping characterization. It depends on what you are going for in your game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="felicia, post: 7735303, member: 55798"] As a player, GM, and reader of fantasy and SF, my problem with clearly defined "good" and "evil" is that often the label of good or evil replaces a character's motivation. Why is this guy attacking us? He is evil. Period. In some games this is going to be fine. When I ran "The Temple of Elemental Evil", my players weren't really looking for a lot of deep motivations on the part of the hobgoblins. On the other hand, in an all-female-player Ars Magica game that I was in, we managed to avoid every single combat the GM threw at us by finding out the reasons for the conflict and resolving them. Our little settlement wasn't being attacked because the attackers were evil. They were attacking us because we had trespassed on their land. I haven't been part of games where the players were looking to be thugs, except perhaps in Shadowrun. Mainly, they were looking to get loot and xp. Of course, if they behaved like thugs to do that, I would have had there be consequences, even if they weren't alignment-related. If you start killing people in Hommlet, someone from Verbobonc might eventually notice.... This isn't to say that there is no place for alignment in games. It can be a good basis for creating an interesting character. I ran a game where the paladin was moody and tormented by his relationship with his deity. There was another where the cleric had a "book of sin" and, when not setting furniture on fire, would loudly threaten to write you in for minor infractions, which was incredibly funny. Having black and white morality can be fine, but it can also be an excuse for skipping characterization. It depends on what you are going for in your game. [/QUOTE]
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